Faults:

There has been a lot to do with this car during the past years. However, it is necessary to keep a 40 year old car up to date as a daily driver!

Previous owners: Chassis was sand blown (2007) and treated with anti corrosion oil. Renovated gear box and steering, brakes, air-conditioning (2007). New front window.

Past two years by me: Exhaust, starter motor, battery, coil, spark plugs and plug cables, heater radiator, water pump, window washer (all), front lights, springs (front and rear), shock absorbers. Some corrosion work and paint work is soon to come.

General Comments:

I absolutely love my 1977 Cadillac Sedan Deville! It has become my daily driver (summer and winter!) since 2016 and I will definitely keep it as long as possible.

I remember seeing these cars for the first time while visiting New York back in 1981. Being only 14 at that time, I still remember standing beside several Coupe Devilles crying because of its beautifulness.

I did not think about them for decades, but when I was able to get one cheap a few years ago, the decision was not difficult to make.

The running costs have been high during the two first years, though not larger than having a new SUV or similar (which would have been the option in my case). They are, however decreasing as the car now is almost in a "new car" running condition. My guess is that, despite the high gas consumption (twice a modern, 2 ton SUV), they soon are going to be considerably lower than having a modern car, and more environmentally friendly too! (since it does not have to be rebuilt every 10 years or so...).

Faults:

The air conditioning compressor seized up and melted a belt, causing a call to AAA and a 45-minute wait for the tow truck the third day I had the car.

The blower for the climate control worked intermittently.

The Automatic Level Control for the air shocks was no longer working properly.

The windshield washer fluid pump didn't work.

The headliner was falling down.

I put new spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, and rotor on the car.

The headlight dimmer switch went bad.

General Comments:

This car was in mint condition when I purchased it. I have owned three Cadillacs, and technically it was the nicest one I've had, and it had the lowest mileage of the three.

However, I disliked it. For one thing, the color was HORRIBLE; it was Baroque Gold with buckskin cloth interior. Most people, myself included, felt the color approximated dog vomit. This might have been a great color in 1977 (in fact, a Sedan deVille in this color was shown at least three times in the sales literature that year) but it didn't translate well into the year 2001.

The car absolutely DRANK gasoline, I was spending $25-30 to fill up EVERY FOUR DAYS!! I would only get about 250 miles to the tank, which translated to about ten miles per gallon, despite my best efforts to increase the gas mileage to the factory-specified 13 to 14 mpg city and 16-17 mpg highway.

The car did have a lot of torque, so occasionally I would peel out without even intending to from a complete stop! This usually made other people look at my car with a sort of "Why is an old person's car peeling out??" I'm 23, so that wasn't exactly the image I wanted to project while driving it.

The down-sized Cadillac sedans of the 1977-79 period are really poor with regards to legroom. I had the seat the whole way back and I was still uncomfortable, as I am 6'3" tall. Also, when I had the seat that far back, my vision to the side was blocked by the poorly-placed "B" pillar of the roof. This made merging on the highway or changing lanes an exciting adventure, because I couldn't see if there was anyone to the left of me when doing so.