At points throughout its history, Cadillac became a little greedy by trying to expand their segment. Sometimes it made sense; the 1927 LaSalle was a response to a perceived price gap between Buick and Cadillac, and that brand lasted through 1940, as Cadillac’s lower-priced Series 61 made it superfluous. The Series 61 was phased out after 1951, and Cadillac focused on their usual target market. In 1965, they tried again with the Calais. The Calais buyer saved almost 10 percent on the purchase price but also had to pay extra for equipment that came standard on the DeVille, so it was never a big seller. This 1971 Calais found a home back then, however, and it’s now for sale on Marketplace in Cincinnati, Ohio. Barn Finds reader Ted found it languishing for quite some time and sent it our way; maybe we can find this Calais a new home today.
To put the 1971 Calais into perspective, its base price was $5,899 compared to the Coupe DeVille’s $6,264, a difference of just over five percent. On the other hand, sales of the Calais Coupe totaled a mere 3,360, a small fraction of the DeVille’s 66,081. By this time, a Cadillac buyer was paying for the prestige of the DeVille name, as a few hundred dollars was probably inconsequential. Today, that makes the Calais an interesting historical footnote rather than a case where rarity adds value.
As Cadillac fans know, the ’71 model had all-new styling that would last through the 1976 model year. This particular Calais is gold, but there were two golds for 1971, Duchess Gold and Chalice Gold, in addition to Desert Beige and Cypress Green, which had a bit of a gold cast. Yes, it was the time of earth tones, and our feature car’s original owner couldn’t resist. There’s apparently a gold interior, too, but aside from a picture of the odometer showing 51,661 miles, there’s no evidence of that in the ad.
We do get to see a picture of the engine bay and its 472 cubic-inch V8, which suffered from a lower compression ratio in 1971, just like the rest of the General Motors line. Down 30 horsepower to 345, it still produced 500 lb.-ft. of torque; in 1972, the rated horsepower would fall to 220 as a result of SAE’s new net horsepower ratings, but the engine was basically the same. According to the seller, the car needs a new air conditioning compressor and “minor front end work.” That’s a bit ominous: Is it a tie rod? A sway bar end link? All new ball joints? The word “minor” means different things to different people.
Still, this looks like a solid example of a nice, big Cadillac of the ’70s: You either like them or you don’t, and if you do, this one is certainly worth a look. The pictures in the ad aren’t the greatest, but I can’t imagine anyone buying a car off Marketplace without an inspection anyway. So why has it been for sale so long? The asking price is $15,000, and winter isn’t really the time people are looking for old cars up here in the Great Lakes region (although they should be!). Would a lower price help? What do you think is fair? Cadillac people, leave your opinions in the comments.
Great find, you just don’t see many Calais Cadillacs. Yet without the vinyl top, the roof had a better chance of surviving without any rust. We had an “Uncle” he was an old family friend that had a Sedan Deville from about this time frame and a similar gold, probably one of the other golds Aaron mentioned from his research. I was very young at the time. I just remember us standing at the curb waving goodbye and him hitting his windshield washer continuously getting us wet as we were standing there, he did it on purpose, he was smiling the whole time doing it. Its strange thevlittle memories we get with cars that come back after decades when looking at a similar or same car. I would have really liked seing the interior on this one, its too bad they didnt have pictures. These Caddys had nice lines, I liked the “hardtops” a little more than (71-73) before they had to change the roof design I’m guessing due to roll over protection laws from the government.
Great find and write up. Thanks for the memories.
Ironically the 5% price difference is basically the same as the difference in production numbers. There was a third gold color choice….”gold-digger”…popular with trophy wives. Very nice find.
Interesting. Yo use disparaging terms and my reply to you was deleted, yet yours stays.
This one at least has A/C, I saw one (a ’71 or ’72) that didn’t have it. I don’t know if power windows, locks, and seat were standard by then or not. I once saw a ’63 series 62 that did not have a single option. No A/C, power windows, locks, manual seat and no radio. I guess some people at the time just wanted to buy a new Cadillac.
Based upon the shadow, it appears that ET took the lead photo.
@John Eder
😆
That is a weird shadow. Or is it stain? Will we ever know? Only the Shadow knows. Tune in next time when we reveal if someone is rich enough to buy this classic
That is the shadow of the front lawn pole light that you can see it in the background in the photos in the FB Marketplace ad. Photos were taken late in the day, thus long shadows. We used to study shadows to identify some objects when I was an aerial reconnaissance photo interpreter in the USAF.
I much preferred the more simple exteriors (i.e. no vinyl!).. And, yes, electric windows were optional on the Calais. Back then, just owning a Cadillac meant you’ve “arrived”, and I would be perfectly satisfied with this one!
My uncle had one of these. I remember that is glided over any bump in the road, had an enormous front bench seat that was covered in some very nice cloth upholstery. It was one of the gold colors mentioned. Nice to see a Cadillac from back in the 1970’s. We forget how big these vehicles were compared to what is on now travelling on our roads
The last REAL Cadillac.
Nice survivor. Most Calais were cut up and used for funeral flower cars or Hearses, since they were cheaper, had the look of a Cadillac, but the luxury wasn’t necessary.
I have a 72 Coupe de Ville with 45K miles on it (34K when I bought it 5 years ago), and leather interior, in beautiful, tasteful blues – not gaudy, with a blue leather interior – kind of a cobalt blue, also tasteful. On the question of whether $15K is a good price for this car, I’d say that if approving looks and comments are what you’re after, it’s a steal. I’m a tall, “big-boned” guy, so comfort was my first goal, but it has been fun to see how much people of all ages love this car of mine.
Caddies have no road feel and bad body roll. I never felt in control when driving one.
I had no problem being in control when racing my 65 against many so called muscle cars and coming out ahead.
Maybe you did not know how to really drive them assuming you owned any. They are boats, you pilot them.
@ Curt….a huge improvement in handling can be realized if you can find a Limo of this era (or possibly later) in a salvage yard. Larger sway bars are found on those HD-chassis’d models & many have optional rear bars as well.
To me, this was Cadillacs hayday of land yachts until 1977 when they were shrunk down to common car size. And I’m anything but common.
The Series 61 was kind of an oxymoron as as base model Cadillac. Sure there were a few people who wanted a Cadillac but couldn’t afford a de Ville because of all the power accessories (standard but you’re still paying for them) so a Series 61 was a good alternative, no a/c, pw, pl, stereo, pt, pseat, cruise, etc.
Dad had a ’72 Coupe de Ville for a short while. I’ve told this story before. I had just moved back from Florida, my ’68 Cadillac had died and was towed away.
He wanted me to get a job. We lived in the farm country hills of NJ. No public transportation. I had no way to get to the nearest town about 6 miles away to look for a job. One day looking through the paper (no internet back then) I called about a job and set up an interview. Dad had two cars. The ’72 Cadillac & a ’75 Chevrolet Vega. He always took the Vega to work.
Come interview day Dad was at work, the Cadillac was sitting in the driveway, I took it and went to my interview. I got the job.
But I was so incredibly nervous about getting a scratch on the Cadillac I drove super slow super careful.
Put the car back where it was parked, put the keys back. Told Dad I got a job and needed transportation to and from the job.
He gave me the Vega to use.
It got me there and back. Not pretty but it got me around.
What I wouldn’t give to have that CdV back. I consider the ’71 thru ’76 Cadillacs most gorgeous designs. Long, low, wide, with a great dashboard & interior and even some muscle. (until ‘1972 of course)
I would (finances willing) add this to my non-existant collection just to have and just to represent the Series 61, but not at this inflated price. I’ll be generous and $7500 would be my top offer.
Prices are dropping people! You’re not going to make a killing right now. Either sell your cars at reasonable prices or hold on to them until prices go back up.
Some muscle? My 73 limo and 76 Cadillacs were extremely heavy vehicles but they would easily lay rubber with both tires. The 500cid easily maxed out the 100 mph speedo
And the 73 limo did the same on the 120 Speedo especially when I was stupidly racing a Pa State police cruiser with his 440. I did win.
Wouldn’t kick it off my driveway that’s
for sure Angel. Had a ’66 Calais and
loved mine. It was a 1 owner car when Dad bought it for Mom in ’67 And when I bought it from them in 1970, it was a still a very nice car that
ran great, looked good, and got me lots of dates too. So what if the top
didn’t fold down. By God I had a Cadillac and that was good enough for me! And besides, how many 16
year old kids did you know that owned one? Hi Angel! Just taking a
break from the 2 ’56 Chevys I’m making for my upstairs neighbor. One’s a ragtop and the other is a 4-door hardtop. After that, I’ve got an
order for a ’30 Model A roadster and a
’50 Chevy Bel Air hardtop. Not to worry dear, I’ll hold onto yours until
you’re ready for them. Nice Caddy!
Now, if I could just get the girls on board with this one…
Hi Ken,
Not many had a Cadillac as a 16 yr old. I, personally had a ’62 Lincoln Continental 4 dr convertible as my first car when I was 17. (1970)
That’s not including the 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood I had when I was 13 (but no drivers license obviously)
Just closed my shop down for the night. Got a lot done, but it’s gonna be cold in the morning when I start
working again. 39 degrees? WTF?!!
I thought I lived in Florida! That’s what they make leather jackets for. Still can’t figure out how the bell housing got cracked on your ’62 rag
top though. Those trannies and Bell
housings were made from pretty strong steel to stand up to what the
462 V-8 would dish out in the way of
engine torque– which may have been
somewhere in the neighborhood of
480 foot pounds at 3200 RPM. Then
bolt all that to a 2.80:1 rear axle, and you have a really nice cruiser. Well
Angel, I’m off to bed as 4:30 comes
early for me. Sleep tight and stay warm Angel 💋
Warm Ken? I’m in Baltimore now. 28° during the day and it just snowed on Monday. Vegas was at least 68°. I HATE cold.
Yeah, it was pretty chilly when I started working this morning, but I got through it okay. Wore my jacket
all day as it didn’t even make it to 60.
Had to stop from time to time to warm my hands as my knuckles hurt
a bit. Other than that I survived it. Got a lot done, but hand painting those enchiladas was a real pain.
I’ll send you some pics of the Chevys
when I can.