Here’s a sleeping land yacht I captured close to a year ago: A 1975 Sedan de Ville. Seeing driver-condition mid-’70s Cadillacs are quite rare here, so this one was a cool find. Doesn’t look too rusty either…
…until you look at the other side. Yes, that oh-so-1975 padded white vinyl roof trapped water inside–said water finding the sheetmetal beneath quite tasty. Still, this one is a survivor–in fact this one was sold new just a couple blocks from where it sat in downtown Davenport–Warren Langwith Pontiac-Oldsmobile-Cadillac (long since razed).
My only question is, was this car someone’s garaged baby until recently? Look, even the filler panels are in good shape! Perhaps someone got this car cheap out of an estate and is now running it into the ground? Here’s hoping that is not the case, and that the primer on the C-pillar is the beginning of a refurbishment!
I don’t know what the hell is the matter with me today, but for some reason, I want that car today. Gad, I need a vacation!
Jim! Snap out of it! Study this brochure and lie down for a bit. 🙂
http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1966/66Match/index.htm
This is one Cadillac I can live without. They did not age well
Definitely has that stereotypical 70s gangster car look down perfectly.
Agreed – especially without any hubcaps.
It just needs the ’75 New York State orange and blue plates…
We used to call these ‘Sedan De Excess’ – I worked for a pinstriper at the time these were new… fun job…
He needs to get that stupid vinyl roof stripped off and the metal under it repaired or it will be a convertible before the running gear wears out.
True that, because the running gear will likely never wear out! Those 500 Cadillac Engines are nearly bulletproof.
Ha, ha… Bulletproof gangster car
That first photo is almost post-apocalyptic. That’s what the world usually looks like in movies after all the humans (except maybe Tom Cruise or Will Smith) have been eliminated by some awful thing
Here’s another one you might like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/3888292414/
The “Theme from Shaft” went through my head, when I opened that link.
Every car on that street is huge….
It was the them from Shaft mixed with some Lalo Schifrin, I expected to see Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider come around the corner…..
“In a world where all life has been eliminated, one man and one lone Sedan de Ville roam the wastelands searching for fuel….and freedom…..”
This summer….
I’d watch it.
The Road Warrior would’ve been much better if Mel had been driving a clapped-out Sedan de Ville. Agreed?
No, he was a Bronze and was driving a Bronzemobile. Who cares if it was a supercharged 351 stuffed with the ducks guts. It was still MFP issue. Now, the Humungous or the Toady, they would have been in this Caddy, ’cause they could always threaten the minions for more fuel, but not Max.
Would have made it a lot more difficult to out-run the bikers though. Also there weren’t too many SdV police interceptors (HWP)!
Not if the Bronze has a supercharged 500 sticking out of the hood.
A 73 de Ville was used in the excellent 2006-8 post-apocalyptic TV series ‘Jericho’. The car used appeared to be in excellent condition, but even so I felt it suited the post-apocalyptic environment beautifully!
I wonder what percentage of vinyl-roofed broughams (not just Broughams) were lost due to under-roof rust. It makes me think of those old ads where doctors would tell you that Chesterfields were the healthiest cigarettes… but they all turned out to be deadly.
It wasn’t Chesterfields it was Camels. See the Cigarette Century by a Harvard professor of medical history.
I thought it was Kent that as the “Healthiest cigarette”, you know, with the asbestos filled “micronite” filter?
I can’t believe how many of those stupid cig jingles I can still do perfectly. Talk about programming!
I have the same car, a ’76, in Sperm whale blue. Needs a little TLC (bumpers are rusty), but will make a decent cruiser. For some odd reason, the driver’s side of the vinyl roof is cherry, but the other side is dry-rotted, and yet, it doesn’t look replaced.
is that Innsbruck Blue Metallic?
I’m guessing that it is Crystal Blue Firemist, but don’t have the build tag and colour code handy. The subject car looks to be Cerise Firemist.
I’m pretty sure the car I shot was a nonmetallic red. I think it is Roxena Red (image from automotivemileposts.com):
I would agree. My eyes are getting a bit too beady these days, combined with a few decades of paint fading. I don’t recall seeing too many red survivors, but there seems to be plenty of blue examples out there.
I actually did shoot a pristine Cerise Firemist Coupe de Ville at the Monmouth show last August. Here’s a preview. Yet another CC I need to write up soon 🙂
And don’t forget about the Cerise Firemist ’75 Fleetwood Brougham I wrote up last year: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1975-cadillac-fleetwood-brougham-the-broughams-brougham/
Tom… Please, don’t torture me with that ’75 CDV. I love ’75-’76 Coupes & Broughams (such as the Fleetwood you wrote up previously). God, what a beauty, AND, a for-sale sign and you didn’t grab her?
Oh how sweet that Cadillac would look next to my ’79 Seville in the garage, but alas… there are only 3″ to spare in length beyond the Seville’s 204″ in my ‘Internationally-sized garage 🙂
I think I just might have to buy some vintage Old Chicago bricks & build out the garage next spring. Then, kick out the Jeep to make room for another Cadillac.
I too have a 75 Cadillac CC that needs to be written, my CC is Georgian Silver Poly, or at least it used to be….
A new Cadillac color for ’75 was Vapor Mist -that flat grey. Interestingly, that flat grey became far more popular (on everything from Cordobas to Town Cars and Mark Vs) than it ever became on Cadillacs.
Not withstanding, here’s my Brougham in said color (by ’76 the color chart said ‘Vapor Grey’).
And Driver 8, you definitely need to put a Sedan DeVille or a Brougham next to that Seville -they make you REALLY appreciate just how ‘International’ the Seville was in comparison!
Nice Brougham, its almost white with just a touch of grey added.
76=Seville <That Fleetwood is beautiful! 'Vapor gray', wow… what a name. Looks like it just rolled off of the assembly line. The car looks great in that color too.
But, trust me… although I'd love to have an additional Cadillac, I have to tell ya, I def do know the size difference first-hand.
In my family, there have been easily over 10 Cadillacs from '67-ish thru the mid '80's that I rode in and/or detailed and maintained regularly. In addition, I owned one of (if not) the longest production GM sedans from that era, a 1976 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight Regency Sedan (and my Mom had the twin that year) Mine, Black on black on black, and my Mom's, light blue with dk blue interior. Her's had no vinyl roof.
I need to dig thru some ancient pictures for the forum here 🙂
BTW, how long have you owned that car and where does it live? It looks flawless. And I honestly have never seen a Cadillac of that era in that color combo. That white-gray paint, dove gray roof and navy interior… what a looker. How many miles on it?
I love this site. I am SO glad I finally signed up here instead of just reading for all these years!
Dorsal view with fins.
Stunningly beautiful Dean.
I love that ’76 roof treatment and colour scheme.
This has what you call “road presence”. haha
reminds me a bit of the car in this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugqUtjMeB-s
Appears it’s been registered a few years for sure (renewal stickers), but not too many. The original owner would have had raised-letter stamped plates from 1996/1997. As a side note, the plate pictured would have recently been replaced with black-letter plates.
I’ve seen it happen as mentioned earlier where one side of the car is great but the other side is not so much. This typically can happen with one semi long term owner where the car is always parked in the same spot every day and the sun constantly shines on the same side.
so much potential
Although I prefer the 72/3 shape (where the upper and lower body lines joined into a subtle point by the taillights), I’d have this in a heartbeat! Gotta love 70s Caddies 🙂
Scott, funny how subjective this all can be.
My Mom had a 1973 SDV in that very same color combo light blue, white top & white leather (the actual car I stole all summer, at age 13, every few days to joyride with my best friend.
I disconnected the speedo cable under the car & then re-connected it, as well as refilled the fuel BTW… @ .83c per gallon, to the exact level where it was b4 embarking on our daily jaunts, all before her return from work (malaise car-pull times). Perfectly detailed upon her return.
Anyhow, that very aspect of styling that you prefer, is the main styling feature I did not like on the ’71-’73 body and was thrilled when they re-styled in ’74-’76.
At any rate, I do love them all, especially ’70s and early 80’s… more Cadillac posts please! (It’s NEVER enough)
(ps: I do have some stories about those under-aged joyrides with her and other family member’s cars for future posts).
Check out that sweet first gen H-body Oldsmobile across the state.
I’d say that the filler panels on this are the aftermarket replacements. The paint doesn’t quite match and that chrome door edge trim wouldn’t fit on the OE polyurethane ones.
I’m thinking that the panels around the taillights are replacements, but the fender-blade fillers are originals. That’s not an unusual order for them to go bad (I had a 74 like that). The fender fillers still have the some of the original pseudo-chrome edging. If they had been replaced, that would either be gone or replaced with new shiny stuff probably from a roll of the door edging you can buy at Many, Moe & Jack (been there, done that).
The missing trim at the bottom of the right front fender is another common trait; that side rusts first because the A/C drain is behind that panel.
There is some luster still in that paint, leading me to believe this car has spent at least some time stored.
These are unkillable cars that are very comfortable rides, are pretty easy to fix, and make good drivers as long as you are OK with the 13-14 MPG (hey, an equivalent Lincoln will be under 10).
The family that lived next door to my grandmother owned a Cadillac dealership, and each year the wife got a new red Cadillac sedan. I remember she had a ’75 in this exact red with a red vinyl roof and red leather inside. It was a gorgeous car. When the 1976 models she stepped up to a Fleetwood, but stuck with the red.
It looks like someone got this car cheap on CL and is now his/her ‘beater’.
I think the DeVilles of 75-76 are not as garish as the same year Park Ave/98 Regencys. Only don’t care for the plaid interiors on the 76 Calais.