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Location: Lemoore CA | I know this is a touchy subject, but does anyone here own a Cadillac, or would like to own one? Particularly a 60? I have been thinking of getting one lately, I don't know if it can coexist peacefully with my belief that Chrysler, not Cadillac produced some of the finest cars ever. Also, what if I end up liking it better than my Chryslers? Then where would I be? |
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | You'd be fine. Lots of us own other brands of vehicles as well as Mopars.
The tough question is, could you own a late '60s/early '70s Imperial and a B body at the same time without being tempted to rip the engine and tranny out of the Imperial and stuff it into the B body? 
K. |
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Location: Bama | Not until you give the car a fair chance in a demo derby. |
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | lawrence - 2008-03-04 8:58 PM
Not until you give the car a fair chance in a demo derby.
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Location: Seville, OH | I had a 65 Caddy when I lived in Ohio, but had to thin the stable when I moved west. I really liked that car and I have kept an eye open for another early sixties Cad. |
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Location: Hell's Outhouse - a.k.a. Buckeye, Arizona | Only a '58 Cadillac Fleetwood "Sixty Special" - solid black. |
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Location: Las Vegas, Nevada | Don't forget.............Fearless Leader has a Cadillac for a daily driver!
K. |
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Location: Parts Unknown | Caddies are not cheap to own. Parts are tough to find and expensive, comparatively speaking to say, a B-motor FL car.
Another thing to consider is ease of work. The FL cars were light years ahead of GM in the "ease of operations" engineered into the design and location of everything from the frame to where the fuel pump is, especially after 1959. And of you think GM was not designed with the mechanic in mind, try a Ford !!!!
But it really all boils down to what you like. If a guy liked 60 Caddies enough to pay big bucks for pistons or brake parts, and didn't mind the extra work it took to maintain them, then it is worth it to have one !
I did 58-60 Buicks before I defected to Mopar. From Torque Tube drivelines to Dynaslush trannies, they were a lot of fuss to keep and restore. My Ex liked 50's Fords, and I got stuck working on a lot of them too. All these cars made me realize just how brilliant the FL design years were, and moved me to decide a 58 big body DeSoto was the ultimate balance of the styling I liked and the ease and expense of operations it took to have an old car. I had some humdinger finned GM ragtops back in the day and let them all go to have the Fireflite I have today. In my opinion, it is far more car for far less hassle. Not that they weren't beautiful cars .... But everyone has to make that call for themselves.
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Expert 5K+
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Location: Williams California | I've owned a few Cadillacs in the past, but currently this is the only one that I have personally. There is a bit of Mopar here, as the rear of the cab utilizes the cab of a '67 Dodge pickup. ---John
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| D-A-M-N, That's cool!
Former Flower Car, or a total custom build?
-NM
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Expert 5K+
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Location: Williams California | Nathan D. Manning - 2008-03-05 10:08 AM
D-A-M-N, That's cool!
Former Flower Car, or a total custom build?
-NM
This was a custom build, built by a gent in Geyserville Ca. over 20 years ago. It has slightly over 400,000 miles on it since it was completed. ---John |
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Location: DFW, TX | John - you rule.
I like '60 Cadillacs a lot. Probably some of the best looking GM cars out there.
Anyone else notice that the roofs of the beautiful '59-62 GM "bubbletops" were flagrant rip-offs of FL Mopars? Not that it's a bad thing - I mean, a beautiful woman is beautiful no matter what language she's talkin. |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+
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Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | The "Beer Barrels" are a cool thing that makes the Cad looking just like it always was meant to be a pick-up |
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Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico | the 1958 Cadillac Sixty Special is my favorate car of all time. I fell in love with my 1960 Dodge Dart because the front end reminded me a little of the cadillac (double headlights and lots of chrome).
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Location: Farnborough. Hampshire. England. | Kenny J. - 2008-03-05 7:03 AM
Don't forget.............Fearless Leader has a Cadillac for a daily driver!
K.
That's because Dave is the richest bloke amongst us Kenny, haven't you ever seen how he writes his name?..
It goes like this........Dave $$$$$tragand. |
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Location: new york | Love Caddys ,They represent the days when the american automobile was king! If you we someone in those days you didnt have a Mercedes or a lexus you had a Caddy,and some had Imperials and these people really had something!
Top of the line! I own 2 53 caddys the conv in front of central park and the 25thou mile all original sedan on Madison Ave in NYC , Im also very proud of my 55 Imperial! HAPPY MOTORING!!!
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| Cadillac is just another General Motors. They never had any significance, people of the older generation just thought they did.
All the significant luxury cars are imports.
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Location: Yorba Linda, Ca | Horse feathers!!! I had two Benzes, Got rid of them and got a Cadillac Allante, 93, probably have spent less than 5% in the 5 or so years I have had the Allante, than I spent on EACH, of the benzes per year.!!!! |
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Location: Lemoore CA | The statement that Cadillac was just another GM product and that the only luxury cars are imports is a matter of opinion, although personally I don't think it is a very good one. |
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA | Diesel45 - 2008-03-05 2:05 PM Kenny J. - 2008-03-05 7:03 AM Don't forget.............Fearless Leader has a Cadillac for a daily driver! K. That's because Dave is the richest bloke amongst us Kenny, haven't you ever seen how he writes his name?.. It goes like this........Dave $$$$$tragand. :laugh: If I had that much money, I'd be able to afford a garage. I can't even afford an ice scraper!
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Location: Scotland | Rob - 2008-03-06 9:50 PM
Cadillac is just another General Motors. They never had any significance, people of the older generation just thought they did.
All the significant luxury cars are imports.
This statement is a load of rot,I deal with your "significant import luxury cars" everyday ,nothing very great about them. |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+
Location: .Norfolk..Mafia.. ,England UK | Administrator - 2008-03-07 5:25 PM
Diesel45 - 2008-03-05 2:05 PM Kenny J. - 2008-03-05 7:03 AM Don't forget.............Fearless Leader has a Cadillac for a daily driver! K. That's because Dave is the richest bloke amongst us Kenny, haven't you ever seen how he writes his name?.. It goes like this........Dave $$$$$tragand. :laugh:
If I had that much money, I'd be able to afford a garage. I can't even afford an ice scraper!
Ice Scraper.. Looks like you need a Hammer and Chisel... !!!!!!!!!!!
Is that a FIN poking through a Car Cover, Pictured at the Front Drivers Side Fender of the Caddie. ???
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+
Location: .Norfolk..Mafia.. ,England UK | My Favorite Caddies are These..
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Location: new york | The reason they say" Standard of the worid" is because in ther day the were the best in 1953 (And still)my caddy could ride down the higway at 85 mph all day long(carefree and trouble free)in 1953 there were no JAP cars and a Mercedes was a dated junk pile that didnt even have a desent heating system a lowly Henry J had a better heater,And not to mention the out of date styling for years and years ,As far as today Japanese luxury is useless electronic gadgets that tend to fail a month after the warrenty is up and the cars ride like the cheaper camarys and accords. Not to mention the lack of any style in any of them at least caddy still today has its own identity.....HAPPY MOTORING |
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Location: Scotland | old mopar guy - 2008-03-07 7:41 PM
The reason they say" Standard of the worid" is because in ther day the were the best in 1953 (And still)my caddy could ride down the higway at 85 mph all day long(carefree and trouble free)in 1953 there were no JAP cars and a Mercedes was a dated junk pile that didnt even have a desent heating system a lowly Henry J had a better heater,And not to mention the out of date styling for years and years ,As far as today Japanese luxury is useless electronic gadgets that tend to fail a month after the warrenty is up and the cars ride like the cheaper camarys and accords. Not to mention the lack of any style in any of them at least caddy still today has its own identity.....HAPPY MOTORING
Well said Victor,and the comment about the "older generation"just believing they were great cars,of course they believed they were great cars because these were the days America believed in itself and that generation were proper Americans not "programmed by Japan"half-wits.
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Location: Oakley, Ill | During the 80s, when honestly GM was not doing Cadillac right, a number of my customers got rid of their Mercedes and got a few Cadillacs, but more often Lincolns, because the cost of keeping a Mercedes in the condition where you could get your money back off it, made the idea of driving a Cadillac or Lincoln until you tired of the color, taking the plates off and running like hell, an economical proposition. To paraphrase one guy...My partner's Cadillac sometimes needs a repair. The dealer comes, appologizes for the problem, leaves him a car, and takes it away. When he returns, normally by the end of the day, the bill, if any is not very big. I have to stand in line and get berated by "Horst" who I swear used to be named Tony at the Fiat dealer, and I have to find my own way home. I may get the car back by the end of the week, and the bill is horendous. The thing that ended his Mercedes ownership is when he took a trip to Europe, and saw his "luxury car" as a taxi. |
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Location: Yorba Linda, Ca | Well said, Vedette, I guess our friend who posted that, maybe suffering from my disease "CRS" (Can't remember Sh**) I recall when the valves were going bad in the Bimmers, maybe 10 years ago or so, (Brand new cars), Bimmer blamed it on the Gasoline---yet no other cars had that problem. I have had 2 Caddys, 74 and I still have a 93 Allante, both great cars, alto Mopars are my first love. I love that advertisement BMW "Ultimate Driving Machine"-------yea, it'll drive ya to the poor house!!!! |
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Location: new york | "Ultimate driving machine"sure for the flatbed guy with the BMW contract! They have really become a peice of"s**t"The germans cannot do gagets like the Japs and now trying to keep up withthem they have ruined some well built cars with a plaque of electrical problems .I know I turn away these problems every day at our shop. HAPPY MOTORING!
P.S. If you have to buy imports get a Volvo or sabb Good cars NO EXCESS CRAP! |
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Location: Parts Unknown | Cadillac had a certain "air" for many years. Like Pierce and Packard, they really were a Q-ship by the 1930's and seemed to hold that crown better / more consistently than the rest through and after the war.
A big pre-war Mercedes was certainly an impressive hunk of metal, but after the war, they lingered on a look of 1942 cars way too long, and when they did come out with something new, it seemed more sporty / gimmicky than luxurious.
Same can be said for Rolls, Bentley, Jaguar, etc. in one form or another.
Personally, I like the Cadillac progression right up to the 1956 cars. They were stately and elegant, ponderous and commanding. After that, they seemed to get more and more consumed by reactionary styling, rather than setting the bar, until they were just another GM badge. A 53 Cadillac was NOTHING like a 53 Chev. But a 59 Cad sure got a hard run for the money from a 59 Chev, both in styling and options / performance.
I think Lord Exner really gave Harley Earl a fatal blow to the proverbial groin with the successive 56 and 57 Forward Look designs, leaving him gasping for air and grasping for ideas to keep the crown he had held so long.
60 6adillac, 60 Mercedes, or 60 Chrysler ? I think Exner was still King of the Heap. |
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Location: Oconomowoc Wi | OK... here's my Cadillac.
A restoration work in progress from my childhood.
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/KiddyKrosillac/ |
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Location: Hell's Outhouse - a.k.a. Buckeye, Arizona |
Say what?????
A "Coupe De Lil'"?
That's just unreal looking - whoda thunk they could bolt a '53 Caddy onto a '49 Crosley frame and drivetrain?
That's just too cool. |
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Location: NY & VT | Cadillac WAS indisputably the Standard of the World in the 50s and early 60s... around the mid 50s a group of M-B engineering execs visited GM and Cadillac and were purportedly astonished by the precision of the machine work and quality of the engines they saw being assembled and tested (reported by Motor Trend I believe). They were critical of coachwork quality (fit & finish) which was legitimate, never a strong point of US cars until recently... All this was true of Chrysler and others as well, generally... For decades M-B (ZF) copied the Turbo-Hydramatic, and it took them forever to design decent HVAC systems. Rolls Royce even bought their trannies from GM... in the early 70s one of the the venerable & prestigious Brit car mags compared a Rolls and an Olds 98 and concluded that as a functional Luxury car the Olds was superior (fit & finsh were not however)... Benzes were grossly underpowered and finicky (except for the 600, which had power but was even more finicky) until the mid 70s... back in the day I had a MB 220 SEb and BMW 2800 (the first 60s 6 cyl), they were fun drivers when running right, but a real PITA to own, and minimal road presence... current MBs have a terrible reliability records as do Audis and some BMs... the Germans are prone to fussy over-engineering, and lack the Jap's ability at quality control... the new Lexus LH 460 IS a marvelous luxury car, but starting at 80 Large it should be! New Cads are back to being World Class cars, and a bargain at their price!! I myself preferred the old soft riding rear drive V-8 luxo-barges, but the new cars are all about a different engineering approach with more emphasis on handling dynamics... regardless, you can keep your imports! ...US auto engineering leadership is BACK! |
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Location: At "The Rock" in upper East Tennessee | 58,59 and 60 are my favorite years with the 59 being on top. |
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Board Moderator & Exner Expert 10K+
Posts: 13059
Location: Southern Sweden - Sturkö island | If I really was forced to buy the next best thing instead of a Chrysler quality product, I think they could beat me up to buy a 60 shabbillac. |
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Location: Cape Cod, Ma | I have a ton of cadillacs in the family(56, 59, 63, 73, 81) and think the 60s are good cars. I love my mom's 59, the styling is great, but mechanically it doesnt compare to my Plymouth. Cadillacs have that notourious floating on air feeling which is not my thing.
Also, for the record, not all imported luxury cars are bad. I bought an 85 Mercedes 300d at auction 3 years ago for $700 with 315K miles on it, I did rotors and a fuel line and drove it with only minimal maintenence for over 30k miles before selling it to my stepfather who still drives it. I was impressed. |
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Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH | The reason they say" Standard of the worid" is because in ther day the were the best in 1953 (And still)my caddy could ride down the higway at 85 mph all day long(carefree and trouble free)in 1953 there were no JAP cars and a Mercedes was a dated junk pile that didnt even have a desent heating system a lowly Henry J had a better heater,And not to mention the out of date styling for years and years ,As far as today Japanese luxury is useless electronic gadgets that tend to fail a month after the warrenty is up and the cars ride like the cheaper camarys and accords. Not to mention the lack of any style in any of them at least caddy still today has its own identity.....HAPPY MOTORING Well said Victor! My brother in law has a 1998 Cadillac DeVille which is comfortable enough and is an attractive car, but I kind of like a more sporty car. I rented a 2007 Cadillac CTS for a business trip recently and I was impressed. GM is doing good things here and shame on the guy with the Jap blinkers over his eyes that won't even look at a Cadillac for his next car. Honda, Toyota, et.al. may build cars over here in plants but the money that changes hands every time a Japanese import is sold eventually ends up in Tokyo or Hiroshima. |
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Location: central oklahoma! | cadillacs are very fine cars. their northstar v-8 is the best engine since the CHRYSLER hemi (i know, the northstar is an updated/ improved hemi. but what an improvement!). their front-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes, and traction control make them the finest handling, safest car on the road. the only thing about them that stinks is the air conditioning system; it WON'T hold up to oklahoma summers, which is a real important feature here! american cars have taken a bad rap. they originally brought it on themselves, but import buyers today are just suckers. buying american isn't just patriotic, it's a better car for a better price. everything in my "fleet" right now is mopar and ford, but i won't rule out cadillac in the future (when they can figure out a/c). |
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Location: NY & VT | Mopar had it all over any GM in the '57 to '65 period as far as big car handling, and the Torqueflite was superior until GM revamped the THM to beget the THM400 in '65. That tranny was put in Rollers for years. Mopar engines were more unbreakable IMO also. But the Cads of '60 to 64 were beautifully assembled, far better than any Mopar, to give them their just due, and the 390 engine was darn good too, the 429, however, was another story... best Cad I ever owned was a '47 60 Special - that big flathead V-8 was whisper quiet. And tough! -they were used in pairs with the original Hydra-Matic in Stuart tanks during WWII. |
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Posts: 636
| David,
I'm real surprised your Caddy AC is not up to the OK summer. If there is one thing the General does well, it's cool down a car in extreme conditions. I had a controlled comparison (sort of) when driving across I-40 through the Mojave Desert, once in a 99 T*yota C*mry and then the next year in a 96 B*ick Park Avenue. The temperature both times ranged from 110-117 degrees F. and the inside the Park Avenue it was like a bright cool morning in Vermont. The C*mry struggled to keep the car comfortable. In these conditions, you need cool air moving directly over your skin, as the window glass actually becomes broiling HOT like you are sitting next to a bonfire!
You should have that AC system checked out; maybe there is something that is mixing hot air in with the cool.
Sparky |
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Location: Yorba Linda, Ca | I would have to agree with Plymouth about your AC. My 93 Allante, with the North Star keeps the car cooler than you want, if you set it real low. Have made serveral trips to Vegas with it in the summer, 110+ and it and my wife and I , all kept our cool, and since the Allante is a Convertible, chances are with the top up, it is not as sealed as a coupe or sedan would be. |
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Expert 5K+
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Location: northern germany | 59savoy - 2008-03-08 3:38 PM
cadillacs are very fine cars. their northstar v-8 is the best engine since the CHRYSLER hemi (i know, the northstar is an updated/ improved hemi. but what an improvement!). their front-wheel drive, anti-lock brakes, and traction control make them the finest handling, safest car on the road. >
funny, once, many years ago, i raced against a 90s caddy with a northstar engine. it was pretty easy 
Edited by 1960fury 2008-03-08 9:09 PM
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Location: Yorba Linda, Ca | Well, as ya know, I am a real Mopar Fan, but that Caddy is fast, You might beat it, but it is lite and a 2 seater, It made my friend Borje's Hemi Roadrunner nervous, alto we wernt really racing, cause He just got it back, from having the engine rebuilt. It would easily beat my 59 and my 64 better not be nappin!!!!
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Location: central oklahoma! | i didn't make myself clear. when i said "hold up," i was referring to longevity. they cool just fine, when they don't shell out. i was forced to make a total of 6 repair/ rebuilds on the system of 2 cars. first one twice, second one four times. after numero 4 on the second car, i said "that's it" and bought a chrysler. caddy air ain't cheap, either. not compared to the other american makes. |
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Location: Yorba Linda, Ca | yep that wouldn't make my day either |
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Anyone else for Cadillacs?
