Yes, Mopar week is nearly over, but I realize that some of our regulars may want a little break. So how about this nice Caddy coupe I spotted across the street while shooting a future CC?
Just another old Coupe de Ville, right? Well, not exactly. For this one just happens to be a much less common Calais coupe, which replaced the Series 62 starting in 1965. Just 5,600 Calais hardtop coupes were made, compared to 65,755 plusher Coupe de Villes.
I know we’re going to have to have Cadillac Day or Cadillac Week sometime, as I’ve shot many, many Caddys that have yet to be displayed digitally here on CC. And just yesterday, returning from the big car show in Monmouth, I spotted a pristine 1987-88 Cimarron. No photo, sadly, as it was getting dark and it was doing 50 mph going the other way. Stop laughing, I like those cars! I’d really, really like to find one for CC. And a ’66 Eldo convertible…and a ’59 or ’60 Sixty Special…I can go on…
Nice Caddy. It reminds me of the ’67 Coupe Deville a classmate of mine had back in high school. His was a sort of off-white with a tan vinyl top. He was a somewhat reckless driver and we used to call that car the “Coupe DeKill.”
So, when does Beige Camry Week begin?
In 2050.
Every week is beige Camry week, at least in the real world.
“When does Beige Camry Week begin?”
Never, if I have anything to say about it 🙂
Cadillacs of that generation did always have clean lines; and once they got that tailfin problem under control, a nice overall package.
But it’s all for naught. My mental image is always of my great-aunt exiting one…beehive hairdo; beige suit; mink-trimmed coat. Off to do more Good Works…
I suppose younger guys here have the same image of the Camry. We’ll know, when it’s Camry Day.
I knew someone who had a 67 Calais. Crank windows and vinyl seat trim that surrounded the cloth. Otherwise, pretty much indistinguishable from any other 67 Caddy.
Tom,
Once at my uncle’s farm in Mercer Co, IL, I was helping my unc feed the young bulls. It was early morning and the young bulls were doing what bulls of any age were prone to do – crapping all over the place. Another farmer, who happened to be at the farm that day, told me to get a clean shovel. When I asked why, he told me that when I saw a bull starting to take a crap, run up behind it and catch the detritus before it hit the ground. He told me that the crap would then be clean. Barnyard humor, I guess.
Anyhow, this is how I feel about Cimarrons. No matter how cherry, they are still just a steaming pile of crap.
There’s just something about the 1987-88 models, when they got the V6, side cladding and composite headlamps, that I really like. Still not an E30 BMW, but much more purposeful-looking.
Now the early ones–those were an embarrassing exercise in corporate cynicism…
I’d drive a late Cimmarron, kinda have been looking, but not terribly hard for one.
That 120hp six would make those things little screamers, instead of the wheezy rattly fours.
It isn’t just Carmine that has been experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Here is my ’69 Fleetwood snuggling up to some wretched Chryco minivan.
Nice, I like the 60’s Fleetwoods, with the footrests in the rear and the Eames chair style upholstery. My favorite is the 66-67 with the fold down tray tables and the wood veneer.
+1, Carmine. I’ve wanted a 1965 or 1966 Sixty Special or Brougham, in Claret Maroon Metallic, since I saw one a while back in Collectible Automobile. So far, I’ve had zero success; in fact, the odds that my hair will grow back probably are better.
A bit more like this one, spotted on the ads for sale in Quebec a while back?
You’re a cruel man, Dean.
This was shot just for Carmine, a very nice 1983 Caprice Classic coupe. Well equipped two tone with Brougham-like appointments.
Interior
Beautiful, so nice to see one that wasn’t donked. Didn’t know they still offered two tone in ’83. Good to see a car show that isn’t limited to 60s-70s cars either.
I forgot about you (I am sorry), but yes you would appreciate this along with Carmine…
I did a VIN check, it is an 83, I assume it’s original paint as it’s very rare for anyone to bother with the time and expense of duplicating a factory two tone job on anything worth less than $10k.
As for the show, I spent over 8 hours at it. It’s an annual show that attracted at least 1,871 cars (as reported who checked in plus an untold number that didn’t). While there was the usual complement of Camarovelles and Mustangtorinos, there were A LOT of unusual, rare, and otherwise usually unseen cars. At first I was going to photograph all interesting vehicles, but with likely 2000+ cars, even 3 Rambler station wagons was below the threshold.
This event is really due an entire write up of it’s own, frankly, it could probably sustain the website on it’s own for an entire week based on just the unusual vehicles. More will trickle out as I digest the pictures and get a chance to sit down and collect thoughts. I am writing this from a hotel room 8 hours from home on an iPad.
A few tidbits, a mint 1974 AMC Matador Oleg Cassini, ALL variations of the AMC Eagle models, the more common wagon, as well as the sedan and rare hatchback coupe. Two Lincoln Mark V Diamond Jubilees passing by each other randomly, Bricklin SV1s, an unmolested 68 Dodge Charger R/T with patina, a 1956 Chrysler 300B, 1964 Chrysler 300K convertible with manual transmission and cross ram induction, 1978 AMC Pacer D/L wagon loaded with 17k original miles, 1984 Lincoln Continental Diesel with 5 speed, 1957 Mercedes 220s convertible with Hydrak transmission, and several cars I haven’t identified yet…
WOW.
Did this Caprice have a sunroof? Mine does, which is crazy, I’ve never seen another one, if mine was a coupe though, that would be much cooler, but hey whatever. The car really is a gem to drive though, mine has the F41 too, it can maneuver very well, but it just cruises at about 70-75 like a dream.
Sounds like the place to be, that’s a huge show. Many of the shows around here are just the usual cars, but I love it when the oddballs show up.
Here’s my Caprice before the engine bit the dust.
Wow, its like a coupe version of my own 1980 Caprice Classic, except mines gold on top. Nice.
Not bad, but the ’65s and ’66s were my favorites from that decade.
My first car was a 1970 SDV but that’s a story for another day. Did want to say I always much preferred the ’69 taillights over the ’70.
Here’s how I would rate them over the years…
’65 > ’66
’67 = ’68 (I think they were the same)
’69 >> ’70
’71 through ’76 (no recollection)
’77 > ’78
’80 >> ’77-’79 (OK I’m including the fender shape change)
’90 > ’80-’89
Cadillac day can’t be just one day it needs to be a week.
Even a “plain” Calais Caddy from 1965 seems like something special.
The car in the article pics appears to be identical, if faded, to my aunt’s ’66 or ’67 Caddy. This car was infamous in our family because my aunt. being really drunk, snuck out of our house and tried to drive home during a New Years Eve party at our house. We called the color of her car, “Aunt XXXXX Red”, as it was almost exactly the same color as the lipstick she wore. A little bit about my aunt. She was a former hooker/madam, and not a pretty one. Nobody knows how she and my uncle wound up together, but they got married in 1946 and stayed together until he died, fighting constantly. She was maybe 5 foot tall, maybe, wore huge red wigs (Her real hair was, well, she could have used “Hair Club”), was kind of built like a fireplug, with huge boobs that shook when she yelled or laughed. She practically bathed in perfume. She had a voice that sounded like she had just drunk battery acid, and she smoked nonstop.
So at the party, she got hammered and since this was after my uncle had died, she decided that our next door neighbor, who had just buried his third wife that summer, as “lonely”, and “needed a good screwing!”. She was grabbing him very roughly in sensitive areas, and he started yelling for her to stop it, and that he wouldn’t screw her with someone else’s equipment. Finally my dad, who had a voice like a radio announcer, started yelling at her to stop, and she did. That didn’t stop her having fun for long, soon she had her legs kicking up in the air, and her skirt fell down, revealing her panty girdle. My mom just sat there laughing at her as we kids did. My dad couldn’t take it and told her to stop and cover herself up. She just cackled and called my dad an “Old fuddy-duddy!”, and nobody was seeing anything. Finally she quit, told my folks she was going to the bathroom, and that she wanted to go home. My dad told her she was too drunk to drive home (one block) and he would take her. She said “OK”, but somehow snuck out of the party and started her car up and somehow, backed into the house next door, causing a lot of damage, and a messed up the back end of her car pretty badly. We heard the impact, and all of us went outside. My aunt was standing next to the back end of her car, banging on it, swearing and saying, “I’m never gonna hear the end of this shit!”. Since the house next door was the home of the guy she had been grabbing a little bit earlier, she was right. He came over a lot, and never failed to ask her if she had hit any houses lately. That never failed to set her off. She paid to have the house fixed and soon her Caddy was fixed too. She lived to about 85 or so, we weren’t sure, he ages differed on practically every piece of paper. Her father died, a hundred and something, only a month of so before she did. She smoked at least 2 packs of unfiltered Lucky Strikes and drank a half a fifth of scotch a day, right until the end, which was kind of sudden, one day, she was ok, the next she was in the ER, then diagnosed with cancer, came home in a few days, and died a week later. She was expected to live about another year, so it was kind of a shock. The cancer in her throat had eaten into her carotid artery.
I’m sitting here with my mouth hanging open. Damn! Now that’s a story.
+1 *speechless*
Great story, she reminds me of this old lady that lived in my grandmothers condo complex when I was a kid, not the behavior part per say, but the cackling smoky laughter, this old lady would sit by the condo pool all day drinking those little Budweiser cans that were hand sized and smoking looooooong cigarettes, she could keep an ash on a cigarette until it was almost a foot long. Her skin was like orange leather.
No Caddy though, she had an avocado green Regal with a white vinyl interior.
I wonder if it was Madga from “There’s Something About Mary”
WOAH
Picture that, but even older.
I have her photo.
awesome story- why I come to this website
How’s this for a slogan?
The Calais, the Cadillac for people who can’t really afford one.
Don Draper’s got nothing on me, ha!
The Calais was a holdout from when there was a cheap Cadillac, the old 61/62 series, but they kept selling in lower and lower numbers, but Cadillac was a tradition minded company, I mean who else still had a factory limo in their catalog into the 80’s? By the vintage of this 69 they were down to the 4 digit production, but they soldiered on until 1976.
A miser’s special Cadillac? Highly illogical Captain!
My Dad – who drove Olds 88s and 98s until he could afford a coveted Cadillac – made no bones about his feelings toward the Calais: They were for poseurs; those who simply wanted to be able to claim they drove a Cadillac. It’s the same as how some characterize today’s drivers of low-end BMWs and Benzes…
A 1986 Caprice Classic coupe. 29K original miles. Heavily optioned dual power seats.
Interior
Dash
But no gauge package?
Thats one of the rarer Caprices, you never see 2 door ones with the “new” front end treatment. There was a super clean 87 Landau coupe for sale down here about a year and half ago, but the seller wanted way too much for it.
The Calais badge is still used by GM – it’s been on the top-spec regular wheelbase Holden Commodore since 1984. http://www.holden.co.nz/cars/commodore/sedan-range/calais
Having taken a train through Calais (France) last month, I’m stuffed if I know why GM used the badge on the Caddie and more recently the Commie!
Well, Cadillac was named after a French explorer, and the French model names were rather common on them for years: Sedan de Ville, Coupe de Ville, d’Elegance etc.
The Calais badge also bounced around to Oldsmobile for a while after Cadillac was done with it, it was the bucket seat Cutlass for a while and then it became its own model on the N-bodies in 1985.
There were base, strippo, models offered for years to the elders who lived through the Depression. Many Biscaynes, Custom 500’s and Calais sold to them. Until the 70’s when they quit driving.
“I’d really, really like to find [a Cimarron] for CC.”
I’m still kicking myself for not getting pictures of a PRISTINE Cimarron I saw over the holidays when visiting my parents in the suburbs of San Diego, California. It was parked in the lot of a large shopping center, and was driven by a little old lady (of course). But the car looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor!
I’m not well-versed in Cimarrons, but it looked like an earlier model, and was complete with shining luggage rack. It was a very nice shade of gray, and paint still shined! I almost want to say it was metallic paint. Icing on the cake — my current-gen CTS, metallic gray, was parked right next to it! I was thinking, “we’ve come a long way baby, it only took 30 years for Caddy to get this car right!”
Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures as the lady was sitting in the car and I didn’t want to freak her out by having a big young man in his late twenties creeping around taking pics or asking to take her picture. She probably would have screamed bloody murder!