The Cadillac Escalade has been in production since 1999 and recently entered its fifth generation for the 2021 model year. But what if the Cadillac Escalade was built in 1959, at a time when SUVs had yet to flood the market and Cadillac vehicles looked like rocket ships? In the 1950s, wagons dominated the family car market, but Abimelec Arellano from Abimelec Design has imagined what the Escalade would have looked like if the SUV segment had boomed several decades earlier.

Using a 1950s Chevrolet Apache as a base, the artist has blinged-out the Escalade with 1950s Cadillac styling cues including Cadillac's disinctive tailfins and rocket taillights, and the result is a very cool-looking vintage SUV.

The hypothetical 1959 Cadillac Escalade also features three rows of seats, air suspension, and a 390 CI V8 under the hood. Luxuries like soft-closing trunks, power windows, air suspension, and big V8s were staples of luxury Cadillac cars in the 1950s, and this has been reflected with great effect in these artist renders. Some well-appointed Cadillacs were even more expensive than a Rolls-Royce at the time. Looking at you, 1957 Eldorado Brougham.

"I really enjoyed doing this, it was challenging to translate some of the Caddy cues into a truck, but I am in love with the result, especially with the fins," Arellano commented about his creation.

"The Apache sides make them look like missiles which absolutely fits the original theme of these era of Cadillacs." The artist also went the extra mile and created a fake advert describing the 1959 Cadillac Escalade as a "a new realm of motoring majesty."

He even created a 1950s-style video commercial for his creation - Arellano certainly does a good impression of a 1950s TV narrator. We have to commend Arellano for his outstanding work and would love to see these designs get turned into a reality.