For me, and likely others of my generation, the 1977 to 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille (and Sedan DeVille) is Definitive Cadillac. It is all things Cadillac, good and bad, encapsulated into about 4,300 pounds of sheer unadulterated riding comfort. A lot can be said about these, and a lot has been said, but talking factoids about a car only goes so far; experience with the subject matter adds texture.
Definitive is a variation of definition, and I can define my tangential experience with one example of this era Cadillac. Yes, I’ve written a lot about my family but lately I’ve concluded there is equally good or better gold to be panned by those who were around me during my formative years. It now seems I grew up where I did to allow for exposure to those terrific individuals whose memory could later be shared on the inter-webs.
So let me introduce you to Jim and Tim.
Jim and Tim were fraternal twins. Twins weren’t as much of a novelty as one might think for that time and place; for my combined kindergarten class of approximately seventy, there were four sets of twins. The soil was obviously not the only highly fertile thing in thinly populated Alexander County, that southern most county in Illinois.
Jim and Tim were highly intelligent but had the dangerous combination of being off-the-chart boisterous combined with having been change-of-life babies for their parents, two very good people who seemed to yearn for a different stage of life. Jim and Tim were considerably younger than their other brothers but equally red-headed. With kindergarten at that time being a half-day, and being in the afternoon section opposite Jim and Tim, I didn’t know them until first grade.
Early on, Jim and Tim were successful in letting everyone know their mother Delilah had a rather new Cadillac, these being the days when Cadillac was seemingly only outgunned by Rolls-Royce in the luxury car world – or at least it seemed that way to a country boy like me. Of course, everyone knew Delilah’s Cadillac anyway as she, from whom much of the twin’s boisterousness sprang, always shuttled them the eight or so miles to the school.
Rumor had it this shuttling was prompted by an incident when the twins were in kindergarten. When Mr. Simmons, the semi-retired bus driver whose threshold for baloney was nonexistent, dropped them off one day in front of their rural house, one of them supposedly got in front of the bus, grabbed the front bumper, and yelled “I dare to run over me, god damn you!”.
Five year olds can be so precocious.
www.schoolbusdriver.org
There has never been any report of how Mr. Simmons responded, other than not dumping the clutch of that old GMC bus. Mr. Simmons carried a wooden switch, cut from the finest of tree branches, on the dash of the bus for administering xylem therapy – to great success, I might add, but apparently going unused on that particular day.
I need to digress for a minute.
Mr. Simmons and his switch was an attention getter for kids of all ages. If the noise level rose too much, he’d use it to slap the bulkhead above him, with wood on sheetmetal making a very piercing sound, saying “You all settle down, now!”. There was a big splattering of tree sap on that panel as he did this just often enough. His switches were always fresh and green.
One day, when I was in kindergarten, he discovered his switch had broken when he saw the need to administer some xylem therapy to a spectacularly mouthy five-year old Sara. Unfazed, Mr. Simmons simply stopped at a county road, got off the bus, dug out his pocket knife, and cut himself a new switch from a tree sapling. He and Sara then had a confab outside, with the switch allowing Sara an opportunity to reflect upon the error of her ways.
For those of you who may be amazed about such goings on, you can thank me later for this glimpse into 1977.
Also, for what it’s worth, Sara was a highly skilled cigarette smoker by age twelve, able to blow some phenomenal smoke rings.
We are supposed to be talking about a Cadillac, aren’t we?
As elementary school unfolded, Delilah and her Cadillac were frequent sightings at all manner of events. Delilah was very adept at parking that Cadillac in very conspicuous locations. It’s unknown how early she arrived to achieve this.
One of the more memorable was a meeting of the various local Cub Scout dens (clubs? groups? packs?) in nearby Tamms one evening. My father had taken me, an event that would usually require him to partake of a large bourbon and water, minus the water, when we got back home.
When we arrived at the meeting, there was a familiar Cadillac parked by the front door. While time has erased the nature of that meeting, all I remember is there being a preponderance of balloons bouncing around. When it was time to go, Delilah was yelling at Jim and Tim to get in the Cadillac. Jim and Tim were not interested in doing so as seven year old boys generally aren’t fond of sitting down, be it in a Cadillac or not. But a routine had been established….Jim and Tim knew Delilah didn’t really mean business until she finished her cigarette.
And Delilah was paying more attention to her cigarette than to her twins running all over creation.
With the cigarette out, Jim and Tim had finished their mission and dutifully climbed into the Cadillac. Delilah hit the starter, bringing those 425 cubic inches of buttery smooth V8 to life, and popped the Cadillac into reverse. This was suddenly followed by a “POW! POW! POW! POW!”.
Delilah, whose voice could cut through a lead wall when she was so inclined, could be heard from great distance, over the idling Cadillac and the roar of laughter from those around. Jim and Tim had successfully placed a smattering of balloons behind the wheels of the Cadillac so their mother would drive over them. Everyone but Delilah was amused, with one of the Vietnam veteran dads joking about how he suddenly felt like he was twenty again due to the loud commotion.
Sometime around then, although I suspect a year or so earlier, Jim did something that, in retrospect, would be metaphorical for the later trajectory of Cadillac itself. It happened in the boy’s restroom.
The general boy talk of whose father could whip whose father’s ass was the prime topic. I had learned to shut down such things after once being presented with the dad ass-whooping challenge. My response was “maybe he could, but my father is smarter and likely makes more money, so who do you think is better in the long run?”
My unappreciated observations began quite early.
Sorry, I digress, but the stage must be set.
Anyway, one of the challenges to erupt that day was who could piss well enough to hit the seven foot tall ceiling in the boy’s room. Only Jim was willing to give it a try. He was smart enough to keep talking it up and raising the interest of everyone in there during that three minute reprieve from classroom work. After a short bit, Jim did as promised.
Walking to the middle of the room, he dropped his pants to his ankles, arched his back violently, and let go. His face was soon as red as his hair, making his whole head the same unique shade of crimson, with everyone watching in unabashed awe. Slowly, slowly, slowly that stream kept climbing, climbing, climbing ever nearer its grand target. Then with one violent and final push we all heard the same satisfying “pfffllltt”, that remarkable sound of drywall being hydrated, accompanied by a loud drip onto an already wet tile floor.
Jim had hit the ceiling, capturing the envy of about twelve other boys, an event that made Mrs. Brenneke, the only teacher within earshot, very suspicious. She bounded into the boy’s room to shuffle us all out (another late 1970s thing) and she thankfully was too intent in her mission to discover the soaked drywall on the ceiling or the wet floor.
Jim’s watershed act is not unlike Cadillac itself. Since that memorable day long ago, Cadillac has undertaken numerous endeavors to recreate their magic. The Allante. The Catera. The XLR. Art and Science. The V-Series. Moving their headquarters to New York. The alpha-numeric naming system. Chasing the Germans like a dog chases the UPS truck. Yet, try as they might, all of Cadillac’s efforts, both good and bad, have been only marginally more life changing than Jim’s golden stunt. It seems like no matter what Cadillac has tried, they keep hitting a barrier of some variety despite some of the amazing products they have had.
These DeVilles are proof Cadillac had profound momentum during the 1970s, momentum which carried them through the first half of the 1980s. Like an emptying bladder, all the gusto ultimately turned into a dribble. To me, and likely others, these are the last hallmark Cadillacs. Nothing since has quite captured the aura and, I dare say, panache of these DeVilles. Perhaps the Escalade has captured some of the aura but they often appear to be a caricature of Cadillac’s glory days.
Where Cadillac is currently with that dribble is hard to know. We can only hope that inevitable last splash isn’t the last splash for Cadillac. They deserve better.
Cadillac pictures by PN
Jason: Interesting analogies between your childhood school companions/escapades/disciplinary methods and the Cadillac! I nearly spit my coffee, onto the screen laughing! The pictured car (a road battered warrior) does maintain that “essence” that the later FWD cars just didn’t have. Although some of them looked good enough, they just didn’t have the presence of this model. I’ve always thought that there should have been a special Cadillac wheel (a la Buick Riviera type) to further enhance its looks. At least by this time, only the side extensions were made of degradable plastic, as compared to the extensions and horrid tail light surrounds of the 76 models!
Isn’t it true that certain people remind us of certain cars and vise versa. These Cadillacs remind me of my Aunt Norma. She and my Uncle John took over a 1967 Cadillac Calais when his parents stopped driving in the mid 70s. With their kids out of the house and a little inherited money in the family they bought the third new car of their long married lives in 1978 Sedan DeVille, painted a beautiful metallic oxblood color with matching leather. She kept that car into the 1990s, always pristine. Had I known she was thinking of getting rid of it, I would have approached her about it.
I knew many people who got that first Cadillac of their lives (their dream car) in the 70s. People like my Aunt Norma were fortunate that they got to realize that dream before 1981-82 when the bottom started falling out for Cadillac.
Thanks for spinning another of your great yarns for us.
Excellent stuff. I’m particularly admirative of your use of the word “watershed” near the end there, and carrying the simile over to Cadillac. . But I’m not sure if I’d call the late ’70s their high – water mark. They were already taking the piss by then, IMO.
The metaphor is absolutely perfect. Yet another great story, Jason, from your mental archives. My morning Red Line train is virtually empty, so I’m not afraid of looking a fool with this stupid grin on my face as I read this. (Sara and the smoke rings. Pure gold.)
Thanks. It’s got me to thinking….where there simply that many memorable people I grew up around or are these memories prompted by the fact the community was small enough to know something about everyone? Perhaps it’s some of both.
another Cadillac first
– the floating bumper
1977 Deville: body on frame. Escalade: body on frame.
Coincidence? I think not.
Nice write up Jason!! Cadillacs were at their prime in these years. I like your analogy of how the Escalade is about the closest thing to a “REAL” Cadillac and i agree 100%. After this like Thomas Wayne said in The Joker movie……….Cadillacs lost it’s way(he said Gotham),after these Cady’s all we had left was the Eldorado and Seville and then…………….there was none.
For a car of this grandeur, it is undeserving of a name such as a coupe. Such a moniker is surely meant to be bestowed upon a smallish car more roadster like, more sporty, a bit more contained shall we say, unlike your friend’s, um, Johnson at its moment of performance.
It is a large car, yes a two door to be sure. How about a “Loupe de Ville”?
My opinion is that Cadillac had lost the shine on their crest well before this generation and had turned into a caricature of itself sometime in the very early ’70’s. While I don’t actually dislike the styling of these myself, once studied at more length, it becomes obvious that the “design” had given way to cynical “ease of assembly” – take a look at the front three quarter view – there’s squared off metal work, sort of a box shape, that the light assemblies, grille, and bumper just basically pop into as garnish on the box.
The rear is pretty much the same and looking at the side view in the last shot with the missing filler panels makes it very easy to imagine a different rear end grafted onto the metalwork. While the body wasn’t shared with other divisions it “could” (not should) have been and those brightwork cavities, front and rear, filled with hallmarks of another brand. There’s nothing really special or interesting or exclusive beyond it being another ChevMoBuTiac. The interior is the same. Luxury (and the reason to command its price) requires standing apart, being special, not the same as others, without just a thin veneer and some badging to fool people.
It has now been at least two generations since this time and the game is over and has been for some time. GM the entity could possibly, maybe, make a contender in the luxury market again, but not with the Cadillac name. The gold has faded and it isn’t coming back, time to move on and enjoy the memories.
I am with you. The body actually was shared – the C body coupe was also offered by Oldsmobile and Buick. The 1980 Cadillac was one instance where the design improved considerably after that refresh. If only we weren’t faced with the choice of attractive styling with crap engines or great powertrains with so-so styling.
In a segment that is all about pampering customers with luxury and exclusivity, these Cadillacs failed. With the exception of the leather on the seats, almost everything the customer touched inside felt ordinary at best (and cheap at worst). This car offered one of Cadillac’s best chassis in a long time, but was a letdown inside. I don’t think that the guys high up in GM’s management really understood the brand. By the 70s there were alternatives for the customer, alternatives that made the occupant feel special in ways that these did not.
See, I try to give GM a little credit and you correct me that they did in fact use the body elsewhere. The guys high up in GM’s management didn’t see (or didn’t want to) see any competition except maybe the guys over at Lincoln which suffered from the same issue. Now it’s even worse with them actively saying they are chasing the others thus admitting they aren’t in the lead. Who wants to buy the second best? Not a recipe for success. Avis may try harder due to being #2 but after all these years they’re still the #2 rental agency, if even that – a perfect analogy.
I agree with your assessment, particularly the two generation observation. When was the last time anybody currently under 50 pined for a new Cadillac to showcase their success? It’s never happened.
Much as I hate to say it, Cadillac is a dead-man walking. While I hold a torch for Mercury it is due to potential never realized; Cadillac is opportunity squandered. I almost had some related reading at the end of this, with the heading about how I cannot play it serious with a Cadillac. Perhaps the last splash was / is the Escalade.
I agree that this was the last Cadillac, car at least, to carry that Cadillac presence.
The ’07-’14 Escalade, surprisingly, has unique DOORS.
It’s subtle…you have to park one alongside its Tahoe/Yukon counterpart…but it’s there. A crease in the sheetmetal, not cladding. The curve at the very back of the rear door window on the Tahoe/Yukon becomes more angular on the Caddy. It wasn’t accomplished by just changing the rubber molding at the bottom of the window. That appears to be in the stamping. Also in the stamping, at the top edge of the windows, in the middle, it’s slightly recessed.
All VERY uncharacteristic for GM if I might say, when they’re obviously using the same body shell. And I don’t think it’s been done since, on either the current version of the 2021s.
Maybe it was a Bob Lutz thing. But those subtleties gave that particular series of Escalade some presence.
There were a couple of years of DeVilles in the early ’90s that had it goin’ on for that day…but it was still visibly a far more attainable luxury than in 1977, and even more in 1965, when Popular Mechanics gave Cadillac a HIGHER score than Rolls-Royce in a test. But both lost to the Mercedes 600.
Presence, like exclusivity, are important to those Cadillac seeks to reach. They arguably could’ve kept doing everything else right and still, today, not be in too different a position from where they find themselves.
My father had a ’78 Sedan DeVille.
I can best describe it as”stately”. With the 425 4-bbl and a Turbo 400, it was nearly indestructible, and it was a great highway cruiser. Easily gobbled up the miles when we took a road trip in early 79 to look at colleges across the Southeast.
I my mind, it was the last real “Cadillac”.
For me, the 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was the last “real” Cadillac. The subject car may be seen by some as among the last of the real Cadillacs only because Cadillac had severe issues with the HT-4100, Olds Diesel, and Rybicki’s “exterior designs” in the 1980’s so much so that by the time 1993-1996 Fleetwood Brougham debuted it was already a challenge to find buyers. Add to that, the new Chevy Caprice and Buick Roadmaster were released for the 1991 model year and Lincoln heavily refreshed the Town Car in 1990 and these 1993 Cadillacs were a day late and a dollar short.
The 2005-2011 STS and in particular STS-V was another attempt at a full-size RWD Cadillac that fell on deaf ears. Finally replaced by the 2016 Cadillac CT6 and CT6-V “Blackwing” that again failed to capture the market.
In order to be a “Real Cadillac” my criteria is not only Full Size RWD V-8 (though it helps) but something that also captures the attention of the public and in particular public celebrities.
Maybe the reason Cadillac is no longer Cadillac is because our society’s youth and by extension celebrities are moving away from the conspicuous consumption, brashness, and decadence that Classic Cadillac represented. It would not be hard to find photos of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, etc. being driven around in Cadillac’s from 1960-1990’s. When is the last time you saw a celebrity of that caliber driving or being driven in a Cadillac sedan? When was the last time celebrities of that caliber existed at all? How does Cadillac transition away from its past and become relevant to today’s youth in ways that make its vehicles desirable again?
We know too much about “how the sausage is made” both in Hollywood (Weinstein) and Detroit (Barra/UAW) to cultivate the magic of that by-gone era ever again.
Thanks for that correction James, i forgot about 93-96 Cadillac Fleetwood,these are indeed the last “real” Cadys
Good point, the 93-96 were certainly the last Caddys in the old mold of presence through sheer size and glitz, if you specify that the old mold must be car-based rather than truck-based. The Escalades recapture some of that presence by the easy shot of using a truck body, as many have pointed out.
The late 70’s were a high water mark (I like the story’s use of the literal high water mark) in terms of sales and also in terms of Cadillac having a really solid car that was uncontroversial in being regarded as worthy of the Cadillac crest. I know, I know, all about the decades-long name debasement and cheapening, etc and that Cadillac was really already a dead man walking by that point even if it was unrecognized by most people, including GM executives. Still, to the vast majority of folks in the U.S., a Caddy was still a Caddy and generally considered a desirable, prestigious car.
All future Cadillacs would be marred by questionable-at-best engines or less-prestigious downsized bodies with boring, derivative styling. That is until they put an actual adequate engine in the D body Brougham in 1990, but it wasn’t a Cadillac engine and the market had moved on so far that it was truly only a niche player by that time. Sadly, as Cadillacs became more competitive in recent decades, too many folks weren’t paying attention and the brand had lost too much prestige for people to see it like they did in the 70’s.
Thanks for the fun article!
Of my three old Cadillacs, in my opinion, the newest, 97 Deville is the most faithful to the traditional Cadillac ideals of American style genuine luxury. High quality materials, quiet comfort, technical sophistication and useful engineering features not found in other GM cars. All this plus a distinctly American, not German style.
It’s not perfect, but a better effort than previous designs.
The other two, a 81 Fleetwood and 89 FWD Deville looked and felt a little cheap and gaudy. It’s too bad it took GM decades to produce a superior effort, long after the market had moved on.
This is almost the era of Cadillac Ive had a ride in one of my late brothers workmates got a Caddt fetish when he worked in the US they were cheap had plenty of grunt and easy to fix wehen they went wrong for a kiwi trade qualified mechanic anyhow when he returned he brought a 74 coupe deville with him and started collecting 59s, brother and I got taken for a spin in the 74 and yeah it went ok as long as you didnt turn it was comfy as long as you didnt turn, it would have been a really nice cruiser on wide straight smooth roads, it just floated along on nice sections of road.
Great stories, as usual!
In thinking about this DeVille, it occurred to me that I never knew anyone whose family owned one of these when new. All of my direct experience with them comes from folks who bought them (well) used… kind of like in the condition of this featured car, but somehow that condition happened over the course of 10 years or so. Which makes me wonder just what the downward resale value trajectory on these actually looked like. But they always seemed to be durable older cars, and my financially-strapped friends who owned them took great pride in their cars, and all of the power-operated features of their cars.
And the phrase “Like an emptying bladder, all the gusto ultimately turned into a dribble” should be in the CC Hall of Fame.
Applause for this piece, Jason!
The 1st and 5th pics really slam home how closely the frontal design of this car matches that of the ’78 Chev Caprice—compare the much larger facial difference between the ’71 Cad and Chev the other day.
A set of rear fender extensions, a used wheel cover and a bit of spit and polish would make this a reliable and classy entry into the “cheap” wheel category for a 40 year old car.
Below, my ’79 as seen recently.
Flawless. A truly stunning example.
Thanks!
I thought that I would attach a picture of the ’79 as originally bought 25 years ago. My original Monte Carlo “Ole Herpes” parked alongside.
Wow, that’s nice! Is that the original exhaust tip?
I’m afraid not. All my cars get exhausts done in stainless steel by a local shop that I’ve been using for 30 years, but they pattern the new exhaust on the old layout. I’m a bit anal for originality, and I like my stuff to look stock, and not have two huge pipes coming out the rear or oversized wheels.
I guess that I get a touch defensive when I see what is basically a very sound old car that can be tittivated into a really nice driver for around $3k, that will drive nice and be an easy entry into the old car hobby. On the subject car, the body and chrome are straight, such that a little elbow grease can have it looking as nice as anything out there.
The shape, angle and height of the exhaust tip look perfect. Very nicely done. When I lived in AZ, I was a bit of an exhaust snob. Even very old cars there often had original exhaust systems, so I would look and if a non original exhaust was obvious (not custom or modified, just a cheap replacement), I’d think, “oh, look at that pathetic tip!”
Oh, hey, neat! Now you’ve done it—inspired me to put together a post that’s been brewing in my mind for several years, ever since I got all my folks’ old Super-8 home movies digitised. Stay tuned.
Since I read this post this morning, something’s been nagging at me about this car—quietly, from a far-flung corner of my mind. I just now worked out what it is: the original video for the Pet Shop Boys’ “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)” was the first video I ever saw on MTV. I was 10, and the last scene, starting at about 3:16, gave me a roaring case of the creeps for a good week or two.
(also, it just now occurs to me, this contains sturdy evidence against the notion that sealed-beam headlamps have to be swapped out for H4s before a car is filmed at night for movies or TV shows)
Daniel: I always like your musical references, since I was heavily into MTV & music as well! Your avatar (if it’s you) is deceiving! 🙂
That’s me right there in the avatar, yeah. How’s it deceiving? I mean other than the pic being from 2017 or so and my beard being whiter now…
Having so much time driving and owning B-C bodies from this era, I’m a little mixed on the Cadillac, because it was simply just a very good C body.
The price differential over the other GM brands didn’t get you much beyond Cadillac’s interpretation on style and the nameplate.
These really needed interiors that could go toe-to-toe with the Cadillacs of the early 1960’s or maybe the then contemporary Jaguar.
Nevertheless, I really like these cars. A kid I knew my freshman year in high school (a very decent guy) was dropped off daily from a dark blue Fleetwood. The unique B pillar treatment and color keyed wheel covers set the Fleetwood off a bit from from the other Cadillacs.
There all nice but my 1986 coupe deville is just a dream people look at it in amazement cause shes a little beat up but shell run another 150.000 miles like a dream just change that oil jack on time and youll be amazed.
Just the other day I was reading in Collectible Automobile about the ’71-’78 Eldorados, and the percentage of them that were ordered with “special-order features” – colours or trim options outside the normal factory choices. Anyone know how long that program continued? Could you custom-order one of these?
Buying the 79 now same color.