The thing on your computer screen (or 24% of you on a cell phone if you read DT on mobile) is a Cadillac Seville that has been pushed far beyond the factory’s already-weird bustleback styling. It’s got a chopped roof, rear-hinged back doors, shaved handles, sliding ragtop, satin-black paint, and a wild 383 stroker V8 […]
Somewhere between Detroit elegance and disco fever lies this: a 1980 Cadillac Seville Opera Coupe by Crendor—a coachbuilt monument to excess, opera windows, and the belief that snakeskin and diamond-plate are acceptable automotive building materials. This Seville is a rolling tribute to the era of crushed velvet dreams and mirrored ceilings — but it is […]
In 1976 GM used the Seville name on a standalone model that was the smallest and most expensive car in the Cadillac lineup. Cadillac product managers had noticed an encroaching threat from European luxury cars that were smaller than a high-end American luxury boat (think BMW 6-series, Jaguar E-type/XK, versus a Lincoln Continental or Cadillac […]
The controversial 1981-85 Cadillac Seville was one of legendary GM designer Bill Mitchell’s last designs. The bustle-back rear styling made waves when introduced, but it was the truly horrendous lineup of engines that did the car in. This generation of Seville had three of the most horrendous and half baked engines ever to come out […]
I always found it hilarious that Cadillac used the names of fancy Southern European towns for their luxobarges during the malaise era. Imagine an alternative world where they would have picked cities in Mongolia and sold those cars on shortened chassis — this would be the Cadillac Ölgii Mörön, and it would be the best […]
This next car comes as a tip from Matt V who calls it a “rare, unloved, “bustleback” body style”. I’m not sure about “unloved” because I think it adds a level of style that I love, but then I’m not your average person who would want to buy something as ugly as a brand new Toyota Camry or that podcar (LQ?) they are advertising for the Olympics. Barf. Find this 1985 Cadillac Seville Elegante offered for $7000 in Fremont, CA via craigslist.
This next car came as a tip from Jim who writes; This car is like a mullet with a tuxedo. Yes, like Pabst Blue Ribbon in a champagne flute. Like roadkill served on fine bone china. Like a Raider’s linebacker in full uniform heading to Centre Court at Wimbledon. Like an expensive car featured on Daily Turismo. Find this 1997 Cadillac Seville flower car offered for $6998 in Norwalk, CT via craigslist.
You guys are good at finding the best terrible cars for sale on the internet, but I have to come clean and admit that even though tipper Matt wrote; Caution – this link contains graphic images of a truly hideous paint job…’70s Cadillac Seville appears to be the offspring of a Stutz revival and a bass boat… Regardless, I shrieked when I opened the link. The technical term from the turbocharger noise and vibration industry is kreischen, which is a German word for a screech/squeal/squawk when a turbocharger’s ported shroud isn’t designed correctly, but I digress. This car. Wow. It is really something else. Find this 1979 Cadillac SeVille Opera Coupe offered for $15,995 in Concord, NC via mercado de libros-caras.
What has changed in the past few years that makes me more interested in 1990s Cadillacs? Have I gotten old…or is it that the styling has aged nicely and most of the worst ones are in junkyards? I wouldn’t have looked at one twice a few years ago, and I’m enough of a snob to scoff at a front-wheel-drive luxo-boat with slushbox auto and an HT V8 (the Caddy HT V8 is no Northstar and the HT is generally considered by many to stand for Horrible Turd, but at least this one is PFI and the later 4.5 version of the HT was supposed to be much improved)…but now when I see an Eldorado, DeVille, Allante or Seville from the 90s I take a second look. This could be the symptom of early onset dementia or this could be a sign that these will become collectors items in the next few decades as people realize their charm . Find this 1990 Cadillac Seville STS offered for $4700 in Turlock, CA via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
The controversial 1981-85 Cadillac Seville was one of legendary GM designer Bill Mitchell’s last designs. The bustle-back rear styling made waves when introduced, but it was the truly horrendous lineup of engines that did the car in. This generation of Seville had three of the most horrendous and half baked engines ever to come out […]