Yesterday I ended up off the beaten path, or at least the major boulevards, on my way to work. In keeping with the times, I saw a major, major turkey. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always had a thing for the first Cadillac Seville, but this is about as appealing as one of those six-legged turkeys that John Madden used to have made up for Thanksgiving games on the NFL.
Lots of bone and gristle, but not much meat on this turkey. Well, maybe this grill is showing some bones. It looks like it could have come from an X-body Nova, the skeleton behind this Seville skeleton so cruelly, mediaevally stretched on the rack, but also… Malibu? Fairmont? Caprice? J.C. Whitney?
If you are a down-on-your luck potentate who doesn’t get along with your family, you can drive off with your bodyguard running point, confident that he will not ruin your landau iron with grubby hands.
Happy (day after) Thanksgiving, whether you celebrate in the USA, or simply wonder at American ornithophagy from abroad. May all your opera lamps be fully protected!
Did anybody also notice that the RWD K-Body Cadillac Seville’s low rent cousin the RWD X-Body Pontiac Ventura also had a limousine version as well.
With a European tag.
I’m not sure what you mean “Ventura…had a limousine version as well”. Just about every car ever made has been stretched by someone somewhere. These aren’t exactly factory cars.
FWIW, that Ventura stretch is pretty unique.
Oh, I really like the idea of custom Trabant. stretch a Trabant Limousine to a real limousine.
The ones that were at least Nova based with photos available on the web. YES it is true that other aftermarket coachbuilding companies independent from GM, Ford, Chrysler, AMC, Toyota, etc. may have built limos as well outside from those original manufacturers and tinkered with those ideas whether they would work or not. I have not seen photos of how the other mid-sized cars looked when they had limousine conversion work done on them like for example, the 1977-80 Plymouth Volare’/Dodge Aspen, 1978-89 Chrysler RWD M-Bodies, the AMC Hornet/Concord/Eagle and the 1978-88 RWD A/G-Bodies 4 Door Sedans like the Malibu, Le Mans/Bonneville, Cutlass and Cutlass Supreme and the Buick Century/Regal for example just to name a few.
Oh, Chrysler Fifth Avenue limousine looks just fine. but I think for their structure relying on the floor pan and roof, it doesnt hold up too well.
Lee Iacocca has a person Imperial Limousine which was a car based on Plymouth Volare.
What an abomination!
Now compare the two.
I think the Cadillac is better looking than the Pontiac.
Ugg, so crusty and tacky.
I think that thing has more grab handles on it than the presidential limo.
At first glance I thought someone had stretched a late 70s to 1987 Cutlass Supreme Brougham sedan. Having owned one it was a good reminder how shamelessly GM tried to copy the upright formal look in every division.
Now a last of the Fleetwoods as a 6 door limo would be primo for taking a gaggle of ladies Black Friday shopping. Though god knows I wouldn’t volunteer to be the driver.
What a run on ugly Seville stretches we’re having here; the gen 2 was a similar color too.
Those bathtub grab handles are truly…incomprehensible.
Oh, they are grab handles! I had visions of toilette paper unrolling at 40 mph.
I don’t think “abomination” is a strong enough word, but I can’t think of a better one today!
Are they coffin/casket handles?
The wheels are completely superfluous for its intended purpose. This is a much better design:
Holden WB Statesman limo.
And a Holden HQ.
Yep seen one of those, it looked silly but all those stretched cars do theres a EF Falcon locally with an extra metre grafted in and a Lincoln and a long Hummer they have great fun negotiating roundabouts.
_GAH_ ! my eyes ! .
How could you post such a thing when you know there are GM Apologists & Bowtie Lovers like me here….
KILL IT ! BURN IT ! MAKE IT GO AWAY ! .
-Nate
I could almost stomach this stretched Seville as I really liked the 1st gen Seville. (After that, the Seville dropped off a cliff.) BUT…dump those grab handles
At least this doesn’t have that fake spare tire on the trunk lid that was popular in the late 70s..
I find it quite appeeling.
Ugh. This is a crime against all that is Cadillac.
Yet, is there any task this generation of Seville wasn’t drafted into performing?
This is from the pilot of BJ & The Bear. Guess how this car fares at the end of the show? Spoiler: Not well!
I remember it well! Seeing this unfortunate limo brought it all back.
In it’s present state, YUK!
In original condition, without the bathroom hardware, and with some OEM style wheels, then MAYBE.
Is this truly a one-off or was it manufactured by any of the custom coach builders?
Certainly not Hess and Eisenhardt or Superior coach work, is it? Perhaps an over-ambitious project by a self-taught body man?
Wow. That’s…bad on top of bad. The base car is ok (I generally like the 1st-gen Seville even if it was a much fancied-up Nova) but just about every detail is terrible. The over-bulky B pillar that doesn’t match with the door shut lines…the grab handles…the super 80’s “boomerang” antenna…and the generally appalling state of the car.
As to the Seville, the front pic really does strike home that the main thing wrong with the ’75 and ’76 cars was the low eggcrate grille. Very anonymous and it does make the car resemble a Cutlass Supreme, ’82-’83 Malibu, or Fairmont from the front. The ’77 refresh with a finer mesh pattern and, more importantly, a chrome grille header, fixed that issue and made the front look like a proper Cadillac.
Since we are still at it, how about a Lincoln Versailles Limousine which was almost the exact color of this Seville Limo.