Correct spelling of DeVille? deVille? Deville?

[Elliot Naess]

 
Hi!
What is the correct authentic capitalization of DeVille, as it pertains to a 1957 Coupe deVille - Deville - DeVille...?

I tried Wikipedia, but didn't find it there.

Much obliged!

Elliot

[CLC#12231]

 
The 57 advertising brochures say de Ville
 
 

[CLC#12231]

Opps! I forgot to attach the ad.

[Elliot Naess]

 
Aha! With a space between "de" and "Ville". Thank you, Sir! Now I won't embarrass myself by misspelling it.

Great forum. Thank you for the help.

Elliot Naess

[Mark]

For further reference & confusion -

In 1968 it is indicated as "De Ville"     (upper case D with space)
w w w .modifiedcadillac.org/documents/1960s/1968/1968%20Data%20Book/tn/68%20Data%20Book-37.jpg.html

By 1971 it is referenced as "deVille"    (lower case d and no space between)
w w w .modifiedcadillac.org/documents/1970s/1971/1971%20Cadillac%20Ads/tn/1971%20Cad-3a.jpg.jpg.html

[CLC#12231]

The spelling has changed many times since 1949 and to be totally correct you have to specify the year to which you are referring.

[veesixteen]

In case nobody noticed, it's French;  "de Ville"  means "of the city"; the "de" would never be capitalized in French as it could never start a sentence.  "Coupe de Ville" is the French appellation for the American, open front TOWN CAR; it comes from the French "couper" (to cut)  and "ville" (town or city), i.e. a car that is "cut open" at the front for chauffeur-driven use in the city.

Cadillac began using the term (inappropriately, in my opinion) in 1949 to designate a closed, 2-door, pillarless 5-6 seater.  Now, the way Cadillac spells it is a totally different ball game.  In the 1957 color catalog (since you mentioned 1957), it is spelled "Coupe deVille" (the words "de" and Ville" appear to be connected, whereas they are two distinct words in the French original).
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Hi!
What is the correct authentic capitalization of DeVille, as it pertains to a 1957 Coupe deVille - Deville - DeVille...?

I tried Wikipedia, but didn't find it there.

Much obliged!

Elliot

[CLC#12231]

Hello Yann;
 
Being of French extraction, I agree with you it is lousy French.  But it is the way that Cadillac referred to the capitalization and spelling of "de Ville" three times in this 1957 ad.
 
Frank DeCou

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

Here's another one open for debate:
Does a CLC member have three Coupes de Ville and four Sedans de Ville or three Coupe de Villes and four Sedan de Villes? It seems to me that Coupes and Sedans de Ville would be correct (Coupe de Villes and Sedan de Villes meaning more than one town instead of more than one sedan or coupe), but you rarely see it written that way.

[veesixteen]

It's regrettable that common usage results in abuse of the spoken and written word.  I agree with Rusty:  "Coupes de Ville" and "Sedans de Ville" are correct.  However, you would be less of a pedant if you said: two "Sedan de Ville" models, or three "Coupe de Ville" models (just as you might say: five "Calais" models, or ten "Fleetwood" models).  I hate "Biarritzes"; I would also want (and how) 50 "Biarritz" models.
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Here's another one open for debate:
Does a CLC member have three Coupes de Ville and four Sedans de Ville or three Coupe de Villes and four Sedan de Villes? It seems to me that Coupes and Sedans de Ville would be correct (Coupe de Villes and Sedan de Villes meaning more than one town instead of more than one sedan or coupe), but you rarely see it written that way.

[Joe Manna]

Yann,this is an interesting forum.I myself would use an upper case"D",lower case "e",and then an upper case"V".Now if some of us owns more than one,it should read Coupe De Villes' or Sedan De Villes'.Or if the case were a Calais,then my opinion would be Calais'.or Fleetwood's.Joe

[Lars Langoy]

Hi all

I do belive that in 65 to 70 they used the DeVille (rear fender emblem at last) for the convertibles, the coupes and sedans had the deVille.

Regards
Lars

[Richard Sills - CLC #936]

As noted, there is an inconsistency in the way the word is spelled on the chrome nameplates.  I had reason to check the script nameplates on Cadillacs in the '68-'70 range, and found that if the car was a Coupe deVille or Sedan deVille, the "d" in "deVille" was lowercase.  But if the car was a convertible, where the word (or words) appear alone, it starts with a capital "D":  "DeVille".  This doesn't make grammatical sense, but I guess someone determined that a car model name should not begin with a lower-case letter.  Of course, this was before the experts determined that a car model name should contain nothing but letters.

 

[Art Director]

After conferring with several experts, the usage by The Self-Starter is:

Up to 1993
de Ville

The convertible
Deville

1994 and later (when Coupe de Ville was discontinued)
DeVille

Tim Coy, art director

[Don Boshara #594]

This has nothing to do with Cadillac, but I have often wondered why the French don’t sell all those last letters that they never seem to pronounce. I think it might vastly improve their gross national income.

[Johnny F #662]

It also seems like Cadillac took some editorial liberty with the spelling of the Eldorado.  The name came from the Spanish El Dorado.

The name Eldorado was derived from the Spanish words "el dorado", "the gilded one" or "the golden one"; the name was given originally to the legendary chief or "cacique" of a South American Indian tribe. Legend has it that his followers would sprinkle his body with gold dust on ceremonial occasions and he would wash it off again by diving into a lake. The name more frequently refers to a legendary city of fabulous riches, somewhere in South America, that inspired many European expeditions, including one to the Orinoco by England's Sir Walter Raleigh.

[Elliot Naess]

 
(Oh my ga.... What did I start?!)

[CLC#12231]

Hey, at least we are civil!

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

After conferring with several experts, the usage by The Self-Starter is:

Up to 1993
de Ville

The convertible
Deville

1994 and later (when Coupe de Ville was discontinued)
DeVille

Tim Coy, art director

Tim,
I think your sources may not have this correct.  The convertibles were DeVille. 1994-1996 (including my '96) had
Sedan DeVille and beginning with 1997 (my neighbor still has a '99) it was Deville (without the Sedan).

[Elliot Naess]

"Hey, at least we are civil!"

Not only civil, but very helpful. Thanks again!

Elliot