1930 Classic Cars for Sale

70 listings Median price: $30,900 Updated daily

Cadillac V16 enters production, Packard introduces the 734 Speedster, and the Depression begins its work

Cadillac opened 1930 with the Series 452, a 452-cubic-inch overhead-valve V16 engine producing 165 horsepower. General Motors positioned this engine as an answer to Duesenberg, and in terms of smoothness it was arguably the superior design. Roughly 2,887 V16 Cadillacs were built in 1930 alone, more than Duesenberg would produce across its entire production run. The Fleetwood bodies on these cars remain among the finest American coachwork ever executed.

The Depression was now impossible to ignore. Ford production fell sharply, Chrysler cut prices, and smaller independents began showing stress. Yet the luxury market in 1930 still attracted serious engineering investment. Packard's 734 Speedster, built on a short 134.5-inch wheelbase with a high-compression 145-horsepower straight-eight, was designed to compete with imported European sporting cars. Only 113 were built, making it one of the most desirable Packards of the era.

Buyers looking at 1930 cars are choosing from what is arguably the most technically ambitious year in American automotive history. Three American manufacturers offered V12 or V16 engines. The coachbuilding industry was fully employed. And the engineering departments had not yet been instructed to cut costs. That combination would not last another eighteen months.

Notable 1930s: Cadillac Series 452 V16 Fleetwood All-Weather Phaeton Packard 734 Speedster Boattail Runabout Duesenberg Model J Derham Tourster Lincoln Model L LeBaron Convertible Roadster Pierce-Arrow Model 41 Dual-Cowl Phaeton Marmon Sixteen Prototype Chrysler CJ Imperial Eight Roadster

1930 in automotive history

Cadillac's Series 452 V16 entered production in January 1930, the first American production V16 engine, with 452 cubic inches and a 45-degree bank angle designed for near-perfect primary balance.
Packard produced only 113 Model 734 Speedsters before discontinuing the line, making it one of the rarest production Packards of the classic era.
US automobile production dropped to roughly 2.79 million units in 1930, a decline of more than 37 percent from the 1929 record, as the Depression suppressed consumer spending industry-wide.

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