This nice but not perfect, 75,000-ish mile, 1968 Cadillac DeVille convertible popped up recently on Marketplace with a towering $25,000 asking price. I know inflation is warping the values on most everything these days but twenty-five grand...for...this?
Back in the day, I swooned for these cars and others like it that had buckets more panache than anything current at the time; performed better overall too. Then again, these General Motors class-of-1965 full-size cars where the last crop of cars that didn't have to bend to government regulations regarding safety, emissions and fuel economy.
With no literal and figurative "governors" to be concerned with, that didn't stop General Motors and Cadillac from applying their own brakes, as it were. By 1968, a "Cadillac" was a far cry from what it was just five-years prior; although it wasn't as bad as it would get come 1969 and beyond.
Blame the "bean counters" for trying to squeeze every last dollar they could to maintain profit margins. Rather than jack up sticker prices, Cadillac just cheapened the cars themselves; they also stopped innovating. Innovation as much as part of what made a Cadillac a "Cadillac" as styling did.
Seeing how people bought Cadillac's in increasingly large numbers, despite their being less and less "Cadillac" and more "Chevrolet" like with each passing model year or two, that didn't seem to matter at the time. Well, didn't matter until it did matter which by then it was too late.
1968 was the last year for the stacked vertically stacked headlights on Cadillacs, an ethos that went back to 1965. The last year genuine wood veneers, thin as they were, were available as well on the interior. Although the design of the front seats left a lot to be desired, 1968 was the last year Cadillac used a leather that was of a near glove-soft quality. Cadillac improved the seat design for 1969, but the leather they used was hard and slippery.
Cadillac introduced this dash design in 1967 replacing the 1965 conjuring that was bejeweled in comparison. Think this looks cheap? It ain't got nothing on the 1969 and 1970's mold injected plastic horror.
It wasn't all downhill, though. 1968 was the first year for the last "great" Cadillac exclusive engine, the venerable "four-seventy-two", 472-cubic inch V-8 that would stick around, in one form or another or displacement, somewhat amazingly, through 1984. Love the gold air cleaner cover.
If buyers felt they had to defend the fact that the interior of their car wasn't quite as plush as it used to be, they could brag they had the world's largest passenger car V-8 engine at the time. Although, they'd then look sheepish when a yokel with a 427-cubic inch V-8 in his or her Chevrolet Caprice smoked them at a stoplight.
Behind the wheel, I've found these cars to be a chore to drive. Their structure spindly, the body shudders, the seats not supportive. Yes, they look lovely, but, sorry, I've come to expect more from a car that's not a daily driver than just looking pretty.
I'll drive yours and gush enthusiastically about how nice it is and drop my geeky tidbits about what I know about it. Would you rather I tell you what I really think of your car and that I think you wasted your money?
Seems my penchant for literal land yachts like this has sailed.
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