Coachbult.com - Wisco Corp.



Wisco. Corp - 1970-1973 - Ferndale & Roseville Michigan

Wisco (USA) El Clásico coupe. It's amazing what a pair of false landau bars and a grille cap can do for an otherwise ordinary Cadillac! The pictures of this yellow 1972 Coupe De Ville El Clásico belong to Tim Gitzinger of Dayton, OH. He was kind enough to identify the car as having been built by Wisco Corp. It was sold new in Dayton and still resides there. Tim has three of these cars in different stages of restoration. The following figures are from an original 1972 WISCO 'El Clásico' conversion price sheet, for the Fleetwood Brougham. Some items were not available on the Eldorado convertible; prices were slightly cheaper for Coupe de Ville and Eldorado Hard-Top models: Chrome Front End- $595, Sun Roof- $695, Landau Bars- $260, Restyled Wheel Covers- $220, Outer Door Panel Trim- $170, Rear Deck Trim- $175, Pin Striping- $60, Lower Bumper Treatment to Match Car- $60, Hood Ornament- $120, Right-hand Remote Mirror- $45. Total standard El Clásico Conversion package (including installation), for the Fleetwood Brougham = $3,630. The following optional items were available installed: Repro Goddess Hood Ornament- $75, T.V. Set- $335, Padded Vinyl-covered Dash- $120, Custom Vertical Grille- $265, WISCO Simulated Deck Wheel with Vinyl Insert- $575, Padded Vinyl Half-top with Chrome Bar- $375. Final price for all items listed: $5,375!!!

Wisco (USA) There was a '73 wagon on e-Bay in June, 2003; it had been ordered new from Frank Kent Cadillac, in Fort Worth, Texas. The original lady owner kept the car until her death in early '98 (25 years). There are no coach company labels on the car, but a letter from the dealer lists it as an "El Classico" [read el Clásico]. The vendor asserted: this is not a "back yard" built wagon, but a professionally built, high quality car. It is a 7-passenger, with the rear facing 3rd seat, leather of coarse [sic].

Both Wisco and R. S. Harper, firms which were best known for building "pimp cars," built Cadillac station wagons; many of which had all the pimp car touches on them.

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Wisco (USA) operated out of Roseville, MI, close to the automobile capital of the world. Their customized features made ordinary Cadillacs "distinctively different" and "elegantly impressive". Wisco Cadillac Coup deVille with custom, padded landau top, opera windows, door saddle trim, non-functional landau bars, chrome roof arch and chrome belt molding, limousine rear window, custom deck wheel and lower deck trim Above and below: Wisco El Dorado with custom, vertical design front clip, Mediterranean styled hexagonal rear window and opera windows, custom,padded landau top with false landau bars, door saddle trim, chrome roof arch, chrome belt molding, custom deck wheel with matching trim insert and plush velour interior This is the original color photo used in B&W [above] in the Wisco brochure Left and right: 17˝ inch and 22˝ inch Deluxe L100 landau bars with Wisco's "W" logo; Center: complete custom front end for DeVille, Brougham and limousine models (Left) Wisco custom station wagon; (right) Wisco stretched limousine Limousines included telephone intercom (left) and optional partition cabinet (center) Today, "retro" hood mascot (right) frequently is offered as a "1941 original" by unscrupulous vendors

Wisco (USA) custom El Clásico (this is the correct spelling - acute accent on the "á" and single "s")

For more information please read:

Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Car

Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Era

Beverly Rae Kimes - Packard: A History of the Motorcar and Company

Beverly Rae Kimes & Henry Austin Clark Jr. - Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942

Richard Burns Carson - The Olympian Cars

Raymond A. Katzell - The Splendid Stutz

Marc Ralston - Pierce Arrow

Brooks T. Brierley - There Is No Mistaking a Pierce Arrow

Brooks T. Brierley - Auburn, Reo, Franklin and Pierce-Arrow Versus Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln and Packard

Brooks T. Brierley - Magic Motors 1930