Culled Cadillacs
Cadillac was created by reorganising the unsuccessful Henry Ford Company in 1902.
In the century and (almost) a quarter since then, it has established several short-lived nameplates, but also some which hung around for a long time – in some cases, for decades.
Here we are looking at those which no longer exist. Listed in chronological order, every nameplate here survived for at least five model years.
How many do you remember?
1. Cadillac V-16
V-16 is the collective name for top-end Cadillacs of the 1930s powered by V16 engines.
The first of these, which measured 7.4 litres, was developed in great secrecy alongside the company’s 6-litre V12.
The enormously expensive car it was fitted to was introduced in the 1930 model year, right at the start of the Great Depression. Sales were impressive to begin with, but collapsed as the world began to run out of money.
Despite that, Cadillac continued to build it until 1937, then created a completely new 7.1-litre V16 (with the cylinder banks angled at 135 degrees rather than the previous 45), which remained in production until 1940.
Here we have a 1930 Cadillac V-16 Transformable Town Cabriolet by Fleetwood.
2. Cadillac V-12
V16 engines have never been common in road cars, but in the early 1930s a V12 was practically the must-have power source for any ultra-luxury American automobile.
All the cars known as Cadillac V-12 were powered by the 6-litre unit which, as mentioned earlier, was related to the V16, but with fewer cylinders and a larger bore.
The first models, known as Series 370, were marketed from 1931 to 1935.
They were replaced by the Series 80 and Series 85, which were essentially the same car with different wheelbases. The Series 80 was produced only in 1936, while the Series 85 lasted a year longer.
The car you see here is a 1936 Cadillac V-12 Convertible Coupe by Fleetwood.
3. Cadillac Series 355
Formidable as it undoubtedly appeared when looked at in isolation, the Series 355 was the ‘junior’ Cadillac of its day.
It was powered by a relatively modest 5.8-litre V8 engine which was introduced in 1928 with the slightly smaller capacity of 5.6 litres.
The 355 was produced between the 1931 and 1935 model years. Cadillac made annual changes, which led to the cars being given suffix letters. The series therefore ran from the original 355A to the concluding 355E.
Sales were badly hurt by the Great Depression, but the Series 355 nevertheless outsold the contemporary V-12 and V-16 by an enormous margin.
4. Cadillac Series 75
The first Series 75 was a companion model to the shorter Series 70. Both were introduced in 1936, and were powered by a new 5.7-litre monobloc V8 engine.
Cadillac used the same nameplate many times from then on, though not continuously, for a long run of very large cars.
The line appeared to have come to an end after the truly enormous Series 75 introduced in 1971 (pictured) was abandoned five years later.
This was one of several Cadillacs powered by the brand’s highest-capacity production engine, an 8.2-litre V8.
The name was brought back for a final Series 75 produced from 1985 to 1987. Physically the largest of them all, it also had the smallest engine (at 4.1 litres), and was the only one with front-wheel drive.
5. Cadillac Sixty Special
In its original form, the Sixty Special was a longer and more extravagantly designed derivative of the Series 60.
It was introduced in 1938, the third and final model year of the car it was based on.
At the time, it would have been difficult to imagine that it would still be possible to buy a car of the same name near the end of the century, but that’s what happened.
Sixty Specials of various kinds were produced more or less continuously until 1976. As with the Series 75, there was then a gap, but the name returned for one final generation sold from 1987 to 1993.
6. Cadillac Series 61
The Series 61 name appeared briefly in 1939, and surfaced again in 1941. The ‘42 model, with very different styling, was suspended due to the Second World War, but reappeared when peace returned.
Stability finally arrived in 1948, when the last Series 61 was introduced. This one remained on the market without interruption until 1951, though there were several changes, including the arrival of Cadillac’s first overhead-valve V8 engine.
This final Series 61 was the basis of an extraordinary machine which raced at Le Mans in 1950.
Although it was mechanically very similar, it bore no visual resemblance to the standard car, and looked so strange that it was nicknamed le monstre, or ‘the monster’.
Pictured is a 1949 Cadillac Series 61 Club Coupe.
7. Cadillac Series 62
With the usual interruption caused by the Second World War, the Series 62 was produced as consistently as circumstances allowed for seven generations from 1940 to 1964.
All versions had V8 engines – originally the monobloc and then, from 1948, the more modern overhead-valve unit.
The De Ville and Eldorado, which later became Cadillac models in their own right, started out as variants of the Series 62.
The line died out when Cadillac changed the original name to Calais for the 1965 model year.
Representing the nameplate in this photo is a 1960 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible Coupe.
8. Cadillac Eldorado
Along with the Buick Roadmaster Skylark and the Oldsmobile 98 Fiesta, the first Eldorado was one of three very special (and very expensive) convertibles introduced by General Motors brands in 1953.
Its name was a contraction of el dorado, Spanish for ‘the golden one’, and appropriately enough Eldorados were generally very expensive halo models, intended more to draw attention to Cadillac than to sell in high numbers.
The Eldorado became front-wheel drive in the late 1960s, and remained that way to the end, even though it was powered by an 8.2-litre V8 engine for the first half of the following decade.
Eldorado production came to an end after 12 generations in 2002, very nearly half a century after it had begun.
Here we have a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.
9. Cadillac De Ville
Although it was still based on the Series 62, the De Ville became a distinct model in 1959.
That first version was almost the poster child for extravagant American car styling of the late ’50s, with its colossal tailfins and twin bullet rear lights.
The design was toned down after that, but De Villes were still imposing vehicles until the model was downsized in 1985.
The name survived until the end of the eighth generation in 2005.
Following Cadillac’s new naming convention, the car which succeeded the last De Ville was called the DTS, though it looked very similar to the model it replaced.
10. Cadillac Calais
The replacement for the Series 62 was a slightly less expensive alternative to the De Ville, which it resembled very closely in each of its two generations.
In fact, the Calais essentially was a De Ville, but with more basic equipment. A standard De Ville and a Calais with a few optional extras were almost indistinguishable.
Calais production began in 1965, and ended in 1976.
By the latter year, the Calais was no longer Cadillac’s entry-level model, following the introduction of the Seville.
11. Cadillac Seville
Although the name had been used earlier, the Seville began life as a separate model in 1976, replacing the Calais as the most affordable Cadillac.
Front-wheel drive was introduced for the second generation, and remained part of the Seville specification from then on.
That model and its successor had very quirky rear-end styling (a bustle tail and an almost vertical back window respectively).
The fourth and fifth Sevilles, which looked very similar, had more conventional, and more modern, designs. The latter survived until 2004, 28 years after the series began.
Pictured is a 1977 Cadillac Seville .
12. Cadillac Cimarron
It’s perhaps unfortunate that the Cimarron survived long enough to qualify for inclusion in this list, since it is widely regarded as one of the least appealing models Cadillac ever produced.
The Cimarron wasn’t exactly bad. It was one of many GM J-body cars, and therefore a close relative of the Holden Camira, Oldsmobile Firenza, Opel Ascona, Pontiac Sunbird and Vauxhall Cavalier.
The problem was that a slightly glitzed-up mainstream model with a Cadillac badge and (usually) a four-cylinder engine just didn’t fit the brand’s image, and the only way round that was to abandon the thing and build something else instead.
In fact, Cadillac persevered with it for more than half a decade. The Cimarron was introduced in the 1982 model year and hung around all the way through to 1988.
13. Cadillac Fleetwood
The name of the Fleetwood coachbuilding company, which came into the General Motors orbit in the 1920s, was used to denote special versions of Cadillac models for several decades.
The first specific Fleetwood model had a transversely mounted V8 engine – or, briefly, a V6 diesel – driving the front wheels.
In a complete reverse of the usual situation at the time, its replacement (pictured) was considerably larger, and had a higher-capacity V8 driving the rear wheels.
Together, these very different models kept the Fleetwood name alive for more than a decade, from 1985 to 1996.
14. Cadillac Allanté
This luxury roadster has been described, not altogether fancifully, as having been built on the world’s longest assembly line.
Its smart-looking body was designed by Pininfarina, and built by the same company in Turin, then flown across the Atlantic to Detroit, where all the other parts were added by Cadillac.
This was a very expensive process, and its cost had to be passed on to the customer. Sales were accordingly low, but Cadillac felt the project was worth the trouble from 1987 to 1993.
Ironically, the late introduction of the 4.6-litre Northstar V8 engine (by far the most powerful fitted to the car), along with other improvements, meant that the Allanté’s last year was also its most successful.
15. Cadillac Brougham
Strictly speaking, the Brougham was produced only from 1987 to 1992, but the car actually made its first appearance in 1977.
Back then, it was known as the Fleetwood Brougham. It was powered by a variety of petrol and diesel V8 engines, all of which drove the rear wheels.
When, as mentioned earlier, the Fleetwood became established as a front-wheel-drive model in its own right in 1985, the spectre of confusion between two quite different cars with similar names raised its ugly head.
Cadillac did not immediately react to this, but after two years it dropped the Fleetwood name from the older model, which lived out the rest of its production life as simply the Brougham.
16. Cadillac Catera
The sad tale of the Cimarron had been either forgotten or assumed to be a non-recurring phenomenon by the time the Catera was introduced in 1997.
Once again, this was a European GM vehicle with a mild styling upgrade and a Cadillac badge.
It was based on the Vauxhall/Opel Omega, which was admittedly a far more upmarket car than any of the J-body models related to the Cimarron.
Still, despite a frenzied marketing campaign, the Catera wasn’t a hit. Cadillac dropped it at the end of the 2001 year, by which time it was already working on its replacement, the far better, and more obviously American, CTS.
17. Cadillac Escalade EXT
The pick-up version of Cadillac’s luxury SUV was introduced in the 2002 model year, almost exactly at the same time as crosstown rival Lincoln’s disastrous Blackwood.
The Blackwood was gone within two years, though Lincoln’s second attempt, the Mark LT, was more successful.
Cadillac, however, seemed to have got it right first time with the EXT, and followed up the original model with a new one (pictured), based on the third-generation Escalade, in 2007.
Possibly as a result of improvements in more mainstream trucks, the EXT gradually fell from grace. It was discontinued in 2013, by which time it had become one of the worst-selling vehicles in the US.
18. Cadillac CTS
The CTS luxury saloon made its debut in the 2003 model year and was built across three generations until 2019.
To all intents and purposes, it was replaced by a fourth CTS, but a change in Cadillac’s naming system led to that car being known as the CT5 instead.
Regardless of when they were built, most CTSs were powered by V6 engines, though a turbocharged 2-litre was introduced in the final generation.
The high-performance CTS-V variants, however, all had V8 engines. The last of these was a supercharged 6.2-litre motor which, at the time, was the most powerful engine ever fitted to a Cadillac, and in that respect it has since been eclipsed only by the unit in today’s CT5-V Blackwing.
A 2018 Cadillac CTS-V is pictured here.
19. Cadillac SRX
Two markedly different generations of SRX were manufactured from 2004 to 2016.
The first (pictured) was a three-row, seven-seat luxury SUV with rear- or all-wheel drive. It was followed in 2010 by a smaller, two-row, five-seat version available only with front-wheel drive.
The change made the SRX very popular. Annual sales more than doubled almost immediately to more than 50,000, and hit a peak of 68,850 in 2015.
The second SRX was replaced by the XT5, which remains in production today.
20. Cadillac XLR
This sharp-edged sports car could charitably be described as one of Cadillac’s more ambitious projects.
Its main problem was its close relative, the sixth-generation Chevrolet Corvette, which was built in the same factory.
Despite their basic similarity, the Corvette was more powerful and much cheaper. It also looked like an American sports car, and it had a vastly more resonant name – who even dreams that one day they might own something called XLR?
In the whole of a production life which extended from 2003 to 2009, the XLR found just over 15,000 customers. During the same period, annual Corvette sales were usually more than twice that.
21. Cadillac BLS
Despite its long-standing reputation as a high-quality brand in North America, Cadillac has never been successful in Europe.
One of the most determined efforts to change this led to the creation of the BLS, which was produced from 2005 to 2009.
Built by Saab, and based on the same platform as the 9-3, the Fiat Croma and the Vauxhall Vectra, it was full of European technology, and was never even considered for sale in the US.
Perhaps Cadillac thought the brand name alone would entice potential buyers. It didn’t.
22. Cadillac STS
The last Seville was replaced in 2005 by the STS, whose initials are generally agreed to have stood for ‘Seville Touring Sedan’.
Cadillac returned to rear-wheel drive, which had not been offered on the Seville since 1979, and also made all-wheel drive available for the first time in one of its saloons.
The high-performance derivative was the STS-V. Its engine – a supercharged 4.4-litre version of the Northstar V8 – produced in excess of 450bhp, far more than was available elsewhere in the range.
US sales of the STS in general peaked early at 33,497 in the 2005 calendar year, but soon fell.
A 2008 facelift more or less coincided with the global credit crunch, after which sales collapsed to around a tenth of their previous level.
23. Cadillac DTS
As we mentioned earlier, the DTS would probably have been known as the last-generation De Ville if Cadillac hadn’t decided to give most of its models three-letter names.
Mechanically, there was very little difference between the DTS and its predecessor. Both were based on the same platform, and used the same 4.6-litre Northstar V8 engine. Even the styling was only mildly updated.
In the US, the DTS was initially popular for a car of this type, with annual sales of over 50,000.
Inevitably, the global credit crunch did its evil work, and by the time production ended in 2011 sales had dropped into the low five figures.
24. Cadillac ATS
Cadillac’s first compact luxury car was also the first GM vehicle based on the new Alpha platform.
It was launched in the 2013 model year as a saloon, and later became available with a coupé body style.
Derivatives included the high-performance, twin-turbo ATS-V (pictured) and the long-wheelbase ATS-L, built and sold in China.
In 2019, the ATS became one of 10 GM saloons axed within a period of five years due to the growing popularity of SUVs and crossovers.
Unlike most of the others, it had a direct replacement in the form of the CT4, which you can still buy today.
25. Cadillac XTS
Far larger than the ATS launched at around the same time, the XTS was a full-size luxury saloon produced for a single generation and available with front- or all-wheel drive.
Like the BLS, the XTS was never manufactured in the United States.
Most versions were built north of the border in Oshawa, Ontario. Production also took place in China, where the XTS found far more customers than it did in the US.
The car was discontinued at the end of the 2019 model year.
26. Cadillac CT6
At the time of writing, the CT6 luxury sedan is the most recently launched Cadillac to have gone out of production.
It was launched in the 2016 model year and discontinued in early 2020, partly because the Detroit-Hamtramck plant where it was built (now known as Factory ZERO) was converted to produce only electric vehicles.
In September 2017, the CT6 became the first vehicle available with GM’s Super Cruise semi-autonomous driver assistance system, which has since been offered in other Cadillacs, Chevrolets and GMCs.
The CT6 is also the only car ever to have been fitted with a 4.2-litre twin-turbo V8 engine known as Blackwing.
This produced 500bhp in the CT6 Platinum and 550bhp in the CT6-V, but is no longer used in anything. To the irritation of some Cadillac enthusiasts, the most powerful versions of the current CT4 and CT5 both have Blackwing in their name, but have different engines.
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