The Cadillac Coupe DeVille is one of those absolutely iconic nameplates, and for good reason. With eye-popping style, enormous size, and a high-class attitude, these machines left an indelible mark on the Cadillac brand. Now, a “near original” example from 1960 is up for grabs.
Listed for sale by AutoBarn Classic cars, this 1960 Cadillac Cadillac Coupe DeVille is every inch a head-turner, featuring gleaming, classic styling. The ride is low, while the lines are long and sleek. And of course, we can’t forget those awesome rear tail fins.
According to the vehicle’s description, this particular example has received “minor restoration work.” That includes the Persian Sand paint job draped across the body panels, which has seen “only a few touch-up blends” over the years. Complementing the paint is the original chrome trim, while whitewall tires are mounted on the factory wheels and wheel covers.
Up front, this two-door cruiser is motivated by a 390 cubic-inch OHV V8 engine, which is fed via a Rochester carburetor. All told, the ‘eight spins out 325 horsepower and 430 pound-feet of torque. It’s unknown if this is a numbers-matching engine.
Regardless, good noises exit via a new dual exhaust, while a four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission handles the cog swaps.
Inside, we find bench seating front and back, with Beaumont Beige upholstery. Up top, the original headliner remains intact. This Cadillac Coupe DeVille also came equipped with a nice assortment of standard equipment, such as air conditioning, a Wonderbar AM radio, power steering, and power drum brakes.
Critically, this Caddy sports just 6,095 miles on the odometer. We think it looks fantastic, and will surely grab eyeballs no matter where it shows up.
What would you do with this pretty-in-pink Cadillac Coupe DeVille? Let us know in the comments and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Source: AutoBarn Classic Cars
Comments
You can’t go back to the past (literally), but sweet balls of Mary. Look at that thing. Now, put it side by side to a current Cadillac.
Someone got lost along the way.
Way lost.
I realize times change. But, the opulence and daring design, should ALWAYS be what a Cadillac symbolizes and, represents.
It’s like they went from building high rise custom apartments in New York City, and, Mansions in LA, to fake , brick fronted façade houses in the suburbs.
Someone at GM/ Cadillac, please look at the past to understand the future. Or, there will be no future.
I miss the days when people put heart and soul into every stinking detail.
Why? Because they cared.
It’d be way cooler if they’d called it the CD8 instead of Coupe de Ville, right? And, of course if they’d painted it a nice medium silver; that would help too. I’m joking on both counts of course. The drama of the car is what creates its appeal.
Incidentally, the above is the correct spelling of the name. In this era, Cadillac called the model the “Coupe de Ville” which is derived from the French term “de la Ville” or “de Ville” and, translated to English, means “of the town” so a Cadillac Coupe de Ville was a Coupe of the town. Interestingly, in the 1970s, Lincoln called their similar offering the Lincoln Town Coupe’ so the names were quite similar albeit one in English and the other in French.
Holy cows that interior! The rich materials and color choices make It look so sophisticated yet sumptuous. So inviting. The whole car is stunning particularity considering it stands in the shadow of the ’59.
The best Cadillac’s were from the mid 20’s to about 1958.
59 and on were just over the top and as time went on they became more corporate. Bigger is not better. Once 77 hit Cadillac faded from what they really were back in the day. All the equity was gone by the mid 80’s.
The 59 is now seen as Iconic but back in the day they lost many buyers as it was just too much. It is a good thing the fins got cut down from what they really had planned.
I had a customer with a low mile 1962 Sedan Deville. I took the original ribbed tires off of it. The interior was seal in plastic. It was a nice car once they toned it down. But you could see the corporate sharing creeping in.
C8.R,
I disagree a bit. I think the Bill Mitchell-era Cadillacs (1961 to 1981) hold their own in the history of the brand. They had become more corporate I suppose but the styling was excellent and trend setting; the 1967 Eldorado or 1975 Seville are both stunning examples. During this period, Cadillac continued to do their own engineering and used their own “Cadillac” engines. The late 1970s was also Cadillac’s most successful period in terms of sales with the down-sized 1977 models being excellent products that have stood the test of time.
As I see it, the great downfall begins later. In 1977, Bill Mitchell retires. His last car was the neo-classical “bustle-back” Seville. It was a love it or hate design and remains so to this day but it is unmistakable. That was the end of an era in terms of great design. Irv Rybicki takes over the GM Design Staff group in ’77 and everything launched under his watch was seemingly a caricature of what Mitchell had done. He recycled old Cadillac designs and applied them to much smaller FWD cars with transverse-mounted engines so they came across as imitation Cadillacs. Those would include the 1985 C-Body DeVille and Fleetwood and the disastrous 1986 E and K-Body Eldorado and Seville. At the same time, Roger B. Smith comes on the scene in 1981 and reorganizes GM into two groups, C-PC- for small cars and B-O-C for large cars which stripped Cadillac of their proprietary engineering and divisional autonomy. Add the 1982 launch of the hastily developed Cadillac Cimarron into this toxic stew and I would assert that the great downfall happened in the early to mid- 1980s, not 1958. It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact year because in the early 1980s there were old products still in the lineup being sold alongside the new products that were not up to Cadillac’s standards and there were some Cadillac’s being sold with Oldsmobile diesel engines which, in time, proved to be a colossal mistake. To be sure though, I would say everything launched after Roger B. Smith’s arrival in 1981 was part of the problem.
Cadillac has made numerous attempts at a comeback since the decline and there have been some good products but I don’t see that they’ve ever managed to get back what they had from the 1920s through the early 1980s which was, as they termed it, “America’s Luxury Car Leader”. Since then too much of their design has been Euro-bland and they’ve been America’s luxury car follower all to content to imitate BMW and the other true leaders of our time.
Bill never had the power Harley had. He did what he could and he had his great cars in the Corvette, 63-65 Riv and the Tornado and Eldorado up till 1970. But much of Bills work was constricted to corporate platforms that limited his work to mostly just time and color.
At times Bill overstepped like the Hump back Seville and a few other cars.
In the late 70’s the focus was all on fuel and emission regulations and the styling suffered greatly. forcing the cars all FWD was a major folly.
There is no pin point year of model. The fall was spread out and happens starting in the 60’s and peaked in the late 80’s.
GM really should have killed the other divisions long ago as they were trying to do too much with too little money and ended up with too many cars with just slight variations. They also went to the parts bin much too often.
GM really needs to focus on three brands and let them be autonomous. They should use their own engines and or if they share an engine have their own version of it at Cadillac. At this price point you need more than a Truck engine in the bay.
While you may not like Euro bland the truth is that is what sells. The image of the imports is the key point of sale. Also people like to get cars that share little with an econo box. At Chevy anything goes but at Cadillac it should not be sharing with Chevy.
Do not mistake imitation of BMW as what is going on. The market is what it is and they are just trying to build a car to what the market expects but they fall short. Same on the number or name debate. Neither matter as the product defines the handle hung on the car. Eldorado meant little till the car defined the name. Same for the 300 SL as it meant nothing till the gullwing. It is what represent the name or number that matters.
For what it is worth the 77 Cadillac was better than what was to come but was also a long way from where they were.
The Eldorado got bloated and uninspired in the last years of the full size.
Cadillac like Pontiac lost it’s soul so long ago people today really have no idea what they really were like in their prime.
The Worlds Fair V16 coupe set the tone for an era.
Once a brand loses its equity it is twice as hard to earn it back vs creating it.
I don’t think we have a Coup de Ville here but rather a Series 62 coupe. The Coupe de Ville would have a script on the rear fender above the chrome strip saying Coupe de Ville. Also I believe a Coupe de Ville would have had power windows as standard. Here we see crank windows. I realize that power vent windows were an option but here we plainly see 2 crank handles on the door. Don’t see many Cadillacs of this era with manual windows so I guess that makes it rather unique these days.