Cadillac.

[JR Greenhorn]

Originally Posted by madeouttaglass

The older ones are much simpler and have even more room. Years ago I flew to Florida and bout an '88 or so Fleetwood Brougham. A mint 7-8 year old example cost about $2500. You could fit 6 bodies in the trunk.

I tend to think that the '77-96 B- and D-body cars are some of GM's best work. Here's mine:



When I bought this '95 Fleetwood Brougham, I sold a car a decade newer worth more than twice what this one was, yet this has easily been the most satisfying car I've ever owned. I bought it with 193k on it, and it's got 252k on it now. Nearly the last of RWD Cadillacs (for a number of years at least), it's powered by a 5.7L LT1 that still doesn't use oil. I put a Class III/IV receiver hitch on it just before 200k, and the 4L60E is still holding up well. I wired in a 7-pin conenctor, but I haven't done trailer brakes yet, so I'm only towing up to 3000lbs (as shown above). I intentionally bought a car that was the last model year before OBDII. It runs well, never hesitates to start (even in the -30°F weather we've had recently), and I don't have to chase codes for secondary O2 sensors or other nonsense. Commuting to work, I get 18-19 mpg with this 4500lb car. My best tank was on a trip, at 23 mpg. Towing lighter loads (around 1500lbs), I can still get 16mpg, or more importantly, better than my friend's early 2000's Tahoe gets empty.

This past fall, I bought a '93 Fleetwood Brougham as a parts car (to replace the ugly wheels in the photo above, for starters, and there was some damaged trim on the other side of the car). That '93 had 315k miles on the clock when I bought it, and it ran absolutely great! TBI 350 in that one, with a non-electric 4L60. Certainly electronics were making a big difference in how refined cars felt from one model year to the next in those days. I drove the parts car to work for a while, and other than needing shocks and some sloppy suspension parts replaced, it still was in good shape. It was tempting to just keep driving it to try to get it to 350k miles, but it has 80hp less(!) than my '95, and I didn't want to upkeep consumables on two 250k+ mile cars anyway.



My wife's car isn't a Cadillac, but close. It's the second (final) gen. Olds Aurora. We ended up with one that has the 3.5L V6, which is based of the 4.0L Aurora V8, which itself is a de-bored Northstar with a cheaper intake manifold and injection system atop. The V6 makes do with a cast iron block (which presumably holds heads on better). We got ours used nearly ten years ago for less than $5k, with 130k miles on it. It was absolutely trouble-free until 180k miles. I chased a bunch of issues with it last winter, and with over 215k on it now, it's starting to throw codes again. My wife works 65 miles away from our house, so the miles have racked up quickly the past few years. I'm not sure what she's getting in the cold with winter tires on right now, but in the summer she gets upper 20's for MPG out of it--not bad for a 3800lb+ car.

She's ready for something different now, but last summer our local GM dealer took in a low-mileage (which isn't worth much to me) 4.0L second-gen Aurora on trade. It was an awful light blue color with an even more awful light blue leather interior, and they wanted too much for it ($6k). Still, we thought very seriously about trying buy it. It wasn't on the dealer lot very long at all however, and I still see it driving around town. Somebody bought a very good car, even if they did pay the asking price. What unfortunate colors, though.

[maloryII]

Originally Posted by JR Greenhorn

This is a beautiful example of "Zero Fucks Given."

Bravo, sir.

[DockingPilot]

Cadillac crushes Europe

[panhead_dan]

Very nice cars!!

[Fe Man]

It's just a matter of time before I put a Northstar V8 in a Series 1 Land Rover Discovery!

[A-Bone]

Originally Posted by maloryII

This is a beautiful example of "Zero Fucks Given."

Bravo, sir.

+1

Fucking love it.....



And I bet it pulls just as well as a half-ton pick up...

[A-Bone]

Originally Posted by panhead_dan

Seems like they are practically giving these cars away! I currently have a '97 STS (wife's) and a '95 ETC which I use as a work truck. I had an '85 Eldorado which was a fine car too. All but the wife's car were pretty inexpensive. My ETC was $2000 when I got it but after 2.5 years of work use, it has needed quite a bit of love (read $$$ and work).
I am actually getting pretty good at fixing these overly complicated cars! I am a carpenter and just about everyone I work with uses a pickup truck that really won't haul much in the way of tools securely while I can haul a ton of tools absolutely securely while listening to the Bose.



Not mine but similar.

.

I always loved the way these looked...

Originally Posted by panhead_dan

I am a carpenter and just about everyone I work with uses a pickup truck that really won't haul much in the way of tools securely while I can haul a ton of tools absolutely securely while listening to the Bose.

.

I own a couple properties and have the pleasure of visting them as HVAC repair man from time to time (don't queue the porn sound track.. it never happens )... I drive a sedan and also keep a bunch of tools and misc repair materials in my trunk... I tell yah its the way to go... I feel much more secure having those tools in the trunk than I ever did with them in a saddle box in my old truck...

And with the front passenger and rear seats folded down I can fit a 10' lenght of pipe in the car and close the trunk!

[panhead_dan]

Originally Posted by A-Bone

I own a couple properties and have the pleasure of visting them as HVAC repair man from time to time (don't queue the porn sound track.. it never happens )... I drive a sedan and also keep a bunch of tools and misc repair materials in my trunk... I tell yah its the way to go... I feel much more secure having those tools in the trunk than I ever did with them in a saddle box in my old truck...

And with the front passenger and rear seats folded down I can fit a 10' lenght of pipe in the car and close the trunk!

It amazes me how many tradesmen don't understand this. Most carpenters drive a pickup so they can haul materials and that works just fine if they are the contractor. While working for someone else, I figure the company can arrange the hauling of materials. I will haul stuff if needed and if it fits in the car and as you pointed out, it's surprising what does fit! In fact, there is a twelve foot folding ladder in the back seat right now, among other things.

[Boondoggle]

this is for sale not far from my house- '93 (?) with 108k, paint is shot and the leather is torn:



and this was dad's:



'04 SLS. I should have bought it from the estate, but needed something new to pull the horse trailer and couldn't swing both. (btw it is electronically limited to 112mph)