In 1977, GM offered the above two vehicles for sale. Squint a bit; can you see a certain fundamental similarity? Yes, the exterior skins and styling are somewhat different, but beneath the vinyl top and some other superficialities, you’ll find a lot in common, as is obviated by their shared basic architecture. They both rode on essentially the same platform/suspension, although the bottom one’s rear wheels were set back three inches to provide a touch more leg room. Both were powered by versions of GM’s fine 350 (5.7-liter) V8 engines; the version in the blue car made 170 hp vs. 180 hp in the green one. The Chevy Nova (top), with more than a hint of BMW in its styling and underpinnings shared with the Camaro, was perhaps the best handling American sedan of its time. It was priced from $3,500 ($12.5k adjusted). The Seville (bottom), which was aimed at the Mercedes S Class, went out the door for about $14k ($50k adjusted)–or four times as much. Can you tell where this is going?
Admittedly, the Seville had its charms, mainly in the eyes of affluent, middle-aged women who had been hankering for a smaller, easier-to-park Caddy for years. And lest you protest the Seville’s DS categorization, keep in mind that the Cimarron, the universally-acclaimed all-time GM DS turkey, cost less than twice as much as its donor Cavalier. Yes, the Nova-based Seville proved to be among the most profitable vehicles in GM history, but at what cost? It also proved to be one more milestone in Cadillac’s long decline.
The Seville owes its existence to Mercedes, whose (then) superbly crafted and relatively compact sedans were making serious inroads into the American luxury market of the late ’60s and early ’70s. In contrast, the Big Three’s luxury cars had followed a more dubious evolutionary model: cancer. Eventually, their unchecked growth (especially considering the usual one or two persons aboard) reached the inevitable, terminal limit; historically, car-pooling and flashing one’s wealth have been mutually exclusive activities.
Women, who tend to be a bit less obsessed with exaggerated length then men, had been telling Cadillac for years that they’d like a smaller edition. The 1961-1962 Park Avenue with its shortened tail was a minor concession, but women weren’t exactly the decision-makers back then, especially not at GM. Eventually came 1971 Cadillacs that were over-the-top big, and none the better for it; quality was down, and they looked and felt like a tarted up Chevy Caprice. Meanwhile, Mercedes sales boomed. The Cadillac formula was broken, but it would be decades before they actually figured out the new luxury-car paradigm.
The Seville represented the first step in what Cadillac thought was the right direction. Unfortunately for GM, its very successful first few years sent the wrong signals and only accelerated Cadillac’s demise. That was the bittersweet aspect of cars like the Seville, which helped propel GM’s 1978 sales to an all-time high of 9.66 million with a 46% market share. When women are tearing overpriced Novas out of your hands, it takes a while for that flush of flattery and pride to dissipate…say, about a quarter-century. Pride goeth before the fall.
Could GM have done things differently? They could have looked to Germany, where Opel built their Kapitan-Admiral-Diplomat luxury sedans to compete against the Mercedes S-Class. It would have been a logical starting point. The latest version, which dated back to 1969, had handsome lines (that undoubtedly influenced the Seville), featured a DeDion semi-independent rear suspension, and was built with precision–a bit too much precision, as it turned out. The inability to maintain Opel’s precise panel gap tolerances in its U.S. factories forced GM to abandon the idea of building it stateside. But who or ehat to blame for the Nova-based S-Class fighter that was ultimately produced? The GM bean counters, who said it would be cheap and viable to cobble something together from X-body components? Or was it just Detroit’s old and entrenched belief that they alone knew what Americans wanted or deserved?
The Seville did provide a break in GM styling, and it was a breath of fresh air–at least until it became stale. It represented the tight and boxy new design paradigm at GM, and was the standard bearer of their switch from obese-looking seventies’ bulgemobiles to a crisp and very boxy future. Unfortunately, a virtually identical look now graced the entire GM line, especially the A-body intermediates. The rather bracing effect of the Seville’s arrival, in 1975, was short-lived: Within a few years, everything from GM looked like a Seville. No wonder the gen2 Seville was so desperate, and even more toxic.
OK, so the Seville wasn’t exactly a Nova with a squared off roof and gaudy interior. GM’s prodigious engineering talent had worked feverishly to give it the kind of quietness and soft ride appropriate to a Caddy. Indeed, its ride was as smooth and soft as every American luxury car of the time, so long as the pavement stayed smooth and the curves gentle. But the Chevy-to-Caddy transformation had added 1,000 pounds (!) of weight to the Seville, which naturally hampered performance. As averaged from two contemporary road tests, it ambled from 0-to-60 in a leisurely 13.2 seconds, and reached the quarter-mile in 18.3, while turning in mediocre, mid-teens fuel economy–and all against a backdrop of proud GM trumpeting of its new (Bendix) Electronic Fuel Injection! The Nova could run rings around the Seville, but did luxury car buyers care about these details? Well, yes and no.
The buyers of Mercedes diesels didn’t; but they were after something else, which they sure as hell didn’t find in the disastrous diesel Seville that appeared in 1978. Buyers of Mercedes were looking for two things: superb quality, and/or the prestige that came along with it, even in a poky 240D. The Seville sold well enough, only not at the expense of Mercedes. Its size and buyer affluence, especially in California, merely made it the Caddy for latecomers to the M-B/BMW party–and, most likely, to the last of their own.
That Cadillac was clueless about the rise of Mercedes and BMW was evident in the Seville’s interior design and instrument panel. Let’s not waste time analyzing them; it was obvious which one pointed to the future. Cadillac still insisted that it had something unique, or at least distinctly American, to say about the design of luxury-car interiors and instrument panels until finally caving in with a very M-B-inspired look in the gen4 Seville.
There is one good thing to be said about the gen1 Seville: It went only downhill from the start, and its wretched successors will have their own days of reckoning here soon enough. Of course, the Seville also spawned a whole generation of imitators (Lincoln Versailles, Chrysler Fifth Avenue) and custom freaks that blighted the vehicular landscape with garish and kitschy faux-luxury half-padded roofs, crests, and hood ornaments for at least a decade-and-a-half.
Yes, the Seville certainly was a real pioneer. It helped to launch an entire era of tasteless American cars. Or does that giving it too much credit? Perhaps we need to come up with a new category: Beyond the Valley of the Deadly Sins?
PS: GM’s Deadly Sins does not mean the specific cars lack redeeming features, or are “deadly” in or of themselves. It is a continuing series of the many steps GM took toward its eventual demise. The Seville may have sold well in its day, but undermined Cadillac’s former position of leadership in the luxury car field, which it soon surrendered to Mercedes and other import brands. The gen1 Seville may have been handsome and rode smoothly, but the expectations of luxury buyers was changing quickly, and the Seville failed to meet them. It was not until the CTS that Cadillac began to fully embrace the changed realities of the luxury car market; about three decades too late. Here is a further explanation of the Purpose and Nature of GM’s Deadly Sins.
The HowStuffWorks website got more about the Seville http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1976-1979-cadillac-seville2.htm
I remember also reading an old issue of Collectible Automobile then they also studied to use other names then Seville like….LaSalle. The Seville aren’t deadly as the Cimarron or the next-gen Seville with the Olds 350 diesel.
The one thing I can say about the Seville – compared to the Malibu, at least the back windows rolled down – and that’s a major step forward. Now, why didn’t GM do that to all those mid-sizers in the first place?
I’ve been scratching my head over that for 30 years. Fortunately, GM eventually got over it.
BTW, the blue Nova shown above was like our wedding “limo”, only in silver, driven by my best man…yes, it was tight in the back seat, to say the least.
Great photos showing the marked difference in the interiors!
It inspired me to Google images of a Diplomat B interior, just to see what could have been. Interestingly, the dash has a definite ’70s GM look, but the seats and door panels are undeniably Teutonic. But somehow, it all works.
I’m ready to bash GM frequently as needed (and probably won’t ever own a GM vehicle again,) but I couldn’t disagree more with naming the Seville as a deadly sin. I think that this car was one of the most successful examples of platform sharing ever.
I think you’re right. GM is certainly deserving of brickbats at nearly every turn, but the company hit their intended market quite accurately with the first-gen Seville.
It’s just that the market wasn’t very bright.
I disagree. I think the basic disconnect was that while the Seville was quite successful, it was not successful for the reasons Cadillac apparently assumed it was. As a smaller, more profitable Cadillac, the Seville worked pretty well, but I think GM actually thought it would appeal to Mercedes buyers, of which I see very little evidence.
I stopped reading after you called it an over priced Nova, if you would have bothered to check, you would see that the Seville ends sharing very little with the Nova other than a few internal structures, the Seville is longer, it uses a unique to the Seville fuel injected Olds 350, a Turbo 400, all the interior fittings are Cadillac grade, the Seville was so changed from it’s X-body brothers that it got its own internal K-body designation unique to the Seville only.
They experimented with the Diplomat, but it was not suited to Cadillac buyers, it has inadequate a/c, not enough room, not quiet enought, and it was just about as old as a platform as the X-car one, the fact that Cadillac sold more Sevilles every year that it was out until 1979, when it was a 4 year old design shows that it was hit, and not deserving of deadly sin status.
If I wasn’t so focused on the back doors, I would have said that I felt the Seville was a very nicely proportioned vehicle. Yes, it took squareness to the extreme, but it worked.
I agree completely that this was a GM hit all the way, but then again, I liked the bustle-back, too, which came later!
I always looked at these with admiration. Also, I miss formal roof lines…
Good point. I can also add then if Ford had put more design differences between the Granada and the Lincoln Versailles right from the start, things could had been different and the Versailles could had been a more bigger foe to the Seville.
I agree with CARMINE and this article. How? If Cadillac would of taken the successful elements (shorter wheel base and the use of pioneer technology), and continued to perfect a smaller Cadillac back in the late 70′s and into the 80′s, they would of come up with a great product like the current CTS much sooner. The ’79 Seville was a HUGE step in the right direction; but was followed up with larger and garish (notch-back) 80′s model??? Why????
I remember seeing one for the first time and thinking how beautiful it was. The upright angle of the rear window was one of my favourite features. Cadillac also offered a two-tone silver/black paint scheme that was incredible.
Obviously GM thought the same thing regarding the rear window as they applied the design to so many other vehicles soon afterward which made this generation of Seville less unique than when it first hit the market.
As per the link below, the design of the first generation Seville could have been so much different than what we saw….
http://www.cadillacforums.com/cadillac-performance/seville/sev-maina.html
I don’t remember , did the Caddy crab-walked or dog-tracked like the Nova?
For some reason those wheels on the Caddy look huge. Almost like truck tires. Maybe it is the lack of hubcaps.
While the MB was a better car it wasn’t perfect. I noticed a lot of them back then had doors a slightly different shade than the body. The example in the photo looks like one of them where the drivers door is a bit lighter than the everything else.
Most 70s GM leaf sprung cars liked to dog track including these. The few I’ve worked on usually had a sheared locating pin for one of the springs.
X cars also liked to drop the rear of their front sub frame after the tin worms found the weak spots.
This is no DS. If the rationale is that it’s a tarted up Nova, then the downsized 77 C bodies are nothing more than tarted up Cutlasses, right?
So what if it shared underpinnings with Novas and Camaros, that’s just a testament to how good that general platform was for its day. And, it was wrapped around some of the best looking sheet metal to come out of Detroit in my lifetime.
It was the right car for the times. Yeah, looking back on it the interior looks a little chintzy now, but that’s how it was then. And yeah, they did charge an awful lot for these things, but that helped create ths car’s mystique. That’s no different than today where GM sells tarted up Silverados with camper shells and aniline leather seats as Escalades for 3x the cost…
But lemme ask you this: how many other mid 70s cars can you name that still look this fresh with perfect proportions today? 450SL? 320i? Seville. This car was a huge trend setter, that’s why it’s look was grafted on to every GM sedan produced in the 1980s.
Look at the wheels, pushed out to the far corners and the minimal front overhang. That’s gorgeous.
This was no deadly sin, that’s for sure.
If the rationale is that it’s a tarted up Nova, then the downsized 77 C bodies are nothing more than tarted up Cutlasses, right?
Did those downsized C Bodies cost four times as much as the Cutlasses?
So this one is a DS because they were able to successfully sell a Cadillac with a high markup? Cadillacs are supposed to cost more than plebian GM offerings. I think the cost argument is a nonstarter.
What I got from this article was that they made a rather compromised vehicle, partly because of the donor platform chosen, and it’s success told GM that Cadillac buyers would accept more of the same…. which eventually led to someone green-lighting the Cimarron.
aside: The spell-checker wants to turn the word Cimarron into “Macaroni”. I thought that was funny enough to share.
You’re on the right track. Obviously, the gen1 Seville was “successful” in meeting Cadillac’s immediate goals. But you can only fool so many people so many times with leaf-sprung solid axle tarted up Novas to compete against the best car in the world at the time.
Cadillac sales started their deadly decline at about this time, as did GM’s. Mercedes (and BMW) were just starting to really take off at this time. Does anyone (except me) see the (deadly) connection?
It’s not about whether the Seville looked nice to you; it’s what was happening to the company, and where it was going. Deadly Sins can be attractive, on the surface, at least. As are candy and Big Gulps. Just be prepared for the longer-term consequences.
There’s no question that Mercedes and BMW were really gaining steam around then, especially Mercedes. I think BMW was still more of a niche player, catering to real enthusiasts (even then, these and other European cars, like Peugeots and Saabs, really appealed to me).
But I just can’t see it even being possible for Cadillac to have done anything more dramatic with the Seville than they already did. It was smaller and looked very different, but it still looked and drove like a Cadillac. I think the much bigger sin was GM not going further with the second generation Seville. THAT should have been the model that was more directly competitive with what Mercedes offered, in terms of engineering, driving feel, etc. Instead, it was more American looking and feeling than ever. The first gen was a good first step, flawed as it might have been.
The first step is always the most important one.
If you think having a leaf-sprung solid rear axle is the first step in competing with Mercedes’ forty years of experience with independent rear suspensions, I can’t agree.
I would agree with you only in the sense that the Seville may have given the bean counters added confidence that they could do this lipstick on a pig thing as much as they wanted to, resulting in FUBARs like Cimarron and the 85-86 downsized luxury cars and coupes.
Who knows, but we all probably believe there’s at least some truth to that, especially with the demise of autonomous divisions. After all, back them GM had a lot of hubris; I’m sure many in the organization felt they could do no wrong. We now know otherwise, of course.
But still, the original Seville, taken in and of itself, was a mighty fine conglomeration of off the shelf parts. It’s an example of badge engineering done right.
The sin of the Cimarron was that Cadillac had almost 0 flexibility to change anything, if Cadillac would have been given a chance to make significant changes to the J-car like they did to the X-body, maybe the Cimarron wouldn’t have been such a joke, but all they were allowed to do was change the grille, headlights, tailights and add options and trim.
As I said before the Seville isn’t lipstick on a pig, far from it, Cadillac was very concerned about using a “lesser” car to underpin its new baby, so they spent time and money to hide and change all the X-car bits, they created a Seville only line at Cadillacs Clark Street plant in Detroit, so no Sevilles were made in a non-Cadillac plant, as opposed to the Cimarron which was made at GMAD in SouthGate Ca.
Agreed
Why does everyone assume that because its a smaller Cadillac, that it HAS to be some sort of S-class fighter? Cadillac was selling close to if not over 300,000 cars per year in the US at the time, more than Mercedes, BMW and et al combined, meaning that there were still plenty of people that wanted an AMERICAN style luxury car, what the Seville did was put the CADILLAC package in a smaller box, Cadillac never set out to make an S-class out of the Seville, they set out to make a smaller Cadillac.
If they would have wanted to make an S-class, they would have had to make the air conditionng worse and remove the power seats and tilt steering wheel.
What sort of “autobahn barnstormer” was the Seville supposed to be in EPA/55 MPH 1976 America? Believe it or not, inspite of the venom you spewforth about American cars and GM cars in general, people in the 70′s still bought “American Style” cars in massive numbers, to the extent that even the almighty Toyota slapped vinyl tops and big chrome grilles creating pseudo Granadas out of Coronas, or how else do you explain the woody Datsun wagon that graces the top of this page?
From ateupwithmotor’s excellent piece on the Seville: The target for the smaller Cadillac was Mercedes’ new W116 S-Class, sold in America as the 450SE and 450SEL. The W116 was bigger than its immediate predecessors, but it was still relatively small for an American car, roughly the size of a Dodge Dart.
I’d recommend reading the whole thing, as it’s well researched, but here’s his opening paragraph: The 1976 Cadillac Seville was Detroit’s first serious response to the growing popularity of luxury imports like Mercedes. Although it was an immediate hit, earning a handsome profit and inspiring numerous imitators, the Seville marked the beginning of the end of Cadillac’s credibility as “the standard of the world.” This week, we look at the history of the Seville, and the reasons for Cadillac’s subsequent decline. http://ateupwithmotor.com/luxury-and-personal-luxury-cars/210-cadillac-seville.html
Regarding your line about Americans still buying American-style luxury cars in the seventies: the key word is “still”; just not much longer. And that is the whole issue, right? Why did Americans stop buying Cadillacs? And why did GM go bankrupt?
Are the Cadillac CTS and ATS more like Cadillacs of the seventies, or more like Mercedes and BMWs? Which approach to luxury cars won out in the end? And which approach did Lexus take with their LS400?
When did Merceds outsell Cadillac in the US?
I dont feel like looking it up but, not until like the 90′s at least if not later.
I dont have to look it up, but I am pretty sure that there were no years that Cadillac sales totaled 0, so you can leave the whole, “people stopped buying Cadillacs” statement where you found it.
It was sized against the S-class, yes, but it was a Cadillac, it was pitched as a smaller CADILLAC, just because something is the size of something doesn’t mean that it has to be an exact copy of it, and again, whatever the CTS and ATS have become now, doesn’t have any bearing on what the Seville was when it was released in 1975, you seem to want to bag on Cadillac because it wasnt an ATS in 1975, when that wasn’t the type of car Cadillac was selling at the time to the majority of its customers. There are SUV’s in all luxury car manufacturers line ups today, and they dont seem strange, today, but buyers would have been just as confused by a Porsche suv in 1975 as they would have been by a Cadillac CTS-V in 1975.
Carmine, you also have to look at the demograhics of the customers who buying each type of car.
There were more Cadillac customers than Mercedes customers at that time, but I’d wager that those Mercedes customers were younger, better-educated and wealthier than Cadillac buyers at that time.
In other words, they were more likely to be trendsetters and leaders. Which is exactly the type of customer a luxury brand wants and needs.
Here’s the fundamental problem: Mercedes buyers and Cadillac buyers did not really overlap. They had different demographics. And while the Cadillac demographic was much larger in the mid-seventies, they were already in their mid-50s, on average, which meant that the clock was beginning to tick. The Baby Boomers, particularly affluent, college-educated ones, did not see Cadillac as particularly prestigious or aspirational the way their parents and grandparents did. Chevrolet buyers may have aspired to Cadillacs; Rabbit/Golf and Accord buyers aspired to Mercedes and BMW. Cars like the Seville altered that equation not all. It wasn’t that the Seville was incompetent at what it was, it was that it didn’t succeed at being what it wanted to be, which was a Mercedes-fighter.
“Why does everyone assume that because its a smaller Cadillac, that it HAS to be some sort of S-class fighter?”
Why wouldn’t they? Because that’s exactly what the Cadillac marketing guys tried to sell it as. Every non-fullsize Cadillac since then has been marketed as a match for the Germans and most of them have failed spectacularly.
You’re more than entitled to your opinion and even I don’t fully agree with the Deadly Sin label this time, but this whole act where you throw a fanboy shitfit every time Paul posts something you don’t like has gotten really old.
Then dont read it.
Hachee, I’d agree. The Gen1 was a bold step for Cadillac; at the time I remember thinking it was a new breed and direction. And true, the Gen2 could/should have been the full bridge to Euro-land but alas was a huge step backward.
Paul, I don’t think at the 1973-74 stage Cadillac would ever have been in a position to be so bold as to aim directly for MB….but their followup was a complete misstep. Opportunity squandered.
GM was relying on brand loyalty to sell these cars and it worked. Unfortunately, the Seville always had a very elderly buyer demographic. Few Seville buyers bought another car. This led to the hideous gen 2 Seville, which was trying to repeat the cool factor of the gen 1. Miserable failure.
Actualy first year demographics of Seville buyers indicated that not only were Seville buyers much younger than the average Cadillac buyer, it also indicated that 30% were new to the brand and of those 30%, most said that their 2nd choice if the Seville wouldn’t have been available, would have been a car from a foreign make.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these, and not just because my parents briefly owned a 1976 model.
Compared to the Nova and the later A-bodies, it has a more muscular stance, longer hood, shorter front overhang and squarer, broader shoulders. These and the first-generation FWD big Buicks are the most successful downsized/sheer look GM designs by far. Distinctly American and nicely proportioned, both designs still hold up well today, I think, especially compared to today’s too-tall cars, with their high beltlines and tiny greenhouses.
Instead of a comparison to the profile of a ’78 A-body, let’s see a comparison to, say, a ’12 Chrysler 300 (http://www.insideline.com/chrysler/300/2012/photos/2012_chrysler_300_prf_ns_90111.html). The Seville makes the Chrysler look laughably cartoonish.
How i love american cars from the 1970s, i think the gen 1 and even the bustle back sevile were beautiful, it was just a shame that a proper engine could not be produced for these cars by GM, or I beleive they would be stars in car heaven today. I as someone in their early 20s in the 1980s i was lucky enough to purchase my dream car since i was a youth, it was a 1979 Lincoln Versailles, triple turquoise, every option and according to the sticker was around 14000 bucks when new, it even had the optional wheels, no hubcaps here, i was able to get a good deal on it because the brakes didnt work, everything else did though, i had my first job and was in college and i was mechanic taught by my father , we diagnosed and i bought a very expensive brake booster 500 dollars at the time and i had my dream car, make fun all you want but everyone who saw this car the entire 3 yrs I owned and drove it daily even on long trips no problems, either love it or wanted to buy it. and eventually i gave in because i wanted a brand new mustang and was paid a lot of money for it so i had a huge down payment and a new mustang, but i have to say i wish i would have kept and miss it to this day. Be a hater all you want but my Versailles was a lot more than just a tarted up Granada, i know because my first car was a 1976 Granada Ghia which i loved but there was no doubt these were to vastly different cars. some people can be such car snobs. my advice is ask the man who owns one…
I completely disagree on this whole issue.
Park a C body DeVille next to a B body Chevy and its the same thing. Even in 1959.
Park an Audi next to a same platform VW, or a Lexus next to Toyota, same thing.
The first Seville was a good attempt to change from ‘bigger is better’. Don’t like it? I dont care.
I thought the Nova was just about the perfect car for the U.S. Had one that was a 68 with the 230-6 and three speed. Even when I was trading it in for that truck I knew I was making a mistake. Should have bought a trailer.
Using it more was not a mistake in my books. If the Seville was a tarted up Nova or not isn’t that important. The fine folks that now bring you Escalade have a habit of overpricing for the name plate. I think one had to be a genuine idiot to pay that when the Nova was available.
Where I think they made the mistake for those cars was underdevelopment. They stopped the station wagon (last year 67 IIRC) and never developed the hatch beyond a couple years. Both were great functional cars that were cheap and lasted. Would also have liked to see an El Camino or Sedan Delivery based on that chassis. Since 1981 I have been obsessed with function and earning a living.
Besides the Nova that I owned I had the fun of driving a buick/olds (forget which) Nova clone that belonged to my Nephew across the country. That had the 231 and three speed. It drove even better than my 68 did and I fell in love. He wouldn’t sell. That engine could have also been done by Chevy and I think with a TH350 would have been a winner.
Losing was going to fwd for that size for a good section of the car buying public. A real adventure is driving a loaded fwd on wet pavement. So far as I can recall, however, the General al never asked me and I started a long history of Datsun/Nissan pickups for work.
I am on record as being no friend of GM in the 1970s, but I think that this car was perhaps the best executed example of platform sharing that the General ever did.
I agree with many that the styling was quite good. In fact, this car sort of set the trend for the entire 1980s. The fact that it sold for 4x the cost of a Nova, well shouldn’t a proper Cadillac sell for 4x (at least) the price of a Chevy?
My biggest gripe with the car is the engine. While I don’t think that the 472 or 500 should have been under the hood (although what a hoot to drive, I’ll bet) a smaller Cadillac-only V8 should have been part of the bargain at that price. Too bad the 425 or 368 was still a few years away. I will agree with Carmine that the interior was Cadillac grade, but by 1975 “Cadillac Grade” wasn’t what it used to be (or should have been). Cadillac power and an interior of 1960s Cadillac quality would have made this car almost perfection in 1975. Oh yes, and ditch the leaf springs.
To me, the problem was that while this car was a good start down the direction that Cadillac should have been headed, GM was not able to keep the cars (all Cadillacs, in fact) exclusive enough to keep prices up and volumes down in a way that would have made the cars genuine luxury cars and status symbols. This may have been the most thorough job of a downsized luxury car coming out of Detroit, perhaps to the present day. Certainly nothing from Lincoln or Chrysler ever matched it. But I think that there is room for some conception of luxury other than the German one. GM should have paid the gas guzzler tax and provided a proper high end car once CAFE took hold (unless to do so would put all of GM in a penalty, in which case my opinion of CAFE as worse than useless is only buttressed.).
So, while I am not sure I am all the way on board with your position, you have argued it it superbly.
^This. The Seville was actually pretty nice with the Nova lineage disguised very well. Honestly, for a long time, I thought the Seville was based not on the Nova but the radical (for GM) just-introduced, downsized 1977 Caprice.
And therin lies the problem. The boys at GM/Cadillac (undoubtedly with the ultimate bean-counter Roger Smith’s enthusiastic approval) figured, “Hey, we got away with redoing the Nova as a Cadillac, we can make even more money making a Cadillac out of a Cavalier!”.
Unfortunately, unlike the Seville, the penny-pinching on the Cimmaron went way overboard as it was all too obvious from what car the Cimmaron was derived. I don’t know if the Cimmaron shared many body panels with the Cavalier, but it sure looks like the only thing changed from the Cavalier is the grille and tailights. The Seville, OTOH, obviously shares almost no body panels with the Nova (maybe the front doors).
That’s why the Seville merits being listed as a GM deadly sin: its success gave rise to the Cimmaron.
That’s what I was just thinking and was about to post.
I still rib my friend, the Cadillac fanatic by reminding him of the Cimarron. I often link to articles on several car blogs just to get his goat. It’s fun!
I seem to recall reading about the first drive of the Cimmaron in Motor Trend and the Chief Engineer for the car was interviewed for the article. The thing that stood out was the Engineer touting the special tires and wheels made especially for the Cimmaron. Not sure if they were metric wheels and tires like the Ford Mustang and it’s TRX rims on Michelin radials in the model years 79-82; I thought that this particular selling point was on odd choice to make, being a Cadillac. But then again, it wasn’t a Cadillac, was it? Just a con job headed by the biggest con man of all, Roger Smith.
I say the Roger Smith years contributed to the recent GM bankruptcy as they hadn’t recovered from the shenanigans him and his board perpetrated on a once Great American Company.
The 472, 500, 425 and 368 all shared the same block. Interestingly, Cadillac engineers designed this engine to handle displacements up to 600CI!
Unknown if it was a clearance thing or just the sheer weight of the big block that they decided to go with the modified Olds 350.
I don’t have dimensions for the 472/500 Cadillac engine, but since the Nova could and did accommodate the Chevy 396/454, they probably could have squeezed the Cadillac engine into the Seville, although not necessarily with the best results for handling, ride or (most particularly) fuel economy.
I agree with Paul here…this car is a Deadly Sin for GM.
The Seville, in many ways, is a very nice car. The styling has held up well, and the size was welcome breath of fresh air in the mid-1970s. Park a 1975-79 Seville next to a 1971-76 “standard” Cadillac or Eldorado, and the Seville stands out with its nice proportions and lack of “bloat.”
The problems start when we realize what Cadillac was trying to do with this car – meet Mercedes head-on and steal back some of those customers who had been seduced by the three-pointed star. Like it or not, a tarted-up Nova, not matter how extensively disguised, is not going to get people out of a 240D, let alone an S-Class.
Remember, Cadillac has billed itself as the “Standard of the World” for decades. And in the 1970s, even after the first fuel crunch, it was still the best-selling luxury car in the country.
An extensively revised Nova, with more sound-deadening material and different styling, is NOT the Standard of the World. It is, at best, a somewhat cynical attempt by the beancounters to compete on the “cheap” with a rising star that was at the top of its game. Yes, it sold well, but the entire division was coasting on its laurels by the early 1970s, and the Seville is further proof of that. In the long run, no matter how many units it sold, the Seville did nothing to stop the growth of Mercedes or really restore Cadillac’s luster.
If this had been sold as the “Oldsmobile Holiday” or “Buick Super” for thousands less, it would not be worthy of Deadly Sin status.
“Like it or not, a tarted-up Nova, not matter how extensively disguised, is not going to get people out of a 240D, let alone an S-Class”
I think at the time, there were really different kinds of buyers. IIRC, the 240D was priced closer to the Seville, and an S Class was really quite a bit higher. Those who bought a 240D did so because they really wanted that car – it was not really a competitor to the Seville, being much less “luxurious”, These people did not want a Seville, no matter what. Those who wanted sharp styling and frills bought the Seville. I do think, however, that Cadillac at this time began losing plenty of customers to the S-Class – those who wanted the next step up, which Cadillac didn’t offer.
Rationalizing that these people didn’t want a Cadillac (or Chevrolet, or Oldsmobile), no matter what, is how GM first lost a substantial portion of the market at the top and bottom, and finally in the middle, which ultimately led to its bankruptcy.
These customers didn’t want the Cadillacs that GM was making at the time. Yes, a few wanted something “different” (meaning, something foreign), but I believe that, if GM had really made a serious effort and offered a Cadillac with the build quality and performance of the Mercedes, more than a few buyers would have stuck with the division.
The Seville was targeted specifically at the S-Class.
There were two kinds of buyers for the 240D: the hard-core Mercedes diesel freaks, often engineers. And there were those who bought it because it was the cheapest way to get a (genuine) MB star on the hood. If you lived on the West Coast in the seventies, you’d know what I mean.
Those 240s had their own problems that kept many people away, namely loud, smoky engines, high cost, a firm ride, and man these things were….sssssllllllloooooooooowwwwwwwwwww.
That Has got To be true. Eventually the able folks who paid 4x what others did for a gussied up Nova, resented GM for fooling them, Thats what I believe makes it clearly a GM deadly sin.
Those People Got a second sucker punch when The Deville turned out to be a Caprice.
Count me in with those who just don’t see this as a GM deadly sin. There were a lot of those, but I don’t think this is one of them. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but I think it was a good effort, especially at the time.
I remember when these came out – I was around 11 – and I remember them being so completely different looking than any other Caddy, that it was just hard to fathom. But I liked the looks, and the size was right. Sized like a big Mercedes, but still very American looking, and certainly more subtle than contemporary Cadillacs, although the upright window was a bit shocking.
I never knew of the Nova connection until reading about it sometime in the last few years, but even if there were a lot of common parts, they fooled me. My parents bought a new Seville in 1979, after a 77 Deville, and I drove it when necessary after I got my license a few years later. I remember it being very quiet and smooth, pretty solid, and the seats were plush, but even then, I thought the dashboard was dull and ordinary, and certainly no match for a Mercedes. (Look at that Mercedes dash above, and I’d say with a few tweaks, it could pass for contemporary today.) My friend’s parents had a 77 or 78 Nova, and while I never drove it, I was a passenger, and it was as plain as can be (although this memory is a bit hazy).
I think it still looks good, with its good proportions, clean lines, simple details. There was a custom convertible conversion of this car, called the San Remo, which really looked fantastic, and still does today.
Perhaps it would help to separate out the car itself, from the influence it had upon GM decision making, product development and marketing. I have never driven a Seville of this (or any) vintage, but my family did have a Nova hatchback from that period. Even with the 250 six and automatic, it was a very nice car to operate-all it really needed was a much better interior (Those plaid seats! The quality of the plastics! The horror! The horror!) and more back seat room. Addressing that, and making it smoother and quieter would likely have made a very nice “wife’s” Cadillac. And it surely was an attractive car for the time, even now. But to put it up against the engineering and manufacturing excellence of the Mercedes of the time, to sell it at four times the price of its the basic design, and to then rely upon the success of this approach to justify continuing the practice for decades, in a way that significantly contributed to the death of the company, that is truly a sin.
But I’d love to drive one. It still looks like it’s moving, quickly and without seeming effort, even when standing still.
Well said.
+2
The Deadly Sin status is not so much about the car, (which I have always liked, at least the 76-79′s), as its is about the decision making of GM and Ford or Chrysler for that matter.
GM/Cadillac could have used a revised IRS from the Corvette and the engine for that matter, coupled with the FI. They also could have improved the NVH without adding 1000 lbs to the car, but the bean counters would not have it.
Rather than investing in superior engineering to remain the “Standard of the World” and having that “engineering excellence” trickle down into the lower priced brands, lifting the quality of all, they chose to dilute the prestige of their standard bearer by cutting costs and having that “accounting excellence” infect their entire company.
I was very fond of this Seville. I had several, one of which I made into a real hot rod.
The extra wheelbase didn’t add to rear seat room. It went entirely to making the hood longer. Lay the Nova subframe next to the Seville subframe and you will see what I mean. Don’t ask me how I know this, it’s a sad story.
Like others, I really admired the Seville styling. The deadly sin associated with this car is that GM made all theri other, cheaper cars look just like it. So did Chrysler and Ford. The Seville was a real style leader.
There were real differences under the skin witrh the Nova. While they both had leaf springs, the attachment, shackle and sway bar arrangements were completely diffferent. Mostly done to reduce noise, I think.
The right engine for a Seville is, or would have been, a stroked Chevy, say a 383. Putting a 472 in this chassis requires changing much of the steering system. A Chevy big block would add weight to an already heavy car. An Olds 455 is an easy swap, and adds only about 40 pounds
The Firebird front sway bar and front control arm bushings, a custrom rear sway bar and urethane shackle bushings, and some urethane subframe mounts will do wonders for the handling of this heavy car. Add wider steel wheels, able to accommodate the wire wheel hubcaps, and a quick ratio Firebird steering gearbox, and you have quite a nice driving car.
That’s the way GM should have sold these cars if they wanted to compete with Mercedes.
Bob
Bob, we’ve gone over this before. Your memory is playing tricks on you. The Seville got a three-inch extension in the rear of the passenger car because the rear leg room in the Nova was so miserable. It simply wouldn’t have been acceptable. That’s not to say the Seville had generous legroom in the back, but it was acceptable.
This is not opinion, but fact, that others have corroborated. The subframes may have been different, but the wheelbase length was all in the rear. Sorry.
To support what Paul is saying, the Seville had to have new rear doors, not shared with the four-door Nova, to account for the wheelbase stretch — not something that would have been necessary if the extra length were ahead of the cowl.
The 1976 Seville was successful in its time but, unfortunately for Cadillac, the 77 Caprice was a better car. If you’re looking for a deadly sin, try the 77 Lincoln Versailles.
The original names of Nova and her variants at Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Buick & Cadillac were a game of initialism: (Though Ventura was released in 1971 & Omega in 73)
Nova
Omega
Ventura
Apollo
Seville
even their names spelled NOVAS
Though the Apollo became Skylark (in coupe form for ’76 and sedan in ’77) the Ventura was renamed Pheonix in 1978.
My favorite ‘improvement’ the GM engineers made on ’75-80 Seville to ‘up-market’ the Nova was added leather strips in between the leaf springs to quiet the ride.
Leather strips to quiet leaf springs, that’s high-tech. For 1875.
Cadillac once called itself “The Standard of the World”. That claim was justified from 1908 until about 1960. First electric starter, ignition and lights. Leaders in mass production of modern V8s, automatic transmissions, power steering, brakes, seats, built-in air conditioning. First car using Phillips screws even. Tenth at LeMans in 1950 with a stock car.
By 1970 Mercedes and BMW were raising the standard of the world. Cadillac did not follow. GM still built and sold what Americans knew as Cadillacs, but they were no longer superior automobiles.
H.E.I Ignition was ‘high-tech’ for 1975! Leather between the leaf springs was used in high-end horse drawn carriages! It was simply an ‘old trick’ used anew! ;-j
Thought so, looked but didn’t find any evidence of that. I did learn that leaf springs were originally called carriage springs.
Reposting old articles?
As much as we all wish that we did not have day jobs, sometimes they keep us busier than we would like and cut into our CC writing time. Personally, I would rather see an occasional re-run (and they are rare) than have a day with no CC feature at all.
Yes; It’s the only way to bring them home into the archives here. Plus I’m a bit busy. Classic CC.
People don’t like to admit when they’ve been fooled. That’s why we live in the world that we do.
You know I’ve never seen one of these in person, which is odd considering I see at least 2-3 second gen Seville’s a year. I don;t understand why the first gens are so rare, considering they were better built and “engined” than the second gen cars.
I would say it’s an attractive car. The one thing that bothers me is that the rear end doesn’t say Cadillac to me. It looks more like an Oldsmobile rear end.
I noticed the first post on the Gen 1 Seville as a “Deadly Sin” around the time I started reading CC. Never got that. The 1976 Seville was and still is a gorgeous car, one of Bill Mitchell’s masterworks and the best representation of his sheer look. It drove great for the time and was a smash hit. The car plowed new ground in that it was, as Cavanaugh points out, the most successful downsize of a luxury car in history.
Significance, looks, performance and success do not equal Deadly Sin in my book. And no the fact that GM did not continue down the same path doesn’t cancel out the importance of the original, that logic just doesn’t make sense.
What surprised me was that the author Paul seemed to get it in his other posts I read that day. He wasn’t a clueless fellow, far from it in fact. Then I noticed the reaction of the readers and subsequent back-pedaling by the author to the point that there is now a “reprint” of the original post with an awkward disclaimer about how Deadly Sin cars themselves are not necessary bad. Now there is mention in the brand new W123 post about how Paul saw the green Seville in the old DS retread… today? Today?
For the record the Seville was not intended to compete with the all-new 1973 S-class. it was designed to compete with the middle Benzes the 280s, 280Es etc. Those were the volume selling MBs at the time with prices close to the Seville. The S-class was another animal entirely.
So what gives here? The only thing I can figure it that Paul really, REALLY hates expensive cars with rear leaf springs. Can’t explain the repost or comments about just seeing the green Seville today. Or why he can’t simply ask for a do-over on the original Seville article and quit with the damage control. All of us are wrong at some point.
What are you trying to say? Now there is mention in the brand new W123 post about how Paul saw the green Seville in the old DS retread… today? Today?
What does that line mean? I said The green Seville in today’s CC is the first I’ve seen on the streets in all these years. That doesn’t mean I saw it today. In the five years I’ve been shooting CCs, the green one was the first and only one I’ve seen driving on the streets, and that was over two years ago. Meanwhile, there’s a gazillion old MBZ W123 and W116s all over the West Coast still being used as daily drivers.
You’re wrong about the S-Class. The Seville was specifically designed to compete against it. Please see my comment further up, a response to Carmine. The W116 S-Class was not all that big; downright compact compared to the big cars of the time. A 1973 450SE was 195″ long, the 450SEL was 201″ long. The Seville is 204″ long.
But sure, the W123 Mercedes also competed against the Seville. Not that Cadillac had anything to compete against it any better, eh?
the seville may have been over-priced but it’s a successful design and i think it was the right direction for cadillac. what if they had continued in this direction and improved the technology over time to the point where it could compete in performance? shouldn’t the seville be a less expensive, less refined but more powerful option to the uptight german sports sedans? problem was that the initial success led the cynical gm brass to the insane conclusion that they could pull the wool over the public’s eyes and eventually came the ultimate cadillac turd: the cimarron.
I get it now the W123 post was a reprint too, sorry I thought it was new. Maybe these older articles, which are fine to recycle (I hadn’t read the W123 post before), should say “classic” or something. I’m still not clear on what Outtake means.
If that’s not the case I have no idea what this comment means in the W123 post… “The green Seville in today’s CC is the first I’ve seen on the streets in all these years”.
I guess if you really believed the marketing hype that the Seville was meant to take on the S-class (did you, really?) it would come off as an underachiever. But believe me the engineers weren’t trying to out do the S-class on a 24 month development cycle starting with the Nova platform. GM nearly made the first Seville off of an Opel platform which they were plenty familiar with and that at most would go head-to-head with the middle Benzes.
Finally buyers do not shop cars based on the OAL measurement. To everyone at the time the Seville was considered a “small” luxury car certainly within the shopping set of the slightly smaller but similarly price 280E et al.
While I believe CTS compete against the 3-series/C-classes of this world I do not think for a minute that the XTS competes against the S-class just because it is the same size. Never forget the price!
You’re still confused: I did just shoot the W123 Outtake about two hours ago this morning. Please re-read it: I just ran out for an errand, and couldn’t resist this pristine daily-driver yellow W123, having Sevilles on the brain this morning.
FWIW, what’s that got to do with the subject matter?
Please read this excellent and heavily-researched article to confirm that the Seville WAS designed to compete with the S-Class: http://ateupwithmotor.com/luxury-and-personal-luxury-cars/210-cadillac-seville.html
Again, if it also competed with the W123 Class, what difference does it make in the big picture? The W123 had all the same advanced engineering features the S-Class did, except for the V8.
Yes are right Safe. What hurt Cadillac more than not continuing in the direction of the original Seville was a series of hastily developed engine choices like the Olds 350 diesel, V864 and HT4100. Plenty of people gave Cadillac a second shot based on their hands-on or perceived impression of the Seville. What let them down were these self destructing engines. No one would ever give a brand like that (or company) another chance. The Northstar is also famous for blowing head gaskets among other things.
Thank God GM went with the tried and true Olds 350 V8 for the first Seville. The only reason there aren’t more of these around is because the Bendix FI was too hard to keep in good repair.
Paul the reason there aren’t more Sevilles on the road is because of the Bendix aka Bosch fuel injection system, not the quality of the rest of the car. The car would have been more successful with less German influence not more. How else can you explain why there are still so many Colonades and B-bodies around? Weren’t these, relative to the Benzes, just as poor quality as the Seville?
And this line from your new W123 post can’t just be confusing to me… “The green Seville in today’s CC is the first I’ve seen on the streets in all these years”. Today’s CC implies it just happened, at least to me.
Noticed you changed the “I’ve” to I’d.” That helps a lot
I can assure you that there are very many more W123s around than Colonnades. And how many Colonnades were sold vs. W123s. The survival rate is greatly stacked in favor of the Benzes.
Same applies to the B-Bodies; How many millions were made in their very long run?
Anyway, if the fuel injection system in the Seville is crap, then that just proves my point further. Why put an unproved FI system in a Mercedes-fighter?? Deadly Sin indeed!
You’re misreading: “today’s CC” implies the post, the article, not the car. Do you think I see a car, shoot it and write an in-depth article all before 4AM, when the daily CC goes up? That would be quite a feat indeed. I’m not into pulling all-nighters anymore.
The reason this re-run post ran today is because I was working outside all day, physically. I started on a new CC last night at 9PM, and at 9:30 I asked myself: “Why?” I’m not getting any younger either!
Given today’s lively discussion you made the right choice.
I recall looking at the new Seville in 75. I was still a young pup, dreaming of owning a Cadillac. With the exception of the almost identical dash board of the big Caddies, my first impression was a Nova with Cadillac badging. I told a salesman something to that effect. He glared at me, and told me the car was the wave of the future.
I got a writeup on a Calais coupe, I don’t remember the price, but around $ 8,000 (?)no trade. The plaid seats were hideous, in the model I drove. The salesman kinda gave me the bum’s rush. Looking at and test driving new cars was a favorite day off pass time for me then. I can recall test driving Chrysler, Dodges, Plymouths, Buicks, Olds, and Cadillacs, all the big models. Somehow, Lincoln eluded me for a few years.
Around that time, I looked at a gently used 72 Fury III, (or Gran Fury coupe?). With my 68 in trade, $ 2,000 cash would have done the deed. What a beautiful car. A/C, power windows, and high back seats, I’d probably still have it.
Now, when you look at 25K cars, the salesman goe on at length about Bluetooth, USB, docking stations, and other worthless junk. I apologize for the digression.
Really never cared for the Seville.
Some interesting facts about the Gen 1 and Gen 2 Sevilles:
Gen 1: Nova/Camaro platform, leaf-sprung rear axle, size and proportions right on the money with respect to target competitors, praised at the time as big step in right direction for Cadillac. Technical sophistication was less of an issue when you consider that Benz was only one generation out of swing-axle independent rear suspensions, not considered all that great versus well-designed live-axle configurations, and the semi-trailing arms used by Benz, BMW and the Porsche 911 had quirks of their own in terms of lift-throttle oversteer. Modern multi-link setups were still 10 years away. Over here, Trans Ams were considered better-handling cars than independently-sprung Corvettes. Would also like to know the weight differences between a 350 Olds and any Caddy motor, which was the same basic design whether a 368 or a 500.
Gen 2: Latest development of the Toronado front-wheel drive (considered a cutting-edge luxury item at the time), fully independent suspension, latest GM electronic fuel injection on a legit Cadillac engine. Diesel was a disaster, but again considered the wave of the future when introduced and some Gen 1 cars had them as well. But the size, styling, suspension tuning, etc, were considered a collective regression back to Caddy’s old outdated ways despite the cars being very much up to date technically.
If you want to use historical hindsight, the platform to use was the Opel Senator that succeeded the Diplomat. And the Diplomat was powered by a specially manufactured Chevy 327, configured specifically for autobahn use with a block derived from endurance racing engines.
Mercedes were beautifully made and tastefully designed in a time when Caddies were becoming less of both. But they were far from perfect. Caddy lost its way when it stopped building better Cadillacs, not when it failed to follow Mercedes.
The Olds 350 was about 575 lb, the Cadillac 472 about 680 lb; the 500 may have been a few pounds heavier.
Minor irony department; the only person I knew who owned one these was the wife of a Japanese salaryman on an expat assignment in New York. For some perverse reason the Japanese expats loved Cadillacs.
Before they were downsized and lost the big engines, Cadillacs were all over the middle east too, every sheik and shah had one, GM even imported knock down kits of the Seville for assembly in Iran, before the Shah fell in 1979 of course.
Yes Carmine you are right , Cadillac Seville , Buick Skylark and Chevy Nova , all Came in Iran in 1978 in CKD packages, they were basically 1975 Leftovers from GM Canada, (as we were told then) .
The price was right, the Seville was not even twice as expensive as a Nova and the Skylark was priced in-between.
The best buy was the Skylark as it had the carburated V8 and automatic, the Nova came with the inline 6 and was equipped with 3 speed manual transmission.
People were scared of Seville, the electronic ignition control module went dead frequently and the replacement was not locally available, the module was sourced from Dubai with huge cost.
The ignition nozelles of Seville engine rusted due to water in Iranian gas
The Skylark with four barrel equipped 350 was more reliable, much faster and showed tail lights to Seville, and it brought better resale price as a used car. the problem with the skylark was the rear suspension, went dizzy on potholes which where abundant on Iranian roads,
The trunk of Nova and Skylark were both cramped by the spare Tyre, I remember Seville had better trunk space,
These are found memories of good old days in Iran, when we drove American cars and drank Russian Vodka
By the way, I just noticed that that’s a 79 Seville pictured, not a 77. The steering wheel gives it away.
75-76 Cads had a 3 point “T” shaped steering wheel, 77-78s had a single bar, and 79+ had a modified single bar with ends bent downward as in the above pic. Then after that they went to airbag wheels.
Also, although its hard to see, it looks like it has the digital ETR stereo which also debuted in 79.
Why does everyone think the Seville is a Nova/X-Car? Like Carmine stated very early on these two cars share very little if nothing in common. I’ve been a GM parts dept guy since the 70′s and I will tell you the only thing a Nova shares with this Seville is the ring and pinion and maybe the U-joints. If you can’t get this out of your head and mind set than how can you say that this is a DS based on the fact that your opinion was made with misinterputed information? Sure they both have a subframe but so does the F-Body. Which does share most of its floor pan with the Noxa/X.Hey so does a Astro/Safari van. Aint nobody calling the Seville a four door Camaro,now! I don’t know if the Seville(K-Car) was designed with a subframe because it was less weight of maybe because that’s the way MB and some other imports did it but I’m thinking GM went this way for the cost aspect of it.
You know what I don’t read a lot of,even though a few people posting here seem to get it, is that there was a totally different mind set back in the 70′s. It appears the GM marketing guys(and gals) didn’t get it either. No way in Hades was your traditional European, luxury car buyer for a lack of a better description, going to step foot into a domestic showroom and buy a car. Sure all GM could do is try and build something comparable. Before the advent of the big car auction all you needed to do back in those days was browse over to the used car side of the lot and see what type of cars your average customer was trading in. Nope don’t see any MBs sitting at the Cadillac dealer. Nothing across the street at the Lincoln Mercury dealer either. Seems if you went to State U and got you a degree in basket weaving or hotel management you might have a domestic car in your crosshairs but the average MBA from the Ivy League always went the European route. How the heck do you think MB and BMW got those reputations? I’ve been in the business too long to believe that any one make is better than another.It’s a machine designed by man. It aint going to last forever. The next time you have a weekend to kill take a drive over to one of the larger self service salvage yards(i.e. U-Pull-It,Pick-ur-Part) in your area and see what type of cars are sitting in there. Take notice of the model and mileage and try to guess why it met its death.Yep plenty of Mercs along with 5 and 7 series bidding the time with the W-Bodies. Just like anything else if you take care of something the longer it will last. It doesn’t make a difference what it is. Just like the cars you saw. Your average MB was probaly traded off after the loan was paid and someone with an above average income and mentality bought it. Drove it. Than traded up again untill somebody down the food chain determined its fate and destiny. Not to many times that can be done with your average middle class cruiser. Even less with the bottom feeders.
Oh and I get a laugh every time Paul does a DS just because two different models just happen to look alike. Hey I drive a 90 Riviera. And I never thought anybody was stupid enough to mistake it for a Somerset/Skylark. Everybody does it. Everybody does parts bin engineering. What do you think a car manufacturer does. Hold an art contest at the local kindergartens and use the winners design for their next model line up? I love it. It wouldn’t be any fun if everything looked alike now,would it? Now if only everybody would get a clue and stop doing it on todays current offerings. Damn it! A Malibu isn’t supposed to look like a Camry! It should look like a Chevy. Every Chevy.
I liked the looks of the Seville then, I still like it now. Nobody I knew – no one, including their parents – could afford a Benz in the late ’70s. I have always liked these cars. So shoot me.
Paul, if you are going to blast one car vs another, use pics of cars in similar condition. Don’t follow American political party logic, that your audience consists of idiots that can be swayed by stark visual images and strong retoric.
All that said, I like CC alot.
It’s the only Seville I’ve found so far. And the 450 SEL is an original high-mileage car, not all that pampered. The difference speaks more to the cars than anything else.
Nobody at CC engages in that type of activity. This is very much a non political site, which is one of the many things that make it great. This ain’t Jalopnik…
In case you havent noticed, CC is not a site about trailer queens. The only Sevilles left in good condition are garaged car show sleds.
Strange as it may seem there is a very tidy Seville locally I must get a pic next time it surfaces. It must have been a very expensive car to own in Aotearoa with NO parts backup if they are as bad as claimed. Cadillac has very little presence here until the CTS which sold well at half GMs projected retail price are they any good? who knows they are all V6 cars so will have the Australian built engine I hated in a Commodore, so being torque free at lower rpm is not a selling point to me.
Ive seen one Seville here aint seen it parked yet but Ill definitly keep my eyes open for it rare beast in this part of the planet coz not sold here new.
The S-class may have been a target for attributes like packaging but that doesn’t mean GM ever intended for the Seville to “compete with” the S-class for buyers. The S-class was a much more advanced and expensive car. That’s like saying Ford was trying to attract Rolls-Royce buyers with the 1965 LTD because they targeted (and beat) the Rolls for quietness. They were trying to sell more LTDs to a different group of buyers with that comparison and it worked. The Seville succeeded at the same game and is NOT a failure because it’s not as good overall as the S-class.
Survival rates have to do with many things including the affluence of owners, design changes in the series (fewer means fewer trade ins), resale value and cost to keep running. Again the Seville was very high on that last point, ironically because of a German designed competent, the FI! I see more brick Volvos around than old Mercedes but that doesn’t mean they were of higher quality. There are other factors at work like the availability and cost of parts to keep them on the road.
Of course the design and construction of a vehicle count but that’s almost always related to price. The Benzes were expensive to buy so they could be developed with a higher budget for basic quality, it’s that simple.
You will no doubt argue that the Seville wasn’t cheap and about the same price as the better built W123. Well sure it was but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a huge success. Remember this car was developed in a mere 24 months on a unique platform (see the same article you referred me to). Its run was always going to be just four years, as one model.
Compare that to the B-body platform investment which could be amortized over so many brands and models for so many years. Trust me the only way for the Gen 1 Seville to pencil was with that high price and those guys got it!
When you consider it far exceeded its volume expectation at that price, the car was a grand slam not just for GM but for influencing the entire industry for size, styling, refinement and total package. They may not have taken people out of German and British imports but they sure as hell intercepted a ton of US owners who would have made that move sooner if it wasn’t for the original Seville.
If they stuck with that successful size/styling/refinement/total package concept instead of leaping into what the wags insisted come next — FWD, IRS and other new technologies — it would be a very different Cadillac today and that’s the whole point.
Hardly a Deadly Sin unless leaf rear springs are a deal breaker for you.
The comparison with the ’65 Ford and the RR is invalid; nobody thought Ford was competing with them.
The price of the S Class and the Seville were not that far apart at all. And the reality is that GM was targeting the S-Class market with the Seville. Why else price it higher than the Fleetwood?
Blaming Germany for Bendix fuel injection is completely ridiculous. Bendix, an American company, provided Electrojector EFI, the very first commercially available electronic fuel injection, to AMC and Chrysler in 1957 and 1958. None of them worked well or for long. Bosch bought the patents and made fuel injection systems that worked, the first being D-jetronic which was soon superseded by K-jetronic and then L-jetronic in 1974. Cadillac and Bendix chose to reverse engineer the older D-jetronic system, somehow screwing it up with Detroit style production tolerances in the process. Blaming Bosch for the Seville’s Achilles flaw is like blaming Toyota for Chevy Cruze fires.
American production tolerances are the reason Japanese cars were so well made in comparism, Ive had a look inside a stripped for checking low mileage SBC350 that had 3 different main brg sizes, from new that engine only had 35k on it. Toyota would have remelted that crank GM installed it.
I have no experience with the first Seville, but it’s a wonder the name survived the dreadful second (’80-’85) and third (’86-’91) generations. Especially the third, since the Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable that launched at the same time looked much more like “luxury imports” than the stubby Seville could ever dream of. (And the Taurus/Sable were mainstream midsizers competing against the Ciera – the Seville was, presumably, still supposed to compete against the S-Class? Really?)
The fourth generation (’92-’97) was a beautiful car cursed by the Northstar; the fifth (’98-’04) withered away as Cadillac focused on the CTS.
I thought the Seville was adequately differentiated from the N-O-V-A cars. The effort put into this car was pretty commendable by Detroit standards; It was certainly no Versailles or LeBaron.
The RWD X-platform was not a bad starting point. If memory serves, the Nova, and subsequently the Seville, shared its front subframe with the Camaro. That gave it the long dash-to-axle that really makes the Seville actually look like a convincing luxury car (unlike the stubby downsized A-bodies). And Paul has praised the X-car’s handling on more than one occasion.
A couple of points made were downright unfair. The Seville and Nova did not share the same engine. The Seville used the supposedly-superior Olds 350, not the Chevy 350. Also, the copycat rooflines on other GM cars didn’t start appearing until 1980, after the Seville was restyled (and after those pointless Aeroback sedans proved to be completely sales proof).
The first Seville was a step in the right direction, and even the 2nd-generation car was a good effort (although the styling gimmick certainly fell flat and the powertrains were absolute garbage). It was the third generation car where they really screwed up, along with the rest of the ’85-’86 downsizing. They put a transverse motor in their flagship car and made it look like an Olds Calais. Stupid, but I don’t think the ’75 model predicted that future.
I never said they shared the same engine, although I see now that my copy editor changed the text to make it look that way.
What I originally wrote (and have returned to the text) was: Both were powered by versions of GM’s fine 350 (5.7-liter) V8 engines The Editor took out “versions of”. That is a key point, to the extent it really matters.
Which, when you think about it, it doesn’t really at all. The Seville’s engine problems were its unreliable Bendix fuel injection, which wore out long before the basic engine, and is a pain to try to fix. Many were converted to carbs. The basic Chevy or Olds 350 engines were both just fine and dandy. You think anyone would have notice a difference if they had used the Chevy? Not.
Regarding handling: all these X-based cars, from Camaro to Seville had excellent smooth road handling potential, depending on the specific suspension calibration. But hit a rough patch on a windy road, or just a rough straight road, and the difference between them and the Merc immediately becomes painfully evident. Handling is a mufti-faceted concept; the ability to “handle” rough and variable roads without getting flustered is more important for a luxury car than high skid pad numbers.
Case in point: this evening, on my way home in my Acura TL, I was on a rough road with a curve and a railway track in the apex. The Acura sailed over it at 80 km/h with absolutely no variation in line, bobbing or weaving.
Any solid axle RWD American car ever built would have been crashing and bounding over a road like that.
Stiff bodies and four wheel independent suspension have totally transformed how cars handle.
Deadly Sin or not, I’ve never been able to think badly of these Sevilles. It’s partly the styling, and perhaps part nostalgia. My grandmother drove Cadillacs for at least 30 years, from the mid-60s until 1995, and her late-70s Seville was her favorite of all of them, and the only one that didn’t get replaced after 5 years. It was the quality of the last two (’86 Seville, ’91 DeVille) that drove her to Lexus.
All these comments and no one mentions the Elegante package…
…or the ultra-rare 1979 Gucci package (non-factory)…
Why else would they price it higher than the Fleetwood? Because they needed to recoup their investment in a low volume model run. You don’t tool up for a new platform and make just 200K copies without premium pricing. The higher pricing was also intended to position the Seville as Cadillac’s flagship (not an S-class copy) and avoid a cheap car image from the smaller size. Worked brilliantly.
The Fleetwood was targeted to loyal Cadillac buyers, the Seville to the ones who were getting ready to leave for W123s and XJs, not S-classes. The Seville was around $13K in 1976 while the average S-class was over $20K. Good grief that’s 50% higher! Even the article you referred to states the price difference negated a head-to-head comparison between the two cars.
You may be confusing your S-classes. The Seville was developed in response to the 1965-1973 108/109 series which was really not an S-class. This was the car that began eating into the Big 3′s share of the luxury market and was later replaced by the mid-sized W123 and flagship W116.
No, I’m not confused about my S Classes. First off, the W108/109 very much was a “really” an S Class. You’re the first to say they’re not. Are you in S-Class denial? Why would you say that?
The W116 began production in 1972. If the Seville was developed in 24 months, then that started in the spring of 1973. The W116 would have been out for some time before the Seville’s development started.
The W116 was a logical evolution of the W108/109. It wasn’t that radically different. A few inches longer and wider, but it wasn’t some quantum leap. And it was still a fairly compact car, under 200″ for a 1973 450SE, shorter than the Seville.
Yes it all worked brilliantly didn’t it, right to the steady and deadly decline of Cadillac sales starting within a few years later. Brilliant indeed!
I dunno, I think the W116 was a pretty big step away from the W108/109, and big enough to be considered more than just an evolution.
I’m going from memory here (correct me if I’m wrong) but that change went from a kingpin front end and swing axles to ball-jointed front end and semi-trailing arms, and while the W108/109 sedans weren’t hand-built like the coupes and convertibles were, th W116 has, if nothing else, much more of a mass-market look to it compared to the W108/109 with the unusual wood trim and plenty of chrome. Less charming, but of its time and much more modern-looking. Stylistically, it was a big leap forward and the first sedan (the R107 was a little earlier, no?) that had the modern M-B aesthetic, inside and out, that lasted all the way through the 80s. And were they not the first big sedans to actually be referred to as the S-class?
I didn’t realize a SWB W116 was the size of a Seville, though.
Even the 1973 LWB W116 was several inches shorter than the Seville.
OK, let’s not keep this pissing match going. Yes, the W116 was a significant step forward in the continuing evolution of Mercedes’ cars. My response was to not blow it out of proportion; especially in calling the W108/109 “not a real S Class”.
I’m going to bed now…..the debate has gone on long enough.
The W116, especially the European models, is the best car I have ever driven, bar none. Superlative quality and driving experience in a car that was the perfect size and weight.
You sound like you’re saying Cadillac would have been better off if they didn’t do the Gen 1 Seville. Really Paul?
The V864, HT4100, 1985 DeVille and 1986 Seville are what totally killed the owner loyalty and conquests, which started suffering when the W108 hit its stride around 1972.
The first Seville stabilized that situation for a brief moment and the rest as they say is history. GM should have stuck with that formula for Cadillac instead of rushing all of the new CAFE-driven technology to market and at the same time trying to support so many model variations. The were no resources left to do a Seville right. Mercedes had, what, three basic models in their line up?
Obviously the solid axle -> IRS wasn’t such a big deal because all of those failed products had it. What they didn’t have was the panache and reliability of the original Seville.
As for the W108 not being an S-class that’s what I remembered reading when the W116 came out. I double checked Wiki to be sure. From the opening paragraph on the 108…
The Mercedes-Benz W116 was a series of flagship vehicles produced from September 1972[1] through 1979. The W116 automobiles were the first Mercedes-Benz models to be officially called S-Class, although earlier sedan models had already unofficially been designated with the letter ‘S’ – for Sonderklasse or “special class.”
First, I think my memory is correct here – my dad’s 1979 Seville had a price of around $17,000, and I had a friend whose parents traded a ’76 Mark IV for a ’78 450SEL, and I remember it cost about $28K, a tremendous leap.
I said something yesterday about what FOLLOWED this gen Seville really being the bigger problem. By 1980 (and forgetting all the various engine issues before and after this year), Cadillac brought out the gen 2 Seville, which was a step backward in terms of it’s look and feel (if you’re trying to compete with European cars), the big Caddies were even more conservatively styled, and now Mercedes came out with the new W126, which IMO, was a big leap foward compared to anything before it. Cadillac just did not take the addtional steps necessary to provide a more Mercedes-like experience that many evidently desired. They were too afraid to lose their old customer base, and this continued for decades.
The 116 was most definitely a quantum leap over the 108. The swing axles were finally gone for one thing. Have you ever compared the interiors of the two? I sure did, many times, as we had a 108 280SE and a 116 300SD in the family. Night and day.
Surprising comment from someone who likes to bash the first Seville for no valid reason other than it had rear leaf springs!
Lets see..Seville/Nova or Versailles/Granada/Monarch? GM pulled it off better than Ford in this case (and didn’t try to pull off the bogus Benz advertising, either).
Just a comment. The high survival rates for the big domestic luxury barges in the 70′s was largely in part to the more affluent lifestyles of the lower middle class. I grew up in an era when a Cadillac in the garage and a 25″ Zenith color console TV meant you had arrived.
I worked in a steel mill for 10 years and it was the dream of every middle age guy I knew to own a Cadillac, even my Dad. Many workers owned a Cadillac in those years, but absolutely never, never drove them to work or much anywhere else. The guys either drove a junker or a cheap newer car. The Caddy sat in the garage. Sevilles would never have been considered, too small and unimportant.
I personally owned 75 and 78 Eldorados (still have the 78), bought in superb low mileage condition from elderly owners. These men cherished their cars. The guy I bought the 78 from wanted to buy it back after the title work had been completed. I thought he was joking, but I told him that after paying for all the title and tax work, I’d lose money if I sold it back to him. (I didn’t want to gouge him.) He asked if he could drive it for the last time, I agreed.
The former owner of the 75 saw my Dad in a parking lot one day, and told him he used to have a car like that. He did not recognize my Dad, and my Dad asked if his name was John. The guy affirmed, and my Dad told him this is your car. The guy was overjoyed that the car was still around 5 years or so later.
Too bad that car got totalled a year or so later, a guy skidded head on into my Dad during a snowstorm. My Dad cried, but walked away unharmed.
Sevilles were not bought by the guys I describe. They were bought by people who drove them, not looked at them, hence the low survival rate. Times change and people change. Cars now are utilitarian, people in my modest neighborhood don’t garage their cars. Garages are storage units for junk. The ultimate is a neighbor down the street built a beautiful huge 3 stall garage in the back yard. The last time I went passed, it was filled with everything but cars.
I would add one more demographic. By the late 70s, someone with a big Cadillac or Lincoln knew that those cars were going extinct. There was a tendency to keep the big 70s barge “because it’s going to be a collector’s item.” The folks who could afford to do so often kept a Town Car or a Mark V for this reason, as a spare car to enjoy as an occasionally guilty pleasure in the coming age of scarcity. We all knew at the time that we would never see cars like these again. I think that with 70s Town Cars, particularly, the survival rate is extremely high. Add the basic durability of the mechanicals and even as beaters, these could stay on the road for a long time, if you could afford the gas.
Absolutely correct. I can recall in the early 80′s, Bicentennial Eldos were advertised for ridiculous amounts 20K, 30K and more. When I bought a 2 year old Deville in 1995, the dealer had a 76 convertible in the showroom, brand new condition with 20 miles on it, for sale at $ 35,000. I can’t understand why some overpaid athlete or fat cat capitalist didn’t grab it up. Peanuts for someone like that.
Only thing I can figure out, no rich guy wanted it. The same dealer sold a 93 Coupe Deville to a pro football player. The guy had all kind of junk added to it, gold grille, continental kit, etc. The salesman told me the guy bought it to use as a beater for the winter.
Oh well.
There was a dealership in Ft Lauderdale that closed a while back that specialized in cars just like that, they had 20 76 Eldorado convertibles, the highest mile one had 14K on it, they had several with 4, 5 and 6 miles on the odometer, with window stickers and plastic on the seats, the same with the last of the giant Mark V Collectors Series, 78 Eldorado Biarritz, some last of the biggie deuce and quarters, etc, I used to go there every couple of months to just browse, it was an amazing time warp.
One last thing: I just saw a tv commercial for the new (FWD) XTS. The voiceover mentioned safety technology you won’t find in a Mercedes E-Class. Hahahaha, 35 years later and theyre making the same comparisons. Granada ESS anyone?
some things never change.
In my neck of the woods, every pimp, drug dealer and mack-daddy wannabe had either a Seville or a Versailles. They were also amongst the first to eschew them in favor of the German, and later, Japanese imports.
At least Caddy made a serious attempt to disguise the Seville’s humble econocompact origins. The Versailles had no real exterior differences from the Granada/Monarch, until the 1979 updated formal roofline, and that was kind of ugly…
The GM RWD 1967-81 F/X/K-Bodied Family Tree collectively known as the:
A) 1975-79 RWD K-Bodied Cadillac Seville (1976 Model Shown)
B) 1968-79 RWD X-Bodied GM Canada Acadian, Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova/Concours (1975 Model Shown), Pontiac Ventura II/Ventura/Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega and Buick Apollo/Skylark.
C) 1967-81 RWD F-Bodied Chevrolet Camaro (1975 Model Shown) and Pontiac Firebird.
The main reasons why I have included 1968 on the RWD X-Body & 1967 on the RWD F-Bodies its because those were practically the same carryover chassis used for the last versions of the Chevrolet Nova, Chevrolet Camaro and the Cadillac Seville. In some South American countries, the 1968 Chevrolet Chevy II/Nova were known as the Chevrolet Chevy and that same body style from the 1968 era carried on through 1978. Later redesigns and the “Nova” name were never used there due to cultural misinterpretations.
I may also add that GM Iran also received a CKD (Complete Knock Down – Unassembled) export of the 1979 vintage Chevrolet Nova, Buick Skylark & Cadillac Seville in which the Nova and the Skylark were available as Four Door models only prior to the Iranian Revolution almost a year later on November, 1979. The CKD units may have been imported from Detroit in the latter part of 1978, but the models were actually assembled from 1980 through at least 1987. While the Chevrolet Citation and Corsica/Beretta and the Eldorado based 1980 Bustle Back Seville and Downsized 1986 Seville were being produced here, the old Nova/Skylark based Seville were still being produced in small numbers from 1980-81 and the Nova through at least 1987 even though these models were technically 1979s. Pictured here is the GM Iran production of the Chevrolet Nova. Even though they have the 1979 US based version, this other variation was very unique because the grille very much was a fusion of the 1976-78 Nova and the 1975-79 Buick Skylark. In addition the fuel tank was also located just behind the rear curbside door whereas most other Novas have their fuel tanks on the rear license plate area of the car just above the rear bumpers.
You are right Pedro, I was in Iran at that time, we were told that they are sourced from GM Canada, this might justify the grill anomaly and gas tank trap relocation.
Very Interesting Mead. Those were probably very rare variations of the Nova Sedan body with a modified grille ala Buick Skylark and gas tank relocation from its usual arrangement underneath the trunk lid and behind the rear license plate area much rarer than the identical standard 1979 Novas there which were as common as ours here and elsewhere.
Bingo to Carmine on the demos.
Would love me a 1st gen Seville and looking at that interior shot of the CC the leather in those cars must have been pretty high quality.
What I consider Seville’s first Major Misstep was GEN 2 LOoked Like The Outgoing Century and Olds Cutlass Salon Fastbacks From 78, 79…? a lessor unpopular model that had just majorly flopped.
Which is Double-Odd Because The Cutlass sedan then looked very much like the 76-79 Seville from 1980 forward.
“Regarding handling: all these X-based cars, from Camaro to Seville had excellent smooth road handling potential, depending on the specific suspension calibration. But hit a rough patch on a windy road, or just a rough straight road, and the difference between them and the Merc immediately becomes painfully evident. Handling is a mufti-faceted concept; the ability to “handle” rough and variable roads without getting flustered is more important for a luxury car than high skid pad numbers.”
“Case in point: this evening, on my way home in my Acura TL, I was on a rough road with a curve and a railway track in the apex. The Acura sailed over it at 80 km/h with absolutely no variation in line, bobbing or weaving.
Any solid axle RWD American car ever built would have been crashing and bounding over a road like that.
Stiff bodies and four wheel independent suspension have totally transformed how cars handle”
Now the BS is really getting deep! You do know that you’re comparing apples to oranges. First off why include the Nova and Camaro in your comment? Those cars aren’t even in the same classification of the two models we are arguing about. We are talking “percieved Luxury cars” aren’t we? OK I’m not familiar with what models of cars that you have actually owned over the years Paul but I’m guessing the Seville wasn’t one of them. To assume a car handles crappy(which the Seville doesn’t) because it has leaf springs is absurd. I see you been drinking that “German Engineering” kool aid again. I never understand why somebody makes a comment about throwing a car into a winding part of the road especially if it wasn’t meant to be driven that way. You mean to say you drive like an idiot on ocassion? I own several cars. Everything from muscle/sports cars to station wagons. Why in the heck would I want to attempt something that is beyound a cars capabilty? I have no doubt that you could probably drive a Seville at 9/10ths and it would be comparable to your MB but why? The only reason the MB is more composed in those conditions is the fact that those cars were built in Germany where you can drive like an idiot on certain parts of the autobahn. You darn well know if we had unlimited speeds here in the USA that GM would have turned up the screws a notch too.
And spoken in true knuckleheadedness too. Again comparing apples to oranges. Comparing a new car to an 37 year old car! Stiff bodies? OK lets compare peaches to peaches. That Seville is 20 times more stiffer than anything coming to these shores from Japan. Real American steel that was pressed into panels at least 100% thicker than any import.The only drawback was the front subframe isolated by rubber cushions. After a few years of agressive driving it might have felt like there was a hinge down there. Now go out and compare your TL to something new.I think that would be Impala/Malibu? and Fusion. Yep same independent suspensions. You just got to love it when somebody can state an opinion on their own misinformed biased information.
I try to make my observations from the eyes of those other than me or in other words the less experienced. I’m a regional SCCA Solo2 champion. Strap me into either one of the cars in our discussion and I’d drive circles around all if not most of you. So my view on these arguments is a little obtuse.
Hey. Anybody remember a story Car&Driver did back around 1978 give or take a year? Don Sherman took a 1st gen Seville and upgraded the suspension. Straped on some prototype(later production) TransAm WS6 parts on it. IIRC did some Euro mods to the exterior and created what was most likely the very first Seville STS.
I can only respond to the first part, since I didn’t write the other comment.
The Seville, like many GM cars, was capable of handling very well indeed, but like all of them, those qualities tended to diminish quickly depending on road surface and conditions. That’s not just my opinion, but has been reflected pretty commonly in the press and others’ experience over the years.
Admittedly, a very large percentage of Sevilles were not driven in circumstances that would test the limits of its suspension capabilities. And I never said the Seville didn’t or wouldn’t adequately meet the needs of those that bought it back then.
Nevertheless, there’s no doubt in my mind that Meredes’ superior suspension technology afforded greater ability to deal with a wider range of possible circumstances, and furthermore, as proof of that, every luxury car adopted a variation of its suspension sooner or later. As other aspects of its advanced engineering.
And there were some of us who did demand or expect a greater capability than the Seville’s suspension afforded. And bring specially modified suspensions into the discussion is utterly irrelevant. Any car can be modified to be successful on the track, and undoubtedly, the Seville, being based on the Camaro/Nova’s suspension, had a head start in that. I’m sure the Mercedes’ suspension could jave been softened a bit to make it ride as smooth as a Seville on a boulevard too.
Got a chuckle out of the Acura TL reference. Isn’t that “just” an Accord with a different engine, different styling and much higher price? Sound familiar?
The last one I drove had a TON of torque steer from its FWD layout and 270HP V6. I’m sure Paul would tell you real luxury cars don’t have torque steer because they are all RWD.
I’m being facetious here. The 04-08 TL was a very nice car and the FWD didn’t matter one bit to most of the folks who bought it, because most people don’t drive like they are on a racetrack. It handily outsold its competitors and made boat loads of money for Honda.
Then they made the next gen too big and ugly and it bombed. Now there’s a deadly sin!
Acura is a brand that doesnt exist its simply a rebadged Honda they drive ok for a Jappa but thats all, not really an apex clipping back road rocket.
My ex traded in our 1980 Porsche 928 for one of these sleds, served her right.
To underline Paul Niedermeyer’s original point a bit, I was very impressed with the look of the Seville in the late 70′s, but was not in the financial position to even think about visiting a Caddy dealer’s premises at that time. However, one day, as I passed our local Chevy dealership, I saw a car that looked like it was targeted specifically at imitating the M-B status cars of that era: silver gray metallic paint, gorgeous wine-colored interior in a rich fabric with (fake) leather trim, 350 V8, along with every option that Chevy had ever thought of putting in a car, and… it was a Nova! It looked very much like the “Elegante” Caddy model, mentioned by Michael above. It was also a low-mileage “demonstrator” that the owner’s wife had used very sparingly for a year. I closed the deal within a couple of hours on a great hardly-broken-in car, complete with new car warrantee, at a price in the low $3K range that made it hard to fathom what extra value an additional $11K would have been been garnered by visiting a Caddy dealership. That Nova gave me great pleasure for several years. The handling and power lent itself to the “stab and steer” style of motoring technique, which was relatively un-demanding while being a lot of fun! It was just as rewarding to drive as were my subsequent two vehicle acquisitions, M-B 280SL and M-B 450SLC.
I’m living in Norway, but I’ll have a 67 Riviera and a 77 Coupe Deville as a daily driver. My family though has a 1976 Mercedes S280 who only has traveled around 50.000 km or 30.000 miles. The car looks like new and has been in the family since it was bought new in 1976.
But, you american think that MB from the 70s are so great? Really? Your american cars was a lot better in fact. The MB was very well manufactured and a solid car, but i lacks almost every feature an american car had. My 67 Riviera rides better, has more equipment, its faster, rides alot quieter at highway speeds, and has a much better automatic transmission than the Mercedes. The Riviera odometer reads 172.000 miles. It don’t really use so much more gas than the Mercedes straight six either.
The 77 Coupe deville has 244.000 miles on its odometer and rides just fine. It’s better to drive than the Mercedes, it’s faster, the TH400 is a lot better than the harsh shifting MB’s automatic, it has a lot more equipment, and it’s a lot more comfortable.
The MB is better in braking and handling though, but not very much, and the Riviera has almost as good handling as the MB. The Cadillac is to soft.
American cars was very cheap in the US in 60s and 70s, So people didn’t care about maintenance, MB was an expensive car so people would have to maintenance it.
In Norway we’ve a different story. American cars are extremely costly because of the Norwegian taxes on horespower, cubic inches and weights. So in Norway you’ll still find Caprices from the 70s in great condition, and remember, Caprices are not Cadillacs…
If the car is over 30 years old we can import it without taxes, so in the last 20 years Norwegians have importet a lot of old Cadillacs and Lincolns!
If you take care of a car like the american cars from 60s and 70s it will last forever.
You are right Bill; Americans criticize too much American cars, As you consider Quality/Price ratio , no other car manufacturers in the world could compete with US car makers, I am talking about the 1946-1990 period.
they are not perfect cars, but overall you get more car on your money , there have been some exceptionally under-engineered cars like Vega that should be put aside, those are exceptions.
I hand you 4000$ in 1970, you could buy a fully optioned Nova V8 or a bare bone Peugeot 404, Opel Rekord, or BMW1600 with no options at all,
US manufacturer put powerful quality cars at the reach of middle class, that was not the case in Europe.
I was puzzled when I saw more than a few Sevilles in Switzerland while on a student tour of Europe, ca. ’78. Was it exclusivity + exchange rates?
It always amazes me how the grass is always greener on the other side with many Americans.
I agree with all the negative comments on a first generation Seville. I still love them. Always have and always will. There’s just something about that styling that moves me.
I just wish the author, Mr. Niedermeyer, had not used the worst case photos to make his point. The most beautifully crafted and engineered automobile in the world, if treated like the owner of that green seville, would look just as awful.
Who knows why I love this seville so much? Perhaps it has something to do with lost virginity in the back seat.
We all can’t afford the true classics but it is essential that someone maintains the minor classics. I constantly get comments and attention when I drive mine, all positive.
thanks