The Daimler DS420 was in production for 24 years, from 1968 all the way until 1992. It’s amazing that a car made before the moon landing was made until after the entire run of the next-generation Seville, the smaller car that followed the run of the famous bustle-back Sevilles, such as this 1985 Cadillac Seville. This one is posted here on craigslist in Edmonds, Washington, and the seller is asking $3,950. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
Easily one of the most recognizable body styles for an American car in the modern era, the love-it-or-hate-it second-generation Seville was made from 1979 for the 1980 model year until the end of 1985. I think AMC may be the only company to have rivaled Cadillac’s risk-taking design department with its earlier Gremlin, Pacer, and Matador Coupe.
There isn’t one photo showing the rear of the car, at least from the bottom of the trunk lid down. It’s unfortunate that this car could show up at someone’s house on a transport truck, and the buyer might not have noticed the rear bumper filler material. The front bumper filler is also cracked and missing in areas and needs to be replaced, but the back isn’t shown at all, other than in a couple of partial photos. The seller says there is no rust and there are no dents, so that’s great news.
This is the only photo the seller included of the back, and it’s only from the bottom of the trunk lid up, so there’s no photo of the bumper filler and no mention of it in their long description. The bumper filler material on my 1984 Seville had been replaced by the original owner, and it was a black car, so that was nice. It all goes bad eventually, and it’s still available, so that’s good. But it won’t be inexpensive to have it installed and color-matched to this Balboa Blue color. The trunk compartment looks pretty nice. Mine had nice carpeted compartments on each side, but I don’t see those here; maybe they’re just out temporarily.
The interiors are Cadillac nice in these cars, although maybe not the level of a mid-60s Fleetwood in materials or size. That being said, I’m 6′-5″ tall, and I have no legroom issues in the front or the back. The seats look great, and one thing I did on mine was to change out the garage door control on the headliner to a more modern Cadillac piece, just the guts of the controller, and it worked like a charm. It was easy, and every older Seville owner should do that if they want to use the built-in garage door opener rather than a remote one.
The engine is the original infamous 4.1-liter HT-4100 OHV fuel-injected V8 with 135 horsepower and is backed by a four-speed automatic sending power to the front wheels. The beauty of this one, other than looking nice and clean, is that it has been rebuilt, according to the seller, who is the original owner’s son. The car is being sold due to his/her dad going into a senior living facility. This looks like a really nice car other than the bumper filler material, and the price is over $1,000 below Hagerty’s #4 fair-condition value ($4,800), so that makes up for the bumper filler cost. An engine rebuild is the cherry on top.
I have only one comment for this iteration of the Seville: UGH-LY!!
I will disagree here – I always thought it was cool, and it certainly showed that GM was willing to try something different…
I’ll take the centrist opinion, I appreciate it as rolling sculpture (at least with a metal roof, the faux convertible top ruins it) but it was a real market blunder, actively repelling the “import intenders” the gen 1 Seville successfully appealed to, and selling to nobody who wouldn’t have just bought a Fleetwood if Cadillac had taken the Seville in a more contemporary Euro influenced direction.
That they seemed to approve it mainly as a retirement gift for Bill Mitchell is the icing on the cake.
I have to be careful not to date myself too much here. ;-)
I recall when these were new cars because the father of my girlfriend at the time bought one. Admittedly, I thought it was ugly when he brought it home. Keep in mind that everything was strangled by emissions equipment at the time, so it is slow by today’s standards.
The first drive of his new Cadillac to take his daughter out on a date was eye-opening. I could get used to driving something like this. Alas, he had several problems and eventually traded it for a new W126 S420 Mercedes-Benz (which was even better).
The looks of these Cadillacs have grown on me since then, and I agree with @jonathangreen that it does show Cadillac designers’ willingness to try new things.
Good luck to the seller.
What a shame they went from great engines to that 4.1 dog with 1 horsepower, and the metric transmissions, tossing their reputations into the garbage. I rode in one of these once with the same pillow-top seats, the car was roomy and comfortable, although as slow as a snail. I think it’s still trying to get up to 55 mph.
It’s hideous
Positively the ugliest caddy ever. Sorry. But I’m sure someone somewhere will think of memories and buy it. Priced well, I suspect, just to get it out of their driveway.
I love the car. It’s like a 4 door Eldorado. I just can’t stand the HT 4100 engine. I had a 1982 Sedan deVille with that engine. Enough said.
Personally, I really like the look, but these engines are crap. It’s the worst engine of any car I’ve ever owned. The fact that they rebuilt it doesn’t sweeten the pot.
You never owned a Vega!
Pitiful
In addition to all my older 1960 to 1970 some Cadillacs I have had five Sevilles from 1981 to 1986. Every one of those engines have been totally 100% reliable to me and everyone had 150,000+. No, we did not have any horsepower. They were extremely poor on that end and the gas mileage was fair. The dash was so beautiful especially at night several of mine were digital.
And if I had an engine light come on all I had to do was push two buttons on the dash and it would give me a code. What other car do you know of that does that?
I do have two questions about this one in the picture. It shows the driver’s door open and none of the lights are in the passenger door are lit. Makes me wonder why that is.
I know when any door is open, there are (12) bulbs illuminated.
Second question is there is no Fleetwood wreath around the lock on the trunk (all my Sevilles had that) and the Cadillac emblem is painted blue which looks kinda cheap and goofy.
There’s enough visible in the photo to know that the rear filler panels are toast. Seller’s dad dinged something, the front bumper center panel is dished in. Vinyl is peeling from the gutters.
For that price, it’s all good for a fan of the look. Get yourself the wreath and a new cover for the trunk lock, new fillers, and enjoy until the 4100 goes… which it may not, if well-maintained.
When these first came out for 1980, I utterly LOVED the LOOK!!! My only problem with the styling was, that boxy, more conventional Cadillac nose did not quite go with the rest of the car. I would have restyled the nose to mate with the rest of the car’s look, called it a LaSalle, and had a nice day. I would have jettisoned those leather seats and gone for a plushy velour. And I surely would have put something ELSE under the hood! Sadly, each year after 1980, they somehow degraded the look slightly: the 1980 is the prettiest one, the 1985 the least attractive. At least it wasn’t like the Lincoln Versailles — an obvious Grenada in slightly more trim. This was when Cadillac lost its way, not making sure that everything was mechanically reliable before they released the car to the American road: fatal mistake. As with the OldsmobIle diesel: once something gains reputation as a “lemon”, you’re DONE. You NEVER put something on the market that isn’t quite ready for prime time: iron the wrinkles out first! Ask any man who has owned a 1955 Packard — a fabulous piece of forward-looking engineering… IF you could keep it out of the repair shop!
I bought an 80 Seville from a friend in 92.2 tone gray w/ light gray leather .He bought it with a blown diesel,pulled it and put in a worked Olds rocket 350.New brakes,calipers,rotors,shoes. New everything..Best 1000 bucks I ever spent. Thank you,John, RIP
As a rule, I don’t do what I am about to do. “This car looks like it was designed by two different artist who started at each end and never talked to each other”. IMHO and I am allowed to have my opinion. I am not even sure why I clicked on this thing.
In a way it seems like you are correct. Your opinion however, is valued so it’s good that you did express it.
Apparently, this car wasn’t “ugly” to everyone; the seller has deleted the listing, which usually means someone bought it.