Cadillac spent decades unconcerned about the impact of premium imports. Still, it became apparent during the 1970s that manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz had moved the bar for mid-sized luxury cars. With other manufacturers following a similar path in an environment of rising fuel prices and tight emission regulations, Cadillac faced a situation where change was inevitable to maintain its market share. The result of the changed thinking was the First Generation Seville, which appeared in May of 1975. Our feature car hails from the final year of First Generation production in 1979 and is an original survivor needing a new home. It is listed here on eBay in Darby, Pennsylvania. Bidding sits at $3,250 in a No Reserve auction.
The Seville was a shock to traditional Cadillac buyers as the smallest car to wear the iconic badge. It was also the most expensive offering at the time, a combination that some customers didn’t welcome. Initial sales were slower than expected, but the Seville gained momentum by the time this car rolled off the line. It is a tidy classic finished in Sunlight Silver with a matching vinyl top. It is a generally clean vehicle, with no significant issues or problems with its panels or paint. The vinyl shows marked deterioration and a few wrinkles, and I’m unsure whether it could be brought back to the point where it matches the paint condition. It may not prove a drama because replacement vinyl retails for under $300 plus fitting. The filler panels haven’t crumbled, with the chrome and glass in good order. The original wire wheel covers are spotless, and the narrow whitewalls represent the ideal way to complete the exterior.
The Seville’s interior is pretty disappointing, with the visible faults guaranteed to undermine the sale price. The dash pad sports several cracks, and some of the driver’s seat stitching is starting to part. The carpet appears stained, and some of the faux woodgrain inlay on the wheel has fallen away and disappeared. It isn’t horrendous and is serviceable, but the word that springs to mind when assessing the condition is “average.” Its problems aren’t just cosmetic because the air conditioning doesn’t blow cold. The seller believes the system requires a recharge, but it raises the question of how the refrigerant escaped. There could be a leaking seal or other problem needing repair or replacement. Buyers paid a premium price for the Seville, and in return, they received leather trim, A/C, power windows, power locks, cruise control, a tilt wheel, a rear defogger, remote mirrors, and an AM/FM radio/8-track player.
The Seville might have been Cadillac’s smallest model, but it wasn’t light. It tipped the scales at 4,290 lbs, with power coming from a 5.7-liter V8. The motor sent 170hp and 269 ft/lbs of torque to the road via a three-speed automatic transmission. Outright performance wasn’t a strong focus, which is a blessing since this Caddy took 19.8 seconds to cover the ¼-mile. The news for potential buyers is positive, with the seller stating the Seville is in excellent mechanical health. It runs and drives perfectly, the transmission is smooth, and the power steering and brakes function as they should. There are no signs of problems, suggesting it is a turnkey proposition.
Cadillac sold 16,355 examples of the Seville in 1975, which was below expectations. However, buyers soon warmed to the “Baby Caddy,” and our feature car is 1-of-53,487 to find a home in 1979. This one isn’t perfect, but it has attracted twenty-two bids. It wouldn’t suit someone seeking perfection but could attract an enthusiast willing to compromise and accept its shortcomings. Do you fit that description, or will you pass this time?
One of the more gorgeous sedans you’d see on the roads.
I have to agree with you, Stan. These were a good running and handling smaller Cadillac. Innovative use of Bosch fuel injection on the well proven Olds 350 engine. The one thing you had to be careful of was the hoses used in the fuel system. Like most older cars, they did not react well to unleaded fuels.
There are no fuel lines on any car anywhere that have any reaction to “unleaded fuels”. Makes zero difference. On the other hand, any ethanol blend does attack fuel lines, and causes problems for any older vehicle with a carburetor, attacking all parts of the fuel system. Ethanol was the stupidest idea to ever come along.
@Duaney
Not if you’re a corn farmer ;p
I had a beautiful one, bought in 1982.
Custom wire wheels and matching trunk mount spare tire & cover.
It never ran right. Electrical,fuse, computer PROBLEMS every week.
Like a gorgeous bride who often forgets to come home at night.
“Based on the ChevyII/Nova platform” said it all for me.
There’s a small area of the floor that’s the same as the Nova, but 99% of this car is unique to itself. They used some Nova tooling and some engineering to produce the Seville. The comparison might be the 1977 Caprice as compared to the 77 Cadillac, but the Seville is 100 times different from the Nova. Keep in mind, the Nova and Seville both used the Camaro front suspension and steering, yet the Seville is refined 20 times over of the Camaro version. With the fuel injected Olds engine, the 400 Turbo Hydramatic, constant velocity joints on both driveshaft ends, and a unique rear axle and 4 whl disc brakes, there’s no Nova in the Seville.
Your points are well taken and I see my ‘based-on’ statement is way too broad and implies near interchangeability of parts, which is definitely not true.
The major non-original, non-Cadillac part was the Olds 350 engine. I guess that’s the 1% that’s not unique.
The Nova platform was more the jumping off point for the Seville and shared some similarities. The most notable is likely the leaf spring rear suspension which took a bit of the shine off the European-inspired vibe.
I had a friend back in high school who used to buy these all the time for cheap. He would pull the olds 350 and drop in an early 70s 455,, would bolt right in. 400 horses woke them up nicely.
The Seville and late 70’s to early 90’s caddies are pretty much all landfill and parts cars. Sad truth.
If that’s true, then so are all the Mopars, and Fords of the late 70’s to early 90’s. You must drive VW bugs or Fiats.
I normally try to avoid panning cars entirely. I know this car too well. They are plagued with electrical gremlins. The electric seat adjustment wiring can take down the entire car. They also have ‘light tube’ dimmer system in the wiring harness that breaks, and you lose the feature as that tube gets brittle and breaks. Door jams where the gremlins happen mostly. Then the vacuum hoses for emissions and transmission / idle functions are also a gremlin source. A stripped down rat rod project or for parts of yours has issues. If this hasn’t been facing those inevitable problems, you get a sample to go by how to overhaul yours on re-assembly. I am not a hater, but this is probably a series of Cadillac never going to appreciate not just for the terrible engineering and terrible gas mileage. But if this is ‘attractive’ to your eye, maybe you also think gigantic behinds on a person is ‘nice’? Once you see the hippo without the curtains, you’ll think again about that imaginary ‘attraction’.
I’m guessing that you had a lemon, or a abused car. I own many of these and haven’t encountered anything like this. It’s actually considered by many that these Cadillacs were very well engineered for their time. When new, most everyone complimented the styling as “clean, uncluttered, and handsome”
Working for Cadillac for 45 years now (as a tech). These cars weren’t plagued by gremlins. 1.) The fuel lines would deteriorate as any others would. 2.) The fiber optics were only to let you monitor the lamps, we’re not in any way electrical. 3.) At times, the fast idle valve would stick , usually repaired by cleaning. 4.) The ECM would fail, mostly due to the fact the MAP sensor was built into the unit. 5.) Probably the most frequent failure was in the pickup coil in the distributor, the wires would break because of the movement of the vacuum advance unit.
“Cadillac sold 16,355 examples of the Seville in 1975, which was below expectations.”
What’s your source on this? Every article on the Seville I’ve read indicated that the production ramp-up was deliberately slow to ensure the cars had the quality expected of the most expensive owner-driven car in the lineup. In fact, the first 2000 cars were silver, because Cadillac neglected to develop trim to cover the door frames, which were visible inside the car. Rather than have non-matching exterior paint visible inside the car, the first 2000 cars were silver outside and gray inside, to disguise the door frames until their supplier could develop trim.
Looks like the production of the 1976 Seville was 43,000, the 16,355 you mention could be the 1975 year sales. I would say that for the first year production of an entirely new down sized Cadillac, 43,000 is a great accomplishment.
I remember reading about that!!! Cadillac really did try with these cars. I seem to remember these all over the place as a kid in the 70s. They were popular. We had a family friend who had one and I dont remember them having problems with it.
EXACTLY my experience with this model car. Unreliable.
These Cadillac Sevilles were Beautiful. 1975(6)-1979. Cadillac HAD TO HIT A GRAND SLAM. And they did. This model did just that. Gasoline was DOUBLE in price and Cadillac produced the first “purposefully built, smaller “ car. These Sevilles were “whisper quiet “and elegantly powerful. They are not Novas. As far as colors go – all grey on grey USED to be unique. Now it’s the norm. I WOULD consider a Seville for sure but since there are so many to choose from even today, I think I’ll HOLD OUT – for a different color. Great article!
You are correct.
Look at that add. This is a Very professional seller.
No less than THREE “0” history eBay bidders!
“The seller believes the system requires a recharge, but it raises the question of how the refrigerant escaped”
I’ll go for the win Alex!
“What is “The Freon leaked out”
Of course it’s only been 49 years, have you had any “leakage” in that time?
Used to add a can or 2 of Freon every year to my 70’s/80’s cars.
Frank
Bid now so you can get a deal!
Attention.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/334930948345
This seller SOLD this car 4 days ago.
Sold Jul 4, 2023Sold Item
1979 Cadillac Seville
33 bids
Winning bid:
$6,500.00
Time Ended:Jul 4, 2023 at 1:03PM PDT
Duration:5 days
SOLD
Ended: Jul 04, 2023 , 3:03PM
NEW LISTING
Jul 05, 2023 10:56:31 AM PDT
This seller SOLD this car 4 days ago.
Sold Jul 4, 2023 Sold Item 334930948345
1979 Cadillac Seville
33 bids
Winning bid:
$6,500.00
Time Ended:Jul 4, 2023 at 1:03PM PDT
Duration:5 days
NEW LISTING Item 334938480976
Jul 05, 2023 10:56:31 AM PDT
I tried to post a link to the earlier sale three times,
looks like I am Not allowed, as those posts disappeared.
These would of came with a Bendix elecrtonic fuel injection,they also tried using the first MDS system for engine management or better known as the ess,electronic spark selection which was absolute junk,control boards would fry out and most just took it off altogether
I’m a born gearhead, but I tend to draw the line at GM, partly because our family has had nothing but bad luck with GM vehicles and partly because of the dirty dealings they inflicted upon Saab, which lead to the marque’s demise after the 2013 model year.
The biggest lemon in the bunch of GM disasters that we’ve had over the years was my father’s ’77 Seville. It was a diesel, which partly explains that lemony smell. But, at the time my father saw it, gas prices were rising, the old ’71 Newport was getting rusty and my father just had to have the Caddy. He’s not a gearhead and is not skilled in underhood automotive terrain, so to say that he went into the puchase blindly was an understatement.
Not long after he bought the car (used with, if I recall, under 30K on the odo) the injector pump crapped out. Then, it was the glowplugs. The replacement injector pump died not long after (that car had an incredible appetite for injector pumps) and then electrical relays began to fail. My father also kept forgetting to plug the car in whenever the thermometer dropped below 40 degrees, which didn’t make Mum happy when he’d have to take her Cordoba to work when his Caddy wouldn’t start on a cold morning. He kept throwing good money after bad and finally traded the car in 1984 for a brand new Lincoln Town Car. He took a real bath on the trade in……the Caddy still looked new and had low miles (the odo doesn’t spin if the car is riding on the back of a tow truck) but he only got about $4K as a trade in on a $24K Linc. Had the car been equipped with a gas engine, the salesman told my father that he’d have gotten $8000-$9000 as a trade in on the Town Car.
So, that’s our sad Seville story. Except to say that my father joined a group called DDOG, or Disgruntled Diesel Owners Group, which entered into a class action against GM. GM finally settled with DDOG and my father got a settlement cheque for exactly $234, which didn;t even begin to cover the cost of the parts that were thrown at that car.
Greetings …. Unfortunately the Diesel project with GM was pretty bad. As I mentioned in a previous post I owned a ’79 Seville with the gas engine and had pretty much all the pitfalls associated with those cars. Having said that, I’ve owned 30 vehichles in my 3 million miles of driving and I’ve witnessed some great stories and some horrible ones. ’77 Cordoba, New …. Drove and handled very nice, but the transmission leaked, bad … No help from Chrysler… sold the car after 9 months. ’80 Grand Prix..New … Not Good … Sold after6 months. On the flip side I’ve had a ’79 Delta 88 … Superb car, ’79 Caddy Coupe Deville …New , again superb car….Asfor Saab….GM was out of their league with that one …. It would be nice to see them get back in the car buisness, but with everybody chaseing the Asian Stuff they are probably smart in keeping what they’re doing
Didn’t DAMM (Drunks Against Mad Mothers) and DOGG ( Disgruntel Diesel Owners Group) join forces ?
Please buy me. My incredibly ugly sister is about to take the stage. My butt may be boxy and petitte, just wait until you see my sister sevilles droopy ass! You WILL appriciate my boxy ass end. My sister Seville s ass end looks like a dog with worms dragging the ground
I had the same car back in 92 …. Mine had leather and had been maintained …. I got rid of the fuel injection and put a carb, distribution, and intake manifold on it …. Ran great after that … Handled nice
TYPICAL snake eBay seller…
Using of fake bidder accounts.
SOLD the second time on July 10th for $7,100
SOLD first time Jul 4, 2023 Sold Item 334930948345
1979 Cadillac Seville
Winning bid:
$6,500.00
Time Ended:Jul 4, 2023 at 1:03PM PDT
Duration:5 days
NEW LISTING Item 334938480976
Jul 05, 2023 10:56:31 AM PDT
I tried to post a link to the earlier sale three times,
looks like I am Not allowed, as those posts disappeared.
My personal experience and preference, this is o e of the best Cadillacs built( Best Seville model ever).. I had a 78′ De Elegance and I cried when I was forced to sell it…I’ve drove and known my share of Seville of owners and never had a problem