1985 de Ville: The Cadillac of Tomorrow

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A new de Ville arrived in 1985. and this Cadillac was more than two feet shorter and 500 lbs lighter than the previous model.

 

For 1985, the Cadillac de Ville underwent its most radical change since the name was introduced in 1949. Its General Motors C-body platform, shared with the Buick Electra and Oldsmobiile 98, was completely transformed. A conventional body-on-frame, rear-drive vehicle in its previous form, now it featured unit construction and front-wheel drive. In the overhaul, the wheelbase shrank from 121.5 to 110.8 inches, while the overall length was reduced more than two feet to 195 inches. GM’s premium car division called it “the Cadillac of Tomorrow.”

 

Of course, the reasons for the extreme downsizing were more than obvious. The mandate at Cadillac was to reduce fuel consumption, improve handling, and bring Cadillac’s bread-and-butter model more into line with other luxury cars from around the world. This was “the most advanced Cadillac in history,” the ads declared.

While the Buick and Olds C-cars were V6-powered, the new de Ville retained Cadillac’s HT 4100 V8, here rotated 90 degrees to transverse location and mated to a four-speed automatic transaxle. A 4.1 liter (249 CID) pushrod V8, the HT 4100 sported digital throttle-body fuel injection and was rated at 125 hp. The HT stood for High Technology according to Cadillac, but the aluminum-block V8 was plagued with coolant leaks and other troubles for much of its life.

 

Even with the dramatic reduction in size. Cadillac reported that on the inside, the new de Ville was as large or larger in every key dimension than the previous cabin. with greater  front-seat headroom and legroom. The front-drive packaging no doubt helped in that regard. Naturally, all the traditional Cadillac comfort features were offered, including power everything, premium audio systems, and touch-screen electronic climate control.

Despite the radical transformation, de Ville sales in 1985 remained about the same as before. Total production volume was around 188,000 cars, a figure that includes the front-drive Fleetwood that shared the C-body package. The two-door Coupe de Ville accounted for around a fifth of the deliveries, while the Sedan de Ville four-door claimed the rest. All through the ’80s and ’90s, the Sedan de Ville remained Cadillac’s most popular car, even as the GM luxury division’s sales continued to erode.

 

13 thoughts on “1985 de Ville: The Cadillac of Tomorrow”

  1. I remember when these were first released. My parents had purchased an ‘84 Fleetwood Brougham several months earlier and Dad and I went to the dealer to look at the new Cadillac out of curiosity.

    It felt peppier than the Fleetwood with less weight to carry around, but I remember being thoroughly unimpressed. Despite all of the Cadillac amenities it reminded me of the then-current front-wheel-drive A- or X-body cars, which was not a good thing.

  2. Bought one of those used in the early 90s, it was an absolute lemon; Transmission went bad, fuel pump, ac compressor, window regulators, seat motor but no problems with the engine . I gave up on it and dumped it for a substantial loss

  3. This generation Cadillac eventually spawned the Lincoln ad campaign “That’s not my Cadillac!” due to its size and silhouette similarity to lesser GM cars.

  4. “A 4.1 liter (249 CID) pushrod V8, the HT 4100 sported digital throttle-body fuel injection and was rated at 125 hp.”

    That’s sad. Consider that Dodge was getting 142 hp from a 2.2 liter (135 CID) turbocharged inline 4, I would say calling the Caddy 4100 High Technology was a bit optimistic.

  5. My late father in law bought one of these in 85 and liked it for a little while, until the head gasket blew early. I drove it and found it a little un-nerving in high speed sweeping turns.

  6. I, too, remember. GM, the leader for so many years and they caved to this for their flagship. I remember at the time: “What were they thinking?”

    • Unfortunately 😕 the results didn’t look like a lot of the right thoughts were put into that smaller front wheel drive version. Such a major disappointment

  7. Unfortunately, a flop. Mainly because Americans bought their luxury cars by the foot and the pound. And they weren’t particularly interested in a smaller, more efficient Cadillac. Sales picked up a couple of years later in the refresh when some old styling cues, and a few more inches, were added to the car.

    The relative failure of this redesign made it apparent that Cadillac wasn’t going to make it with the clientele that was looking at BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Here’s where Cadillac started it’s slide into being an ‘old man’s car’.

  9. And,… even today the “Transverse” mounting of the engines (as in Chevrolet Citation in 1979) placing the centerline of the engine ahead of the transmission shifted the weight and balance of all similar vehicles much farther (55-65 percent) forward. I always have thought of that as (simply put) a Chevrolet Corvair (Unsafe at any speed) in reverse? Engineering term: “Negative Polar Moment”.

  10. The look of the downsizing was still a good looking Cadillac, but the car was such an overall disappointment. A couple of my family members bought them new and had a lot of unexpected problems out of this style that didn’t exist with the larger body rear wheel drive versions😞

  11. Writing this story without mentioning the Federal government’s CAFE mandates is to ignore a major driver (crippling fines) for this resizing.

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