diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index c4857e9e7..ad584c7ea 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 1.4.1 (in development)
 ======================
 
+- Restore compat with loading dynamic classes pickled with cloudpickle
+  version 1.2.1 that would reference the `types.ClassType` attribute.
+  ([PR #359](https://github.com/cloudpipe/cloudpickle/pull/359))
 
 
 1.4.0
diff --git a/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py b/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py
index 73ca30cc7..fb5beb5f5 100644
--- a/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py
+++ b/cloudpickle/cloudpickle.py
@@ -388,6 +388,11 @@ def _cell_set_factory(value):
 
 
 def _builtin_type(name):
+    if name == "ClassType":  # pragma: no cover
+        # Backward compat to load pickle files generated with cloudpickle
+        # < 1.3 even if loading pickle files from older versions is not
+        # officially supported.
+        return type
     return getattr(types, name)