Considering the purchase of the first generation (smaller) Seville...

[Greg McDonnell CLC# 20841]

Hello Everyone and Happy Holidays!

For quite a few years, I have had in the back of my mind the idea of seriously looking for a nice example of the 76-79 Seville.  Recently I have stepped up my search for one and may have found the one I will buy (if it checks out).  I would appreciate any comments/concerns/horror or success stories regarding this first generation smaller Seville.  Have they reached collectible status yet or are they considered just another previously owned Cadillac?  Any pitfalls I should watch out for?  What is a fair price to pay for a high three-low two (condition) Seville with virtually every option from these years?  

I look forward to any and all comments from our members!

Best regards and thanks in advance!

Greg McDonnell

[Doug Houston]

I think you are describing the Seville that was derived from a Chevy Nova....? Theyre cute cars, and you dont see them just everywhetre nowadays.

Someone has one for sale in a parking lot on Dixie Highway in Clarkston, Michigan, and it isnt causing a stampede. It looks good from the road. Its a buff body color, but I havent looked at the interior. The body looks very good, again from the road.

[JIM CLC # 15000]

12-17-05
Doug, I think you are refering to the first Cadillac-"Cimmron".
It was first built using the Chevrolet-Nova Body and a few years later got its own body. (by the time it looked good, GM killed it).
Good Luck, Jim

[wm link]

Not sure I would group these cars with the Cimmeron...or the slant backs. Cadillac pulled a rabbit out of a hat with the 75-9 Sevilles really. They were a well built, solid, tight comfortable car all the way around. The Fuel injection will probably be your greatest hurdle...if you have one at all. The cars are very sensitive to vacuum leaks. The temp sensors and choke are the weak link of the chain...again if you have an issue at all.

[Jim Snell #21544]

Howdy,
I was in the used car business in the days of the Seville. We were buying and selling a few Cadillacs at the time. The "Cimmaron" was a derivative of the "cavalier".. "A pig in kings clothing..." (Killed by GM because they were junk...) We had a 1977 Seville in silver with gray leather. I dont think they shared any other GM platform? Kind of a car of its own? I think the fuel injected engine was an Oldsmobile 350 if I remember correctly.  Nice car, no problems except the stumble just off of idle. We purchased the car with 50,000 miles from a family friend who had purchased it new as a 25th wedding anniversary gift. (The reason for the silver motif) They had tried numerous times to fix the hesitation and had learned to live with it. They sold the car to us and purchased a Lincoln Town Car. The hesitation in the fuel injection required a light feathering of the throttle pedal when accelerating from a stop light. If the pedal was pushed down normally, the car would stumble and die. Once the pedal technique was learned, it wasnt very difficult to drive. We figured it was an effective anti-theft device.... We drove the car for a year, and had no problems. We never tried to get the stumble fixed as the previous owners explained how many times they had it in for repairs at numerous facilities, and other car dealers expressed similar frustrations with this model..... When we sold the car in 1982, it had about 70,000 trouble free miles, and everything was still working.
Over and out. Jim in Indiana.

[Tore Robert Klerud, CLC#20146]

The first generation Seville was aimed at European competitors like the Mercedes Benz S-class, BMW 7-series and the Jag XJ. Even though it never sold in huge numbers over here, it won considerable praise for it´s handling, but got complaints about poor finish and detail workmanship (at least compared to the German cars).

Considering American cars NEVER seem to do well in the automobile press over here anymore (at least they haven´t done so in the last two decades since I started reading most of it), the first generation Seville must have been quite a car. Of course I own one myself, but that one is a restoration project, and due to the so far pretty low interest in them, I haven´t got all the inspiration I need to get on with the resto process yet.

If you want the best of the breed, the Elegante version will be your best choice. The first year (1978) is the lowest production (5,000). If you want a good looker you´ll go for the black and silver version, if you want the rarest one you´ll go for the saddle and brown version, like me. (Oh well, I just stumbled upon it, knew it was a rare car and just had to save it). Don´t know exact numbers, but judged by how often I see black and silver cars, I´d say they made somewhere around 4,000 black/silvers and 1,000 saddle/brown.

Keep us posted on what you do!

Regards,
Tore, Norway
76 Eldo Conv, 78 Sev Ele

[Porter 21919]

I always liked the 77-79 Seville, many people here have called it a gussied up Chevy Nova with a somewhat troublesome FI system.

The car will be judged on its merits, Cadillac did much worse in later year models.

http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1970/cad77s.htm TARGET=_blank>http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1970/cad77s.htm

The Cadillac Cavalier, AKA Cimmaron was the last of the Roger B. Smith decade of fiasco, 1988 was the final year of production.

http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1980/cad88c.htm TARGET=_blank>http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1980/cad88c.htm

Surprise, RWD is back too.



Porter

[Greg McDonnell #20841]

Ive always liked them too.  Will admit it took a little getting used to the size and the sheer look but I think the car has held up well (from a styling standpoint) all these years.  There was an excellent and very thorough article written about these cars in Collectible Automobile (June, 2000). Guess its time I re-read it!  Cadillac execs. spent a lot of time and money on this new, smaller Caddy and it shows.  Fit and finish were top priorities!  Great read!

Greg

[Porter 21919]

I think the styling is excellent, almost reminiscient of the new CTS art and science styling, smooth, sleek and edgy. Nothing gimmicky about the styling, form follows function, just goes to show the Chevrolet Nova was a functional car, even if the Seville was derived from that engineering platform.

The Lincoln Continental shared the Taurus platform and the Mark VIII shared the Thunderbird platform for years, likewise the Town Car shares the Grand Marquis platform today.

GMs last Caprice/Roadmaster/Fleetwood did the same, likewise with great results, all great cars.

The 65 Corvette was the zenith of GM engineering in its day, FI engine, fully independent suspension and 4x4 disc brakes.

To like a car you have to drive it and formulate your own opinion, styling is subjective. Power, comfort, suspension and reliability are the major factors that determine what is or isnt a great car, the milestone cars have it all for its time or place in automotive history.

As a side note the last boxy Caprice was GMs last great car, the 1992 and older models, similar styling to the 77-79 Seville.

GM reminds me of the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you
(Woo woo woo)
What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson
‘Joltin Joe’ has left and gone away?
(Hey hey hey â€" hey hey hey)

At least we have RWD Cadillacs once again with Cadillac styling.

FWIW,

Porter

[Andrew 10642]

Greg,

Buy the car so I can have another perfect Cadillac to test drive when I get down to visit!

Seriously, I like the 76-79 Seville, and it is unique, based on the Nova platform, but that hardly mattered in terms of quality.  No one year is that much better mechanically, although I think a few minor refinements were made in 78-79. Olds 350 w/Bosch EFI, which was used up til 79.  Gets lousy mileage, kinda fast idle, and I remember a Cadillac dealer telling me that the hesitation on pickup from idle was impossible to cure.

They are not a roomy car, by any means.  I barely fit.  I think the 77-79 Deville is actually not that far from the Seville, in terms of handling vs. performance.  The original Seville was introduced 2 years before the Deville as a 76 model.

Price?  Wait for $3/gallon gas and a you will not have to pay more than $4500 for one with 100-150K mileage in great shape.  My experience is that people either love them or hate them.  Im in the former group, but I dont care for the late 70s 2-tone paint schemes.  1979 Triple blackwatch green firemist is nice.  Also, I have noticed leather seems more common in Sevilles than Fleetwoods of the same year.  70s velour is kind of a pain, IMHO.

Many have been converted to carburation, so watch out!

[Dave MacGregor #18998]

Hi,

The Cimmaron was a "J" body car similar to the Chevy Cavalier.

The Seville of 76-79 was the one loosely based off the Chevy Nova platform.

Dave

[Dave Smith #17592]

I recall that a few engineers at Cadillac dubbed the 76 Seville as being made on the AVON chassis.   AVON being NOVA spelled backwards!   The car really didnt resemble a Nova in anyway other than perhaps dimensions.

They were nicely styled and easy to drive.  Especially today now that parking spaces are painted much smaller than they ever were in our youth.

Other than the previously mentioned Fuel Injection issues, they are very good cars.   They made a ton of them so parts are still easy to find.    

David

[denise 20352]

In the 80s, Olds 350 intake manifolds were worth their weight in gold, because so many people wanted to convert these Sevilles to carburetors.

-d

[SDoug Houston]

Lordamighty, No! The Seville Im looking at is the V8 Nova-derived model. The Cimarron was a re-labeled Chevy dumpmobile of later vintage.

[Jeffrey Klinner]

I have a gorgeous one I am about to sell.  77.  Excellent condition.

[Mike #19861]

 The 76-79 Sevilles were beautiful cars. An expression of understated elegance rarely seen in an American car. They were also one of the most influential of designs. Everyone had to have a version of its crisp 3-box styling. All of the new GM B and C bodies of 77 followed its design ethic, and the 1981 Culass 4-door was an almost dead ringer for it. Ford and Chrysler scrambled to not only duplicate styling, but offer a car in this marketplace, without success.

 As far as I know, the only parts that are shared with the X-body Novas are the floor stamping and in 76 the roof panel. And that was changed in 77 due to the success of the car. It was the most expensive Cadillac as well, save for the Seventy Five Series. Its remakable it sold so well. Thats why Lincoln released the hurried and compromised Versailles, and Chrysler had the decidedly down market LeBaron.

 My experince with them has been that they are good reliable cars, save for the EFI gremlins. The Olds 350/THM400 combo is bulletproof. All of the other componentry is proprietry GM with the inherant relibility. They are very rust prone, though. Be very careful for previous and well hidden repairs.

 Mike

[Greg McDonnell #20841]

Want to thank everyone for their comments, suggestions, etc. regarding the first generation Seville.  I really appreciate the input!  This is a GREAT group!

Greg McDonnell
Mobile, AL

[Greg McDonnell]

As a follow up to my original post, I want to write and share the details of my Seville story!  

You may remember my post about the Desert Rose Firemist model I found on the internet.  I had the car professionally inspected and it passed with flying colors.  The inspector/appraiser was really impressed with the car and gave it very high marks.  

After hiring a car transport broker, I waited (and waited and waited) for three weeks for them to find a trucker willing to bring the car from CT to AL.  The company was not successful and I terminated the contract.  I later hired a company based in FL, Minuteman Transport, and was extremely pleased with their equipment and their service.  They delivered the car last Saturday to a small town in southern GA where a friend lives.

When the doors were opened and I saw the car for the first time, I really was speechless.  Friends who were with me were more vocal.  Everyone was saying how beautiful the paint was and what fantastic looking car it was...I just stood there and watched the truckers prepare to unload it.  I was starstruck, it was THAT beautiful!  The previous owner had under-described it.  It was actually BETTER than I had expected it to be!

I drove it back to Mobile, AL (home) the next day.  This was the first time I had ever driven one of these smaller Sevilles and it was a GREAT experience.  The car cruised effortlessly along the interstate and handled like a dream.  Ive been detailing it in the evenings all week and it just looks like a NEW car.  Im as happy as any one guy could be with his new (old) Cadillac!  

Greg McDonnell

[Matt V16]

  I love them myself.. I have several from a mint original triple pale yellow 76 to a two tone black and silver 78 Elegante with a moonroof and the rare digital dash.. I also have a 79 triple white diesel Seville.. That one must be rare today.. None of these cars are worth a whole lot of money, so find the cleanest low mile example you can.. An old lady in my area has a black 76 with a red leather interior plus the sunroof that she bought new.. When I see her, I ask to buy the car, however, she always says no way.. She still drives it everyday.

[Porter 21919]

Greg,

Congratulations on your car purchase, I always liked that bodystyle and GM still had remnants of their old style car quality back in that era, interiors with less plastic, chrome bumpers, etc., seems to me that automotive archtitecture would be timely even today: unibody, V-8, RWD, mid sized and great styling.

The important thing is to get a car professionally appraised if it is far away, never buy a car sight unseen and dont believe ANYTHING the seller tells you. Last but not least you have to buy right, cars are easy to buy and hard to sell. Too many people jump in feet first without considering the downside of a bad car purchase, there are plenty of great cars out there for sale at a decent price.

Ebay has unleashed all the shysters on the public, or should I say a great source for finding pigeons with more money than brains, however a great resource for buying and selling parts.

Porter