Carshow Classic: 1964 Cadillac Sedan DeVille Four Door Hardtop – Every Car Has A Story, But Some Are Just Better Than Others

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(first posted 8/28/2016)   Our motto here is “Every Car Has A Story”, which makes this Cadillac the CC poster child. How many other 52 year old cars can say they are all original except for the A/C compressor, seat upholstery, and bumper side brackets AND have 100,000 miles?

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If you hadn’t guessed, this carshow find Cadillac is one of those cars. It’s currently owned by the original owner’s son; that’s right, this a single family car, with only two owners!

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The owner’s dad bought it new in 1964, as a treat for himself. Remember, a Cadillac was THE luxury car to get back in the day. Cadillac had a reputation as being the “Standard of the World”- that was even their slogan! That reputation was well deserved- look how well this car has held up over these years. However, that reputation would soon change.

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Seeing as how he was the proud owner of a brand new Cadillac, the original owner babied it. The Caddy was originally a Chicago area car, and the current owner remembers his dad taking a rag to wipe road salt and grime off of the rocker panels if he ever drove it in the winter, which wasn’t often. To this day, the car remains rust free- when the owner dropped the fuel tanks to inspect them, a mountain of factory undercoating that had been stuck to the tank fell on his face!

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So how did the car come to be passed from father to son? Well, having grown up with the Cadillac, the owner had fond memories of it- ever since he was fifteen, he had nagged his father about selling it to him. His dad said that he would contact him first IF he ever decided to sell. Well, his mother wanted a new Buick, and she wanted the Caddy gone so she could park her car in the garage. She told her husband to put the DeVille for sale, which he did- he put a for sale sign in the back window, and parked it in the garage!

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That went on for several years, until one day, his wife put her foot down- he’d enjoyed the Caddy for a few decades, and had a few other cars- now it was time for her to get one! So the car went up for sale. But he forgot one thing- to tell his son! Well, the current owner found out while getting dinner with his parents. He says he ran home to lay claim to the Cadillac before anyone else could!

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There was one problem- his dad insisted that the car be kept in a secure garage. The owner didn’t have one at the time, so he improvised- he took the car back to where he was living at the time with the hope that he could convince his landlord to use another one on the property. His landlord was a car guy, and upon seeing the mint DeVille, agreed. They had to take everything out of the garage to make it fit, but it got in there!

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All of the non original parts of the car are for functional reasons. The front bumper brackets (the part that connects the chrome bumper to the body) had to be replaced so the bumper didn’t fall off. The original interior was ratty, so NOS upholstery went in. The A/C compressor is a funny story- while back in the Chicago area with the car, the A/C went out, so the owner gave the compressor to his dad to repair. Well, instead of getting it fixed, his dad just bought a new one and installed it himself!

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The owner still has all of the stuff that came with the car- the brochure, the keychain, the original rubber floormats, and a brush that came with the car to clean it off! The Cadillac is powered by the OHV Cadillac V8, displacing 429 cubic inches and producing 340 horsepower, and that engine is mated to a GM Turbo Hydra -Matic 400 automatic transmission. The engine is original, but was refreshed about 15,000 miles ago. That makes sense, as the car has covered 100,000 miles. When I asked the owner how often he drove the car, seeing as how it’s nearly mint, he told me he drove it often. In his words, “it’s just a car”, and one with a great story at that.