The Tesla is a long time resident. The Caddy (1966?) was a new sighting on my morning run.
Driveway Outtake: Cadillac and Tesla, 55 Years of Progress for the American Sedan
– Posted on October 20, 2023
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Curbside Classics Archives
Nice Caddy ! .
I like the color especially .
-Nate
Correct. That is a ’66 Cadillac. The ’65 had different tail lights.
The side trim is also a little lower on the ’66.
It’s a 65 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. The 65 had the bar down the middle of the tail light. The 66 Didn’t
It’s the other way around. See photo. 65 on top, 66 on bottom
Thanks for showing this!
The tail lights on the ’66 Olds 98 are similar to the ’65 Cadillac above.
The Olds tail lights are slightly angled inward.
Thanks! This is the first time I have ever been able to identify the difference between the two!
In my old car driving days (late 1980s), I brought home a sand beige 1966 Sedan deVille that I was contemplating purchasing. My dad, driving a ’76 LTD at the time, marveled at the size and “presence” the car had.
Would love another opportunity to drive that car and catch that GM “Standard of the World” sixties style vibe again. What a beast.
The picture hints that the car still might have “presence” in today’s world of tall, big wheeled vehicles.
Yes, it would and be a far better vehicle than most modern cars to boot .
In high school my best buddy’s mother had a beige ’66 four door Caddy, I loved it .
-Nate
Other than the satellite dish on the roof and the plastic rolling trash bin, there’s not much about the house that looks any different than when the Cadillac was new. Not atypical of our neighborhood, where many houses are well-maintained but look mostly unchanged from when they were built in the ‘40’s to ‘60’s.
Talk about a contrast! Old school with big V8 and loves gas. New school tech with no engine that sips electricity.
Although my two Caddy’s are of the smaller stature, I wonder if people walking or driving past my house get a laugh seeing two Cadillac’s behind a tiny Chevy Bolt.
Does anyone else believe the vinyl roof is aftermarket? The factory Fleetwood vinyl has the halo effect, and they weren’t common yet on the de Villes in ’66.
I walked by again this morning and looked a bit more closely at the car. The patina on the presumably original license plate, along with the 2024 registration sticker, plus appropriately sized and striped radial tires, are the only anachronisms. The condition is very good but with a few minor flaws, about how it may have looked by 1970 or so with good care. Definitely not a recent over-restoration. As for the vinyl, it sure looked OEM to me … perhaps refurbished, but none of the signs of a tacky add-on from the Sixties. The only thing that might have made this a more perfect time capsule would be an original dealer license plate frame. In summary, a car I had no interest in, except perhaps to deride as a bloated whale, in 1966. But it looks really nice to me now and other than its sheer size, surprisingly discreet by modern standards.
According to ’66 Cadillac brochure found at oldcarbrochures.com, a padded vinyl roof was available was available on De Ville sedans and on the Coupe de Ville as well as the Seventy Five models; it was standard on the Fleetwood Brougham. It apparently was not available on the Calais.
In an image search, I found several without the halo effect and both with and without the crest on the sail panel, so it could be factory. It would be strange to see a ’67+ Coupe without one (almost always a Cabriolet from ’74 on), but in my memory, that didn’t happen to the Sedan de Ville until ’71-’84. Of course, most on sale this century had them removed when repainted, or rear window rust sent them to the junkyard decades ago.
Many would have considered the Cadillac the pinnacle of luxury motoring for 1966. The Tesla Model 3 in 2023? Not quite in the same category. For starters, the M3 has that minimalist interior with just a giant touchpad for a user interface.
A better comparison might have been an older Tesla Model S (Musk has been building them since 2012). Or maybe a Marauder, Wildcat, or 300 instead of the Caddy.
Agree with the Model 3 vs S, but as brands Cadillac in the Sixties and Tesla today are in pretty similar positions of prestige: aspirational but not out of reach. There are S’es and X’es within a block or two of these houses, and in fact a newish CT4 across the street, but only the Model 3 could be juxtaposed with the De Ville in a single photo.
The irony is that the closest modern GM equivalent to the old Caddy is a 2024 Cadillac CT5 (3.0L twin-turbo version) with a price almost half that of a new Tesla Model S.
Unless someone wants to ante up some ‘really’ big-bucks (like $340k worth) for a Cadillac Celestiq.
I’d say the modern equivalent is the Escalade or XT6 (need 3 rows to seat 6). The CT5 is a “luxury” Corvair.
I’d considered a big Cadillac SUV as the modern version of the old Sedan DeVille, but, somehow, just doesn’t seem to line-up as well.
Sedan-to-sedan seemed more appropriate (even if the CT5 has a 3.0L V6).
There’s an interesting optical illusion in this picture. When I initially looked at it on my phone, the house on the left looked like the trunk of a car, with the Tesla serving as the chrome bumper.
Magnificent!!!
A perfect recreation of western duel or medieval joust.
The older incumbent versus new outlaw challenger.
Oops! I forgot the picture.