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American sportsman and independent race car builder Briggs Cunningham, put Cadillac back on the map in Europe when he entered two Cadillacs in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans. Both were 50-61 models with Coupe DeVille bodies. One was left in stock form while the other was given a bizarre ?aerodynamic? body ? with help from the Grumman Aircraft Corporation ? which was quickly dubbed ?Le Monstre? by the French press. The stock-bodied Cadillac, nick-named ?Petit Pataud? (Clumsy Puppy), driven by Sam and Miles Collier, came home in a very creditable tenth place. Briggs Cunningham and Phil Walters brought home ?Le Monstre? in eleventh place. A higher place would have been assured if Cunningham hadn?t driven off the road into a sand pit on the second lap and spent thirty minutes digging it out with his bare hands. In the same race, a Cadillac-engined Allard J-2 took third place overall behind two race-bred Talbot-Lagos.