The story of how this 1971 Cadillac Sedan DeVille here on Hemmings has remained in mint condition is a good one: With less than 30,000 miles on the clock, it has been stuck in rotation as part of a collection from the original owner. Now, rotation might mean it went unused while other vehicles got road time, but in this case it means the owner would take the cars to the dealer each year and if he didn’t like the offer they gave him to buy the car outright, back into the rotation it went! That’s why this Caddy has seen such little use over the years, and the condition backs up its status as a trade token rather than a daily driver. My favorite features? The still-working lamp monitors and the near-perfect condition Nixon bumper sticker. Not at all surprising the owner was a Nixon man! Thanks to Barn Finds reader Charles H for the find.
Love it – not even stupid money
That’s Sweet!
Oh man, not another rust bucket! LOL
I was amused by one of the pictures taken in front of a sign for the Detroit Yacht Club. I had forgotten just how much of a beast these were. Wonderful in a straight line, but forget driving on any twisty back road at anything over 30 mph.
Barry…….couldn’t agree with you more. I bought one new in ’75 and after only 10 months of wrestling it around corners, I traded it for a ’76 Corvette. The Coupe de Ville was great in a straightline, but tiresome otherwise. By comparison, it’s hard to believe my current ATS is a Cadillac.
Barry Thomas’ ‘Wheel to Wheel” blog
That’s funny. I did the exact opposite. Since I sold the 76 vette for the 75 CSD, I’ve enjoyed the classic car experience much more. And with my ice cold AC , and effortless steering I haven’t done any wrestling. But it’s all about what you want out of a car. I’d love to have a vette too but it’s more like a third car. Plus people get their egos bruised by the fantastic body and iconic design which forces them to harass you on the road. I got tired of no room for any storage and for long freeway riding it wasn’t practical. I mostly freeway ride so the Cadillac is perfect.
Awesome, and a good price. If I were to buy this, I’d be tempted to fly to Detroit with my bags packed for a cross-country road trip and put a quick 5K on the odo. IDK what that would do to it’s value, though.
Beautiful car. I love this color of green. You gotta know this one floats down the highway with ease.
I had the same comment about the very original TR6 from a few weeks back.
Hard to believe how poor the fit and finish was back then. I guess the transition to plastic for so much of the interior content in the 70’s involved quite a learning curve. Even for Cadillac.
that is a lot of car and it is ready to go. i would make the seller an offer, remove the sticker, and just drive it. great find
Still amazing to me how unnecessarily large cars were back then.
I’ve never driven one of these beasts, but I have to imagine that handling is theoretical at best.
I recall as a young boy our fairly well-to-do neighbor purchased a new Caddy of this vintage every year….always the same color so the casual observer didn’t know he purchased a new one. Always a custom order…no radio as he felt they were a distraction.
Do you generally see a premium for cars sold on Hemmings? Just curious if the listing costs there would prohibit any screaming deals.
Green is…different, though not sure that makes it better. (And of course it’s EVERYWHERE on this beast!)
I wonder if you put a Foghat 8-track in to the player, would the first 18 minutes be erased? You geezers know what I’m sayin’
@Rex Kahrs.. That is cold… funny, but cold…LOL
If that interior is truly leather, many a bovine gave their live to cover the Cadillac seats that were made that year. I would want to clean them well and condition them several times before any heavy usage was planned to slow down the cracking that would be inevitable….
That Caddie is CLEAN!! I wish that I could find a 1971 Corvette in that condition for the same asking price!
One of the first cars I bought for the little Wife and I right after we got married was a 72 Buick Electra Limited Edition, came with a Buick 455, man was that car a cruiser, I always said it would pass anything on the highway except for a gas station, man I loved road trips in the beast. Anyway it was the same color and the same interior as this Caddy. I wish I had the extra money to drop and the extra room to store this thing I would go and buy it!!!!!!!!
Boy, does this well preserved luxury sedan unearth some long-suppressed childhood memories.
As a kid, I envied other kids cruising along the highway in the back seat of a pillarless four door on a summer day with all four windows down….smiles from ear to ear as the wind perceptibly tossed their hair about…..
meanwhile, I was stuck in the very back of a 64 Chevy wagon, sitting on a wool beach blanket, trucking along with my parents and my six brothers and sisters….my dad vetoing the unanimous vote of his offspring by absolutely refusing to crank down the tailgate glass for any form of breathable air.. all the while, stifling our protestations by reading us the riot act about the dangers of open windows, and stories of kids being ejected from vehicles during sudden evasive maneuvers.
…If those kids’ fathers were anything like mine, a deeper investigation would reveal that those poor little souls were delirious from being cooped up in their parent’s rolling Jiffy Pop container, choosing to risk it all and dive out of the nearest exit for a chance at experiencing a momentary breeze…
Kids today benefit from autos with multi-climate controlled passenger compartments, beverage coolers, flat screen entertainment…even wi-fi…
we were carted around in hermetically sealed blast furnaces, the only cooling available was a damp face cloth in a plastic bag…
For me, a pillarless luxury sedan (like this one) symbolized nirvana…
Your dad was correct by not dropping the tailgate glass.
Airflow over and under the car would ensure that the exhaust gasses were drafted up and into that rear window. Offer thanks that you were not subjected to a breathable carbon monoxide and lead vapor dominant cocktail, and that you can still think properly today because of it. A bit of roasting was preferable to being gassed. Whether by design or chance, your dad did the right thing.
Our family had a ’60 Chevy wagon with a rear-facing third seat, and the electric rear glass in the tailgate door. When the car was moving, the glass was up.
The next car was a ’64 4-door Impala. We rode that one three abreast in each seat (4 kids), and windows down. But it did have a B-pillar.
BTW, I am wondering why blue paint on the engine components. That does not seem Caddy to me at all. More like Ford.
Alan, sounds like your dad was wise. Unlike perhaps my friend’s dad who took his three boys and us three boys to see The Dirty Dozen one summer Saturday probably 1967. Us 4 “oldest” boys (around 11) rode on the tailgate of the Valiant wagon with our legs dangling in traffic for a 3-mile ride.
Life was better in those days. Seriously.
Well, better and worse. Keep in mind that when people say, “We survived!” you never hear from the ones who didn’t!
In those days Caddy engines were painted navy blue from the factory.
I guess we were lucky. Dad owned a 1966 Pontiac Bonneville with factory AC.
Mom owned a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker with factory AC.
We had a 68 GMC stepside, that Dad had an underdash AC installed.
We weren’t wealthy. My parents did not like to be hot in the summer.
I have a 75 sedan deville. It runs and drives great. It’s not designed for surpentine roads. It’s a highway car. I also had a 76 stingray. I get much more fun out of my Cadillac. I sold my vette to get the caddy and I don’t regret it one bit. Unless you’ve been constantly tailgated in a corvette by mindlessly rude drivers you wouldn’t know how annoying it can get. Add to this the heat flowing from the engine compartment, no storage and cramped quarters and for me the Cadillac beats it hands down. Also I don’t have every jerk in a Dodge truck trying to coax me into a race. The Cadillac gets more positve attention. The vetted just pricked people’s fragile egos and they had to either push me down the road or blast by me only to cut in front of me. I cruise my Cadillac , turn, park and make U- turns with ease. For me it’s tops, and my wife loves being in the passenger seat.
I saw that one a few years ago. I think it went for 13,500.00
I didn’t have the money at the time or I would have snatched it up without hesitation. The condition was extremely fine. Which is rare. I ended up with a very clean Bombay Yellow 75 out of Minnesota. These cars are a solid investment. There’s a strong overseas interest and the value of non rusted clean models are only going appreciate.