1975 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, a daily driver with some mods, 83k miles!

You are looking at my latest project car. a 1975 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. This car is set up to be a daily driver with some (mostly reversible) mods done. The SS emblems and numerals were never found on a Cadillac as far as I know. (or in other words - "the SS is BS" in this case!) However. if a top GM executive had demanded a COPO SS version of a 1975 Coupe DeVille - I think it would have looked this this! They are easy enough to remove along with other trim pieces if you choose to restore this car and have body/paint work done. I like them as "place holders" until such an effort is made - at which point. the car would need to look more like it did when it came out of the factory. The front SS emblem is simply strapped around and through the egg crate openings in the stock grille. comes off with no drama at all. Heck. each SS emblem is worth $15-$50 right here on ebay! You will want to buy a new rear trunk emblem - the one that pivots up to allow the key to go in and open trunk. The original and old Cadillac shield and crest that came off of that piece is included with all the stock parts in the trunk. Here are some interesting details about the car:1) This is a base Coupe DeVille that I bought used from the family who had owned it since new. This particular car came with very few options. It didn't even come with a right-side mirror. nbsp;this one was added after purchase. The base Coupe DeVille also came with a metal roof (no vinyl here!) and they used a flush-mount front emblem on the hood. Only the optional trim package cars such as d'Elegance. etc. came with vinyl roof and the protruding Cadillac hood ornament as part of those order packages. I prefer these "steel roof" cars as you see here and having never had a vinyl roof on it. you are spared the roof rot and rust seen under where the vinyl roofs were on so many other restoration candidate cars. 2) Since purchase. I have replaced just about all the rubber parts under the hood: wipers. belts. hoses. strut rod and sway bar bushings. All fluids were drained out and replaced: oil. rear end. transmission. coolant and even a full brake fluid flush. At 73. 00 miles (10. 00 miles and three years ago) I had new shocks and tires installed and they repacked the front wheel bearings. At 75. 00 miles I had a reconditioned gas tank with a new sending unit and new NAPA fuel supply lines installed at the local garage. 3) The whitewall tires are Hankook Optimo H724 P235R75-15 treadwear 500. Traction A. Temperature B. Some may think this car a boat. but it handles and drives better than the tires of 1975 allowed. 4) At 79. 00 miles I had the stock "smogger" camshaft replaced with a Maximum Torque Specialties (MTS) MT-5 camshaft in a kit along with new lifters and valve springs. retaining stock heads. intake. etc. (the short block was left alone) which remain optimized for low-RPM torque as designed. See photo for the cam card and specs. Basically close to a stock 1973 Caddy cam but with a bit more lift and designed to work well with the car's stock 8. 25:1 compression ratio. This one is all about the torque as the stock heads in all these big-block Caddy motors run out of breathing at about 4400 RPM. Best to play to their strength and tailor the motor to suit that low-numerically rear end - no high-RPM stuff for these cars! With this cam. carb and tuning. the car launches its over 5. 00 pounds very well from rest - you can see the left front corner rise up a bit - and hits the stock (and unmodified here) transmission shift points just right. 5) The car is running well and tuned now with a JET Stage 3 (Rochester) M4M #36002 800 CFM four barrel carb. core #17080513 (crosses to a 1978 and later truck style with APT). This is their performance carb and it has an electric choke - just like stock. I am including the original Rochester M4MEA carb (core #7045913) which. from review of the shop manuals was a one year only carb. It uses a third primary metering rod in factory attempts to tune past the extremely lean condition they had in these cars from the factory. This carb was found on model year 1975 only. and is resting in the trunk along with other parts removed in making the current mods to the car. 6) Finish and Leather - the paint is original. surface rust appearing in areas. more along lower trim edges and along front of hood. I had the rear window pulled out and body work done around the opening to seal things up there - local body shop gave me "a dry trunk" as a result. You can see the code 11 Cotillion White paint in its true color around the rear window opening. Leather seats and vinyl door and dash panels have cracks. tears. etc. as expected on these old cars. Incredibly. the headliner seems to be in good shape still. Most of the gauge mods and engine bright work can be reversed - original parts in trunk. The original radio is also in the trunk if you prefer stock to the single-DIN under-dash pod used to allow the Alpine in without hacking up the dash. The front mats are gone - aftermarket gray rubber winter mats are there now - but the rear mats remain and they are stock. Owners of fully restored cars like this are asking $12-$20k and more. Is this a result of more of the "reality TV show car auction" or Barrett-Jackson effect on our car hobby? You know. where everyone who has a rusted old Camaro in their barn thinks they have a $125. 00 car? Maybe to some extent. but even clapped out models of these '75 and '76 CDV's bring from $4k-$6k so it seems. While the 1974 and earlier cars had a 472. all 1975 and 1976 DeVilles got the same motor as Eldorados had since 1970 - the 500 CI Caddy big block. In summary - this is a fun car to drive around in. At a price near three grand you would have financial room to pay a body shop two or three times that to properly restore the body work and repaint the car. To me. most of the chrome looks ready to buff up a bit and reattach afterwards. With all the new parts and service work done. I drive it around the state to include several outings of 250 miles roundtrip. These things were designed to run all day at turnpike speeds - no sweat! It makes tons of power. rumbles when on the gas. and all the electric stuff works! The a/c works also - you typically add a pound or two of Freon 134a each summer - what I have done since I bought the car. With a low rear end. this car cruises at 2000 rpm on the highway - at ~70mph and gets over 15mpg (I measured it at 17mpg on one trip) doing it - for me at least anyway. YMMV. The steel is thick on the body and the parts are heavy duty throughout the driveline. Next step would be to remove all the trim. strip the paint and have body and paint work done.