The Cadillac Cimarron is one of the many paradoxes automobile enthusiasts have had to put up with over the years. Until the mid 1980s, GM had carefully managed its luxury brand, keeping it exclusive. But the oil crisis in the 1970s provoked a scramble to introduce downsized, fuel efficient cars, even from makers that had never given such a product a single thought. Cadillac fell prey to this urge, plopping a tarted-up Cavalier onto its J platform, calling it a Cimarron and laboring to sell 130k copies over seven model years starting in 1982. Let’s see if we can find a way to like this last-year example, with only 61k original miles, listed here on eBay. The selling dealer is looking for an opening bid of $10,875, and the car is located in Torrance, California.
The first Cimarrons were equipped with a tiny four-cylinder wheezing out 88 hp, effectively horrifying every existing Cadillac owner and alienating prospective buyers. It was the first time Cadillac had used a four since the Model Thirty, last made in 1914. In 1985, in a move that I categorize as “don’t do me any favors”, the Cimarron received the Cavalier’s 2.8 liter V6. At least output rose to 130 hp. This example is equipped with a three-speed automatic and the odometer reads 61,693, said to be original mileage.
To imbue the Cimarron with a modicum of luxury, it offered leather upholstery, faux aluminum trim, and air conditioning as standard. We’ll have to give a nod here: this interior is very well-kept, if cramped relative to Cadillac standards. Note “Cimarron” embossed into the seats – classy! The trunk is equally spiffy, and contains a service manual for the car.
The luggage rack only reminds us that the Cimarron was much less capacious than the typical Caddy owner would expect. Tying luggage outside the trunk is for MGB owners! The unfortunate badge engineering that turned a Cavalier to a Cadillac dented Cadillac’s image for years, bringing its market share below 3% in the 1980s; the division compounded its problems with the Catera. It took at least ten years from the brand to even begin a recovery. That said, the cosmetic condition of this example seems to be top-notch, though whether it’s worth the opening bid is questionable. What do you think?
Great write ✍️ up Michelle. Such a wild decision by the Cadillac folks lol.
GM fans longing for a more traditional setup could look to the Chevrolet stable, and load up a Caprice Classic w 6 way pwr driver and passenger seats 💺 and all the other luxury amenities they wanted.
Stan The Man, you forgot to mention it’s best feature: Luggage Rack!
PRA4SNW I remember so many Cavaliers w them too.
Cadillac was so demoralized at this point they just left it alone lol.
GM made its share of lousy decisions over the years, but was there a worse one than putting out a model on the J platform, slapping the Cadillac crest on it, and then trying to convince people that this car was, indeed, a Cadillac? If you are a Cadillac fan, this was blasphemy of the first order! I’m surprised they sold over 132K of these.
I agree 100%! I never wanted one. I never even wasted time looking at one.
Cadillac made many mistakes and changes but so did many other companies. When they tried that Chevy thing again with my 99 Escalade,it put them back on the map!
Michelle. The other day on the 2CV you wrote up you asked me about the top of my Bucket list cars I’d like to drive……
Unfortunately…… This isn’t one of them lol.
But seriously, I respect the condition this one was kept in. Besides the first 4 cylinder in a Cadillac since the teens it also could come with a manual transmission in the beginning. I remember seeing one on display at a mall when I was a teenager with a stick and I was surprised. Thats something you didn’t see in a Cadillac since I would believe the 40’s.
I actually drove last a very nice conditioned Cavalier last week from about the same time period as this. I couldn’t get over how small it seemed conpared to all of today’s modern trucks and SUVs surrounding it.
This one is very well kept and that 2.8 V6 will have no problems keeping up with all the “huge” vehicles surrounding it.
Just a little nitpicking: how do you reconcile “Until the mid 1980s, GM had carefully managed its luxury brand…” with saying that Cimmaron was introduced in 1982? In 2025 and in this condition, it’s almost worth the price for irony’s sake. But what a lazy project this was. At least the ’76 Seville didn’t look like a Nova. You had to be almost on top of a Cimmaron to know it wasn’t a Cavalier.
this is really nice, looks comfy and has some pep! But not at that price.
I think the worst part of that car is that it was insulting. Puffery is one thing, but passing off a Cavalier as a Cadillac showed that they really didn’t think much of the public.
That being said, I’d love one of these cars, because it’s like driving a bottle of New Coke…
Although i was more a fan of the four eye look v/s the composite headlights i’d take this one in a snap. Paint job looks nice, it looks like a well maintained example. Love the digital dash and notice the stainless trim on the pedals
As a teen I loved this car. I had never driven one so I didn’t know they had missed the mark. (I still think if they had put in all the ZR4 parts in it, it would’ve sold better and been a great “for the price” BMW alternative.)
The buy-it-now price seems stiff but it’s in great condition. I hope it finds a good home.
The absolute least amount of Cadillac, sold by Cadillac.
Champagne on a beer budget, comes to mind with one of these.
Beer on a Champagne budget! 🍾! Pops my cork! 😠 👎
Your cork must get popped a lot 😁
Driveinstile…the 4cyl stick model you mention is probably the coolest Cimarron lol 👍😲
Probably should’ve kept the manual w the V6 too
I agree Stan. Can you imagine an upgraded suspension with the 2.8 and a stick!! That would’ve been something.
IMO, totally CADILLACKING. One of Cadillacs DEADLY sins. Unfortunately Many MORE would follow.
Thumbs up feature 👍 is working very well here. Super fast, like it used to.
I just gave my own comments one each to celebrate 👍 👍and gave everyone else one too 👍
And a thumbs up right back at ya Stan!!! Thanks!!! I always like your comments!!!
Dave
I’m curious of the backstory on this car – how did it remain so nice all these years?!
If ever there was a car that so sullied Cadillac’s name and reputation, this piece of drek was it.
Looks like my parents next door neighbors old Cimarron. Exact same colors. I am pretty sure it had the luggage rack too. May just be his old car being in California. He had the car from around my early teen years through part of high school before he traded it in on a new Honda Accord. That’d be pretty wild if this is his old Cadillac. He just celebrated his 93rd birthday.
Short change… Some of you might know.
This needs to be preserved and displayed prominently as a warning to future generations.
Standard of the World
Maybe in a fantasy world but not in the real world.
My good friend and ex-FIL was all about the bargain and came across a screaming deal on one almost exactly like this one. Generally he’d keep his latest acquisition for 3-4 years along with a couple whatever other car deals. That came to an end a month later however with this thing-one afternoon he and his wonderful wife drove the 17 miles from the valley floor (4600’ elevation) up to Lake Tahoe (elevation 7100’) on Highway 50.
On their way home they stopped at a local hardware where he bought a for sale sign, and never again bought a used Cadillac.
You nailed it again, Michelle. GM absolutely destroyed the Cadillac image and name and they’re only now beginning to rebuild it to a faint semblance of its former self.
A Cavalier with a Tijuana upholstery job.
Corinthian leather!!
Call it a Chevrolet or Cadillac, fact is that it looks better and probably is more comfortable than 95% of the cars made today. At least it doesn’t look like a turtle with wheels.
If one were in the market for a cavalier this would be a very nice option although not at this price,I’ve driven one of these was just like a cavalier, I did drive a couple z24 cavaliers that would be a huge improvement over the cimarron, I would have a hard time parting with 5k never mind $10500 and likely would still pass. If your looking for a Cadillac there is no way I would even consider buying this one or any other Cimarron for any price.
Just look at the prior write up for the 96 Buick in beautiful condition low mileage for $12500 which would you buy ? I’d be all over the Buick.
Owned one, with the 4 and 5 speed stick shift. Wife commuted from NH to Boston in it (55 miles, traffic, highway and city driving) for two years. It was a great commuter car, small, could see all the corners, easy to park, A/C, leather, power everything, good on gas, with one engine top rebuild, went over 200,000 miles before electrical gremlins began to creep in. No headlights, power door locks locking and unlocking at random, power windows not responding. Drove 240 miles from Maine to NH one moonlit night with just the fog lights. They cost about 2x as much as a Cavalier, new, better suspension and wheels, much better interior, got ours used for $2000 when our ’83 Phoenix (GM X body) bought new (and it was a POS) with 135,000 miles needed so many repairs it was not worth it. Replaced the mini- Caddy with a ’94 Saab 900 (Opel underneath) and never looked back, the Saab was one of the most liked cars we ever owned, this Caddy was in the top tier. So, if you buy this, knowing it is not a Toyota and will need repairs, you will like it. Fast enough, handles well, comfortable in front seats, tolerable in the back.
You must’ve lucked out with your Cimarron. Most of them were plagued with various issues during the height of GM’s infamous malaise era thanks to Roger Smith’s complete mismanagement and incompetent leadership.
$15,000?! Get outta here!
At least with the Catera, although not a very good seller, gave birth to the CTS (Catera Touring Sedan) a huge a popular seller still going today. As always, for some stupid reason some bean counter always wants an underpowered engine in a new model, thus killing it before it’s even born. GM is famous for that.
Cimmeron could have been a decent seller had it debut with the 6 instead of three long years with the 4.
Interesting to note these did actually get their own specific dashboard molding with some faux-stitching details and a distinctive embossed section above the glovebox… which makes it all the more puzzling that they didn’t spring for an entirely unique dashboard.
And why choose the downmarket Chevy/Pontiac dash structure as the basis for the Cimarron’s, rather than the more upmarket Olds/Buick J-car dash, which was at least a bit nicer with more of a horizontal theme closer to other Cadillac models?
Or perhaps better yet, why not base it on the Opel Ascona C dash, which had more Euro style and wasn’t used in any American J-car variants at all? The Isuzu Aska and Holden Camira J-cars also each had their own, more horizontal dash designs, tho’ those would need to be mirror-imaged from a RHD layout.
Just one of the many baffling, cynical, penny-pinching decisions that abounded in the development of this model.
The Aska was exported to some LHD markets so its specific dash was a possibility.
What happened was that GM corporate wanted to wait ang give Cadillac time to develop a compact luxury sport sedan on the 1985 N body, but it was Cadillac division management that wanted to jump into the market right away and did the Cimmaron as a rush job.
Apparently the LHD Askas were sold as the Chevrolet Aska in South America, or at least that’s the one I was able to find photos of confirming the LHD dash was basically a mirror-image of the RHD Aska dash.
Looks a bit too cheap and plain to use in a Caddy as-is, but as with the actual Cimarron dash it might have worked as a basis, with some tarting-up to add faux-stitching, chrome, etc.
At any rate, as with the Ascona C dash, the basic dash structure was already developed in LHD and there for the picking if they wanted to give the Cimarron a dash completely unique in the US market and more similar to other Caddys than to the other J-cars here.
If this car was a First Place prize in a contest,
second place would be TWO of them.
😃 😄 anglia
I bought the same year off my boss, low mileage in light blue.
One of the most reliable cars I’ve ever owned
There are always exceptions to the rule. These cars were notorious for leaks and other down market issues along with that other POS, Catera.
It’s on the stealership’s website for $15k WHAT A JOKE but there’s likely some fool out there seriously considering it. Maybe 2.
An $11k Cavalier?
Alas, I will never get to enjoy my pipe dream of cobbling together an ’85 Cimarron with an ’85 Cavalier convertible. As a longtime Cadillac owner, I wanted to have the first Cimarron convertible. I hope someone somewhere took my idea and ran with it. I got as close as finding both cars for sale at the same time in the Kansas City newspaper, but that was as far as I got.
It’s been done at least once that I’m aware of:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1988-cadillac-cimarron-convertible-so-many-questions/
Thank you. I had never thought about using a later model, I guess. The side cladding always seemed like it would be a difficult thing to move. I concur with the author that it seems weird that the VIN number shows it’s been a Cadillac the whole time, but I suppose the VIN could have been moved from a donor car. I think, as made-up convertibles go, I would definitely drive this one.
The VIN they were looking at was prolly the one visible through the windshield, which was attached to the Cimarron dash they swapped in. Doubtless the other VINs stamped into the body elsewhere would not match, and would confirm the body started as a Cavalier convertible.
They used a later Cimarron front end but the early Cimarron taillights, because the latter would fit into the Cavalier tail, whereas later Cimarrons had revised taillights that wrapped around the corners and wouldn’t work in the Cavalier tail.
Cimarrons weren’t ever made in a 2-door variant, and the cladding panels from a 4-door wouldn’t work on a 2-door, so the only way of replicating that styling element would be to fabricate them from scratch.
Ah Michelle, so good to read your style and wit.
From “tatted up cavalier” to “let’s see if we can find a way to like this”.
Obviously, we didn’t find a way although you tried valiantly.
Always love your understated humor. Makes me wonder if there is a bit of “Brit” in you.
You can dis a car with more style and subtle humor than the car deserves.
And when you go after the manufacturer… pure poetic justice.
“Don’t do me any favors” is so spot on. It made me laugh so hard I have to clean up my coffee spills.
Thank you for saying what everyone wants to say, but don’t know how.
Thanks so much DLO – glad you enjoy my comments when I fail to appreciate a car, ha ha!
And, the Cavalier/Sunbird convertibles were ideal for towing behind a big RV, front wheels on a dolly. Had retired friends, now passed away, who did this, following the good weather for several years, north in the summer, south in the winter, would stay in one place for a few weeks at a time, and use the car to tour around. Just two of them so the minimal back seat was not an issue. This would not be as good, but, it would do!
Didn’t sell. No bids. I’m not surprised.