Well, this one’s a surprise! Referred to by the seller as “Yahtrod” it’s a real sled with some punch under the hood. A 1964 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, with its normally endowed powerplant, makes for brisk acceleration – what would you expect from the Standard of the World, right? This one’s had its game up’d a bit so let’s give it a review. Tony P found the listing for this surprisingly equipped luxo-cruiser cooling its jets in Fullerton, California. It’s available, here on craigslist for $15,777.

One of the first things that I noticed about this DeVille’s exterior is the pizza pie plate wheel covers – they look like something that would have been used in a Bonneville Salt Flats competition. The wide whites and red painted steel wheel rim lend to that very old-school vibe. The finish, which appears to be Sierra Gold, is faded though fairly consistent. The seller adds, “Excellent straight body, and doors, trunk, and hood all align perfectly. Plus, they all close snuggly“. There’s no indication of rust, the stainless trim and chrome plating are pretty fair, and images of the underside show a heavily undercoated, but sound, structure.

The interior shows as the born-with perforated leather upholstery which was standard on the DeVille. It’s in surprisingly original condition and in spite of 59 years of age and 103K miles of usage – there are no indications of excessive wear, rips, etc. Admittedly, the interior images aren’t comprehensive, more like snippets.

The only updates from stock include a column-mounted “Sun” tachometer and a single under-dash auxiliary gauge. The HVAC control head is the standard piece meaning it has HV but no A/C – it was still an option for Cadillac in ’64.

The big news is the 340 HP, 429 CI V8 engine which is lurking under that Montana-sized hood. But, there’s more to it than the standard Cadillac fare as the seller claims, “This High-Performance Cadillac was built as a concept of what could and should have been for 1964, just like the 1955 through 57 El Dorado with dual-quad carburetors and Bat Wing Air Cleaner“.  Added is, “I freshened up the engine, which is original, a few months back with a cylinder honing, new standard sized Mahle performance rings, standard sized Clevite con rod bearings…Intake manifold, Carter/Cadillac AFB’s, and Batwing Air Cleaner are all Cadillac OEM”. Nothing is said about operational capability other than this DeVille has never left its owner stranded. Backing up the big 429 engine is a first-year Turbo-Hydramatic 400, three-speed automatic transmission.

Yes, this is a unique one though I’d like to know more about the “concept” aspect of the engine. The seller claims twenty-three years of ownership but did he buy it this way or did he perform the modification based on what he thought a ’64 Cadillac “performance concept” should include? It probably doesn’t matter in the scheme of things and it’s safe to say that it’s highly unlikely that there’s another one in existence, wouldn’t you agree?