By the mid-1980s, Cadillac’s marketing department knew they were in trouble.  The average age of Cadillac buyers was creeping up each year.  It was clear that the marque, which had previously enjoyed legendary status among American car buyers, was stagnating.  Meanwhile, imports such as Mercedes Benz, Audi, and BMW were siphoning off the very customers that Cadillac needed to survive.  Further hampering efforts were General Motors’ continued platform-sharing policies and cost-cutting measures.  Cadillac showrooms needed something to get prospective buyers to look at their products.  Out of this desperation came the idea to build and market a halo car.  This halo car was to be a two-seat convertible with a body by Pininfarina.  The plan was that it would compete with the Mercedes SL convertible and the Jaguar XJS.  This 1989 Cadillac Allante is one of the cars produced to win Cadillac back the respect it needed.  Do you think the plan worked?

The story of the Allante provides a good look into General Motors during that time.  The company has always had a deep bench of talented designers and engineers.  Those folks have also constantly been at war with management and accountants in the company.  The decision was made to have the Allante designed and its bodies built by Pininfarina in Italy.  The design house had a long history of working with Cadillac and executives felt that the car needed the prestige that the firm’s involvement brought with it.  This upset designers at General Motors.  They argued that they deserved the right to design a historic car such as this after all the effort expended on doing the company’s bread and butter work.  Management allowed them to put forth a design and they did so.  Sadly, management had already committed to Pininfarina and the exercise was futile and, to many, offensive.

The final car was an interesting exercise in both showmanship and the use of off-the-shelf components.  Pininfarina built the bodies in a special factory they set up near Turin, Italy.  These bodies were then trucked to the Turin International Airport.  From there they were loaded on cargo jets and flown across the Atlantic to Detroit.  There they were loaded onto trucks yet again, and taken three miles to GM’s new Hamtramck Assembly Plant.  It was there that the final assembly of the cars was done.  The chassis and engine were off-the-shelf Cadillac El Dorado pieces, while Recaro provided the seats and Bose collaborated with Delco on the sound system.  For the first two years, everything except for an optional cellular phone was standard.  That also included a removable aluminum hard top and a complex “lamp-out” system that protected the owner from burned-out bulbs in the most complicated manner possible.

Production ran from 1987 through 1993.  The Allante did attract new customers into Cadillac showrooms and achieved modest sales.  Those customers (in 1987 and 1988) also had to cast their eyes on Cadillac’s Cimmaron while visiting those showrooms.  Regardless, Cadillac continued to work on improving the car up until its swan song appearance as the pace car for the 1993 Indy 500.  By that time, the brand’s new Northstar V-8 was resting under the hood.  With 295 horsepower on tap, the Allante finally had the oomph it needed to be respected in its market segment.  There was talk of a facelift in 1994, but the decision came down from the top to discontinue the model.  For fans of GM products of this period, the usual pattern of introducing an interesting but flawed product, spending years fixing it, and then unceremoniously dumping it when it was measurably better, seemed to be a company policy etched in stone.

The good news is that there are still many Allantes out there in good condition, and enthusiasts can find them at reasonable prices.  This 1989 Allante is a well-cared-for example that would make a fine addition to any collection.  With only 52,000 miles on the odometer, the car runs and drives with a few issues.  According to the seller, it still needs some “TLC” due to it coming out of a five-year hibernation period.  The car is described as having a body in great shape, and an interior that is in good shape.  Additionally, the buyer will enjoy new brakes and fairly new tires on all four corners.  A new battery has also been installed.  The only major drawbacks are that an anti-lock brake warning indicator light is on and some of the power seat switches aren’t working.  The seller also cautions that a new cloth top may be in the car’s future.  There is no mention of a hard top being included with the sale.

If you are in the market for a historic example of all that was great and flawed about Cadillac in the eighties and nineties, then this 1989 Cadillac Allante for sale on Craigslist just outside of Long Island, New York may be of interest to you.  With 52,000 miles on the odometer, this running and driving two-seat convertible is being offered for $9,000.  Thanks to Mitchell G. for the tip on this interesting car.