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Car & Driver vintage review: 1978 Coupe deVille. (link to photoset)

10K views 37 replies 16 participants last post by  ferrisworld 
#1 ·
I've had this article sitting around for a few years, always meant to share it and finally got around to it. Figured I'd post a link here so that like-minded Caddy lovers could enjoy it. It's a great read, talks a lot about the stigma Cadillac had at the time (which is still surprisingly relevant, sadly). They actually loved the car! Link is to the photo set on my Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadillacben/sets/72157631245896734/detail/

Enjoy!
-Ben
 
#3 ·
Love the first paragraph. It's so true! And, the last comment in the Counterpoint section was a kick to see, since I have a copy of the magazine the article it refers to was published in (Road Test, March 1977 issue).

Thanks for posting this, Ben! :)
 
#6 ·
Sorry! Fixed it.
 
#8 ·
i have seen a 78 caddy deville d'elegance listed in my area with 14000miles, yes. FOURTEEN. can this POSSIBLY be true? or likely a rollback. pics of interior look immaculate. body needs a paint job as factory job didnt hold up. thoughts? (im an adult but my mom is giving me a hard time about the no airbags. i drive safe-despite so many idiots on the road...id feel fine in this car i think. I just hope her complaining wouldnt be the death of me!!! lol.
 
#9 ·
You should start a new thread instead of jumping on another thread.

That being said, it probably has 114k if the paint is shot. The odometers only go up to 99,999 miles, so if it reads 14xxx, it has probably rolled over. As for airbags? You don't need them in these cars. They're perfectly safe.
 
#11 ·
The article doesn't seem all complementary to me. Less harsh than most Car & Driver articles, perhaps, but hardly a glowing testimonial. To compare a 1978 Cadillac to a Jaguar or BMW, which at the time were junk, is absurd. Opera lamps, twilight sentinel, white walls, cruise control, all bad. Typical.
 
#12 ·
I think the first car manufacturer to bring back whitewall tires and some variation of opera lamps on a really cool and truly confident new luxury car will hit the jackpot! My friend has a fancy brand new Harley Davidson which has whitewall tires and it is classic in design, it is incredible! Cadillac keeps chasing MercedMW except with thier tortured styling of the last decade tacked on that they seem too proud to let go of. I feel they will forever trail the market superiority (I hope) they seek. Cadillac has such a rich history and even the over the top luxuries of the 70's evolved into a design of today would be so unique that I don't think an optimistic American market could resist.
 
#13 ·
It will take many, many years to correct the damage Car and Driver has done to the automotive styling world by pushing the austere Teutonic look of the 70's as a norm to be desired.

The Germans could do it and make great German car icons, the American manufactures never could get it right and merely lost all the aesthetic that had made their cars unique.
 
#14 ·
C&D certainly talked down the whole American car industry. Now we are left with decades of unimaginative blandness. No wonder I cancelled my subscription back in the 80's. The time is ripe for a renaissance, American cars can take over if they go back to their roots. Applying tacked on supposed American car styling cues on austere european based cars is not ever going to create lusty dreams and desires from car buyers. I have said it before - I hope an American car company breaks the mold and not some runaway hit from India or Korea... :)
 
#15 ·
Silly and excessive gadgets? I wonder what he thinks of modern luxury cars :)

"The big motor responds with an authoritative howl when you orange-alert the fuel monitor with the throttle"
That's the best use I've found for the fuel monitor. I love it! :histeric:

My favorite is one author's description of driving a pre-1977 Cadillac:
"You didn't steer the thing, you gave orders to the helm. And for more or less speed, you rang down for more steam. Damn the Datsuns! Full speed ahead!" :2thumbs:

Thanks for sharing this article. I enjoyed reading it.
 
#28 ·
I believe the helm & steam quote was from an old consumers reports that I have somewhere.

Those guys are even worse than C&D...

----------

Not to be diifcult but it is a small car. Here are the figures for Devilles/XTS (I picked 1972 as a pre-safety bumper year):
Year 1972 1977 1996 2014
WB 130.00 121.5 113.8 111.7
Length 227.4 221.2 209.7 202.00
Width 79.8 76.4 76.5 72.91

Over 19 inches shorter and 4 1/2 inches narrower than the 1977 DeVille. Even the late 1990s DeVilles had a more impressive road presence. And it isn't much to look at, very misproportioned. The ATS and CTS are much better looking.

Hmmm, my STS has a 116.4 in Wheelbase, but its overall length is only 196.7 in. I'm not hot on the XTS at all, primarily because they built it as an FWD chassis.


WIDTH 6 ft. 0.6 in. (72.6 in.) HEIGHT 4 ft. 9.6 in. (57.6 in.)
LENGTH 16 ft. 4.7 in. (196.7 in.) FRONT TRACK 5 ft. 1.8 in. (61.8 in.)
REAR TRACK 5 ft. 2.3 in. (62.3 in.) WHEEL BASE 9 ft. 8.4 in. (116.4 in.)
 
#22 ·
I enjoyed the article's counterpoint, that talks about the Coupe DeVille's performance potential flogging it around like the performer it can be. Always made me think back to Henry Hill's driving in Goodfellas. Suffice it to say, ordering the rear ride leveler package (that included an anti-sway bar) makes a big difference in how these cars corner. My red '79 (Denice) has it, while my Phaeton does not... it's pretty noticable, and I'm looking for a sway bar to install, as well as a front steering damper shock.Really, these were the last full-size Cadillacs until 1994 to come standard with a compitent engine with enough power to reasonably belt around through traffic without feeling like a relic. And my God they're fun to drive!
 
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#25 ·
Oh it is bad enough this rag thought the cars were imperfect at the time. I will be pleased to enjoy my 79 deVille with no modifications nor sway bars and will float by you as you think you have inadvertently transformed your old school barge into a condom you would find in a 70s truck stop bathroom vending machine. :)
 
#33 ·
In 1978 not a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or a Rolls-Royce - NONE of these had tilt steering wheel (or telescope), Benz and BMW had no power seats, Rolls used the Cadillac transmission, none had a glass sunroof (RR had no sunroof availability at all). If a vinyl roof was terrible then buyers of the top line 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II apparently disagreed, it had a full "everflex" (vinyl) roof - Rolls even had whitewall tires in '78. None of the three Europeans had auto dim headlamps, twilight sentinel, over the top exciting all American furniture-like interiors, power recliners, vibrant color selections inside and out, power trunk release with pull down, integrated CB radio, digital clock, electronically tuned radio, six passenger seating, fancy accent stripes, oh I am sure I'm missing ten dozen things.

Somehow we seemingly previously self assured Americans were persuaded to dump our unique large comfortable and safe cars for look alike painfully understated and restrained european (or copied) cars that totally lack confidence and distinction. It is why I got p.o.'d with car and driver and stopped my subscription. Now look what we have. Cars that, with very few exceptions, are boring appliances. Time for some baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. I hate german and english food....
 
#34 ·
In 1978 not a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or a Rolls-Royce - NONE of these had tilt steering wheel (or telescope), Benz and BMW had no power seats, Rolls used the Cadillac transmission, none had a glass sunroof (RR had no sunroof availability at all). If a vinyl roof was terrible then buyers of the top line 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II apparently disagreed, it had a full "everflex (vinyl) roof - Rolls even had whitewall tires in '78. None of the three Europeans had auto dim headlamps, twilight sentinel, over the top exciting all American furniture-like interiors, power recliners, vibrant color selections inside and out, power trunk release with pull down, integrated CB radio, digital clock, electronically tuned radio, six passenger seating, fancy accent stripes, oh I am sure I'm missing ten dozen things. Somehow we self assured Americans were persuaded to dump our unique large comfortable and safe cars for look alike painfully understated and restrained european (or copied) cars that totally lack confidence and distinction. It is why I got p.o.'d with car and driver and stopped my subscription. Now look what we have. Cars that, with very few exceptions, are boring appliances. Time for some baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. I hate german and english food....
Amen! You have hit on everything that I have been POed about in the car market for years. There is a reason why the SUV is a huge market. It is the last vestige of big luxury American cars (like the Escalade although that isn't exactly a Brougham). If I wanted a truck riding Nazi Staff Car then I would have bought one! I want a luxury car that gets me around in style comfortably with lots of room. Car and Driver is trying to tell me what I want and THAT ain't it. Ok, now I feel better. :p
 
#35 · (Edited)
In the late 60s when I first subscribed they stood for and celebrated everything I loved about the automotive industry. By the time I quit selling cars in the late 80s they championed all that was wrong with the business.

The funny thing was the auto industry loved the stripping down of cars. The whole austere no trim and no chrome look of the Audi and MB were a God send for Detriot and the short term health of the industry. It lowered cost and meant they didn't have to teach their UAW workers how to make trim line up. That, and the hopes of getting praise from a magazine who would never love them no matter what they did was all they needed to march willingly on to blandness.
 
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