Undeniably, this is American GM car manufacturing in its glorious golden era. Each hubcap was painstakingly color coded and painted at the factory to match the body color. Modern state of the art features of the day included power windows and convertible top, cornering lights, and a dual braking system.

These cars were so maddeningly popular and held in such universal esteem, that they seemed to have it all: Great looks, good performance and quality construction. They just seemed so perfect, at least to those of us who did not really get to know them personally. GM cars before, say, 1970, were like the family that sends out a holiday letter about Grant’s promotion to executive VP of the Northern Hemisphere Division of his company, and Muffy’s championship medal in a Pan-European invitational equestrian tournament. The cars certainly had their faults, but nobody seemed to care, and the public lapped them up anyway. Nevertheless, sometimes there’s a GM car of which it’s impossible to think ill–like a member of a family that has it all, but is so kind and generous and decent that you just can’t help but love them. The 1962 Cadillac 62 series is one of those cars.

Cadillac was at the top of its game in 1962. Was there really a single thing objectively wrong about this car? All cars have their weaknesses, but this one may have had as few as is possible for any mass-produced car. When one of the biggest gripes about the car is the tendency of the front bumper ends to rust after a dozen years, then you have a pretty good car. By the time this car was built, several generations had grown up with the concept that a Cadillac represented something very special. And for much of the period after the Second World War, Cadillac really was the only serious American purveyor of high-end cars–cars that truly were the Standard of the World.

When it was new, this Cadillac owed virtually nothing to outside influences. There was really nothing about this car even slightly cribbed from the competition. At the heart of it was the justifiably famous Cadillac V8, arguably the best all-around V8 engine of the post-World War II era. In its day, the 1949 Cadillac V8 engine had set the industry standard for modern engines. The 390 cu in (6.4-liter) version, used from 1959 through 1963, might have been the smallest engine in any American luxury car (even smaller than the big Olds and Buick V8s), but it could power a new Cadillac up to an honest 125 mph.

Coupled to that fabulous engine was the last of the old-school Hydra-Matic transmissions. Surely, its four gears helped the smaller-engined Caddy stay in the same performance league as its competition. It was one of the last GM automatics that did not pay homage to the Chrysler Torqueflite in any way; in 1964, the smoother, but slightly less-efficient, Turbo HydraMatic would make its debut mated to a larger 429 cu in (7-liter) V8. Indeed, this tranny was the last direct descendant of the original Hydra-Matic Drive of 1940. All GM, and nothing but.

Then there was the styling. Again, Cadillac was in no way reacting to the competition, but instead was setting its own agenda. The Imperial’s styling leadership had come and was gone after 1957-58, and while the clean, elegant Continental look would soon influence Cadillac styling, that day had not yet come. This car seems to have achieved a rare balance between style and substance, one that had managed to elude Cadillac’s competitors for so long. While the Fleetwood 60 Special may have come off a bit better as one of the more important looking 1962 models, the ’62 is the high point for the 62 series. Was there ever another 5,000 lb. two-door that looked so crisply stylish, substantial, and athletic, and all at the same time?