Hasn’t Moved Since 1990: 1980 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

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Located in Attalla, Alabama, and listed for sale here on Craigslist is this 1980 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. It comes with a clean title and the seller has set the price at $4,500.

This is a slightly harder article to write because there are some issues with the ad. The first is the fact that the vehicle description includes no punctuation. The second issue is that there are some anomalies in the description and the vehicle specifications, but I’ll give it a shot. The fifth generation de Ville was introduced in 1977 and remained in production until 1984. The appearance of the car remained largely unchanged through 1977 to 1979, but a major facelift was undertaken for the 1980 model year which gave the car a heavier and more substantial appearance. This 1980 example presents quite well, but there are a couple of issues that will need addressing to really bring it up to scratch.

The first thing that I noticed was that the filler panels at the ends of the front bumper appear to be missing on both sides of the car. This leaves two gaping holes in the front fenders. Apart from that the body and paint appear to be quite good with no other obvious issues, and the vinyl roof looks in amazing condition for its age.

The interior looks to be in generally quite good condition, but there are just a few little detail things that let it down. The door trims, carpet and other plastic trim all appear to be clean and free of scuff, scrapes and tears. The seats themselves are generally in the same sort of state, although there is a hole in the top of the passenger side head-rest where the seat-belt guide has pulled away, and that should be addressed properly.

The dash itself seems to be in good order with no obvious crack. There are a couple of things that I do notice. A positive is that the original radio and 8-track player are intact. Of course, whether they work is another matter entirely, especially for the 8-track. Personally I would either fix that CB radio so that it hangs straight under the dash or I would remove it completely as it really detracts from the look of the car. The other thing that I noticed is that the mirror switch is missing from the dash just to the left of the heater controls, so I’d want to find out why.

Unfortunately the seller provides no shots of the engine. In the item description he also describes it as having a manual transmission. Since I can only see two pedals down there I think that it’s safe to assume that it was an error. Not only do we not get any engine photos but the seller gives us no indication of how it actually runs and drives. The reality is that the engine is most likely the 368ci V8, but it is possible that it could also be the 252ci V6.

This Coupe de Ville is not perfect, but it wouldn’t be terribly hard get it to that state. The majority of the known issues are merely details, and the performance would not be impacted by them. The bigger question hangs over the type and condition of the engine and the remaining drive-train. The seller has done himself a disservice by not providing that information. I will give credit where it’s due though because the seller has shown a willingness to be flexible on the price, and is also willing to consider trades.

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Comments

  1. Max

    Not bad but I Never cared for 80 and up Deville’s. In my opinion best full size Cadillacs were 77 to 79 . This is my Mint 78 Coupe Deville I bought back in 2016 :

    https://www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/314/1978-cadillac-coupe-deville

    Not for sale Just sharing the love for the hobby!

    Like 6
    • Ken

      Nice car and I certainly don’t see that color very often, if at all. Question. How do you like the Vogue tires? I’ve heard some pretty bad things about Vogues. What’s your experience?

      Cuz, I own an 85 Chrysler 5th Avenue and was thinking of putting those on, but I dunno. : )

      Like 0
      • Max

        Thanks for complement Ken. as for Vogue tires It was on car when bought it I have no idea regarding negative feedback on tires anyway I dont drive my Deville much about maybe twice per month short drives its part my classic collection and kind of a garage queen!

        Like 1
      • Bobby

        Their not vogues their uniroyals

        Like 0
    • Ken

      Aha..very good..Excellent! You should get many more years from the Caddy!

      Like 0
    • Oingo

      Mint has become a BS identifier for me but yours looks like it was just stamped. Somebody must have passed to let that go.

      Like 0
  2. Nick

    The V6’s had badges, so it must be the 8. It’s clean, and he just might get near that price if he can find someone who likes it. I had a 77 for years, sold it for what I paid for it, because there’s little demand for them.

    Like 2
  3. David P. Reeves

    I think the last model year Cadillac had standard transmissions was 1947, can anybody else verify that?

    Like 1
    • Ralph

      1953

      Like 0
      • David P. Reeves

        Oh, all right. Learn something new every day

        Like 1
  4. Miguel

    With this car I would probably not show that first picture.

    I don’t think it does anything for the value of a Cadillac to show that it was filthy and sitting around for years.

    Taking the condition of the car and the fact that it has one of the last good engines Cadillac used in these cars, he might get his price.

    The buyer will have to know that the missing inserts are not cheap.

    There are no shots of the left rear to see if it needs that insert as well.

    Like 2
  5. Max

    The last good engines in full size cadillacs were the 425’s in my opinion

    Like 2
    • Miguel

      The 368 was a good engine. It had enough power to move the car.

      I don’t remember any inherent problems with it.

      Like 2
      • Ralph

        Its the same family, the 472-500-425-368 are all related.

        Like 2
  6. jw454

    At least it was cleaned up. That’s a big plus. Nice looking car.

    Like 3
    • Mike

      Kinda hard to believe they put in effort to drag it out and clean it AND it’s a CL ad.

      Like 1
  7. DJS

    I had a 77 for many years great car it had a 425 and ran fantastic when sold it had 245,000 on the clock but now I’d try to find another 77 the 80 just to big and boxy. But need a longer garage

    Like 1
    • Max

      The 77 to 79 are heavier cars than 80 sizewise length / width they same its just 80 upwards are more square or boxy

      Like 0
  8. Kenneth Carney

    The only thing that might be an issue with
    this car is whether or not it has that god
    awful 8-6-4 fuel management system on
    it. Heard a lot of bad things about it from
    former owners who had them. It was too
    far ahead of its time and was a potential
    Pandora’s box that brought with it a whole host of problems. Among these
    were sudden stalling, rough idle, and just
    all ’round poor performance. Combine
    this with frequent computer failures, and
    you had an engine that left a sour taste
    in a lot of people’s mouths and quite literally drove them to replace their Caddys with imports like Mercedes or
    the high end Toyota Cressida. And since
    when did Cadillac ever put a V-6 into
    anything other than a Cimarron? If they
    did, I’d sure like to see such a setup just
    to say that I did indeed see one. As for
    the plastic end caps, you can get them
    from a place called Musselman’s Fiberglass Specialties in Dothan, Al.
    They have been selling reproduction parts for these cars since the late ’80’s.
    Other than that, nice car! Hope it finds
    a good home.

    Like 2
    • Miguel

      Ken, it couldn’t have that since they only had that in 1981.

      Also most of those had been bypassed the same year they were new.

      More than a few dealers from back then told me that every car they got, they bypassed the system before they sold them on.

      Like 2
  9. Max

    I think the 81 Deville engines had very bad electronic management system just like my Original 80 Chrysler New Yorker has factory ‘Lean Burn box ‘ !

    Like 1
  10. ACZ

    Almost the same as my 81 coupe deVille. Mine was a diesel. Went over 275,000 miles on the original engine. Tires and brakes only. One of the best cars I ever owned. After that long, I just got tired of it. Sold it for $1K less that I bought it.

    Like 1
  11. Kerry Dahl

    Did the Cadillac Cimmaron have a manual transmission as an option?

    Like 1
  12. Daved

    As a general rule, if one bumper filler is missing, then all are missing. Or will be soon.

    This one is presented in very nice colors! Seems like the nicest preserved ones usually show up in less than desirable shades like taupe, brown, light blue….

    Like 0
  13. Jim Z

    Is it possibly a V8 Diesel? I bought a LOT of Caddy/Olds diesel cars back in the day, cause I knew how to keep them running. Sold them to family/friends. Had a couple of Olds Cierras with V6 diesels, too. Loved them!

    Like 0

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