So close, and yet so far: the Cadillac Allante seemingly had all the ingredients of being a home run, but a variety of issues kept it from becoming the star it was destined to be. This 1992 model has been with the same owner since 2004, and looks sharp on optional 16-inch chrome-plated Cadillac wheels. The seller seems like one of the few still left that actually bought the Allante to enjoy and look after, as opposed to so many cars that seem like afterthoughts in the owner’s garage. Find the Allante here on craigslist for $4,900.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader T.J. for the find. The Allante, as most of know by now, was a bit of a boondoggle. The cost to produce the luxury model spiraled out of control quickly, and GM lost a significant amount of money on each one it sold. The Allante also failed to meet consumer expectations, especially given it was built to derail the likes of the Mercedes-Benz R129 convertible. These days, it looks like a fairly strong value for a modern collector car you can drive the wheels off of.
The Allante got better with each year that went by, and the final year examples sold in 1993 were the arguably the best given these models were equipped with the powerful Northstar V8. The 1992 models had 200 horsepower courtesy of the 4.5L V8, which wasn’t nearly enough to be competitive in this space. As with many failed GM experiments, right before they pulled the plug, the company finally got the recipe right with the more powerful V8. The 1992s were the final year with the Recaro-designed bucket seats.
One of my favorite features of any Allante is the beautiful digital gauge cluster. I’m sure these are prone to failure, but the one in this example appears to be fully functional. The seller notes that his car has just over 68,000 miles and is in excellent condition, and it certainly appears to be. The Allante will always be a bit of a quandary in the collector car space, but for now, it still seems to represent an awful lot of value for the money.
Like the color. Seems like a cheap way to own a “collectable”. Or a inexpensive luxury drop top for ice cream runs with the Mrs.
What do you do when the digital display craps out?
Of course there’s a variety of alternative readouts, from satellite speedos to hard-wired gauges. How can you make it authentic?
You can’t.
The value here is weekend displays.
Then you list it on Barn Finds.
Of course I remember when the Allante was released in the early 90s. By that time I was a fully grown and functional American car Gearhead. I had my lines drawn regarding what cars I liked and which ones I didn’t. Also by then, the Also auto industry had lived through the horrible 1973 oil crisis, and by the 90s they had pretty much recovered but it was a new normal in Detroit. The big Three had tried various new ways to hold on to their grip as the global automotive manufacturers but it was never to be again. The influx of foreign cars in America gave Americans a taste of how the rest of the world was building cars. It actually became fashionable for American buyers to totally distance themselves from anything made in Detroit. GM always lead the industry with the most sales of its then 5 brands. GM was the first to take on the new downsized approach, and in typical GM tradition they looked like they knew what they were doing, but they did not. The Allanti was a perfect example of GM’s half hearted attempts at building cars. I always through it would be in GM’s best interests to become the world’s biggest baker. You know, Bread, pastries and like that. About the time of the Allanti, the Chrysler Corporation introduced it’s entry into whatever segment those cars fell into. Chrysler partnered with Maserati and released the TC. They both turned heads but neither one ever really caught on. The Allanti was just another GM failure, which there have been so many of it’s hard to rank which is the worst. Was it the Corvair? Maybe the Vega? I think most people would vote for the Vega. At least poor Chrysler had the reputation of introducing some great engineering firsts that went on to become industry standards. But GM, not so much. I remember in the late 60s they introduced “Astro Ventalation. Gone were the days of front quarter windows, they weren’t needed with “Astro Ventalation” Well the way GM execution of that lead to cars rusting away faster than ever before. Water would enter through the rear vents, and accumulated in the lower trunk and had no way to drain out. Not to mention we actually needed the front quarter windows. They were great for allowing smoke to be sucked out without having to open the main window. Eventually all cars dropped the quarter windows because of the way they looked and the expense of manufacturing them. The Ford Motor Company never developed a whatever those cars were called. Not that Ford didn’t have their problems, like exploding Pintos.Say what you will, Ford sold millions of Pintos because overall they were good cars and were exactly what the American car buying public wanted. Remember the Ford Falcon of the early 60s compact car craz. Ford sold more Falcons than GM did Corvairs, or Chrysler’s Valient. The Falcon was a good car and just what Americans wanted. The Falcon platform went on to create the Mustang and then the Maverick. The Valient went on to become one of Chrysler’s best selling cars that kept Chrysler afloat well into the 70s. Oh, the Corvair made quite a name for itself by becoming the most famous target for being the worst car for a number of reasons. You can read all about them in Ralph Nadars famous book “Unsafe at Any Speed.” GM wins again but for all the wrong reasons. It took several generations of car building for GM to realize that being the biggest, doesn’t make you the best. At the end of the day, I’m a total Ford man. I have always driven Fords one way or another, either Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, F-series trucks and Explorers. I’ve had them all, including a 33 foot Southwind motorhome built on a F450 Super Duty chassis. Sure they have problems, all machines do, but when properly maintained my Fords have never left me stranded. And, no matter where you go in the US, on the edge of even the smallest little towns, you will see a huge Blue Oval high about the town letting you know this is Ford country. Henry Ford was nobody’s sweetheart, but he knew how to build great cars. The Ford family still has a controlling say in the way the cars that bares their name are built. I think that says a lot, and that’s why I only drive Fords.
The digital display can be serviced at any competent electronics repair shop. The hardest part is the labor to remove/reinstall.
I totally dis agree. It depends on how good you are. I take them apart and fix them, and if you can’t get parts, you design your own circuit interfaces. just like anything else. I have done many Digital Cadillac clusters and Ford Aerostar’s as well. I have never taken any vehicle to a repair shop, for any repair. I’m now 65 OMG when did that happen. I don’t like laying on the ground on my back and I like getting up even less, but I still do.
Back when I was into Corvettes, the digital cluster in the C4 was known to frequently die. There were several places you could send them to be refurbished, or as others have said, repair them yourself. I eventually broke out my solder gun and learned how. I’m sure the Caddy cluster is about the same.
I would wonder why it has a salvage title. Nice looking, and short enough to fit in the typical 2 car garage in most of the homes you see these days.
Maybe it got tapped enough to pop an airbag or two. That’s all it takes but who knows.
Lots of people get scared off by a salvage title but being on my second Lucerne from the same guy, I’m ok with it as long as they were repaired right. I got rid of the first one mostly because it had the floor console and the armrest was too short for my arm. I sold that cheap because I had a line on one with the split bench and column shift. Better for me and a better car overall than the first one.
As far as this one, as someone said, where do you turn if the dash fails unless they fixed the gremlins that were prevalent a few years earlier in the Rivieras and Tornadoes. And how about other parts?
It’s missing the speaker cover on the drivers door. I wonder how hard that would be to find.
Where’s the optional hardtop, that most of these Allante’s had? Didn’t some of these have a standard gage cluster?
Yes, you could get the non-digital cluster the last couple of years, just as with the C4 Corvette.
You’re SOOOOOO wrong. The Northstar engine SUCKED…head bolts and all. The 4.5 litre, and especially the 4.9 litre push rod engines were far superior. Once again, just as GM had finally got all the bugs outta the aluminum push rod V8, they sh¡t canned it. Granted, the Northstar had more horsepower, but the push rod motors generated more torque at lower RPMs. Bought my mom a Deville in 1994 with the 4.9 engine. Absolutely fantastic compared to the Concours with the Northstar.
This is truth. The 4.9 was a jewel and could have made more power but for having to live in a front-drive configuration. Funny that once GM had the head bolt issues worked out of the Northstar, they killed it.
Just about to say the same thing. These had such nice torque down low. I do not hate the Northstar but would rather have these push rod motors.
This car could smoke the tires for 100 feet. I discovered that when I was a valet at The Huntington Townhouse on Long Island NY in the late 1980’s.
That’s exactly why I never valet park unless I have no other choice!
Especially I’m in my car with the manual.
Kieth, the last time I valet parked my Ferrari, I pulled up to the front of the restaurant and gave the valet the key, and my date and I went into the restaurant. Ten minutes later I glanced out the window and saw a really nice black Ferrari driving by. After realizing it was my Ferrari, I ran out and asked what was going on. Well the valet thought it was smart to do a lap around town first before parking my car in the front space. Actually I wasn’t that mad because I used to do the same thing back when I was a valet, haha…
When I first read the article, I was like a ’92 Caddy for $700.00 less than a ’95 Buick (another advertisement currently on BF). GREAT!!! But after reading the Craigslist ad I also am curious about the salvage title. If you are going to list it that way at least give the reason or reasons why. The drivers seat looks dirty and the top when up doesn’t look right to me.
always admired this when I was a kid as my late maternal grandmother had owned a used 1981 Coupe Deville until I was age 3 and the first Caddy I remember drooling over as a kid was the 1993 Seville STS I’ve not ridden in a real drop top as an adult. there’s 2 things I’d change about this car exterior color and interior Champaign for exterior and either beige or maroon for interior have always had a thing for cars with dark paint over red leather interior
I own a ’93, 135,000 miles, Northstar, digital dash, works fine, have an analog dash in a box (along with a few other parts), fingers crossed on Northstar, only one airbag, in steering wheel, fast, comfortable, a few rattles and groans, a few little dings, a bit of rust above left rear wheel well, I drive it at least once a week, take it about 15 miles round trip, paid $3000 for it. Put $2000 into it over the past 10 years, not bad for a reasonably fast convertible, have only seen one other one locally in the past 7 years. “Better an old car than another woman,” my wife says. Have a hard top but never put it on, not going to drive it in snow, and very rarely in rain.
In addition to my 99 Escalade and other Caddys, I have a 1985 Seville with digital dash and the HT 4100 engine. It is an everyday driver with 180,000 and no trouble with the dash or engine.It is the slowest Cadillac I have ever had but I don’t race it or abuse the engine either. I also have an 81 Seville Roadster with the
4-6-8 engine and analog dash. No trouble with either but I have disconnected the speed sensor so it runs as a V8 only. I do have several instrument clusters just in case.
Nice car, I wonder what’s up with the funky looking cover on the top of the dashboard & also the sloppy looking convertible top fit ? But for $ 4900.00 its bound to have a few issues huh.
I spoke to the owner, he doesn’t know anything about the car. The best that could understand was it was left in a house he purchased and he made a deal with the owner. He didn’t think the dents in the front fenders were a big deal. The color is Pearl Flax, it’s a 3 stage color, could be a little difficult to match. IMHO I would have to see it in person to make any offer.