It’s simmering Cimarron summer here on Barn Finds! This is another one in the series of unusual rebadged economy cars meant to drive young buyers into Cadillac showrooms. It didn’t really work, but at least I think they’re fun to see today. Automotive history isn’t always successful, but it’s always interesting. This 1988 Cadillac Cimarron 5-speed sedan is listed here on eBay in Sylvania, Ohio. The current bid is $2,500.
The off-color driver’s door that doesn’t match the surrounding Corillian White paint is unfortunate. There’s also a bit of rust showing up here and there on the body of this Cimarron, along with a ding or two. This car is said to be a one-owner vehicle that was originally used for display by Cadillac until early 1993 and then sold to the current owner with 2,115 miles. It’s now showing 61,758 miles.
Cadillac offered the small J-body Cimarron from 1981 for the 1982 model year until the end of 1988, and it shared its genes with the Chevrolet Cavalier, Oldsmobile Firenza, Buick Skyhawk, and other GM models. We saw a blue example recently and have had a few Cimarrons roll through here over the years. I can’t remember the last time I saw one in person, but I’ve always wanted a 5-speed version. The trunk is filled to the brim with extra parts.
The Sand Gray leather shows some wear, and it seems positively luxurious to have leather seats in a Cimarron, or as I call them, a Cavalier with chrome. I know, there isn’t much chrome here, but it’s just an expression of the fancy nature of these simple-under-the-skin cars. The back seating area looks great, but you can see some rust on the sills and wheel arches. The leather-wrapped shifter looks good, and is that a trouble light related to overheating on the digital display?
The engine is Chevrolet’s LB6, a 2.8-liter OHV V6 with 125 horsepower and 160 lb-ft of torque. It’s backed by a 5-speed manual Getrag 282 transaxle sending power to the front wheels, and the seller says it runs great with no weird noises or leaks, and the 5-speed works as it should. It also has a newer clutch and brake lines. All things being equal, would you rather shift your own Cimarron or not?
Driveinstile would 🙌👍 Hands down the Cimarron to own is the stick shift.
I think I’d rather be seen in a Pontiac Aztec than one of these……
If there’s an individual out there that had a good experience with this car, I apologize in advance. On a larger scale than any possible individual good comments, as a lifelong Cadillac devotee, no car in their history did more damage to Cadillac’s reputation than this one.
I don’t know. It’s hard to be worse than the HT4100.
How about changing the wreath emblem to an emblem that looks like the Chevrolet emblem?
POS! NEVER should have happened! ONE of multiple mistakes that knocked Cadillac off it’s lofty Standard of the World! Can you tell I wouldn’t take if They paid me?
The Cavalier of Cadillac’s. Badge engineering at it’s finest.
I was late 30’s then and stopped at the Cadillac dealer to have a look at the ”baby Cadillac”… small town.. we all knew each other.. and heard ”this is just what you need”…. So I looked it over and noticed that the footwell was the same as the Chevy’s… and decided it was the same car for considerably more money… no sale. My fully loaded 87 Bonneville LE which I bought new there was a MUCH more substantial car. Dealer probably wanted it on the used lot…..
As a final-year V6 stick, this is probably the best Cimarron possible. If it had launched in this spec it wouldn’t have been quite as bad a joke. Still not a worthy 3-series competitor but at least a minimum acceptable product.
ritzy cavalier. good motor you can have the stick shift
A little carlore trivia……
GM part numbers that fit the J body cars of this era, came with two printed part numbers on them.
One for Cavaliers and the Buick, Olds, and Pontiac versions, and one for Cadillac owners. That second part number cost 30 percent more.
Same part. 30 percent more.
We had a 1957 Lincoln Capri when I was a child. My dad was still young enough that he worked on it at times rather than take it to the dealer (we only had one car at the time). He quickly discovered that trying the Ford dealership parts department first, rather than the Lincoln dealership often resulted in the same parts, but at a substantially lower price.
First time I saw one of these things in traffic I was thinking to myself why would someone go through the expense of making a citation look like that? then I noticed the Cadillac emblems and I still thought some fool is trying to pass this thing off as a Cadillac what a idiot… Later I learned that Cadillac actually built them. And i was wow what is GM doing?
@Troy
I did that to my 2004 Saturn Vue SUV. I removed all the Saturn emblems and replaced them with Cadillac crests. My mechanic called it a Satillac.
I used to dream of transplanting Cimmaron parts onto a Cavalier convertible. At one time, I found both cars for sale at the same time, but I just didn’t have the money to pull it off.
Oh look honey, it’s a Cadillac Cavlaron! What a pos badge engineering at it’s finest, way to go GM that’s how you chase away a loyal customer base!!
The least Cadillac of all Cadillacs. 5-speed is kinda neat, but who manually shifts a Caddy?
But they had a luggage rack on the trunk lid. That proved they were sporty! Didn’t it?
I think if you were seen driving this you’d certainly be making a statement. Can’t necessarily say it would probably be a good one.
Part of the reason I hate GM cars of the 80s, well, pretty much all cars of the 80s but GM in particular is because of the penny pinching management. One thing car manufacturers never learned is instead of cutting corners to save money, you SPEND money on new products. And many times they are in a rush for a new product so they either badge engineer or put out a new product without completely testing it. All these things damage your reputation. Cadillacs reputation was severely damaged in the 80s and 40 years later they still haven’t completely reclaimed it. For 50 years they were the Standard of the World but I seriously doubt they ever will be again. The automotive landscape has changed and Cadillac just can’t keep up. Management in Detroit keep hiring younger and younger people thinking they have a grasp on what’s going on. They don’t
Anyway, was getting off track there. My husband at the time and I both worked at a Cadillac/BMW dealer in NJ. Even then the Cimmeron was a running joke
The cool thing was you could buy a Chevrolet Cavalier, go to the junkyard and buy parts off a Cadillac Cimmeron and MAKE a Cimmeron for cheap.
There really isn’t much you can say positively about the Cimmeron.
Anyone?
I don’t know. I think I would rather have a GM car from the 80s than what they have now.
@ACZ
The styling of 80s cars were bland, boxy, trying too hard to be European.
The mechanics were iffy. Cadillac tried everything from the V8-6-4 which never worked, to diesel to Oldsmobile engines. How dumb is that. Simply proves my point management wasn’t really trying. Why pay Cadillac prices when you’re getting Oldsmobile underpinnings?
Everyone has their preferences, me? I love GM, but not so much after 1976.
And I agree, with the crap their putting out now, the past is the best way to go.
Well, Madam (ma dam foots in ma mouth ).. I put my two cents in above. As usual GREAT minds 😌. Still rolling down hill trying to raise a little cane. Hope alls well at your end. Too much trauma from several places, so I’ll just keep my big 💋 SHUT.
One of the many baffling decisions in the Cimarron’s development is that they sprung for a model-specific dashboard molding, with a nicer surface grain, faux-stitching along the edges, and an embossed panel above the glovebox, but it was otherwise the same shape, layout and structure as the downmarket Chevy and Pontiac versions got.
Why not make it a variation on the Olds/Buick J-car dash? Those were at least a bit upscale, and had more of a horizontal theme better resembling other Caddy dashes. Or better yet, why not adapt the Opel Ascona C dash? That was already developed, had some nice Euro flair to the design, and was not shared with any other US model.
Hey Rick! Was up? Always a pleasure to hear your 2 cents. But with inflation it’s now a nickel.
Just so you know, I miss your input. Im sure others do too.
Hi to all my guys and gals out there in classic car world.
Hey there 👋 I guess your question about insurance isn’t permitted. I saw it earlier and left a reply. Now both are gone! Always great to hear from you! 🌹
@Rick W
I saw my query and your reply. Its on the ’75 Fleetwood Limo.
At this point, it doesn’t matter what the badge is, this may go for cheap, and the V6/5 spd would be a fun car to drive.
If you wanted a luxury rendition of an 88 Cavalier this was your car.
This reminds me of the Chevy Citation. Mine burned up when it backfired up through the carb and set the paper element air filter on fire. Not my favorite GM products.
I was a new driver in 1987. All the 80s/90s cars were great to me. All the subcompacts were definitely at the bottom of my dream list. Back then they were buzzy with acceptable, but less than stellar handling. They’re like the Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider, and A-Team TV shows: I remember them being awesome, but if I watch them today, they’re just hot garbage. IDK how hard it would be, but since this Cimarron’s body is rusty, it would be fun to find a rust-free Cavalier and make a phantom Cimarron coupe. Similar to when builders make 80s Cutlass El Caminos.
It was “Cimmaron by Cadillac,” not a Cadillac Cimmaron … a Chevrolet Cavalier dressed up with faux leather interior and “gussied up” interior … the 4-cylinder engine was “dragged” when AC was on and was a “dog” performance-wise … I switched buyers to a Pontiac 2000 SE with the OHC engine …
Looks like a real fun kinda car to me. But that’s just my own opinion and to some folks out there, it’s gonna stink but who cares. There! I said it! And yes, in the world of cars today, these are a breath of fresh air. Even though it would be better with a
screaming 3800 V-6 under the hood. Even in stock form, that mill had enough ponies (205) to
really right the wrongs that GM did with this car. I could just see
Sis zipping around town in that
3800 powered beast I just mentioned. And I’d be riding shotgun with a huge smile on my
face. Yeah, my K-5 is okay, but I crave something different and here it is. And boy, is it cheap!
This little critter would make a
great hot rod built with off the shelf GM parts. Hey Angel, wanna row those gears with 205
ponies under you right foot? It could happen someday once I get
the space and cash to build one!
Hi Angel 😇! The “lilac” craze started in the late ’40s when Andy
Granitelli and his brothers started
dropping Cadillac engines into ’49 Ford’s at their Grancor facility
in Chicago back then. From there, these Fordillacs became the go to vehicles for moonshine
haulers in Kentucky and Tennessee. They were very fast and could outrun anything the Feds had then. My Uncle Bernie
was a tuner/mechanic for many of the moon runners around Morgan Town and Elizabeth Town
Kentucky before he and my Aunt
Bee moved to Bloomington in the
mid ’60s. And wow, the stories he told me as a kid got me interested in working on cars and
souping them up to make hem faster and run better. Robert Mitchum even drove one in the
movie Thunder Road before it was blown to smithereens by a rival moonshine hauler. Telling that story makes me wanna take a shot of ‘shine, but the girls wouldn’t like it and I’d mess up my streak of being clean and sober for almost 50 years. That
milestone comes in ’28. Had to
chuckle at the Satillac when I read it too. Yeah honey, that was you all over. Cheer up and have a great day. 💋
Ken,
Where did you find the “Satillac” post. I looked all over for it on the Saturn post and couldn’t find it so I just rewrote it and posted it.
Did I originally post it on another post? Guess I must have. Duh!
Definitely starting to lose it.
A friend was given two of them as company cars new. The first one was a manual and we just thought of it as a new FWD car with lots of options. Didn’t have any trouble. The second was a 6 Auto. It seemed like there were great improvements to driving (as GM does) but it was too small. No trouble with that one either.
Another cavalier with a trunk load of hard to find parts!!
It’s right on this post right here honey. Troy said something and
you told him about the Satillac. I think I saw it halfway down the comments. It’s alright dear, we all get confused sometimes. 💋
SOLD for $4,945.
Thanks, sir!
Worked at a Pontiac-Cadillac-GMC-Toyota store in the 80s … the Pontiac Sunbird SE was a much better car with an OHC engine with more horsepower that performed much better … the only option you couldn’t get was leather interior … I had one as a demo and it took whatever I gave it …