Ringbrothers Reintroduce Retromod 1948 Cadillac ‘Madam V’

World renowned custom car builders Jim and Mike Ring, known collectively by the name of their Spring Green, Wisconsin company Ringbrothers, have updated their 1948 Cadillac, Madam V.

First displayed at the SEMA Show in November 2016, Madam V looks very much like a restored and modified third-generation Cadillac Series 62 two-door coupe, but under the skin she’s quite different – the chassis, interior and drivetrain all come from a 2016 Cadillac ATS-V.

That includes the twin-turbo 3.6L V6 gasoline engine (production code LF4) which produces 464 horsepower and 444 pound-feet of torque and the eight-speed Hydra-Matic 8L90 paddle-shift automatic transmission. The exhaust is mostly stock, but custom stainless steel Flowmaster tailpipes give it a more robust note.

Inside, Madam V features most of the technology one would expect to find in a ’16 ATS-V but would have been considered the work of aliens or supernatural beings back in 1948. It includes information and media control on a full-color display, a rear vision camera, Push-to-Start, rain-sensing windshield wipers and OnStar auto crash response.

Ringbrothers unveiled Madam V in the Flowmaster booth at the 2016 SEMA Show. She has now been given a facelift, giving her a more classic look than she had five years ago. This has been achieved partly by giving the car a more authentic front end, with greater use of chrome, and partly by fitting a set of wheels which, while still very dramatic, are less racy and seem more in-period than the ones used in 2016. The refresh, which also included a complete respray with BASF paint, took over 1,000 hours to complete.

Two ATS-Vs and two Series 62s were sacrificed to create Madam V. There will always be controversy about whether this is an appropriate use of Cadillacs built in either the 20^th or the 21^st century, but there’s no doubt that in this case the result is very compelling.

Want to stay up to date on all things Cadillac? Then be sure to subscribe to Cadillac Society for around-the-clock Cadillac news coverage. We also invite you to join the latest discussions in our Cadillac forums.