shot and posted by ActuallyMike
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Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: A Red Cadillac Lover Lives Here
– Posted on October 3, 2020
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Curbside Classics Archives
shot and posted by ActuallyMike
More shots:
Time to change the water in the headlamp, it’s getting rusty.
Book-ends!
Great finds and pics. I do prefer the thinner whitewall stripe on the first car. I find the stripes on the second car a touch too wide.
Also, quite like that church design in the background. It’s different. The muted natural colour scheme in the neighbourhood is attractive.
An observation, and a question:
The thick half-roof vinyl caps continue to be one of my least favorite features of American cars of the Brougham period; I can’t look at one without wondering what feature from a sibling division is being hidden this time.
How long are these cars? I think the perspective in these photos exaggerate this dimension, but man, it looks like these cars would need the assistance of a tugboat to dock; er, park.
221 inches, about 10-12 inches shorter than the prior iterations, depending on model
The updated ’81 model was also 221 inches….Doesn’t look too long when compared with a contemporary minivan, eh?
It blows my mind that the prior iteration was a foot longer!
Thanks for the info; I would have looked it up but did not know the vintage, as I pretty much tuned out American cars after about 1972 or so.
18½ feet long, but they had a pretty good tight turning radius. I miss the ’78 I used to drive…
I like them.
No one will ever convince me that a (half or full) vinyl roof is either attractive or elegant, and I don’t understand why anybody finds them to be. I’m not fooled into thinking you’re driving a convertible or a phaeton, and I don’t think anyone else is.
Somebody will post the exact length, but ’77-on isn’t really in barge category anymore. Rather nimble actually – well, comparatively.
Part of that is the contrasting white on the body colour, which really picks out the roof treatment. On cars that are more subdued, or similar in colour, it really doesn’t stand out as much.
IIRC most Cadillacs of this generation (and all after the 81 restyle) has a vinyl or half vinyl roof. It saved money on finishing the roof and C pillar seams when assembling the car. Years ago I stripped the vinyl roof from my 81 Fleetwood and found wonky unfinished seams underneath. They weren’t presentable without considerable bodywork.
Aesthetically I prefer no vinyl roof, but the feature works on some cars, so I have a couple of vinyl roofs in my collection.
“Subdued”. I bet that’s a word not often used for these cars!
Wow that blue one is beautiful.
And I never think these are beautiful.
I don’t like landau tops either, I particularly dislike the ever puffier padded treatment that started showing up at this time, it looks like a perm or Afro on a receded hairline. And I’m not a vinyl top hater, I like full treatments on numerous cars, some cars arguably look better with them than without dare I say(68 Charger). For whatever reason I can like the exact opposite of the landau top, the Canopy top, that covers the front half of the roof, from the A pillars to the end point of the side windows. These styles work on sportier cars and luxury oriented cars, landaus only work on the latter, and only in a very narrow timespan of that form of Luxury.
Were there really coupe devilles made without the top from the factory? I don’t think I have seen one that wasn’t customized
“…it looks like a perm or Afro on a receded hairline.
Thanks mate, I just snorted my coffee! What a horrible picture that conjures up!
Even Reisner:
One good benefit,they dampen sound. When I picked up my 74 coupe deville 4 years ago with its full roof Maize colored vinyl top….ripped the top off,ground down the tabs and filled in the holes that are used to hold the stainless trim surround in place. Off to the body shop it went for prep/ and blend-in paint job.
FYI, if you had a GM,Ford,Chrysler product back in the day with a vinyl top,seldom was that covered area painted….just Primer and not so good (unfinished) lead work….another reason cars with vinyl tops suffered from rot issues….water that was left to pool….would do its magic trick.
I like everything about them – the antidote to grey jelly mould modern cars.
This Brougham d’Elegance that I see occasionally here in Virginia would fit right in there:
I have a hard time thinking of these without thinking of goodfellas, accompanied by the piano part of Layla. They really ooze presence, they’re parked in front of a big honking Ford Excursion, and they still have a more dominant stature, the 77-79s have never been my favorite a Cadillac designs, but they looked the part like no other, the 80 restyle lost something I can’t quite put my finger on.
Interestingly the final generation Eldorado bore a much closer resemblance to this era Coupe Deville than any Eldorado
Almost reminds me of the car the bible salesman drove in the 1986 movie “Maximum Overdrive”, except his was a 1977 and these two Cadillac’s are 1978-79 models, I consider 1979 to be the last truly great year of the Cadillac’s.
Look at this one.. 38k on the odometer… sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/d/rancho-santa-fe-1977-cadillac-coupe/7194542301.html Exact same bright red and white vinyl…
https://images.craigslist.org/00Y0Y_6KtJW5Eb3FT_0t20CI_1200x900.jpg
Double your pleasure, Double your fun. I love them.
In 1977, I walked into the Marine Midland Bank branch in Nyack, NY and needed to see a person on the platform. The gent who served me was a man in his mid-thirties who was single with no intentions of marriage he had a picture of his child framed and on his desk – a 1977 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. I still find this very funny. He proudly let me see his “baby” by explaining his car to me.