Not my car but a dead ringer.
While my motorcycling career was doing well I found myself wanting another car of my own. So the search began. Of course, it had to be another Cadillac.
Looking through the Oakland Tribune’s classified section, I found a ’70 Coupe de Ville. I have always loved that name and its associations. Coupe de Ville… the name of an automotive dream!
The best seats, ever!
I found a gold coupe with a white vinyl top. It had gold leather seats, you could have called the front seats thrones, that’s how they felt with their tall backs. Just like a leather armchair. It was in good shape mechanically and so was the body and interior. Even though the car was only eight years old, it already had the indications of developing rust. The vinyl top had a couple of small rust bumps on the bottom edge of the rear window. But the most telling spots were the bottoms of the front fenders. This was due to the brace that was welded there which collected dirt and moisture and would eventually result in a rusted through area. This was a common problem with Cadillacs of the 196o’s, my ’64 had a similar problem.
The front fenders carried this cool winged emblem that harkened back to the 1940s.
Fins Baby!
The car was big, bold, beautiful, and fast. It had very impressive aggressive styling, unmistakably a Cadillac. The blade front fenders framed a massive hood and grille. The front fender blade tips carried an Egyptian themed wing emblem that had been reprised from the 1940’s. The blade concept continued to the soaring rear quarter panels that ended at tall narrow, tail lights and fenders. Fins were still here, alright! The rear window had a bold V profile, recalling the 1967 ElDorado. The interior had a cockpit style driver oriented instrument panel. Even though it was a big car, once you slipped behind the wheel it shrunk around you like a personal car. The paint responded to my polishing and waxing and it looked pretty sharp for a car belonging to a twenty something year old kid.
I was working full time for GM in Fremont on the second shift, while attending Community College during the day. Now I actually had some money to spend.
I drove that car all over. One memorable trip was to the Lowrider Happening #1 in Fresno. This was one of the first really big, statewide get togethers. One of my friends Art, was really into Lowriders. He belonged to a club, Night Life of Hayward. He had two ’64 Chevys. One was a blue Impala two door hardtop that was lifted with hydraulics. The other, his Wife’s car, was a silver Impala hardtop lowered with cut springs. Both wore the obligatory TruSpoke wires and 5.20 tires. There were a few other of his club members that also worked at GM. We decided to cut work at lunch time on Friday so that we could drive down to Fresno for the show in the morning.
We had our cars packed with our bags and the plan was to meet up a Centennial Hall in Hayward. We were going to “throw a caravan”, drive down as a group. We were lined up and I was surprised to see my buddy Art, along with another one of his club brothers jump into the back seat of my car! I asked who was going to drive his car to the show. He told me that his Wife could handle that, she had a couple of her girlfriends with her. The other club member told me that his girlfriend was doing the same thing. Both of these guys curled up in the big back seat of the Cadillac and fell asleep once we hit the freeway.
The event was something else, and set the tone for most of the Lowrider shows that followed. Cars that were equipped with hydraulics could made to bounce up and down by playing with the switches. A regular car’s driver would be happy to get a little air under the front tires. This show debuted the professional hoppers. They had long travel lifts and they were jacked up in the rear to allow clearance for the rear bumper. The Lowrider culture was really its own thing.
The second big trip I took with my younger Brother and a classmate of his. The friend needed a ride back down to LA. I proposed a trip to Universal Studios, then I’d drop his friend at his Dad’s house. The car ran like a top all through the trip. The big high compression 472 V8 was perfect for high speed cruising and the car was really comfortable for long trips.
Scooter first, car second, that’s just the way it is.
I knew that my work buddies and other guys that I knew were heavily into Lowriders, I was more into the biker scene. The Hayward/Castro Valley riders that I knew had a chopped Harley Sportster, and also usually had a nice fancy car. A clean Cadillac, Grand Prix, or Riviera. I had a chopped black Sportster of my own at the time.
This had been my favorite wheel design for years.
The Mack is back!
My Cadillac wasn’t modified, though I bought my first set of aftermarket alloy wheels for it. It was the only new set of custom wheels that I had ever bought. They were American 200S wheels, sometimes referred to as the “coke bottle’ or Daisy wheels. Mine had a polished rim, with cast texture spokes. I’d admired this style wheel for years. They were shod with Pirelli narrow white wall tires. No cut springs or undersized wire spoke wheels for me! The only other addition was set of big front bumper guards that I ordered from the J.C. Whitney catalog. Of course I had to have an eight track tape player installed.
Looking back, I now consider the ’70 model as the last of the old time Cadillacs. These were big, impressive cars that could hustle, and I enjoyed it tremendously. It was one of my all time favorite cars.
I decided that I was going to start attending college full time, as I really wanted to graduate and get on with my life. I had transferred to San Jose State University after five years of attending two different Community Colleges. That was due to a change in my major, requiring another couple of semesters. My plan was to stop working and use my savings, so that I could concentrate on academics. I’d sell the Caddy, and buy something that was “good on gas.”
That plan didn’t go as intended.
What happened next Jose?
That’s awesome! The 69 and 70 CdVs and Eldos are my favorite and totally agree that after that it was rolling downhill at the crested wreath.
Jose: I’ve always thought that a set of mag wheels and the right sized whitewall tire would made a strikingly different look for cars. I had a neighborhood who put a set of (IIRC) American Vector wheels on a ’73 Coupe de Ville w/ white walls; needless to say, that car really stood out and was a sharp looker! I tend to favor Magnums and ww’s for my
Mopars! 🙂
Truly these Caddies were fine cars in every way .
-Nate
For me I consider 1979 to be the last truly great year of the classic Cadillac’s, while the 1969-70’s are my top favorite Cadillac’s I thought the 1977-79’s were an improvement over the 1971-76 Cadillac’s.
The ’69 and ’70 has grown on me greatly over the years. I don’t know if you can ascribe one year as the beginning of Cadillac’s decline, but it certainly was later than 1970. There’s something about the greens and golds you often see on cars of the ’69 and ’70 model years…they look great (to me). I wasn’t around the first time, however, to get tired of them.
Though I’m very fond of the ’67/68 styling revamp they clearly had declined a bit in quality from the ’65/66 series, especially in the interior, and themselves were a tad less in fit and finish than the peak quality ’64s and earlier Cadillacs, which truly were among the best cars built anywhere at that time. The ’69/70s also slipped a bit imo but still ran well. The big hit came in 1971 to ’76, I owned a like-new ’75 Sed de Ville for a couple of years. Then the 77-’79s improved a bit and as driving machines were far superior to all of them. I rode in and/or owned or drove in all of these when they were new. My first choice to own now would be a ’61 or ’62. imo the 390 was the best Cadillac engine ever and Cadillac quality was at a zenith.
Last summer I found myself in the showroom of a classic car specialist, minding my own business.
And there it was, in all of its massive glory, a 1970 Coupe de Ville. Its asking price corresponds with the car’s size. Granted, its condition is truly stunning.
Numerous pictures here:
https://ruylclassics.nl/ClassicCars/cadillac-coupe-de-ville-maart-1970/?taal=EN
Was there any problem burning unleaded gas?
I was 9 when the rounded ’71s came out. Huge disappointment at the loss of the chisel tip fenders! The retro styling just did not work.
Even though the car was only eight years old, it already had the indications of developing rust.
Standards are different on the west coast.
Ralph ;
Some did fine on the unleaded gasoline, some recessed the valve seats and required valve jobs before 35,000 miles then they were trouble free after that .
Of course, many engines at that time never really ran well due to mandatory smog devices that made them run worse and killed fuel economy, later on the government decided to set standards rather than mandate devices and suddenly, most engines ran better .
-Nate
I would agree that in terms of the mechanicals, these would be the last of the all-out Cadillacs, with the high compression premium gas 472. The detuning started in 1971, as I recall. As for interiors, I put the apex a few years earlier. I missed the front vent windows and the quality of interior bits from earlier cars, so in that respect I would put the “end” of the good Cadillacs at either 1964 or 1966.
But I sure get the attraction. And I really love the gold leather seats. Chrysler and Imperial offered a similar gold interior for a few years in the late 60’s-early 70’s, and I always thought those looked really great.
Being the guy with the biggest, most comfortable car always seemed to result in having passengers. Among my friends, I was that guy for several of my younger years too.
I knew an opera singer (alas, no longer with us) who had a ’70 Fleetwood that he named Isolde. Like any singer who takes on that punishing role (she has a LOT of singing to do, and a lot of it is over and through a large orchestra, and it’s a long role), that Fleetwood was stalwart, despite its age (this was in the ’90s). It had real Cadillac presence.
Great article. I really like that green and think it is a real stand out when seen in person. I also agree about the seats. That’s why I salvaged a seat just like that (in black) to install in my 1 year newer Buick when I was about the age you were at the time of owning this 1970 Coupe de Ville. (I also had those “massive custom fit” bumper guards).
I’ve long had a fascination with low rider culture. It would be great to hear some more stories from those days.
When I was growing up, our next door neighbors got a new Coupe de Ville every fall. He worked for GM, and got the employee discount. This continued for 10 years, until they passed, from the ’65 model to the ’74. Without a doubt, the ’70 was my favorite. Cinnamon Firemist, with a Dark Mauve vinyl top and dark brown interior. They had just taken delivery of it from Buchannan-Smith in Hayward when I came home from high school one day, and it was beautiful.
As a newly minted 1973 2nd Lt. in the USAF I went to a Cadillac dealer to “test drive” a ’70 Coupe de Ville like the one featured. A MSgt. went along for the ride as it was a Friday afternoon and nothing was going on.
We both test drove the car and upon returning to the dealership I told the salesman “no, but thanks”.
Monday morning the Msgt. tracked me down trying to act mad. I asked what his problem was and he said to “follow me”. I decided I’d better humor him. We went to a window and he told me to look at the parking lot. After a few seconds I saw the Cadillac. I laughed. He said he went back the following day and bought it.
I asked him if I could borrow it any time as a gesture of his gratitude. Without a second’s delay he said “hell no”. We both had a laugh, and from then until he was transferred I would occasionally ask him if I could borrow it.
Guess his reply.
I owned this car in the mid ’70’s, leaded premium was still readily available until around 1979. I rode a Harley so I always used leaded premium. I went on an around the country trip by motorcycle in the Summer of 1979. Once I left California it was hard to find. I would use unleaded premium, leaded regular, or unleaded regular, whatever I could find. This was the year of the gas shortages, many stations were closed, some had reduced hours and most limited the quantity you could buy. There were long lines at the pumps all over the country, fights would break out among customers. It didn’t seem like the best time for the cross country trip, though. There was talk that gas rationing would exclude motorcycles, since they were going to be considered recreational vehicles. I figured I’d better go while I still could!
If you look at the picture of my chopper, under the headlight the front wheel of my Cadillac is visible. You can (somewhat) make out the alloy wheel and the whitewall tire. I recently saw some thin line whitewalls in a 20 inch size, they looked okay even with the low sidewalls.
One of the best examples of great timing in my life was getting rid of my 1963 Fleetwood (7.5 mpg on leaded premium) in March of 1979, about 5 months before fuel prices went through the roof. We didn’t suffer shortages in the midwest, but it was painful enough feeding a 6 cylinder Mustang going into 1980. That Cadillac would have become virtually unsellable had I waited.