1969 Cadillac Calais - House Calls

Seemingly whenever my younger brother and I were sick, when we were very young, our mother would call "Doc Harrington" and he'd come over to our home and examine us. Yes, he made house calls. Doc was a handsome, charming, older gentleman and a wonderful human, I swear my mother had a crush on him as she turned into a babbling goofball whenever he came over. He also drove a greenish, light blue Cadillac just like this 1969 Calais. This one has New York plates, so it's possible this is his car. Long shot, yes, but it is possible. 

Doc's block long Cadillac left an indelible impression on five- or six-year-old me. In addition to knowing that I was eventually going to be feeling better, it symbolized warmth, benevolence, and an unintimidating yet unwavering authority; sadly, things sorely missing otherwise in my life at the time. I also thought it cool as hell as few if any Cadillac's have since. 

Figures since "Doc Harrington's Cadillac" was part of GM's golden age of design from 1948-1976. Anything before 1948 I find too antiquely, anything after 1976 too, too...I don't know. Familiar? It's also part of GM's class-of-1965 full size models, what some say, and I concur, the best of GM's Post-War offerings. Thus, despite this one's patina and shot-to-pieces interior, has a lot to offer. This Facebook Marketplace find is fairly priced, it seems, at $1,800. The closer you get it to $1,000 the better. You're going to spend three times the difference just reupholstering the seats. 

Not counting the Eldorado, which was an entirely different beast and a half, Cadillac offered three different versions of essentially the same car for 1969.  At the top of the line was the four-door only, pillared Fleetwood series, then the bread-and-butter Coupe and Sedan deVille hard tops and then, quoting the Cadillac brochure, the "easiest step to the pleasures of Cadillac ownership", the Calais two- and four-door hardtops. Save for the Fleetwoods, for 1969, Cadillac only offered hard tops whereas GM's other divisions also came in pillared versions. Just as today, Cadillac was GM's smallest division by volume produced and sold but its most profitable. Best to offer less and charge a king's ransom for it. 

The big difference between a Calais and deVille were the baubles, bits, trinkets, gizmo's and accessories available. For instance, Calais' seats were leather "textured", there was no vinyl top option, an AM radio was standard, and you had to order a power driver's seat and tilting steering column. But, just like the big boy deVille, Calais came standard with four cigarette lighters. Priorities. 

Unlike Doc Harrington himself, however, his car was all fluff and no stuff as we say. General Motors had long stopped trying to make Cadillac's anything more special than a Buick Electra or Oldsmobile 98, heck, throw in a Pontiac Bonneville and Chevrolet Caprice too by 1969. What had made a Cadillac a "Cadillac" was its engineering innovation; that stuff's expensive to keep coming up with especially if it's not amortized across different lines. By the end of the 1960's, most if not all of Cadillac firsts had trickled down to "lesser" GM makes and models and Cadillac had little to thump its hood over than image if not sheer pretense. I mean, seriously, what is this page from a Cadillac brochure attempting to convey? 

Seems fitting that a man of Doc Harrington's means yet humble nature would drive a Calais. You wouldn't want your traveling pediatrician showing up to your door to treat your child driving a Chevy or Dodge, would you? Then again, you don't want them showing off exactly how good they had it either. Fine line to walk and Cadillac walked that rope quite well back then even if it was all for show. 

1972 Cadillac Eldorado - Are They Really Alive?

I've written so much about Cadillac Eldorado's in all their good, bad and indifferent guises and iterations, that I believe I'm plum tuckered out of things to say about them. I guess I felt bad for this old lion when I saved some of the photos from the Facebook ad for it decided to write something about it. If for no other reason out of respect for it. 

While a 1967-1970 Eldorado might have a place in my Jay Leno Fantasy Garage, these 1971-circa reboots, that I think turned the once proud, cutting edge designs into parade floats, I'd rather see used to help prevent beach erosion. These came in convertible form too which only accentuated their floppiness. 

This patina rich Eldo strikes a chord with me reminds me as it reminds me of when I would visit my father in various nursing homes he was shuttled around to at the end of his life. One in particular with an indifferent staff and stinking of cheap institutional food, bleach, urine and feces - a god awful place. Many rooms filled with ghastly old people staring blankly at the ceiling with mouths agape. No one with them, heart monitor beeping slowly. I hope they were high as kites oblivious to their situation. Where they really alive? 

Who would buy this and why? Asking price is $4,000 which I think fair but still, a lot of money to put down on something that'll need twice that to stop people from putting their noses up. It probably has a ton of heart warming stories to tell if it could. That bug deflector tells me it was perhaps a retired couple's dream car and they used this gas-inhaling hog to tour the country. Then one of them passed and the other lost the drive to make such trips and it got stored, maybe for a time outside so the elements got the best of it for a while. We'll never know. Best to look away and pretend not to see it - like I did seeing those poor souls in that nursing home my father was in years ago. 

 

2000 Cadillac Eldorado ETC - Somebody Else's Problem

This 2000 Cadillac Eldorado ETC (Eldorado Touring Coupe) came up in my latest "cheap car search" this past weekend. With 90,000 miles on its twenty-two-year-old digital odometer and with an asking price of just $6,995, on paper at least, this is the car of my dreams. Knowing how an innocent enough find can turn into something, for better or for worse, I made the forty-minute drive to see and test drive it. I did more than kick its tires too. I didn't abuse the car, per se, that would be, ahem, childish, but I did feel like 17-year-old me again standing on a powerful car for the first time. Gosh, do kids beat on their parent's cars anymore? 

Long and short, I wasn't so much disappointed with this car as I found it underwhelming. And it wasn't like the fact the air conditioner compressor was seized up, the power antenna wouldn't go up and the passenger side window wouldn't go down from the driver's door switch had anything to do with my ambivalence towards it either. Nope. While it was a whole lot more put together and sorted out than the Eldorado ESC I drove about a year ago, what a bomb that thing was, I found it "just ok". The ride was rather squishy, the brakes felt vague, steering had minimal feel when I leaned into it on highway on and off ramps too. The car felt enormous and not in a good way; I used to love big cars, what's gotten into me? Even when I tried to put the gas pedal through the firewall, the experience of spooling up the 300-hp Northstar V-8 wasn't as visceral as I thought it would be. This boat weighing in on the dark side of two tons no doubt had a lot to do with that but has speed and power become such a commodity that I'm not impressed by it anymore? 

Maybe the "Magnasteer" Speed Sensitive Steering, Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension, Stabiltrack Chassis Control and Electronic Level Control had all seen better days. All that stuff helping to jack up the original MSRP to more than $46,000. Holy smokes. Much like on any car portending to be a high-end luxury car, all that gear is scary expensive to repair. Frankly, I don't think they make for an altogether "better car" or one that's reliable and durable either. I've never seen a Cadillac of this vintage with the kind of miles my 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo has on it: 253,000 and counting.  Seriously, have you? Could it be because stuff like "Stabiltrack" and what not cost too damn much to repair? The owner of the lot where this was said he had about $3,000 into it already and was just trying to recoup some of what he spent. I think it's going to need at least that much more to really get it right. 

Despite it being really soft, the ride was pleasant, though and I wouldn't mind it on my insanely long commute to and from the office. Cross country drives as well. The seats were like thrones and the leather was luscious. I loved the color combination too even if it felt a little too "old man-ish" for me. 

Unlike most people, I can talk myself out of just about anything. And to jump out of my matronly but beloved 2002 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo and into this simply because I could, didn't seem to me like the best use of my time and dollars. Had this sucked my bifocals off perhaps I'd think differently. Besides, I like the way my Dale rides and handles better. I really do. It might want for another fifty to a hundred more horsepower but aside from that, it's a comfy old shoe that gives me just enough steering wheel feedback to keep things somewhat entertaining. 

I'm glad I spent the afternoon with this handsome oldie, though. I got it out of my system, and I'll never be plagued with the dreaded "what if's" or "woulda-shoulda's". If this is about as good as these are these days, best I stick to what I know and keep the Dale around. And when the head gasket finally blows on this big aluminum lump, it'll be someone else's problem. 

This vintage of Eldorado was the last go-round for Cadillac's "personal luxury car" that was first introduced in 1953 as a show car to celebrate Cadillac's fiftieth anniversary. Introduced in 1992, it was based on the E-body chassis that Cadillac rolled out to disastrous results in 1986. Eleven inches longer than the model it replaced, Cadillac welding on three inches to the stubby '86 models in 1989 too, Cadillac made incremental changes to it through 2002. By then, the personal luxury car market had all but dried up. The last vestige of one meeting the grim reaper after model year 2007. That being, ironically enough, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. 

 

1983 Cadillac Coupe deVille - It's All About the Bass

This isn't just another overpriced Facebook Marketplace find, friends. Well, it is to some extent but when you scratch below the surface, this 1983 Cadillac Coupe deVille, priced ambitiously at $7,500, is a lot more interesting than your run of the mill Cadillac of this vintage that's been sitting in a garage since grandpa and or grandma passed away. 

Thanks in large part to what the poster of the ad claims is a "newly done 500", appears one of the major problems with this car has already been taken care of. That meaning that the boat anchor HT4100 it came from the factory with has been mercifully tossed and in its place is a god's green earth, "old school", Cadillac V-8 dropped in. Handsomely too I might add. Have to take their word that it's a "500". Could be, frankly, anything from a 368 to a 425 or 472. Hard to tell one from the other. In any event, any of those big mills are a marked improvement over the feeble and unreliable 4100.   

But wait, there's more. Oh, so much more. For your $7,500, you also get a sound system that could blow out the walls of a movie theater. This three-thousand-watt, American Bass amplifier is the heart of whole thing. 

You also get this custom-built sound cube in the trunk. Probably is removable, the ad didn't get too much into specifics. Looks like there might be enough room to get some groceries around out. I don't "get it" but some people most certainly do. 

The icing on the cake is this "CC" or "Custom Coach" front grill complete with a Rolls Royce spirit of ecstasy knockoff. Looks like a giant golden wasp landed on the hood but that's just me. These things are crazy expensive too. Quick ebay search and you'll find this thing could go for more than what the engine cost. Not to mention the sound system. 

 

Part of me wants this car just so I can show off that front end and have people whisper things about me behind my back. "Has...has...Charley lost his mind?"

Install of the "head unit" looks clean enough, although the plug-in screen looks as out of place as a modern flat screen TV in the living room of a Civil War era home. At least it unplugs and tucks away neatly. Can't say the same for the faded red carpeting. 

The closer you can get this to 5G the better the buy it is. I'm not interested in the sound system or the front grill anyway. I'd get rid of most of that stuff and sell it, then restore this to as much factory as possible. I'd floor the gas any chance I'd get so as to enjoy the massive torque from that "newly done 500". It is all about the bass, as they say. Right? 

1998 Cadillac Sedan de Ville - Word Association

This 1998 Cadillac Sedan de Ville with only 83,000 miles on it is for sale in Elberfield, Indiana with an asking price of $1,000. Why's a pretty clean car like this with so few miles on it going for so little in this insane used car market? Let's play some word association. I say "Cadillac Northstar" and you say? Ding-ding. "Blown head gasket?"  Correct. 

That's too bad. These last of the K-body DeVille's aren't handsome and have aged terribly but they're super comfy cruisers and are packed with features. These seats are to die for. And when the Northstar isn't breaking your heart and back account, it runs smoothly and provides adequate scoot. And it runs on regular. 

I'd figure $2,500 to $3,000 to swap the head gasket on this. Hopefully with the fix it won't eat another one. Get a good warranty too. I wouldn't use a cheapie garage and it's certainly not something shade tree hacks like me should do either. What might be fun is to swap in a 3800 V-6. Certainly, more than doable and could be less expensive. It won't have near the punch of the Northstar but it would be far more reliable. However, you're going to have look hard to find a shop that will do it if you can't do it yourself. 

Problem with the Northstar engine was the head bolts didn't stay seated in the block. They became "loose" and compromised the head gasket causing overheating. Problems arising usually on engines that would have these issues between 80,000 and 110,000 miles and 1996-1999 Cadillac's were the most notorious. This '98 here is like a case study. 

Problems with these engines wasn't allegedly rectified until 2005 so that means there's a lot of Cadillac's with the Northstar that have gone to an early crusher. I can't tell you how many Eldorado's with the Northstar I've swooned over but passed on because of it. Damn shame. Personally, I wouldn't buy this car or any Cadillac with the Northstar even if the head gasket was good or had been replaced. Just too risky. 

Cadillac switched the DeVille to the K-body chassis in 1994 that underpinned the Seville. 1994-1996 models have pseudo fender skirted rear quarter panels that they eliminated on the 1997-1999 models. Made for an awkward look akin to what GM did with the Chevrolet Caprice starting in 1993; it wasn't meant to look like this from the start. Combine wonky styling with the Northstar issues and it's no wonder Lexus got such a foothold in this county as quickly as they did.  

Elberfeld, Indiana is a tiny town on the Indiana-Kentucky border less than an hour from Evansville and roughly 90 minutes or so west of Louisville. Population as of 2010 was 625. 
 

2023 Cadillac Escalade V - I'm as Drunk as Cooter Brown

Cadillac dropped a big tease this past week when they semi-kinda took the proverbial sheet off their new for '23, Escalade V.  Just so you know that's "V" as in "Vee" not five. Can't blame you for perhaps being a little confused since this "V" is, coincidentally, part of the fifth generation of 'Slades. And "V" in Cadillac-eese since 2004 means super-duper performance. Super-duper expensive too. Rest assured this will come in north of $125,000 making it the most expensive Cadillac ever. 

Cadillac was vague on details, there's a full reveal in May, but rumor has GM's LT4, supercharged, 6.2-liter V-8 will be behind this massive grill that's larger than the already too big grill on lesser Sladers. It's the same engine found in the CT5-V Blackwing where it makes 668-horsepower and 659-foot-pounds of torque. Holy. Crap. Where has that thing been all my life? Anyhoo, the big sell with the Slade V is that with the LT4, it'll be amongst the fastest and most powerful luxury SUV's in the world.

A three-ton-plus, $125,000 Cadillac that can do 0-60 in under four seconds. Well, I'm as drunk as Cooter Brown. Where do I sign? 

If I don't "get" luxury SUVs in general so what am I to make of a high-performance one? Especially from Cadillac, a brand that I still liken to trash from the 1970's and 1980's. '90's too if you throw in anything powered by the Northstar V-8. Aren't there better ways to spend enormous amounts of money on a vehicle? And one that's not a freakin' Cadillac? 

For my money, if I had it in the huge troves that would allow me to write the monthly stipend for one of these and not think twice about it, although they're not quite as fast, I'd spring for at least a Mercedes-Benz GLS AMG or BMW X7 M50i. I'd also cross shop an Aston Martin DBX and even a Lamborghini Uros just to tell the boys down at the country club I looked at those before settling on the Benz or Bimmer. Not some Cadillac. 

1970 Cadillac Coupe deVille - They Said There'd Be No Math

Today's Facebook Marketplace gem is a 1970 Cadillac Coupe deVille originally hailing from the great state of Utah and now resides in god forsaken Lorain, Ohio roughly thirty miles or so west of Cleveland. Thanks to the ship building industry, Lorain used to be a bustling little city on the shores of Lake Erie but when the plants closed Lorain became a ghost town. Through my goggles, somehow this big old, patina rich Cadillac fits right into the motif of what's left of the town. 

Cadillac built a "Coupe deVille" from 1949 through 1993 in various guises and with the exception of the 1985-1988 models, they were all big if not ginormous. At 225 inches long, our 1970 here was replaced in 1971 by a model that was just under an inch longer. That was nothing, though. By 1976, due to federally mandated five-mile per hour "safety bumpers", a Coupe deVille was more than 230 inches long; try backing that sucker up let alone this one in the undersized parking garage at the mall. Well, no one goes to malls anymore so you should be ok. This vintage was originally launched, or were, ha-ha, christened, in 1965 with GM making subtle and not so subtle styling changes every year through 1970.  

Biggest visual difference is the headlights on the 1965-1968 models are stacked, on the '69 and '70 models they're side-by-side. Personally, I prefer the side-by-side look but I wouldn't kick a stacked headlight '65-'68 model out of my garage. Under the hood, 1965-1967's have the 1964 vintage Cadillac 429 engine; '68-'70's have the "472". 

Cadillac generously claimed the "472" made three hundred seventy-five (gross rated) horsepower. I back about forty-percent off that gross rating to get the net output and, they said there'd be no math when I started this blog, that puts it at about two hundred twenty-five brake horses. These big mills being all about torque, slicing forty-percent off the gross torque rating of five hundred twenty-five foot-pounds gives us roughly three hundred and fifteen. Which seems about right given these handsome 4,700 brutes were clocked zero-to-sixty in around ten seconds. Certainly "slow" by today's standards but more than adequate fifty-years ago. I'd ditch this insane gas hog of an engine for an LS but...that's just me. 

1969 and 1970 Cadillac's are hard to decipher from one another. I always go by the front grill with the 1970's having more of an egg grate versus the 1969's more slotted design. The challenge there is remembering which year goes with which grill. Whoops. There I go telling tales out of school as to how us "spotters" tell one model year from another. Wheel covers are different too with the '69's wearing the same discs Cadillac had going back to '65; the handsome chrome on the '70's is unique to that model year. That means good luck finding one if you need one. This one here has all four. Bonus!

The exterior appears to have been a light blue but the interior? A light green, perhaps? If I had my druthers, I wouldn't touch the exterior save for maybe fixing that rust spot on the lower passenger side front fender and leaving the area in primer. Hopefully that's the extent of the rot. Seeing it's a Utah car there's a good chance that's it. If this were a car native to northern, Ohio I'd say run away. Far, far, away. And as quickly as possible before you fall in love with this car's multitude of charms. 

The interior I'd reupholster although that would mean giving up what appears to be layers of Autozone seat covers and Aunt Beatrice's best throw rug. Change the carpet and door panels too although finding a passenger side door panel or, "card" as they call them, might be challenging. These aren't exactly "catalog" cars. Hopfully the dash isn't cracked but seeing it's from a sunny climate, well, sunnier than Cleveland, chances are that'll have to be swapped out too. 

So, in the end, seeing how expensive good paint jobs cost these days, we'd have a painfully cool looking rat-rod with a luxurious interior that you could drive anywhere. And for not a lot of money either, relatively speaking. What could be better? 

 

1971 Cadillac Eldorado - Nice To Think About

Another day as we say and another Facebook Marketplace gem. This time by way of relatively nearby Toledo, Ohio we have this 1971 Cadillac Eldorado convertible and I can't tell you how much I want to call on it to at least kick the tires in person and take it for a spin. While I'm at it ride on that swing set and hobby horse too. Of course I won't as the idea of doing so is most always more fun than actually doing it. I'm not into wasting anyone's time either. Still, fun to think about it. If it were a tad closer I might think more seriously about it but I have better things to do than drive three-hours round trip to joy-ride some old hoopty I have no real intention of buying. 

One of the most compelling things about this car is it has an asking price of a scant $6,500 and the only thing the seller claims it needs is a paint job. Well, to do it right that would not be cheap not but if that is all this needs, with a three to four thousand dollar paint job, all in for around ten-grand this might not be a bad investment. Challenge of course would be recouping expenses; in particular if I bought this with the intent to flip it at a profit. These cars in fair condition are valued by Haggerty at some $12,500 but nine times out of ten I've found those values to be generous. Makes you wonder why this one would go for so little. Then again, that hour and half or so traipse west might just answer that question for me. 

The first Cadillac Eldorado was introduced in 1953 as part of Cadillac's fiftieth anniversary celebration. Named by a Cadillac employee, through 1955 all Eldorado's where convertibles; a hard top model was added in 1956. The Eldorado was built on Cadillac's C-body chassis through 1966 and was switched to General Motor's E-body for 1967 sharing it with the Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Rivera. Whereas Buick chose to keep the running gear of the Riviera "conventional", meaning front-engine, rear wheel drive, Cadillac chose to adopt the front-wheel-drive, "Unitized Power Package" that Oldsmobile used on the Toronado; only difference being Cadillac used their proprietary V-8 engine and not the Oldsmobile engine. There was no convertible Eldorado for 1967; the first time there was none since the model was introduced in 1953. 

That lack of a convertible Eldorado changed with the literal "big-reboot" for 1971. Cadillac overhauled their entire lineup for 1971 and along with a new deVille and Fleetwood line, Eldorado was changed significantly as well. Although less than an inch longer overall, the new Eldorado rode on a wheel base more than six-inches longer; no doubt the bump in wheelbase was to enable the optional convertible top to fold down on top of the rear deck of the car and not take up much if any space in the trunk. The Eldorado was the only convertible offered in the Cadillac line starting in 1971.  

In my opinion, these Eldorado's are one of the few automobiles that actually looks best in convertible form. Fixed room versions are pillared and the look, again, through my goggles, is awkward, clumsy and extremely bulky; I like a big car but even I have my limits. These are not svelte automobiles and along with the bulging rear fenders, a lovely if pointless throw-back styling detail that went into the dumpster on the 1973's, made the cars look even larger. The convertible top helps to trip the over all bulk of the design and add at least some sort of sporting elan to the whole thing. 

While the previous models were hardly "sporty" in terms of their road manners, Cadillac softened the suspension settings on these cars for an even more cloud-like ride. Riding like a cloud does a car no favors when the going gets choppy or twisty but Cadillac determined that kind of super cushy, floaty ride was what their target buyers wanted. They probably weren't wrong with that assessment seeing that folks with money back then grew up with cars that rode like farm implements with hard rubber tires or steel wheels. Couple that with primitive roads, and cars like this Eldorado riding on smooth pavement must have been dreams come true. 

These cars shared most of the same dashboard layout other also-new for '71 Cadillac's did; sadly, a wretched affair of hard, life-less injection molded plastic and hard plastic. The leather trimmed interior it shared with other Cadillac's was also inferior to the plusher high quality vinyl found in Buick's and Oldsmobile's. So, what did buyers get with this car that made it worth the substantial tariff to own one? If they weren't into the subtle brilliance of the torque-steer squashing front-wheel-drive hookup and the styling, not much more than perceived prestige and "pride-of-ownership" as you showed off you could afford it. 

That sort of thing doesn't row my boat but it sure did for people of my parents generation, what Tom Brokaw refers to as, "The Greatest Generation". My mother in particular was steadfast convinced to the day she died that there was something truly special about a Cadillac. That may have been true at one time but by the 1970's that sentiment, clearly, was not grounded in reality. 

Still, I'll take this car simply because I like it. Of course I won't but it is nice to think about.