I pass this car every day on my way to work, parked in front of a shop that offers autobody and restoration services, mostly on old Cadillacs. Shortly after I started seeing the car on their property last year, I came across this listing on Facebook Marketplace. Based on some of the pictures, it looks like this was one of their projects. Six or more months later, the car is still there, and the listing is still live. Sadly, it just sits there like that mutt in the shelter that no one wants to adopt.
Much has been written about this generation of Cadillacs. A 1972 Coupe DeVille (mis-identified as a ’71) was what launched this whole concept back at – as Paul refers to it – that other site. Paul related his personal experience of a harrowing ride through the Pennsylvania mountains with an inexperienced driver behind the wheel.
My only personal experience with a ’72 Coupe Deville was catching a short ride with my 4’10” friend Sherry, my knees jammed up against the dashboard on the passenger side of the bench seat. I wish it had been equipped with the split-bench seat like this one is.
Fully discussed over the years: How GM cheapened this generation; how this generation was considered wretched excess; how competition between divisions and more parts-sharing among divisions started to push the DeVille to gussied-up Caprice territory; how the ’73 gas crisis revealed that the emperor had no clothes. It’s all been covered.
I don’t care.
In a sea of trucks, SUVs and aerodynamically-optimized sedans, all in shades of gray with the occasional red or blue thrown in for good measure, seeing the beautiful green coupe with its beige vinyl top, big chrome vestigial-fin taillights, and big V-shaped gaping maw topped by the classic V-badge made me yearn for the cars of my childhood. This is the Cadillac I think of when I think about this frame from Mad Magazine’s “Middle Class Poverty Is…” (March 1973):
Is anyone dying for a Cadillac today? One can claim the Escalade fills that role, but I don’t believe that Cadillac buyers then felt they were getting a dressed-up Chevy, whereas I think Escalade buyers know that but don’t really care. It’s more about bragging rights than the belief you’re getting something special. I’m generalizing here, of course.
For a quick review, your $6,168 ($48,726.17, or roughly the base price of a CT5, today) got you a massive 221.6-inch coupe on a 130-inch wheelbase. Size-wise, not too far removed from the Escalade today and considerably larger than the CT5. (At least with the CT5, you’re getting something you cannot get at any other GM division: A sedan.)
To go with its proportions, the ’72 DeVille came with an equally massive 472 cubic-inch (7.7 liter) engine. (And back to the CT5, that’s a car with slightly more net horsepower in an engine roughly a quarter of its size to boot.)
This particular Coupe DeVille looks flawless, and even more fetching with wire wheel covers from a newer DeVille. The seller is advertising this car at $15,000, or less than an inflation-adjusted third of the original price.
I can’t honestly say that this car represents Cadillac’s glory days, but I do believe it represents a time when most Americans had yet to realize that Cadillac’s glory days were in its past. If I had the space, I’d buy this car in a heartbeat. Is there anyone out there who can show this car a little love?
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1972 Cadillac Coupe DeVille – The First Curbside Classic
Curbside Classic: 1972 Cadillac Coupe DeVille – I’ve Learned A Few Things In The Past Fourteen Years
Vintage MT Comparison: 1971 Cadillac DeVille versus 1971 Chevy Caprice – Rise of the Chevrollac
Curbside Classic: 1972 Chevrolet Caprice – Cadillac Carbon Copy?
I agree with you, Adam. She’s gorgeous. I can’t be the one who takes her home, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed that someone else will soon.
That is a beauty and as you saw those later hub caps are a really nice look. I wonder if it is the colour that is a challenge for buyers? I love it and think it looks great but it is not a traditional colour.
It’s a shame the interior is that shade of green because it doesn’t work with the exterior color. I really like the exterior color, but imagine that car with an interior with the same color as the vinyl roof.
I would love to know what color this car was originally painted, because I don’t ever recall seeing any 1972 GM car in a green even remotely like this. That interior looks original, and the exterior painted would have surely been a green that is not at the turquoise end of the spectrum like this one appears in the photos.
I once knew a guy who inherited his father’s 72 Sedan Deville. It had this same olive interior (though all leather) and was painted the greenish-pewter seen in the brochure shot. Those leather seats were the best thing about the car.
Look at the 72 Cadillac paint chips and one could say that 2460 Balmoral Green Firemist Poly looks pretty close.
Might be. But I have a hard time imagining that Cadillac would have originally paired that color with the interior shade this car has.sss
Exactly. (Why does it seem that there are more greens than any other color . . .?}
I am also not a fan of the paint color and I’m also not convinced that roof color is correct. I feel like the vinyl has been recoated/painted. I kind of dig the interior color though, that’s the best part of the car.
With much of the US public at the time: nothing succeeded like excess. But still, an impressive beast and the decline in quality hadn’t really registered with much of the luxury buying public yet, despite the floppy body.
I had a chance to ride in my college roommate’s parents ’66 Fleetwood right before they traded it in for a ’71 model, which had only a few thousand miles on it when I got a ride in that one. The difference in chassis rigidity was almost unbelievable. as Clarkson said it was a big flubbery thing. It should have been an embarrassment to GM chassis engineers. The sad ending of a once quality reputation that was only partially retrieved by the much improved ’77s.
Your commentary is spot on. Being a huge and devoted Cadillac fan, I look at today’s Cadillac lineup and don’t feel a thing. Maybe a little love when I see a CT4 or CT5 in a nice color. But when I look at the line of SUV’s and especially the Escalade, I just cringe.
I may not like the interior on this green Cadillac. And I may not care for the later model Cadillac wire wheel covers on this model, but it still screams Cadillac to me where the current line screams Chevy. And I own a Chevy and love it. But I didn’t pay Cadillac prices for it.
Green is for the money, gold is for the honeys.
…what’s the price of gas over at yours?
Currently I’m wincing every time I have to refill my V70 II T5 with 2.15€/liter…and I think that a lot of potential buyers are thinking/feeling about the same.
Roughly about half of what you’re paying, more or less depending on where you live, but it’s still a lot higher than what we’re used to.
The later 75/76 cars always looked better to me with the square light. The earlier models felt like something was missing with all the space around the little round ones.
Bumpers were too big by then.
I have the same car in gold with a white roof. Its priced a bit high. I would never expect to get $15k for mine. I think the bottom is finally starting to fall out of this market which is good in my opinion, it’ll get rid of the car flippers, car hoarders and the over restored garage queen trend and allow average joes to buy classics to enjoy
I’m thinking it’s too high.
I used to live in Pasadena, California and used to see a beautiful Coupe de Ville of this vintage parked by a hamburger stand called “Rick’s” A guy who worked there owned it. (Rick’s had the best double Swiss patty melt and very good fries.) At night the car looked like a chariot of the gods, all shiney and reflecting the fluorescent lights of the restaurant. I googled the address for Rick’s the other day and took a look at the location on Google maps. There 4-story condo there now.
I checked how the C-pillar of that Cadillac was drawed and it make me wonder if Chrysler was inspired to design the 1974 C-body Dodge Monaco/Plymouth Fury coupes? Their C-pillars have a similar design.
What a stunning beauty .
I’m sad they did such a poor ‘used car lot’ re spraying under the hood but these are indeed fine cars -if- you like big and plush .
For $16K I’d expect the AC to be ice cold and every little thing working to perfection .
When this was a new car I was attending Blair high school in Pasadena and had a school mate who worked at Ricks on Walnut after school, it truly was good food .
They ran a big fundraising campaign to buy the property and keep it local, of course the instant they owned it they sold it as a a tear down .
-Nate
Thanks for mentioning Rick’s, Nate. I remember that big Coupe deVille parked there in the late ’90s and early 2000’s. I worked in an office about a block away and when we used to have bigwig clients come in and, instead wanting to go to a fancy restaurant, they all wanted to walk down to Rick’s.
It’s such a beautiful car. Others have mentioned this in the comments, but I’ll chime in and say I agree with you that this one’s a beauty and I do not care if this generation is considered to be the one that signaled the beginning of the end of Cadillac’s exclusivity. I honestly hope someone ponies up the asking price, which (in my mind, anyway) would mean that they treasure it more than if they got it for less.
The devil is in the details, and for one year, it was turn signals that temporarily wrested the styling crown back from Chevy. Chevrolet pushed the headlights to the corners in 1972, but located the blinkers too high in the bumper. They would migrate to the right position in ’73. Meanwhile, Cadillac pushed the blinkers between the headlights, a common Oldsmobile theme. The awkwardly-spaced headlights of the 1971 were improved. Bringing the “V” back did wonders, too.
A striking color combination to be sure, but the market is telling him that it is not worth $15,000.
I get the heebie-jeebies when looking at General Motors products of this era. In retrospect, this generation of Cadillac left no doubt that the zenith was in the past. In my opinion, the 1963 thru 1968 model years represented the last of the luxurious “quality” Cadillacs. Other on this site may place this marked quality decline in earlier years but I think most all of us will agree the decline was clearly evident with model year 1971 Cadillacs.
Looking at the interior of the subject ’72 CdV brings back bad memories of the squeaks and rattles found in the Cadillacs my dad purchased during the 1971 thru 1976 generation. I tried to deny the plunge in quality but it is so evident looking back on that era.
Reflexively I am inclined to blame Roger Bonham Smith for the legions of poor decisions made by General Motors executives that ultimately resulted in the precipitous decline and demise of General Motors Corporation, but there is plenty of blame to spread around, including GM senior management, division management, and the UAW.
Bill Mitchell, the much lauded VP of Design at GM, was in that position when these monstrosities were on the drawing board. Mitchell was responsible for designing some of the most beautiful GM cars ever produced, such as the ’65 Riviera, but the corporation thought it was invincible during this era. A huge mistake. The current logo and lower case font wreak of weakness.
My all-time favorite body style Caddy! 1971 & 1972 (didn’t like the refresh the ’73 received). But the color combo leaves me scratching my head. I dig the dark teal paint (repaint, rather). Not fond of the contrasting tan vinyl roof. And big h*ll no on the green interior. Not that I dislike the individual items. It’s the combination of them on one car that drives me to distraction. My ‘Pappy and Granny’ had a light teal 1972 Coupe DeVille with matching top and (brocade-like?) aqua interior. It was an is my favorite color story on the DeVille from that era. I remember being 3 or so in 1974 standing in the back seat looking out the rear window at a tornado in Ashland, KY. My cousin was standing with. His Mom, who drove (she is only 5’2″…you could barely see her driving) and my Granny were in the front. I felt safe because we were in a tank of a car. Anyway, sorry for the LONG post. Your story brought back great memories for me.
I’d say the last peak quality years were ’63/64, the ’65/66 began a very slight slide, the ’67/68 just a tad more (lost the cast chrome dash) but still v nice, the ’69/70 becoming more plastic-y but chassis still excellent, then the ’71/2/3 into the abysss. I had a lot of ride time in all of those owned by neighbors and friends.
Up to 1968 the chassis did not require the long struts tying the firewall to the inner fenders, so rigidity was already being lost beginning in ’69, probably in favor of softer ride, and ’71’72 was a awful. Some rigidity was added back in ’75/76 due to some chassis/frame tweaks, not sure what, but we owned a ’75 Sedan DeVille 4 dr hardtop that was improved body-structure wise, a distinct improvement over the ’71/72s.
All of that said I love any of them when in top original condition, the styling was always bodacious in that unique Cadillac way and any of them can be admired for just what they were: the ultimate expression of post-war mid-century Americana.