All Entries Tagged With: "CADILLAC"
Art Deco Gem: Cadillac LaSalle Fleetwood
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img ADLX ::: Cadillac La Salle Art Deco Showroom
FILE this under they-don’t-make-’em-like-they-used-’ta. Perambulate along the Lincoln Road Mall in Miami Beach – a subtropical blend of tchotchke tourist shops, chain retailers, outdoor markets, street spectacles, and cafés – you’ll find an art deco gem that’s a throwback to a more elegant time in the car biz.
A Salute To The Cadillac Ranch
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Pictory Mag ::: Cadillac Ranch
AIN’T been to Texas. And, no, stopping on a layover at George Bush International Airport doesn’t count. But there is one sight I expect I’d like to see and that is the famous Cadillac Ranch on I-40 west of Amarillo.
Next Week: 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img General Motors ::: 2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe
CADILLAC makes the most visually evocative cars on the road in the sub $100K market. Pointedly, they rule the sub-$50K market. The 2011 CTS Coupe brings a certain superstardom in at a low starting price – $38,165.
There’s drama in every edge and appropriate character line; all pointers to a carefully considered aesthetic. Visually, the 2011 CTS – Sedan, Sports Wagon, and Coupe – tip the hat to the past while looking boldly forward. Trouble is, the new Coupe’s driving manners are – at first turn of the wheel – not as inspired.
Will a week’s time improve the experience? Can the CTS Coupe’s beauty eclipse perceived foibles? More on this slick Caddy next week.
eBay Watch: 1994 Cadillac SLS (Ferrari Sold Separately)
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img eBay Motors ::: 1994 Cadillac SLS for sale
BELIEVE it or not, there was a time after 1965 when Cadillac made really great cars. That time included this 1994 Cadillac SLS.
Turning the corner of the late 80s, Cadillac seemed to have just gotten round to reading that late 70s memo. You know the one that said customers wanted smaller cars and mentioned some garbage about VW eating GM’s lunch and that the oil cartels had Americans by the pump.
GM’s response? The first K-Body Cadillacs of the late 80s: shortened, 190″ long sedans designed with fuel efficiency in mind and that featured the same lavish attention to detail and demanding pedigree you’d expect from your local Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet on “Senior Day”.
Awful cars.
GM got that message and re-approached the K-Body from the ground up for the 90s.
Cadillac engineers stretched the wheelbase from 108″ to 111″, introduced the mighty Northstar V8, fitted a semi-independent rear suspension and upped the ante on fit, finish, and material quality (not as good as the Europeans or Japanese at the time, but much better) while designers penned a crisp-edged design that stood as classically American as the charcoal suit.
Cadillac reintroduced the Seville Luxury Sedan (SLS) and the Seville Touring Sedan (STS) both to critical acclaim. That was 1992.
By the time this car rolled off the assembly line in 1994, GM boosted the Seville’s LD8 Northstar 4.9 Liter V8′s power rating to 270 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. All that power channeling through the front wheels seemed right back in the days when big front wheel drive cars were the American way.
Nonetheless, history has largely forgotten the early-mid 90s Sevilles and banished them – wrongly – with the rest of GM’s cost cutting past. The STS, SLS, DeVille, and Fleetwood of this period were the brief, shining exceptions to the General’s long, ignominious slide.
This particular SLS has just 48K miles on the clock and appears fresh. Great as they were, that’s rare form for a 90s vintage Cadillac today.
[eBay: 1994 Cadillac SLS]
First Take: 2010 Cadillac XTS Platinum Concept
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG GM
LIKE the DOD, GM’s positioning Cadillac to fight a war on two fronts.
The XTS concept which bowed at Detroit this month is a testament to how far Cadillac has come in honing a product range that’s right, tight, and ready to roll against the best that Japan and Europe can import.
It is very clear that GM designers did their homework in studying and in some cases borrowing from rivals as well as paying clear due diligence to the marque’s own past.
In this respect, Cadillac’s design team have actually succeed in routing their rivals by creating an almost road-ready concept that offers more by being less.
A crucial case in point: the XTS provides similar interior space as the capacious DeVille/DTS while simulaneously managing to occupy less real estate – the new sedan is four inches shorter.
Thanks to short overhangs, a high bow that sweeps into a high beltline which arcs gently into a short decklid with trademark fin LEDs, the package en totale seems even tighter.
Tighter, in fact, than either the new Audi A8 or the Lexus LS.
Only One Car That’ll Do: Pink Cadillac
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via IMCDB
LOUD.
The Boss is playin’ as I write. His wailin’s managed to clear out wildlife for a mile. Maybe more.
If you’re in an audio-safe zone, rock with me as you read.
Bruce Springsteen – Pink Cadillac
Now, you may think I’m foolin’, but there’s really no replacing Cadillac. There’s no Japanese, German, or Italian translation. No Honda Valkyre to its Harley. Heck, there’s no American equivalent, either.
Lincoln? C’mon.
At Lincoln’s best – the 60′s Continental – the original “L” marque was an ultra-serious, minimalist zig to the Caddy’s rocket-shipped zag. It’s as if those mean lines were a stern apology for that out-of-control party over at GM.
God bless Mister Earl and his rocket ship fantasies.
Any of the large ‘n in-charge designer’s issue from the 50s thru to the mid 60s were the rolling image of America on wheels. Cadillac was part of brand USA’s A-Team like Coca Cola, Mickey Mouse, and General Electric.
Back when chrome was metal and gas was -gag- leaded…
To hell with brands. What about larger-than-life icons?
Marylin Monroe. Ronald Reagan. Elvis. Sunny. Optimistic. Larger-than-life. Universal.
Goddamm beautiful.
Anyway, Cadillac was something more than A-to-B transportation. Something past playing catch-up with ze Germans. Something above the blue. Those rocket fins were fitted just to take off with our imagination.
What about Cadillac today? The 2010 SRX seems a little weak. And the DTS is a cop-out for “tradition”, a rental car long overdue for retirement.
Still, Cadillac could still rebound. The CTS-V is thunder, Heaven sent. The Escalades still espouse true Cadillac excess.
If MoTown’s top brass had, well, the brass to build it, they’d take the CTS-V’s throttle, the Escalade’s size , and all the heavy metal and cow hide that made an old Biarritz worth more than a Silver Cloud and show the world a true, honkin’ Caddy, two door and four door.
Did someone say Sixteen??
Hell, it doesn’t even have to corner. Just be big, beautiful, and unashamed at being, well, a Cadillac. And nothing else.
As for such an enormous, luxurious barge’s place in the great automotive market, well, here’s how it’d fit:
Now some folks say it’s too big
And uses too much gas
Some folks say it’s too old
And that it goes too fast
But my love is bigger than a Honda
It’s bigger than a Subaru
Hey man there’s only one thing
And one car that will do
Anyway we don’t have to drive it
Honey we can park it out in back
And have a party in your pink Cadillac
GM Webcast – Product Technology
The way of the future…
By Gunnar Heinrich
CALLING all blogs.
GM’s set to announce it’s latest and greatest efforts in developing a relevant march into the uncertain future.
The General will appear armed and ready with product brimming with new potential (we pray) including but not limited to the following:
- A new, smaller Cadillac 3er/C-Class/ A4/ IS fighter called “ATS”.
- Much anticipated by the Sunshine State’s pensioner set – the Cadillac DTS (née Sedan DeVille) successor XTS will also be formally announced
- Buick will showcase a brand new midsize saloon
- And there will be news about the 2011 Chevy Malibu
Lock it here for the press conference with GM CEO Fritz Henderson which will go live at 08:00 EST.
If the embedded player functions as reliably as an old Chevy Citation, tap this link >>> GM Product Technology
