1985 Cadillac Seville
Well, there's a '66 Toronado project car resting in my garage, but I
"need" something else to drive besides the big yellow Eldo convertible.
So, I 've always loved the early-mid 80's Cadillac Seville with its
razor-edged bustleback styling. It's one of those things that you love
or hate, no in-between. To my way of thinking, that's how many things
should be. Who wants luke-warm reactions? Thus, I found a nice
'85 in late 2006. On Christmas Day I flew to Milwaukee, picked it up
the next day, and immediately drove 1000 miles back to NC.
The little 4.1 liter V-8 is silky smooth. It's also terribly
under-powered, especially after being used to the giddy tire-shredding
power of early Toronados. And, it's probably the worst engine General
Motors ever made--the floating cylinder sleeves, cast-iron heads, soft
metal camshaft, and porous aluminum block conspire to make it a
time-bomb, destined to destroy itself from the inside out at some
point. These Sevilles were very popular in their time, but that engine
is the reason you see so few of them on the road anymore. But, this
one's fine and I'll worry about problems later.
It's also the smallest Cadillac I've ever owned, even though most of my
friends still think it's big. It only seats 4 comfortably (6 in a
pinch), versus the comfy 6-passenger seating in the '76 Eldorado and
room for nine in the '69 Fleetwood 75. But, it's incredibly
comfortable and has plenty of buttons and gadgets-all the usual power
stuff, plus memory power seats, auto-dimming headlights and mirror,
heated mirrors, auto-leveling suspension, and 4-wheel disk brakes.
