After years of cost cutting to maximize margins, by 1974, what General Motors marketed as the "Standard of the World" had devolved into more like, warning, incoming deliberate and awful pun, "The American Standard of the World". That's not to say Cadillac didn't have anything to blow their horn about for '74. Gosh, for starters, there were a number of new "firemist" colors with coordinated interiors to choose from like Cranberry, Persian Lime and, as on our '74 Coupe deVille here, dare I say, the rather fetching Terra Cotta Firemist.
Such was the strength of Cadillac's position in the market in the 1970's that they could tout frivolities like new paint schemes and expect their customers to buy into it. Oh, and they did. Despite the first energy crisis clobbering sales of full-size cars, Cadillac still managed to sell more than 242,000 total units in 1974 none of which could honestly get more than ten-miles-per-gallon.
Model year 1974 for Cadillac wasn't without its fair share of firsts and lasts, though. 1974 was the last year for the 472-cubic inch V-8 Cadillac introduced to much fanfare for 1968. Smooth and durable, let's be fair, Cadillac lovers, there wasn't anything particularly special about it save for its elephantine size. Cadillac replaced it in 1975 with their 500-cubic inch version of it that had been an Eldorado exclusive going back to 1970. Legend has it Cadillac had planned to increase the size of the "472" to as much as 600-cubic inches.
Like many makes and models sold in the United States, 1974 was also the last year Cadillac's were sold without catalytic converters. Catalytic converters use precious metals to react with toxic exhaust gases and literally convert many of them into less harmful ones. Early "cats" severely restricted exhaust flow further limiting engine performance that was already castrated by primitive emissions controls and lower compression.
On a list of firsts, 1974 Cadillac's featured a redesigned dashboard all Cadillac's, except for Seville's, would have through 1976. Critics torched it's lilliputian speedometer and, save for the fuel-gauge above it on the left, a brace of "idiot lights" running along the top of it to relay vehicle information to the driver.
For 1974, a government mandate required all cars sold in the United States withstand a five-mile-per-hour impact without damage, hence all Cadillac's got this new rear end treatment complete with a new taillamp design.
Save for a fussy and garish new grill, the front end was mostly carry-over from 1973; 1973 the first year for the government mandated, five-mile-per-hour front safety bumper required up front. I can't think of a single automobile that benefited aesthetically from this mandate, although at the time, putting shock absorbers behind bumpers seemed like a sensible if not smart thing to do. "It's about time they did that", bellowed my old man who regularly dented the thin strips of chrome pretending to be bumpers on his 1968 Ford Ranch Wagon
Back to lasts, 1974 was the last year for round headlights "nestled" in bezels on Cadillac's. This look gave way to rectangular headlights along with another front-end refresh that made it look blockier and heavier than ever.
Along with the new dash, all Cadillac's for 1974 got a new steering wheel all would would have through 1976. GM would share it with, of all things, their GMC motorhome through model year 1978. Sans the Cadillac logo, of course.
Most importantly, 1974 was the first year all two-door Cadillac's were not actually hardtops if we define such by what they had been going back to 1949;a fixed-roof car with no center post to emulate the roofline of a convertible with its top up.
Like the safety bumpers, at the time, it seemed a natural evolution of an existing design that provided structural support to a car that desperately needed it. In retrospect, it ruined what made a two-door Cadillac more than just a two-door sedan. Oddly enough, Cadillac continued to sell four-door Calais' and Sedan deVille's as pillarless hardtops through 1976.
A coupe even a coupe diehard didn't like? Yup. Especially with the padded "cabriolet" roof like this one has, these cars appear to be two different cars fused together behind the doors. Full disclosure. when these padded roofs first came out, to this kid from Long Island, it seemed the epitome of taste, class and elegance.
The most unusual thing about this car is that while the rear seat is trimmed in your atypical of the time, to-die-for-looking but slippery as hell Cadillac leather...
The front seats situation didn't hamper someone from dropping $8,450 for this thing at a Haggerty online auction recently. Neither did this crack in the dash, good luck fixing that, the 1977-1978 wheel covers, non-working air conditioning and cruise control, locked up eight-track player and ancient, replace-now-or-die tires. The paint has blemishes and there's rust on the frame. Did the buyer not read the vehicle description beforehand?
Sadly, I feel a part of my youth has faded away as I used to love dreadnaughts like this, they're nothing more to me now than a nostalgia trips reminding me of the way I used to look at the world. They handle and brake terribly, they're slow, inhale gas, shoot, they're not even that comfortable. Sorry, I don't see the fun in appreciating something simply for the nostalgia value in it anymore. With me and cars, love may transcend reason, but it's not unconditional. At least not anymore.
After all these years, despite my fruitless attempts to convince her otherwise, I still hear my mother, who was born in 1925. wistfully dreaming of a Cadillac like this. "There's something special about a Cadillac", she'd say. Sorry, ma, while that may have been true at one point, by the mid 1970's, that simply wasn't true anymore.
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