The battle of European luxury imports entering the field against what the big three brought to the table was neck and neck in the 1980’s. Mercedes and BMW taking most of America’s luxury sedan market lead stateside to rethink what it meant to an entry-level luxury car. As to Cadillac, the Brougham was the top of the line sedan, take the class of a Cadillac and put it into an economy car and GM sold that as the Cimarron. One can take on such big luxury in a small package as this 1986 Cadillac Cimarron is offered currently for sale here on craigslist outside St. Louis, Missouri for $4,900.
It is incredible to think the massive number of Chevrolet Cavaliers produced vs. the Cadillac Cimmarons yet neither are really even around anymore, hard to find for sale, and hard to come by even at parts yards. Finding this one for sale is that diamond in the rough in relatively flawless condition. The paint is perfect and the interior looks together and well maintained.
The Cadillac Cimarron had a steady production run and was equipped with a select array of options, rarest being a manual transmission. Although this example sports an automatic, the 5-speed option sets this crest from the rest.
The mileage is not the most shocking factor of this car, overall this is an amazing example of a piece of Cadillac history. Not very many of these are around and any Cadillac enthusiast should not pass this up to add to there collection, this has a place in any rare car lineup.
All due respect, but even a #1-condition Cimarron is a rough in the diamond, not the other way around. This is the car that nearly ruined Cadillac. I wouldn’t take that car if it were free.
Your loss. Try opening your mind a LITTLE bit…
Omg a parts bin Cadillac
A Chevy Cadaver by any other name is still a Chevy Cadaver. Thank goodness these things never caught on or the completion would have responded. Imagine a Mercury Topaz with a Lincoln grille and continental tire trunk deck lid. Well, Chrysler did built a K Car Imperial, so there.
It was the decked out version of the Chevy though. These were nice cars. Would have been interesting if Caddy designed something on the A-Body platform with the 3800 under the hood.
The K Car-sized Imperial went right along with the TC by Maserati for Mopar fans.
How about the 1977 Ford Granada and its twin, the 1977 Lincoln Versailles? Around here (Cleveland, Ohio), the Versailles was about as popular as the Imperial K and the Cimarron, i.e. not very.
It seems like I saw millions of these on rail cars and car haulers leaving Janesville Wisconsin. Mixed in with the Chevrolet Cavaliers. The plant rats just laughed at those Cimarrons.
What those rats were laughing at was what some people would be paying for those Cimarrons vs. the what other people would be paying for the Cavaliers.
The best in the country? They were never any good to start with.
my best friend’s mom had an early one with the 4-speed manual.
it was a pretty blue color with supportive leather seats & an ugly square-ish steering wheel.
she really liked it & it was pretty fun to drive, way cooler than my mom’s red J-car hatchback with automatic.
a cool footnote in US auto history, similar to other maligned nameplates like Edsel, Corvair, Vega, K-car.
Is that a DeLorean I see?
Yes, it is…
This is the car that nearly killed Cadillac. A Chevy Cavlier with a higher grade plastic.
Once had a co-worker that kept bragging about his Sportster, always referring to it as “my Harley”. Finally shut him up by saying “Riding a Sportster and calling it a Harley is like driving a Cimarron & claiming it’s a Cadillac. “
amf were the dark days of hd
It’s funny anyone would brag about a Harley to begin with.
Oh, you’re on shaky ground with a comment like that, pal. Not to be partial, growing up in Milwaukee, but Harley is the best bike made, hands down!
I’m sure someone, somewhere,would say the Yugo was the best car ever built, too. 😀
Love the pure hatred for anything not seen on the cover of Accepted Classics Quarterly. Stunning car? No. But still out of the ordinary. And that’s what I like about it.
I agree! I’d buy this in a heartbeat; you just don’t see these anymore. It’s comical to read the posts of so-called experts on here trashing the Cimarron, most of whom have never even sat in one, let alone driven one. Different strokes for different folks…
I sat in one once and I thought it was pretty nice.
You mean like the Lincoln Versailles vs the Ford Granada
Buying this car new was like upgrading to a higher quality duct tape.
Is that an Allante in the back ground? This guy likes his oddball cars. For those not in the know…..
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.motor1.com/news/72758/the-confusing-story-of-the-cadillac-allante/amp/
Not my kind of a Cadillac !!
To me the last of Real Cadillacs were the 77 to 79 Full size Deville & Fleetwood with the 425CI engine ! just my opinion
The last of the “real” Cadillacs would be 1986-1996 RWD….
I see an allante a fiero a delorean and what looks like a shelby mustang. All in pretty good shape.
Say what you will but I think its been keeping a lot more interesting company the last few years than ANY cavalier had a right to!
You know I totally agree with Billy Shields haven’t talked to you in awhile why don’t you give me a call pal. Santo Sam Lombard.
I totally agree with Billy Shields ,
Santo Sam Lombard.
A writer of one of the car magazines quipped that GM was considering enclosing personal letter of apology in the warranty book envelopment.
I was driving one belonging to a friend on the hiway when the traffic lights required that I stop. The car gurgled and shook during the time I was waiting for the light. Since the car was gutless, I had planned a full throttle blast off when the light turned green. Just before it did, I happened to notice a huge black bird sitting on top of a telephone. Just as the light turned green the bird left the pole and swooped down just about grille height and I thought I was going to hit him. Just then he flapped his huge wings downward and his tailwind caused the Cadillac to shift down! Since they were such turds they got lousy mileage as the drivers had to jam their right foot into the carb to get them to move out of their own way. Typical GM foresight when introducing a new model or concept design.
I think what is being forgotten here is this car is 31 years old. Love it or hate it, this car deserves some respect for surviving this long in the condition it’s in. Just because a certain make, say Edsel, or certain models like Pinto or Vega that either doomed the name, or gave the company a black eye, they still have a place in automotive history, good or bad. I have a soft spot for in my heart for all original cars in condition like this, regardless of make, model or year. Honestly, if I walked out of my local grocery store and this was sitting next to a same year Corvette, Mustang, Camero or Firebird in the same condition, I would probably look at the Cimeron first. Besides the fact I like oddball cars, when was the last time you saw one, in any condition, in person. Doesn’t make it any more desirable or worth any more money, but I still like seeing all of them.
Well said, Sir. Well said!!!
Thanks for the positive comment. I get a little bored with the negative comments on-line from people who have never even seen one of these cars in real life! Haters will hate for hates sake but, I don’t care. I own a 1987 Cimarron that is in concourse condition with less than 35k miles on it…and I get great feedback at the car shows. It may have been a disaster for GM to bring to market a $12k Cavalier clone but, nevertheless, they did and Cadillac did sell over 132,000 examples during its run. It is what it is and I thank you for not brow beating the car….it could have been a lot worse.
Oh, Cadillac, you were so proud, look what they reduced you to. Shows how desperate carmakers were to sell cars and how consumers are bamboozled by the trends of the time. I mean, no matter what happens, some things should have remained sacred, a Caddy was always a BIG car, that’s what people want in a Caddy. I could never see my old man, who loved big Caddy’s, being seen in a car like this. Another example of cars that may have sounded good in the boardroom, but clearly, a swing and a miss.
My ex-wife’s first new car was a silver 85 Cavalier with blue fabric. Basic car…2.0L, auto, AC, stereo and rear defogger. We drove the 120,000 until 1990.
It was very reliable as we took care of it. My only complaint was the alternator.
I like the Cadillac Cimarron. It could have been a better car with a 3.8v6 and nicer trim and wheels.
Remember the first gen Seville was based off a Nova.
Modern day Cadillac SUV’s are pimped Chevys.
I had an 86 Cavalier wagon and loved it until kids got to big for it, then went to an A body wagon. I would take this Caddy Cavalier any day.
My Brothers son had one years ago, nephew? Dont know, anyway he had some Indian painting done on the hood. Kind of like the super chicken thing from the Firebirds. My Brother married an Indian from the Blackfoot tribe. So it was fitting. Indian Caddy he called it. Car lasted about a month. I wish I had the hood.
In Europe this was either Vauxhall cavalier MKII or Opel Ascona C … these where actually good cars , i dont know how they directly compare to their American GM cousins
I was under the impression that the Cimmaron was an Opel—don’t remember the model. It was a good car in Europe but when Cadillac got finished, it was awful.
The Cadillac Catera was an Opel. I think they were kind of unreliable.
You can put lip stick on a Pig, and it is still a Pig.
A little old Lady, ( yes she really was ) that went to Church with Mom and Dad, had one of these, and she wrecked it. Did some serious front end damage, I was surprised her insurance company did not total it out, but Dad and I worked it over, and got it back into shape. I guess because the fact there wasn’t any major frame damage, they figured it was worth putting back together. Well anyway, the radiator frame came from a Cavalier, as most of the front supports. She had that car until she passed, and I bet you $100 that car did not have 30K on it the day it sold at her estate auction.
One of GM big mistakes in my book, but heck everybody loves a pig!!!!
I agree that it was an abonination to put the Caddy name on the Cavalier, but disagree that this was the car that nearly killed Cadillac. I will leave that to anything powered by the 4.1 V8, with its aluminum block and iron heads…
It surprises me that Cadillac hasn’t killed it’s brand with the new emblem on the front that looks like a Chevrolet instead of the old “wreath” emblem.
I have an 84 Seville with a 4.1 and have had no problems with it.
My mom drove and loved these – one of her last ones had the faux convertible top AND a Continental Kit!
And once they dropped the 2.8L in it, the little car finally had some decent ooomph
You are really trying to rate THIS in the same class as the BMWs and Benzes of the 80s? This thing was a total letdown to anybody and everybody who ever even saw one. What a sorry excuse for a car, let alone a Caddy!
I would not give 25.00$ for this!
Yes, you would
Absolutely the worst car ever built, period.
Please don’t put a Cimarron on BF again or I will un-sub.
See ya’,,,
No love for this one. A POS is a POS, no matter what grade of leather they used on the seats.
Well, at least the TC was a convertible…
Tell us how you really feel. Have you ever actually driven one? Lots of folks love these, and you forgot to add “In my opinion…”
To the writer of this piece: The plural of “Cavalier” is “Cavaliers,” and the plural of “Cimarron” is “Cimarrons” (no apostrophes).
Ken, WADR, this isn’t a grammar class, bunch of car freaks that may or may not spell correctly, doesn’t bother me, I know what they mean. I got news for ya’, if our computers didn’t underline misspelled words, you’d see a lot more.
Thanks for catching that Ken.
You know / in all fairness, not much from the mid-80’s GM world was something to be proud of… but the Cimmaron handled, was reliable and in 2.8 form, performed. It was more knocked for its Cavalier relationship and the fact it was even available in the first year with a manual and 4 cylinder — all shocking no-no’s for Cadillac at that time. I mean we are talking about a classic designed/conceived in the like 1979 and released early 80’s.
The Cimmaron was the lowest point in Cadillac history. Shame on you GM !
Ask the man who owned one, ME. It went well over 200,000 miles, it was a better car than the Cavalier, suspension, A/C that worked till the end, leather, power windows, etc, 5 speed manual with the 4 was just fine for commuting from NH to Boston, and having teenaged kids drive (a car full was only 4 people) which it did for a few years, crossed the country when over 180,000 miles, yes, had to replace the steering rack – but that was the same as the other GM cars, so not expensive, yes GM copied the BMW Bavaria – look at the rear door windows – and the perforated leather was pure Mercedes of the time, and the later ones with the V6 were very quick. It was dying of rust, and finally the wiring harness for the power windows broke with two windows down, in the winter, and it departed our family to a guy who “was going to fix it up”, got $200 for it.
At least with the original Cimarron, Cadillac kept its Nova frame out of sight and didn’t just gussy up a cheaper car with emblems.