It may not be cool to admit this, but I love Cadillac. I have for years. Their cars may not be the “Standard Of The World” anymore, but they are consistently interesting, and you can’t say they aren’t comfortable. Today, we’re looking at two full-size Cadillacs from two different eras, one from just before the brand’s great fall from grace, and one from its rebuilding years.
Our featured brand yesterday was Nissan, and we looked at a full-size Titan truck and an Altima sedan with a stickshift. The Altima’s salvage title gave quite a few of you pause, but the truck’s lack of 4WD didn’t win it many friends either. The truck won, but it was a pretty close vote.
Whenever the choice is between a car and a truck, I have to consider the fact that I already have a truck that I like quite a lot. Could this truck replace mine? If not, do I have any interest in the car? I’d rather have my Chevy than this Titan, and while an Altima isn’t all that interesting, at least it’s a manual. So it gets my vote.
Cadillac is a hard sell among enthusiasts, with a very few exceptions. CT5 with a manual? Yes. ’62 Fleetwood? Cool, and interesting, but not all that desirable. Cimarron? Be serious. A lot of times it has to do with the price; a cheap Caddy can be a lot of fun, but how cheap is cheap enough? Could you be talked into four or five grand? Let’s check out these two and see.
1975 Cadillac Eldorado – $4,000
Engine/drivetrain: 8.2-liter OHV V8, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Upland, CA
Odometer reading: 79,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
In 1967, General Motors did the previously unthinkable: it introduced two new coupes, one Oldsmobile and one Cadillac, with front-wheel drive. The Olds Toronado and Cadillac Eldorado were a harbinger of things to come, as it turns out; the Eldorado never returned to rear-wheel-drive, and nearly all GM platforms had gone to FWD by the mid-1980s. This 1975 Eldorado was one of the last of the really big ones; by 1979 the Eldo was a shadow of its former self.
It has a big engine to match its outward proportions: the largest displacement V8 that Cadillac ever sold, 8.2 liters, or a nice round 500 cubic inches if you prefer. It sits longitudinally in the engine bay, driving the front wheels through a three-speed Turbo Hydramatic transmission. It runs and drives great, the seller says, and it has had a bunch of new parts installed. Most of the ad text is a list of new parts including part numbers from, if I’m not mistaken, RockAuto. That’s a lot of refrigerator magnets.
To truly appreciate an older Cadillac, you have to sit in it. The interiors really are a cut above GM’s other offerings. This one is in very good condition, with just a bit of wear on the driver’s seat and a few cracks in the vinyl on the door trim. It’s loaded with power features, of course, but the seller doesn’t tell us what works and what doesn’t.
It’s about the same outside: nice, but not perfect. I think the paint might be a little dull, but it’s hard to tell from the photos. And there’s a reflector missing on the right side of the rear bumper. But the urethane bumper fill panels, which tend to disintegrate on ’70s GM cars, have been replaced and painted, which makes a huge difference in its appearance.
1996 Cadillac Sedan DeVille – $4,987
Engine/drivetrain: 4.6-liter DOHC V8, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Tujunga, CA
Odometer reading: 94,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
Cadillac is synonymous with V8 power; from 1915 to 1980 every Cadillac built had eight slappin’ pistons under its hood. The 1980s saw a new V8, the High Technology design, powering all Cadillacs except the little Cimarron. In true GM fashion, Cadillac worked all the bugs out of that engine, just in time to replace it with a new design with new and exciting failure modes: the Northstar.
This 1996 Sedan DeVille is powered by the Northstar, a 4.6-liter, 32-valve engine that sent 275 horsepower to the front wheels – for as long as its head gaskets held. It’s also prone to oil leaks. The seller claims this one is in good shape, but they also don’t include any underhood photos. And since the seller is a dealership, I’m sure there are no maintenance records. It runs and drives fine now, but who knows what the future holds?
Cadillac interiors haven’t gotten any less cushy over the years, and this one looks like a comfortable place to be indeed. There is a little wear on the leather, and possibly a broken piece of plastic trim near the seat controls – I don’t think it’s supposed to be at that angle. It looks really good otherwise, and the seller gives us lots of photos of the interior to prove it.
It’s really clean outside, too. Someone took care of this car. It has a landau roof, which I’m personally not fond of on a car this new, but at least it’s in good shape. The rear windows have been tinted, but not too dark.
I know at least some of you are going to say “Ew, neither; I’d rather have a Lexus,” and that’s fine. But you’re missing the point. A Lexus might be a more perfect car than these, but it’s not a Cadillac. It doesn’t have the same presence. There’s a reason so many songs have been written about these, and why calling something “the Cadillac of” its type is a good thing. Which one of these is a better example of the breed?
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