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Cadillac Allante advice appreciated

Started by pinkcaddy96, March 20, 2013, 10:41:50 AM

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pinkcaddy96

I am thinking about purchasing a 88-90 Allante but I have heard and read they are money pits.  Any advice pro and con would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

D.Yaros

Allantes money pits?  I own a '92.  There is a rule of thumb that is a "rule of thumb" precisely because it it uniformly accurate that you will put $2K into the car after purchase.

The cars were not cheap to buy back in the day, and parts for them today are not cheap.  However, if properly maintained was does not need a lot of repair.  The cars need a lot of regular maintenance.  Do that, and repairs are few.

The weakest link in the car is all the interior plastic hardware:  sun visors, seat back handles, etc.

Buy the best you can get, and then plan on spending the $2k on it!
Dave Yaros
CLC #25195
55 Coupe de Ville
92 Allante
62 Olds  

You will find me on the web @:
http://GDYNets.atwebpages.com  -Dave's Den
http://graylady.atwebpages.com -'55 CDV site
http://www.freewebs.com/jeandaveyaros  -Saved 62 (Oldsmobile) Web Site
The home of Car Collector Chronicles.  A  monthly GDYNets newsletter focusing on classic car collecting.
http://www.scribd.com/D_Yaros/

76eldo

#2
I'd look for a nice 92.  If you want to take the leap into Northstar land with a 93, make sure it does not leak oil from the block or pan, and let the car run for at least 15 minutes and do a couple of hard pulls, like wide open throttle up a hill.  If the head gaskets are weak the car will start to overheat.

The running temp should not go over the halfway mark unless you are in summer heat with the AC on.

The 91/92's are essentially the same car and have the 4.5 engine that is strong and reliable.

If the car is close to 100K in miles, plan on a full tuneup, plugs and wires, and maybe new injectors.

Unless you are going to run the car all year round, hard tops are a waste of money and space.

Headlights and tail lights are VERY expensive.  Many body parts fit every year, and I have two 87 parts cars if you do get a pre-90 car.

The 87 and 88's, 89's and early 90's are called Phase One cars, and all have the same hard and soft top configurations.  Late 90-92 are Phase Two cars, and have electric pulldown latches in the front header of the soft top to close the top, as earlier cars have manual latches on the side of the top.  93's are Phase Three cars.  The only differences in the tops would be the lack of the fixed vent glass in the door, which makes the weatherstripping a little different so a 93 hardtop only fits a 93 and are so scarce that the 93 top alone can sell for $3 to $4,000!

The BIGG thing is the Bosch III brakes on pre-93's which can go bad with little or no warning and are very expensive to fix.

Allante's can be bought cheaply and will, in my opinion, have a much higher value.  Like Dave said, go for the nicest one you can find.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Alan Harris CLC#1513

I owned a 1987 Allante that I bought used in 1995. I was the second owner. To call that car a money pit would be an insult to the money pits of the world.

The quality of the interior pieces and stampings was very poor for a car of that price. The taillights were of such a poor grade of plastic that the heat from the bulbs melted them, welding in the sockets. The ABS system likes to fail without warning and is VERY expensive to fix. The power window switches like to fall apart and have their parts fall into the door. The top mechanism is troublesome. Latching the back of the top down required multiple tries. The car would stay in something called its "wake up mode" and drain its battery while sitting in the garage doing nothing. The power steering is prone to "morning sickness". The driver information center was constantly putting out phantom codes that various bulbs were out.

It was a very beautiful car that was very enjoyable as long as you didn't attempt to actually drive it on a regular basis.

They can be bought cheaply for good reason. It has been 20 years since the last one and I have yet to see any increase in their prices. The vast majority of them appear to be constantly for sale.

Good Luck

76eldo

Alan,

Yup.

That's why personally, I would only go for a mint low mileage 93.

I had the Allante of my dreams, a mint 12,000 mile Pearl Red 93, but when the possibility of buy a fully restored 1960 convertible came along at a great price, I sold it.  Had people fighting over it at $18,000 too!

Some pics below.  I loved the power and handling on the Allante, but besides points and the generator, not much mysterious stuff on a '60 to deal with.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

R Schroeder

Ah , that Brian has all the nice cars.
I remember that one when you were selling it. Sure was purty.

Roy

waterzap

Sometimes with cars you just have to say no thank you and walk away. Walk away.

I had a 97 Corvette. The engine and transmission was great. Everything else always broke. Seat moving. Mirrors falling off. AC never working right. Would blow hot air. Stop car, reset, maybe works.
Nahhh. Not again. It gets old when every time you drive the car, something breaks or falls off.

Roof usually squeaked like crazy. The day the guy that bought the car from me test drove the car, the roof was silent. He did mention that another one he drove, the roof was very squeaky. I think my reply was aahhhh. Bit sad when it left.

Corvette was a very pretty car. Red, sleek. The Allante is also very good looking. Cars like that are for guys braver than me.
Leesburg, AL

Series75

The 93 Allante is a fine car.  I have owned one since 95 as I have owned 1/2 dozen other Cadillacs at the same time.  Recently I moved all the repair upgrade receipts I've stored in envelopes into 3 ring binders.   The thickest binder by far is the Allante's.   A few years ago a friend of mine desterately wanted to purchase the Allante from me but he's incapable to tinker with the car, horrible with tools and know how so I had to tell him NO this was not the car for him.   Tom CLC#6866

Caddyjack

I have two of them....a '91 and a '92. If you're hell bent on '88-'90...bag the idea of getting the '88. It has the horrible 4.1 liter engine. A disaster. The '89 and '90 both have the 4.5 liter, and MUCH better engine.

Do these things require repairs? Sure, on occasion. What 20+ year-old car doesn't? It's certainly a car that's going to give you a lot of bang for the buck, though. Go ahead....try and find a drop-top from this era that's any better. I dare you. I love mine, and can tell you that you'll get a quarter of a million miles out of it, like Dick Hussey (prominent Allante owner and expert on call) has. Provided you care for it correctly.

Jack Larson
Philadelphia, PA

Louis Smith

I always questioned why Cadillac felt it necessary to have the body built and designed.  I realized that Pininfarina was a premier designer and builder of bodies, but weren't there any designers left at Cadillac?

Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621

#10
As I understand it, the design was Cadillac's, execution only was subbed out to Pininfarina for economy.
A Cadillac Motorcar is a Possession for which there is no Acceptable Substitute

Louis Smith

Quote from: ericdev                                                #8621 on March 25, 2013, 09:04:05 AM
As I understand it, the design was Cadillac's, execution only was subbed out to Pininfarina for economy.

Economy?  Didn't they have specially fitted Alitalia jet planes to ship the bodies back to the states.  I was under the impression, Cadillac was looking for bragging rights.  Wouldn't it have been cheaper to have the design done in house?  Just my opinion, while I found the cars to be attractive, albeit a little "boxy", I didn't really see anything cutting edge about them.

Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621

Quote from: Louis Smith on March 25, 2013, 10:49:35 AM
Economy?  Didn't they have specially fitted Alitalia jet planes to ship the bodies back to the states.  I was under the impression, Cadillac was looking for bragging rights.  Wouldn't it have been cheaper to have the design done in house?  Just my opinion, while I found the cars to be attractive, albeit a little "boxy", I didn't really see anything cutting edge about them.

I thought specially modded 747s flew the bodies back. No matter.

Tooling costs for a new body are extraordinary and unless that outlay can be allocated over many high-production units. Break even point could be as much as 50,000-100,000 units per year to amortize the initial tooling. Cadillac had hoped for 25,000 Allantes sold per year. They never came close.

Same reason GM commissioned Pininfarina to do the coachwork on the 59/60 Eldorado Brougham.
A Cadillac Motorcar is a Possession for which there is no Acceptable Substitute

Louis Smith

Quote from: ericdev                                                #8621 on March 25, 2013, 11:38:13 AM
I thought specially modded 747s flew the bodies back. No matter.

Tooling costs for a new body are extraordinary and unless that outlay can be allocated over many high-production units. Break even point could be as much as 50,000-100,000 units per year to amortize the initial tooling. Cadillac had hoped for 25,000 Allantes sold per year. They never came close.

Same reason GM commissioned Pininfarina to do the coachwork on the 59/60 Eldorado Brougham.

Sounds reasonable as to why they decided to outsource the body production.  I always felt that Cadillac dropped the ball in advertizing the Allante.  It was obvious that it was going after the Merceds SL market, and possibly the Jaguar XJS V12 convertible.  The Allante had all the luxury and still some panache with the Cadillac name, at a much lower price!  I think they should have used this fact with their advertizing. 

The 747's were flown by Alitalia Airlines, 56 at a time.  Most likely by their cargo planes.


N Kahn

I gave my late dad's Allante away, I knew the cost of upkeep would be torture, it hadn't moved in years. It's brakes gave out without warning, it cost so much money to fix I wasn't about to take chances with it again.

pinkcaddy96

#15
I have found a 91 pearl white Allante with 119K miles for $3800.  I am told the vehicle needs nothing done to it. I will physically see it on Monday.  Any additional opinions/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks to everyone for all the info so far.  There is a great wealth of information available on this forum!

Alan Harris CLC#1513

Run like a cheap thief! Don't look back!


pinkcaddy96

#17
Quote from: Alan Harris CLC#1513 on March 30, 2013, 11:49:00 PM
Run like a cheap thief! Don't look back!

I am gonna  take this ( pro vs con) as a CON reply...Thank You!

Here are pics ....

76eldo

#18
191,000 is a lot of miles. Pics look pretty nice.

Not to say that the car is worthless, but I would think the guy won't have too many potential buyers.
I do know that these cars are worth about $5000 in parts so technically you can't get hurt but I would offer less that $3800.00.

Lots of thing wear out on these cars at much lower mileage so look for:

Black areas on LCD displays
Seat switches not working
Window switches not workkng
Front and rear power pull downs on soft top
Trunk power open and close operation
AC working?
Leaks underneath
Bosch III unit or pump replaced
Make sure brake pump cycles when you step on pedal
Any code or lights showing?

Hit off and warmer together on the climate control and hold these two buttons in until everything lights up on the dash. Release buttons. Car does not have to be running but key needs to be in run position.
All present and history codes will read out. It will show the seller you know some "stuff".  Turn key off to exit diagnostics.

If it all checks out somehow, offer $3000.

Ask if he has any parts that come with the car. Most Allante owners have a stash of parts and a shop manual.

Hope you have a full set of tools. You are gonna need them.

Good luck

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

76eldo

Original post edited.  Seems it's 119K not 191K in the miles.

Same advice applies, but a little more...

These cars had platinum plugs that were good for 100K miles.  And they were good, for 100K miles.

RIGHT after 100, you will notice some missing here and there.  At 100K, these cars need a full tune up, plugs and wires at a minimum.  The rear plugs are difficult to change, so some guys have been known to change only the fronts, or even 6 plugs, leaving the left rear two plugs alone.  You actually need put a jack under the motor, drop the front two cradle bolts, undo the dogbone front engine mounts up top, and lower the engine about 3 inches to get to these plugs.  This is not as bad as it sounds, and some guys claim they can reach the plugs without doing this, but I never could.  Gotta check this out on a car that is 19K over the 100 mark.

Also the injectors are known to be going bad on these cars.  There is an Autolite injector that is a match for way less money than the Delco.  You have to ask the Allante Guru's about that, but if it's never had a full tune and any injectors done, you will be doing this work as soon as you get the car.

Figure on dumping a grand into this car at a minimum, so I'd offer $3000 and spend no more than $3500.00.

Good Luck,

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado