Yes, I know there wasn’t really an official “part one”- unless you want to refer to this post as such. Still, again I happen to visit that Opel service center and as usual, near the place some interesting (not to say evocative) CCs were parked.
This 1997-1999 Deville (also top photo) was interesting for a number of reasons; It looked practically new, it’s very rare in Israel, and also quite fitting that I should find this car at exactly the same place where I found this older, pre-facelifted Deville, on which many of you commented.
I’m not a Cadillac expert, but those wheels do not seem original to me. I couldn’t find any other examples of these by searching Google photos. But what does seem apparent is that they are the same size as the originals, so the rear wheels seem to be swallowed inside the body on this face-lifted open rear arches’ model. It might be the wheels’ design that evokes that in me.
Behind the Caddie was this early 1990s Grand Prix. Clearly not one of these, but than they were very popular in Israel in their day, so it’s inevitable some owners would be loured by their charm… enough to preserve them further up the years.
But the best was yet to come:
A true CC, and perhaps this website’s favorite- a 1989 Caprice. Don’t be fooled by the New York license plate- this is an original import (I can tell by the Israeli plate). This one is obviously being used and not preserved in cotton wool.
Hay, it looks alright for its age- got most if not all of its trim, including the wheel covers. Although it does looks like someone tried to burn off the side mirror. I wonder…
So there you have it. I should visit this place more often. I probably will.
The Cadillac’s wheels don’t look like anything Cadillac offered at that time.
Those DeVilles can look pretty nice with the right combination. Few of them on the street are as nice as in the factory photos, but most don’t
Yeah, I still like the chrome wheels which are nice. Chrome wheels always looks nice on Caddy’s. Screw black wheels that are popular today.
I’ve been thinking about these lately, pondering if I’d ever own one as a winter beater (well, yes, the Northstar probably rules it out anyway).
There’s just something about the styling that doesn’t look right, and the facelift didn’t fix it. I’m pretty sure it’s the rear end. Something is unresolved about how the taillights are integrated into the fascia. The contemporary Fleetwood Brougham did it a lot better.
However! The Fleetwood Brougham’s interior was much uglier. It still had the old-school look of the Brougham but without all the nice chrome bits. It looks cheap and tacky. Contrast with the DeVille and Seville: clean lines, nice-looking wood, very minimalist and elegant.
The 2000 redesign was a step back in terms of interior and exterior styling, I feel. That’s an exterior design I also can’t warm to, although it has some alright elements, but they ruined the frontend which was the best part of the 94-99.
William Stopford
Your write up was spot on man, great read and breakdown. However, I think the back Caddy “Blade Lights” were and are still cool, a signature look for sure. I thought the front of this year Caddy was way too conservative and “Safe”.
I like you always thought that Caddy did not get enough credit for using real genuine “Zebrano” woodgrain trim with it’s ultra clean interior design. when new the interior dash layout and design was so clean on these Caddy’s it should have set the bar for interior design within it’s class. The interior simply did not match the exterior design.
Also, very nice, neat Grand Prix. When I was very young – 3 or 4? – I found a copy of the Deutsche AutoKatalog. All in German, of course, but it had photos of every car in the world that year basically. And stupidly, I cut out the pictures and scrapbooked them instead of keeping them intact. So, a lot of cars on the other side of pages were sacrificed. But one car I did save was a rear 3/4 shot of a 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix coupe. I remember finding it so attractive. This was my earliest W-Body memory.
Wow, I noticed that the Grand Prix in the picture has quad seperate quad headlights, and not the traditional “composite” headlights. Looks pretty cool.
These Caddy’s were evolutionary in design language. When new they looked like a newer version of the 1989-1993 De’Ville (which I loved). However, this model seems bloated and aimed more for the pastor / senior citizen crowd demo. However the 2000 all new DTS in all black is smooth excellent. They also became uber cool when Tony Soprano drove one in Soprano’s.
Caddy’s rear “blade” lights were and are still very cool!
The Grand Pricks has quad H4 headlamps, amber front and rear side marker lights and reflectors, and side turn signal repeaters; it’s a European-spec export model. Israeli regs require the repeaters, and neither require nor forbid side markers (and if they’re present they can be amber front/red rear as in America or amber front + rear as in Europe when equipped). The headlamp situation is more complicated: generally Israel requires European-spec headlamps, but US-spec ones that use particular kinds of bulbs are allowed — which is not technically defensible, but »shrug«
Daniel, I think there’s some sort of limited free trade agreement between the US and Israel (on a far lower level than NAFTA) so the exceptions may fall under that.
Could well be. My »shrug« has more to do with the fact that there’s no technically-defensible reason for allowing US-spec headlamps with 9005, 9006, or H7 bulbs but not with 9007, 9011, 9012, H11, or H13 bulbs (for example). very closely identical beam patterns can be generated with any of those bulbs.
…Grand Pricks…
Any chance of you writing an article featuring alternative car (model) names ? So far my number one is the Stincoln Clown Car you came up with.
Chev Crapiece Classic, Olds Gutless Supreme, Ford Clown Victoria, Mercury Marquis de Sade, Ford Expire, Stinkoln Clown Car, Pontiac Ashtray, Pontiac LowRentian, Nissan Mixmaster…I could probably come up with more. 😉
…Chevrolet Cadavalier, Pontiac Stunfire, Mercury Boobcart, Hyundai Exsmell, Plymouth Stundunce, Oldsmobile UnderAchieva, Lincoln Versillys, and that’s without even getting into the car names that mock themselves (Mitsubishi Pajero, Buick Lacrosse, any Toyota festooned with TRD callouts…)
Thank you.
Nissan Deprimera, Opel Kadeath, Volkswagen upyours!, Ford Eskrot (a krot is a slum dwelling).
You missed ‘Dodge Ass-pain’.
…Pontiac Grand Scam, Dodge Die-Nasty, Chevrolet C’mere-you, see-what-I-ate (Camaro Z28), Pontiac Lemons, Cadillac Devil, Mercury Crappi (Ford Crappi outside North America), Ford Bore-us, Honda Accordion, Honda Snivic, Chevrolet Stoilet (Starlet)…plus the list below starting with “Chevrolet Cadavalier” that was accidentally subordinated to the wrong comment.
And whoever speaks French can add the Toyota MR2 to the list of self-mocking car names.
The headlights on that Grand Prix are unusual; no GP of that generation had the sealed-beam lamps in this market. The Caprice has the same “feature”, in that an ’89 should have rectangular composites. Though the ’86 used quad sealed-beam in the newer header panel.
I used to collect auto motor und sport AutoKatalog every year for almost thirty years. Unfortunately, the idiot bookkeeper at the storage centre in Denver made mistake and had my stuff auctioned without my knowledge. I don’t have them anymore, unfortunately.
Do the plates on the Deville say LWYRUP? 🙂
The Isuzu Trooper/Bighorn reminds me: an Acura SLX came up on my local Craigslist last week! Just how few were made?
If I had never seen late 90s Devilles before, I would think their styling was an attempt to recreate a Cadillac appearance by an ’emerging’ auto maker.
From the rear doors backward, it looks like it was styled by a different team. 🙂
Agree. They kept on trying to make rounder versions of the same design language for too long (I’m talking about the early ’00s Deville as well), long after it started to look derivative.
Absolutely. The Fox-based Thunderbird, a car often panned for it’s styling, looks remarkably like an early 90s Coupe Deville. Only better detailed and somewhat less generic. And devoid of that tired GM formal roof line.
Daniel M.
I will not let you get away with calling my favorite car the elegant 1989-1993 Cadillac De’Ville and compare it to the very ugly Thunderbird in your picture.
Please take it back sir (joking). In any case on a serious level the two are not comparable. When new the De’Ville was a smash hit and would go on to sell over 200K units in its second year I think. Leading in it’s class.
That C-pillar is particularly awkward. The door cutout into the roof is too vertical to ‘work’ with the slope of the rear screen.
Old Pete
You make a good point, and I agree. This model had potential, the interior is loaded with genuine exotic “Zebrano” straight grain wood trim. nice perforated leather seats, and the cleanest looking dash board I ever saw (classy and uncluttered). The interior was world class and did not match the ho-hum exterior. I love the rear blade signature Caddy lights.
However, the rest of the car from the front, side angle, wheels, roof line etc. Just did not work for this model. It looked boring and too conservative in styling. The De’Ville generation right before this one, and after this one were solid designs that were well executed!
They strike me as a bad attempt to make a knockoff of a 1994-96 Fleetwood.
Which, of course, they were.
That GP fascinates me. The side script calls out LE, (which is a lower trim level), but the wheels look like they came off of a US Market Grand Prix STE (the highest trim level) of the same vintage.
The sealed beam headlights on this car are unusual to my North American eyes, but I guess the US Market headlamps don’t meet other countries’ specifications. I would love to motor this around town…
The New York license plate is actually from roughly the same era as the Caprice — it’s about a 1988 issue, judging from the sequence. From what I’ve heard, some vendors in New York City sell older license plates (particularly those with the Statue of Liberty image) to tourists… usually for exorbitant amounts. My guess is that’s where the plate originated from.
Great batch of finds here!
There is the possibility of it being a personal import, Israelis coming back from work abroad used certain tax breaks to bring cars with them, and the same applied to people immigrating.
Judging by the front clip (quad headlights, no hood ornament), it looks like an ’86 Caprice
I thought so too based on the headlights, but then I figured that since the Grand Prix had quad headlights, then ’87+ Caprices may have been fitted with quad headlights for the Israeli market. Could easily go either way.
See my comments above in re headlamp standards in Israel.
I was thinking the same thing. The ’86 was the only year that the box Caprice didn’t have a hood ornament, at least in the US market. But, the ’86 had a Caprice emblem mounted directly to the header panel, which this one does not have either. (It could have been removed I suppose.)
Also those round marker lamps are non-standard and rather badly placed–and why would you need them, given the wraparound nature of the indicators? And what of the Chevy bowtie on the fender? That doesn’t belong there. (Though that could be an owner add-on).
A curious car indeed.
The hubcaps on the Caprice are off of an S 10 if I’m not mistaken.
I thought they didn’t look fancy enough to belong on there.
Hubcaps on an ’89 (if that’s what it is) ought to be either wire covers, or the “chrome” plastic slotted discs.
S-10, S-10 based Blazer, fullsize Chevy truck or fullsize Chevy van. Those hubcaps got around the lineup.