80 years after the founding of Cadillac, this 1982 Cadillac Sedan DeVille was offered to its first owner, and it had to have been quite a car back then. In fact, it still is, having traveled just over 52,000 miles in the last 43 years. Appearing to be almost like new, the seller has this gorgeous luxury car listed here on Hagerty Auctions, and it’s located in Marine City, Michigan. The current bid price is $5,527, and thanks to PRA4SNW for the tip!
The fifth-generation DeVille series was offered from 1977 through 1982 in both two-door Coupe DeVille (sometimes seen as De Ville or deVille) bodystyle, and the four-door Sedan DeVille, as seen here. This one is shown in beautiful, rich Redwood, one of 17 colors offered by Cadillac in 1982, although not all of them were available on the DeVille series.
The rear 3/4 angle is the most formal for me, it really shows off the somewhat gothic pointed tail lights that may be this car’s most distinctive feature. They speak to the glory era of tail fins without being too showy or gaudy. The seller has uploaded an incredible 106 photos, and all of them are horizontal, all are in focus, and all are correctly exposed. Ahhhh… all is right with the world again. I don’t see a single flaw, but they mention some minor imperfections on the front bumper, and there may be some minor paint imperfections due to the age of this car.
It isn’t surprising to see the interior appearing as if it’s right out of a brochure, and it’s covered in a matching color in a horizontal corduroy-like fabric. The Sedan DeVille isn’t made for winding its way through the chicanes. As you can see, the front seats don’t offer much in the way of bolstering, and that’s ok. This is a car that you slide into, silently glide your way to your destination, and slide back out again. The back seat looks like new, but oddly, even with 106 photos, there isn’t a single photo showing the trunk compartment or the underside.
The engine will raise a few eyebrows, as the HT-4100 always does. This is the famous/infamous fuel-injected 4.1-liter OHV V8, which would have had 125 horsepower and 190 lb-ft of torque. I had this same engine my my ’84 Seville and it was fantastic, but others have had issues, or at least read or heard about issues. It’s backed by a four-speed automatic sending power to the rear wheels. This car is said to have been fastidiously maintained, and it sure looks like it was. Hagerty is at $15,100 for a #2 excellent-condition car; how much will this one sell for?
Beautiful palette 🎨 offered from the General, and especially the Cadillac division in the 80s. This Redwood example is stunning. Glad to hear your Seville was a good runner SG. Such a wonderful model.
Wow. This one is stunning. If that 4100 is still running after all these years, 5 will get you 10 it’s a good one. My parents 78 Coupe Deville was Mulberry Metallic if my memory serves right and this color sure looks very similar. They went tripple burgundy which looks good. I think you’d be hard pressed to find another one nicer.
My Dad had one almost like this.He bragged about the
gas mileage,but failed to add that it had a hard time pulling
the hills with 4 adults on board.
When he quit driving,he offered it to me for free,but I passed.
I have to say, that this is one of the most elegant and handsome cars made. I can’t even say it looks dated, or “of its era”. It really is just a great looking car, on its own, in any era. Frankly, when they put the euro-style headlight on it in its later years, it didn’t look right. They even did a great job on the bumpers, and remember, in that era, they were all like battering rams/afterthoughts.
Whoever styled the car really hit it out of the park.
Luxury Brown color. Owners of new Lexus and Infiniti cars may sniff at this, but the style still looks good almost half a century later. Only thing, that interior looks cramped. I remember the last Crown Vics had tight rear seats if the driver slid his back. I’d be happy to be proven wrong. UP Michigan though and no underside shots? I’d insist on a look.
I would hesitate on this one, even though it’s utterly beautiful. My 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis has 150 horsepower, and I’m sure weighs less than this. Yes, it does better than 20 m.p.g. on average; however, it needs to move over into the “slow traffic” lane when climbing long hills. At 125 horses, this Cadillac must be rather drastically under-powered, which could be a bit hard on an already questionable engine. Much as I would like it, I’ll pass.
I could see myself cruising in this beautiful car. Unfortunately age and parking out weigh my desires
I hope who gets it enjoys the heck out of it
Nice Caddy! These were the years of emission choked engines and miles of vacuum lines!!
I worked with Cadillac for about 20 years. Cadillac engineers must have made bets on who could screw up “the Standard of the World” worse. They had some serious problems with motors over the years.
This Caddie is lovely but it has a serious defective motor. Another in a long line of defective motors that General Motors let loose on the innocents of the world. Sad they didn’t use Oldsmobile motors and save themselves the headaches.
Nice Caddy, but I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 foot wrench! ’80s Cadillacs
were nothing more than a hot mess on wheels and had more problems than Carter had liver pills. I recall an elderly couple that I served at my Taco Bell restaurant in Winter Haven back in the ’90s. They owned one these cars and had nothing but grief
with it. Their names were Ed and Catherine and they came into the store almost every day–vehicle permitting in this case. Their car was an ’84 model built at the height of the
4100 fiasco that would tarnish the
Cadillac name forever. Three engines
later, Ed threw in the towel and traded
his Caddy for a brand new and tried and true Lincoln Town Car. IMHO, the
Town Car was snazzier than the Caddy Ed traded in. He was both proud and relived with his new Lincoln when he showed it to me and took me for a ride in it. Didn’t see them much after Ed bought the Town
Car, I didn’t see them much after that.
Catherine’s health took a turn for worse and she passed away in 2000,
and it wasn’t long before Ed followed
her. They were so well thought of that members of our store’s crew attended both funerals in our store
uniforms to let the family know how
much they were loved by all of us.
Not long after Ed’s funeral, their daughter dropped by the store and
handed me a check for $1,000 to thank me for my service to them over
the years. So when I saw this car, I could see Ed and Catherine if I closed my eyes. It just goes to show you the link between people, cars, and life that we all share. Keep ’em comin’
guys.
To Kenneth Carney: sorry for the loss of your friends. Mechanically, the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Lincoln Town car, were not much different. The Ford had everything you needed. The Mercury added quite a bit more luxury, some refinements, a nicer interior, fancier styling on the outside, and yet the same works under the sheet metal. The Town Car added some more space in front of the back seat, nicer appointments, and even a thermometer under the driver’s side rear-view mirror. And there just was something in the Town Car’s feel and ride, which reminded you that the Mercury Grand Marquis was a glorified Ford Crown Victoria, but that the Lincoln was something special. But any one of the three would out-last most anything else in the way of an American car. And all three had the same “problems”. Power window motors tend to fail, eventually. So do power door-locks. Factory radios can be a problem with some of these cars. And that pesky water-pump probably won’t go beyond 175,000 miles, before it starts to leak. However, the air-conditioning can still be good-as-new after 35 years, believe it or not. These cars, even here in the snow-belt, are not especially inclined to rust, if you keep them clean. With that 150-horse 5.0 V-8, they are a bit under-powered going up long and steep inclines; however, you’ll average about 20 m.p.g. with one of these, not bad for a V-8 powering a full-sized car. As long as you strictly maintain them, they go almost forever — my 1988 Grand Marquis has just shy of 400,000 miles on it, and not once has it left me stranded by the side of the road: I trust it implicitly on long trips. Sadly, by the sound of these 1980s Cadillacs, that tends not to be the case. They still LOOK the part of a Cadillac — but when a base-line Ford of the same era is many times more reliable and trustworthy as transportation, than a Cadillac, that’s sad. Sorry that Packard left us!
Don’t raise those headrests – insane they are not centered.
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