News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

Million dollar Diesel

Started by Davidinhartford, August 24, 2009, 06:33:51 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Davidinhartford

OK,  I was a teen in the Diesel era.   I even owned a used 1980 Diesel Sedan Deville for a short while.

When new, the diesel option added a few hundred bucks to a Cadillac.  Then as diesel popularity declined it was a credit option and finally dropped in 1985 altogether.

Used diesel cars were cheap to pick up. Mine was.  I paid $3500 for it in 1986.

Eventually if you looked them up in used car price guides there was a 10% value deduction for a diesel.  At one point it was 50%.    I haven't looked lately.

But have you looked a a certain large auto magazine in the Cads forsale section?   There is a 1980 Cadillac Diesel for sale for a bargain Million dollars.     Did I miss a memo or something?   I wasn't aware that any 1980 Cadillacs had increased in value that much.  And if diesels are worth less than a gas version, what is a gas engine 1980 Cadillac worth?   

Maybe I should have kept my 80 Diesel and my gas engined 80 Eldorado.  I'd be a  multi-millionare.

Barry M Wheeler #2189

David, this guy has run this ad for years. He is one of those zealots that thinks that because HE thinks that this car of his was the greatest that he ever had, and that he has a new engine for it, that some (idiot) is going to pay him that price. I think also that the sale of the car is tied to his property in some way. In the meantime, HMN can count on the couple of hundred bucks (or whatever it costs) each month for this ad. He has probably spent what the car is really worth already in ads over the years. Go figure...
Barry M. Wheeler #2189


1981 Cadillac Seville
1991 Cadillac Seville

Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397

Quote from: DavidinHartford on August 24, 2009, 06:33:51 AM
OK,  I was a teen in the Diesel era.   I even owned a used 1980 Diesel Sedan Deville for a short while.

Owning a GM diesel for a short while was a very common occurrence and at least one buyer never took delivery of his.   My dad ordered a 1980 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight with the diesel and while he was waiting for it and told people he was, he heard so many horror stories about them that he bought one with the 5.7 gasoline engine off the dealer's lot.  At that time, the dealership had a waiting list for diesel cars so the one my dad ordered was snapped up just as soon as it was unloaded; by about 1982 or 1983, they couldn't give them away.

Bryan Thompson

I would rather push an old Cadillac, than drive a new anything:-)

Walter Youshock

I'd pay $999,999 for DELCO ear plugs and $1.00 for the car!

A friend of mine had a 1983 SDV her husband bought for her new.  She HATED the car.  It wouldn't start in the winter and left her stranded so many time that AAA cut them off from towing!
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

Carfreak

In 1989 when dad passed away he left not one but TWO black/silver 1983 Diesel Seville Elegante's in his garage.  One was his daily driver since new that had 250k miles.  The engine had been changed at some point, I think 100k or so.  When his business partner decided to off HIS matching car, dad bought that one to have a spare.  Steve's car only had 60k and was like new. 

I ended up driving the high-mileage car for a year or so and never had a problem.  Plugged it in at night during the extreme cold; could drive through nearly anything we threw at it - think 4 wheeling in the hilly back yard, driving down unplowed shoulders or middle turn lanes. 

Yeah, it was a PITA to remember to fuel up when I was near one of a few stations that carried diesel in the area, and it was somewhat noisy but it drove like a Cadillac....   And despite my semi-favorable comments, no, it would NEVER be worth a million bucks unless someone stuffed the console full of $1000 bills.   ;D
Enjoy life - it has an expiration date.

Walter Youshock

Gee, "Ed", that's a story for the SS.

Too bad I lost contact with Gail over these years.  She carped about that '83 like I did about my '93 60 Special Ultra.  She never drove another Cadillac after that car.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

Otto Skorzeny

That guy's an idiot. Why is he wasting money for an ad on a car he clearly has no intention of selling?
fward

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for YOURSELF

HUGE VENDOR LIST CLICK HERE

David King (kz78hy)

My Dad and I drove those diesels for several years as they were cheap compared to gas versions.

Dad had 3 or 4 Olds 88's and I bought a 81 Sedan DeVille in 83 for 6k that had 10k miles or so.  The blocks were changed in 80, so everything after that was sound as far as the blocks were concerned.  Injection pumps failed at 50k miles every time.

The car was stolen 4 years later and I never saw it again.  I have around 60k on it at the time and the injection pump and the climate control module were the parts I remember replacing.

The car was able to get 24 mpg all the time and for that period of time, that was good.   The car would take a day and a half to get to 60 mph (that was speeding then) and you had to know to buy winterized fuel when the weather was starting to get colder to prevent gelling.

The shame is GM ruined the diesel market for 30 years  in the US with that experience.

David     Who would love to have a SeVille E'legante w/a diesel.
David King
CLC 22014  (life)
1958 Eldorado Brougham 615
1959 Eldorado Brougham 56- sold
1960 Eldorado Brougham 83- sold
1998 Deville d'Elegance
1955 Eldorado #277
1964 Studebaker Commander
2012 Volt
CLCMRC benefactor 197

Director and Founder, Eldorado Brougham Chapter
Past President, Motor City Region

Rare Parts brand suspension parts Retailer via Keep'em Running Automotive

TJ Hopland

Did the diesel Cadillacs have more sound insulation than the gas cars?
StPaul/Mpls, MN USA

73 Eldo convert w/FiTech EFI
80 Eldo Diesel
90 CDV
And other assorted stuff I keep buying for some reason

Davidinhartford

No they didn't have more sound insulation than a gas engined Cadillac.    At highway speeds you didn't really hear much of a difference.  But around town under acceleration it sounded like a diesel school bus.     And if someone tailgated you, you just mashed your foot down on the accelerator and the car would belch out a thick cloud of black smoke and cover them in soot!  That was my favorite!   


Carfreak

Yeah, I forgot about getting rid of tailgaters.   :D  :D  :D

One other thing, at the time I was working for a government institution.  My boss pulled me aside and made a comment about driving a 'new' Cadillac (uh, its 7 years old, 250k miles).  He asked me not to park it in the employee parking area.  Seems taxpayers get resentful that public employees might be paid too much.    :P
Enjoy life - it has an expiration date.

Walter Youshock

Same thing happened to me when I was serving my Funeral Director internship.  I bought an 8-year-old Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance and parked it in the funeral home lot.  Somebody walking down the sidewalk made a comment that my boss must have been overcharging.  I told the man it was MY car.

After that, the boss didn't want me parking the Cadillac in his lot!  Of course, that was the LEAST of and the beginning of my troubles with him...
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

David King (kz78hy)

I seem to remember that there was extra insulation on the diesel engined cars.  The cars were quite a bit different than the gas versions.  Hydroboost steering and brakes, dual batteries come to mind.

David
David King
CLC 22014  (life)
1958 Eldorado Brougham 615
1959 Eldorado Brougham 56- sold
1960 Eldorado Brougham 83- sold
1998 Deville d'Elegance
1955 Eldorado #277
1964 Studebaker Commander
2012 Volt
CLCMRC benefactor 197

Director and Founder, Eldorado Brougham Chapter
Past President, Motor City Region

Rare Parts brand suspension parts Retailer via Keep'em Running Automotive

Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397

Quote from: kz78hy on August 26, 2009, 09:15:21 AM
I seem to remember that there was extra insulation on the diesel engined cars.  The cars were quite a bit different than the gas versions.  Hydroboost steering and brakes, dual batteries come to mind.

David

I'm almost certain there was additional sound insulation on the diesel cars.  They definitely had dual batteries and hydroboost brakes, but regular belt-driven hydraulic power steering just like the gasoline cars.

David King (kz78hy)

The power steering pump also powered the brakes as I recall.  That is what makes it the "hydroboost" system I think.  Was there a vacuum pump as well?  Seems I remember that now.

David
David King
CLC 22014  (life)
1958 Eldorado Brougham 615
1959 Eldorado Brougham 56- sold
1960 Eldorado Brougham 83- sold
1998 Deville d'Elegance
1955 Eldorado #277
1964 Studebaker Commander
2012 Volt
CLCMRC benefactor 197

Director and Founder, Eldorado Brougham Chapter
Past President, Motor City Region

Rare Parts brand suspension parts Retailer via Keep'em Running Automotive

Sweede64

There was an vacumpump, it controlled the gearbox. Changed a lot of headbolts on those, they snapped right off and layed under the valvecover....
Thomas Karlström

bcroe

I will tell you a couple things about those diesel cars.  First they were so slow because the gearing was all wrong.  The General just treated them like a gas car.  I put a switch pitch 400 trans behind a diesel engine, and it made an amazing difference.  Next, convert a diesel to a 403 or 350 Olds gas engine, and you have a premium cruiser.  Change the tank pickup, you have several extra gallons capacity.  I still have 3 converted cars, nearly 800,000 miles on them.  Bruce Roe CLC # 14630