Tag: Cadillac

A Cimarron By Another Name

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Note: Today’s guest post was written by a mystery contributor! Enjoy. -TK

We all know the story of the Cadillac Cimarron, a badge engineered J-body created to be an entry level offering from Cadillac in the early 1980’s. Many “enthusiasts” (who lease homely imports like CR-Vs with absolutely no sense of irony) like to beat up on the Cimarron and make an example of it for their own amusement and inflate their tiny egos. They wax poetically about how crappy they were, how they were the turning point in history and the reason why Cadillac fell from grace, and how it was the beginning of the end for General Motors, who they feel deserved to die.  Heck, some self-proclaimed journalists even call it a Sin of some sort (as he or she may or may not drive to Dollar Tree for ramen noodles). Continue Reading →

1986 Cadillac Cimarron: Or, How I Learned To Trigger 86% Without Really Trying

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I’m sure a few remember this car. No, not the Cimarron in general. This exact car. I wrote it up earlier this year. At the time it was offered on Craigslist and in Middletown, CT. For a mere three grand. Well it’s back, now in New York, and the current bid is $7300.

Yes, so many expend so much vitriol on these. But I always liked them. Chalk it up to seeing one up close in 1988 at the Chicago Auto Show. In particular, the later ones like this ’86, with the composite headlamps, cladding, nice alloys and 2.8L V6. Was it still clearly a J-body GM product? Sure. But all the little refinements, especially to the nose and tail, made for a much more cohesive and upscale look, at least in your author’s opinion. Continue Reading →

This Week’s Klockau Lust Object: 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham

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My friend and fellow Cadillac nut Jayson Coombes sent me this link to another Fleetwood Brougham on ebay earlier this week.

Of course, I had to immediately investigate. It appears to be a nice, if not showroom new, with some rust creeping in on the door bottoms, but pretty solid for a forty two year old East Coast car. Claimed one owner car, which I’ve always thought a little disingenuous, since the classic car dealer wasn’t the one who bought it new. But I digress. Continue Reading →

Searching for Brougham in 2021: 2018 Cadillac CTS AWD

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Over the past six months or so, I have been haunting my preferred local dealerships, McLaughlin Cadillac and Strieter Lincoln, for a potential replacement for my 2000 Town Car Cartier, which is approaching 182,000 miles as of this writing.

The short list: Lincoln MKZ, Lincoln Continental, Lincoln MKS, Cadillac XTS and Cadillac CTS. No combover. No pickup. No SUV. Sedan. Preferably with all wheel drive, as there’s a steep hill up to my condo. Brian Cox, at McLaughlin, and Peter Clarke, at Strieter, are keeping me in the loop on recent trade ins. And so it was on a Saturday several weeks ago I found myself behind the wheel of a 2018 CTS AWD with 28K miles, finished in decidedly non-conformist Adriatic Blue. No silver silvermist for me, thank you very much.

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This Week’s Klockau Lust Object: 1988 Cadillac Fleetwood d’Elegance

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Today I spotted this front wheel drive ’80s Cadillac on Baltimore Craigslist. Painted in most excellent Sapphire Blue Firemist with matching coach roof and blue velour interior, it cuts a formal look only improved by the new for ’88 4.5 liter V8, which ended the HT4100’s reign of slowness.

It was a much more robust engine, too, with none of the reliability shenanigans the early 4.1s liked to pull. With 155 hp and 240 lb-ft of torque and weighing in at around 3,450 lbs at the curb, it was good power for the time, too.

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1968 Cadillac Eldorado: It’s Good To Be King

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Yes, that’s right, another Cadillac post. You know the drill! I am nothing if not predictable. So let’s check out this week’s Klockau Lust Object. The 1967 Eldorado, though made possible through the production of the remarkable 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, was a sharp car-literally and figuratively.

I first became aware of these via ads in old National Geographics back in middle school. Though the cars were only about twenty years old then, they blew my mind. Nothing like the Mini Me Eldorados then in production (circa 1987-89). Slightly later on I was given some old “Spectraflame” Hot Wheels my Uncle Dave had as a kid. One of those was a deep blue Custom Eldorado – which I still have.

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This Week’s Klockau Lust Object: 1976 Cadillac Seville

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On Tuesday, I spied this early Seville online. I zeroed right in, as my Cadillac radar began going awooga, awooga! This one looked amazing, in Claret Metallic with an Antique Light Buckskin interior. I always liked these, they give off an American Judge Smails-era Silver Shadow vibe, to me at least. The K-body Seville was the first Cadillac in years that wasn’t parade-float sized, and it looked good.

Anyway, this one is on offer on Marketplace for five dollars shy of eleven grand. As the seller related, “I am RELUCTANTLY offering my 1976 Cadillac Seville for sale. I am a long-time member of the Cadillac-LaSalle Club and an avid Cadillac collector. I have owned this car since 2011. Prior to my ownership, my former employer owned the car since 1985.”

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1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. My favorite? Well, depends on the day…

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I love 1970 Cadillacs. It goes way back. In first grade, my friend Luke Carlson’s mom had a 1970 Fleetwood Brougham. A coppery gold metallic, with white leather, white vinyl roof and black dash and carpet. By 1988 it was a little rough, but it still had…presence. Something you don’t really have with any modern Cadillac save the now-cancelled CT6 and current Escalade.

What was the last year Cadillacs were really Cadillacs. In the true and healthy post WWII, successful, gin drinking, golf playing Don Draper type businessman sense? 1964? 1966? 1972? A case could be made for any or all of those years. But I’m on my third screwdriver of the evening and don’t want to delve too deeply into it; feel free to play it out in the comments. My friend Laurie Kraynick has perhaps the most gorgeous ’70 Fleetwood Brougham in all of civilized humanity, in its choice aqua hue, with matching interior and black vinyl roof, but this morning I was drawn to this stunning example in Sable Black with gold brocade interior, espied on eBay.

Starting with its inception in 1902 and continuing more or less through the Sixties, Cadillac produced well-built, well-finished, impressive–and expensive–cars. Inside and out, wherever you looked you saw chromed, die-cast metal, leather, fine fabrics and extensive gadgetry.

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