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Advice on buying a 76-79 Seville

Started by Rgcaddy, August 15, 2018, 09:47:31 PM

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Rgcaddy

Looking to buy a 76-79 Seville and looking for some advice.  Been doing some research and seems its best to stay away from the diesels.  I would like to get my hands on a white on white mint condition car.  Here are my questions, if anyone has other things to add please do.  Thanks.

1.  Are parts hard to come by?  I have read they are...
2.  What are the common issues with them?
3.  What would you consider a mint condition #1 car with all the options and less than 30k miles to be worth today?
4.  Any particular year better than the others? .....why?
1989 Eldorado Coupe
1988 Seville Sedan
2011 SRX

STS05lg

#1
RG, The Seville was the most expensive sedans from Cadillac excluding the Series 75 Limos and Sedans.

1. Normal service parts are available. Exception being parts for the Seville specific fuel injection system and the load leveling rear air shocks
2. Fuel Injection specifically the ECU (they have to be rebuilt) and Load Leveling (the Cadillac specific two valve drivers side rear shock is unobtainimum. You have to do a split line to single valve air shocks if the originals fail.
3. Few true # 1 cars around, but a mint condition #1/2 car you would expect to pay $8-12K from a private party, or $15K+ from a dealer, depending on the area of the county you are look in. 
4. 1976 was the first year, front disc and rear drum brakes, 1977-1979 four wheel disc. Also the 1978-1979 had a trip computer which was a very expensive option and is kind of neat in that there was an individual button for each function. Primitive by today's standards but cutting edge in 1978-1979. Also the 1978-1979 did away with the "digital" clock in the upper dash that never works and has to be rebuilt and you have to take the dash apart to remove it,. (the clock was in the radio of 1978-1979 models) small detail but having owned so many 1975-1976 cars and the clocks never work.  :( :(

PS stay away from Georgia Silver cars, the paint if original will eventually fad really bad and believe it our not the first 1,000 cars produced were painted Georgia Silver. This was because at the 1976 model introduction Cadillac built 1,000 identical cars while running the assembly line a 1/2 speed to make sure the assembly line workers could master the specific processes in assembling the Seville.

RG, these are great cars they handle well. Seville's are typically loaded with options because of the high level of standard features. Most important they were designed from the ground up in house by Cadillac, when Cadillac was still Americas leading high end car manufacturer.  And contrary to what some naysayers write on this Forum 1976-1979 Seville's were NOT fancy Chevy Novas.

Good Luck with your search.

Lynn


Rgcaddy

1989 Eldorado Coupe
1988 Seville Sedan
2011 SRX

Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621

#3
Good summation Lynn.

One slight clarification- if the car was equipped with LED digital display radio, only then would the mechanical "drum" clock would be eliminated from the upper dash since the clock was integral to the radio display. Digital display radio was optional in 1977 & 1978 becoming standard in 1979. Most 1978s therefore still have the mechanical clock. 
A Cadillac Motorcar is a Possession for which there is no Acceptable Substitute

TMoore - NTCLC

The 76-79 Seville is a very nice sized car and a great choice for a collector.

All of the above is good advice.  The 350 Oldsmobile engine is a solid engine, and all parts are readily available through the standard sources.  The Fuel Injection system is the one point of concern - Bruce Roe is our resident expert on the F.I. system, and he will chime in shortly on suggestions to keep the systems in good order.  Once you get familiar with the F.I. system, and with Bruce's support, you will be fine. 

When looking at candidates, pay attention to the following:

Interior door armrests - these have a plastic framing that mounts to the door and may become fragile.  If caught early, and properly braced, you will be okay, but if the frame has already failed, it can lead to unsightly tears in the vinyl covering.

Headlight housings - the black plastic housings are subject to cracking, especially around the mounting points, which can lead to the entire headlight assembly being askew - inspect carefully for any cracks.  If caught early, and properly reinforced, you should be okay.  New or good used ones are getting difficult to find.

Front Cornering Light Bezels - these pot metal trim pieces have mounting holes in the corners which compromise the integrity and will often crack or break at these points - do not over- tighten them.

Power Seat Transmissions - These have the plastic housings and are subject to cracking which will lead to failure to move the seat

Probably common to most Cadillacs of the era:  The rear disc brakes on 77-79 which incorporate the emergency brakes in the same caliper can be tricky; plastic body fillers, which are readily available, vinyl tops on most of the cars except the Elegante edition - inspect closely for rust under the top;

Overall, I think that you will enjoy ownership of one of these cars, especially if you are able to locate the right one - happy hunting, and be sure to post any questions here -


bcroe

The 76 front disc rear drum system has done well on many cars
here.  The all disc system has been aggravating for me in the
70s, had to add an adjustable proportioning valve on 79 Eldo and
Toronado.  I have gotten rid of all bumper jacks and use the frame
jacks that came out about 1980.  The Olds engine is bullet proof as
is the TH400 transmission.  However any original trans that age
needs to come out for a refresh to avoid a damaging failure later. 

The engine like all of the era needs to have the original timing chain
replaced with an all steel set.  The EFI can be a problem, many have
been put back in order and kept original, others have been converted
to the carb setup used on the other Olds engines of the era.  The EFI
was reworked for 78-79 adding more points for failure, including an
ESS in the ignition and an aluminum intake manifold which may
corrode and leak coolant. 

With the injection seeing 40psi it is important that any original rubber
in the system has been refreshed, from the tank to the injectors.  The
pumps sometimes can be noisy, an upgrade would reduce the 2 pumps
to one in the tank.  Many cars saw burnout of the pump power or the
MAP sensor at the ECU, but fixes have been developed to repair or
entirely avoid these problems. 

In my opinion the car is too slow, it should have had the Olds 403
but it wasn't available till 77.  Can be converted if the EFI is modified
(like my 79 Eldo).  Building on that with a low restriction exhaust
and a switch pitch transmission conversion should take 2 seconds off
the 0-60 time, also smoother and slightly better mileage.  At the
least plan to replace any original bucket-of-gravel cat converter with
a lower restriction and legal monolithic type. 

I have owned 4 diesel cars, the biggest problem was instead of a
TH400 trans they had a highly failure prone 200.  The diesel had
a lot of extra equipment, but in many areas there was no diesel
emission testing.  So when the diesel quit you could put any engine
you wanted in there, I have seen a 455. 

All have the HEI ignition, I would not drive anything that didn't. 
Certainly the car is crowded under the hood.  good luck, Bruce Roe