It’s another Jim S. find, and it’s a good one! This truly solid-looking 1964 Cadillac DeVille convertible was purchased from out west (guessing Oregon by the license plate) by the seller and brought to Middlesex, New Jersey awaiting a restoration–which never came. Now it’s for sale here on eBay at no reserve, and even though it has double-digit bids as I write this, it’s only at $2,000! Can’t you see it in your mind “oozing down the street!“
Believe it or not, one of the tag lines used in 1964 Cadillac DeVille advertising was “Cadillacs Ride Almost Too Smoothly For Little Girls.” I’m not making that up! Everything was about the engineering, quality, ride and space–no one was worried about fuel economy at the time (a gallon of gas was 30 cents!)
I’m torn here between wishing that the seller hadn’t used a vinyl tarp to store the car but glad that at least it had some protection from the elements. The plates date from 1973-1986, but due to Oregon’s rules could still be valid today. The seller tells us the last registration dates from 1988. That’s a long time to be off of the road. The car has very minimal rust and is said to only have some beginning signs of rust under the trailing side of the deck lid and under the rear rockers.
The seller seems proud of the wheel covers as two of the five pictures included in the auction listing are of them. I don’t really blame them, though, as they really do look mint with no curb rash. I’m struck by the elegance of this simple wheel cover–it goes along with the clean styling of the car nicely. I think narrow whitewalls would finish off the look, don’t you?
The engine looks surprisingly good considering the time off the road, and with 429 cubic inches putting out tons of torque, it should run pretty well as well. Unfortunately we have no idea if the engine is free, nor if there are any other engine issues. When a car has been off the road this long, I have to wonder what took it off in the first place. Are you the one to put it back on the road?
Does Jim S have a job? I wish I were able to fimd the tome to scour the net and find all these cars. Keep up the good work, love your finds!
thanks. but the writers are the ones who make the posts great.
I do believe that Jim S. may be retired and enjoys his time spent researching old cars and if I am correct….more power to him ! He has a keen eye for all things BF related and for that…..
Thanks, Jim S. !!!
yes. old guy with too much free time still having way to much fun. thanks.
In 1974 I bought a ’64 sedan deville from my shop teacher for $385. No rust, ran great, looked great, only 89000 miles. It rode like a cloud and unbelievably solid. But remember in ’74 hitest gas was up to 59.9 cents a gal. Nobody wanted a big old boat like that. If I remember right it got about 12 mpg. Everybody wanted Datsuns or Toyotas, people laughed at me for being a stupid kid. Wish I had that one back.
The ’64 Sedan Deville was, in My opinion, the sharpest Cadillac offering during the 60’s. I worked for a GM dealer, who reserved one and he would recruit me to drive him to vehicle auctions, meetings,dinners, etc., in his ’64….with his fat cigars and pompous attitude.
It was like driving Ms.Daisy, but… driving that Caddy was pure pleasure. I went on to be His dealership’s Parts Dept. Manager and served as a Pallbearer at His funeral. I still own the ’90 Brougham that I bought in ’89 at dealer cost, that we sat down and ordered, together. Days long gone, not soon to be repeated.
paging Nick Nolte!
No need to page him….He lives about 3 miles south of my uncle in West Virginia. I can have him “hollered”….lol.
I like this one. The 1964 styling hits it about right for me.I never did like the over-the-top fins of the 1959 and prefer the early 1960s when they toned it all down just a bit. If I was shopping for a Cadillac this would be the era I’d go for. I feel like it was pretty much down-hill after about 1967. I know that business-wise GM went on to sell more and more of the big Cadillacs through that time period, but in my opinion the cars just got more ugly, cheaped out and less classy after the late 1960s.
This one does seem solid and generally “all there”. It would make a good start point for restoration, but getting this back up to standard is unlikely to be cheap.
Looking at the engine bay I see a few hacks and non-standard stuff, but I guess that’s normal enough for a 50-year old car. The fact that the seller appears to have tried to get it running and failed is not a good sign, but that could just be that he wasn’t much of an expert. If it turns over OK and has compression there probably isn’t much that would need to be sorted out?
I wish I was currently in the market for another Cadillac convertible to restore. This would be the one. And it’s in my home state of NJ!
Reading your page is dangerous to my bank balance….
I always have thought the 64 was the second best looking of the finned Caddys (behind the 60). Everything on the car is so much more proportionate than the 61,62 and 63 models. A great looking car!
In high school [1978] I had a 64 Eldorado convertible, in this same color and condition. No rust but badly needed a paint job. That was 45 years and a similar number of cars ago. That was the one car I really wish I’d kept, even if it just sat in a garage all those years, because I’ll never be able to afford one now. Ah well, at least I got to enjoy it for a short time.