My first Yank!

[cort1977]

Nice motor and an amazing wife as well.   My wife want a bloody Q7!

 

Interesting info about the Northstar V8 there, from memory wasn't it one of the first to have cylinder de-activation to improve efficiency when cruising?

 

Off to google Godfather airhorns.

[Six-cylinder]

I went to get the Cadillac yesterday from a village near Ipswich. Sorry no epic train journeys as my son gave me a lift the 111 miles but I did sit there for over 2 hours with my camera on my lap ready for any interesting cars. Nothing but when we got there the sellers friend who was handing over the Cadillac he had his own ecliptic collection 40’s Chrysler coupe, 1978 Rolls Royce, 40’s jeep, Citron DS, 2001 MGF, 1960’s Chevrolet van, 1999 Peugeot 306 convertible etc. But his big thing is Motor bikes, over a hundred rare and interesting Bikes. Now I don’t know anything about bikes but I could see he is a collector with a passion. He told us that once he was introduced to a lady head shrink who was concerned about him and his addictive buying and for £3000 she could cure him. He says he thought about it and spent £3000 on another bike!

 

The Cadillac is not quite perfect with a couple of minor scrapes, scratched leather on the drivers seat, door mirrors not working in all directions, os electric window not working, damp in boot. The car has a feel of not having been loved and needs a good clean and a couple of jobs.

 

For all it’s minor faults it drives very well and my wife has used it today for about 70 miles without fault and loves it.

 

What have we go 270 bhp or 295 bhp. I believe it is a European car as every thing is in km inc the speed rating for the space saver. The car says touring coupe on the doors but we can’t find any over clues.

 

 

My son with a few of the bikes.

[PhilA]

Either that or it was Canadian.

 

But they usually have km/h on the main scale and mph as the afterthought.

 

 

--Phil

[Six-cylinder]

Either that or it was Canadian.

 

But they usually have km/h on the main scale and mph as the afterthought.

 

 

--Phil

 

Canadian that is another possibly. The speedo has the outer ring in kph and a hard to read inner ring in mph. The tail lights have orange sections for the indicators there are no rear body marker lights on the back wings. Somebody has added an after market fog light. There is no engine number on the V5 and I can’t find it on the engine. Still the question is it 270bhp or 295 bhp and now what county did it first live in?

[eddyramrod]

A couple of mine had the primary markings in kph.  I automatically assumed they had been delivered new to Canada.  Some may even have been assembled there, though I think it's less likely with a Cadillac.  Is there any old paperwork?  Anything that suggests who the first-supplying dealer might have been?  Or possibly an odd badge on the trunk lid.  My Chevy Lumina had one of those, from a dealership in Kincardine... Ontario.

[gordonbennet]

What a lovely looking car that is, profile is stunningly handsome, so right in Gold/Champagne too.

 

I like that cut of that geezers jib, £3000 for a shrink, sod that, spent the money on another bike, bloody top bloke.

[Guest Lord Sward]

Now that I like!  Well done.

[Six-cylinder]

A couple of mine had the primary markings in kph.  I automatically assumed they had been delivered new to Canada.  Some may even have been assembled there, though I think it's less likely with a Cadillac.  Is there any old paperwork?  Anything that suggests who the first-supplying dealer might have been?  Or possibly an odd badge on the trunk lid.  My Chevy Lumina had one of those, from a dealership in Kincardine... Ontario.

 

No stray badges on the boot but my wife has read the Vin code letter which says it was built Detroit-Hamtramck. We do not have any non UK paper work for it. It was first registered in the UK 1-1-08. 

 

[gtd2000]

Used to have one of thses in blue..........lovely thing, although always gave the impression of build quality being slightly questionable.....in fact, bloody shonky. They are a handsome looking beast though, although the dashboard is decidely low rent..........

Funnily enough when I first worked in the USA in 2001 one of the guys traded in his Ford F350 for a new Cadillac and he wanted to show it off to us in the office.

 

After a brief walk around and everybody saying something along the lines of "nice car buddy!", I had the feeling it was just a slightly better trimmed 1981 Cavalier in my estimation...

[Junkman]

Is there an 'E' number on the taillight lenses and a wavy line?

Also, if you give me the first 11 digits of the VIN, I can tell you exactly what it is, where it was built, and which engine it has.

You can PM me if you like.

 

BTW, that's a 1957 Chevy van.

[PhilA]

Canada requires side-facing reflectors in red at the rear, and also for a light to shine at 90 degrees to the back; I forget on these if those features are integrated into the rear cluster.

 

They also, like here, allow either individual indicators in either red or amber, or integrated stop/turn lights. Individual amber is marketed as a "safety feature".

 

Phil

[Madman Of The People]

Try running the VIN number through here.  If it's a US-spec car, it will tell you everything you need to know.

 

http://www.decodethis.com/

[Six-cylinder]

Is there an 'E' number on the taillight lenses and a wavy line?

Also, if you give me the first 11 digits of the VIN, I can tell you exactly what it is, where it was built, and which engine it has.

You can PM me if you like.

 

BTW, that's a 1957 Chevy van.

 

PM sent with Full Vin No.

 

 

[Volksy]

Is it originally Swiss?

[Junkman]

You need to look closely at the lenses. If there is a circled 'E' and a number and a waved line, the car was built for the EEC market and sold through an official GM dealership.

If not, they are SAE, and going by the speedo, the car was likely built for export Canada. The RPOs will tell us more.

Canada, exactly like the US, does not require separate side marker lights, if the taillights and/or front sidelights (orange in North America) wrap around the sides.

[PhilA]

Hmm, it does have the Mexico/export plate surround on it (US spec saw all red clusters and the reversing lights in the plate recess) but the chrome capping and the darker gray wrap on the rear bumper don't look like factory options. The side marker light and reflector normally lives on the side there and I believe the export models had them.

You can also get those clusters with red/orange/red for foglight use.

 

I'm not sure, tbh. Might have started out as an European vehicle. Anywhere in Europe that didn't mandate fog lights?

 

Phil

 

Edit: I'm a moron. Yeah, you got an European model. The side capping is factory to hide the holes for the marker lights, which don't (up front, at least) conform to EU regs. Hence the flank side repeater lobbed on as afterthought.

 

You'll be able to tell if it's wired into the American circuit or not if the side repeaters light up when you put the sidelights on. If they don't, and flash at the same time as the indicators then yeah.. EU spec export model.

 

Plus, most Cadillac vehicles don't get the GM badge, especially not on the back. They try and break Caddy away from the GM herd..

 

Also, the back three-quarter shot with those lights, at a squint, says "Astra Belmont", which makes it 100% shite in my opinion. Win.

[Six-cylinder]

I have now found the E on the clear lens in a circle. Any way to find which country it conforms too?

 

[Junkman]

All EU and all countries which accept EU standards, so pretty much everywhere except the US.

[PhilA]

E13, the lighting was certified by Luxembourg. Doesn't mean much though.

 

Phil

[Junkman]

It doesn't matter at which accredited optical institute in the EU you get them approved. EU Type approval is EU type approval.

[PhilA]

It doesn't matter at which accredited optical institute in the EU you get them approved. EU Type approval is EU type approval.

"Doesn't mean much though".

 

The lights on my van appear to have been designed by the same person. I should check what approvals mine have. Probably US/CAN DOT.

 

Phil

[Junkman]

US/SAE 'Guide' taillights are essentially legal in the EU, it just means every car needs to be approved individually at the time of registration. This is not feasible if you want to sell them in quantity, hence it is usually only done with grey imports.

Eldorados and Sevilles sold reasonably well in the EEC to justify type approval.

[Six-cylinder]

I found this sticker on the drivers door edge, any ideas?

 

[eddyramrod]

I'd like to see some more of that lower label.  There seems to be a build date on there of November 1993, and the upper label would seem to refer to the Japanese market (but what do I know?).  Of course all of that could be rubbish...

[Six-cylinder]

These are the lower labels.

 

[Madman Of The People]

PM sent with Full Vin No.

 

 

 

 

 

Those are definitely Euro-spec tail lamps.  I know Eldorados were exported to Germany with these lamps, and maybe a few other EU countries too.

 

Here's what the US-spec tail lamps looked like.....

 

 

[Madman Of The People]

Also, a US-spec car will have a sticker like this affixed either under the bonnet, inside the door jamb or on the B-pillar.

 

 

 

.

 

 

It is there to confirm the car conforms to all the various DOT and EPA safety and emissions nonsense.  Cars built for export will not have this.

[Madman Of The People]

BTW, Decode-This confirms your car is a 1994 Eldorado Touring model.