Incoming..Yank shite

[Rocket88]

Not having had an Amerikun veehikle since the departure of the Olds, chopped in this

 

against this

 

 

 

I know these have a bit of a duff reputation, mostly brought about by the ridiculously long service intervals, but this one seems pucker. ABS light is on, but apart from that, it drives beautifully, with surprisingly good roadholding, comfy ride, and quite impressive performance.........bought from that there Dagenham.....'old out yer 'and etc etc......

[Lankytim]

Nice! These are meant to be great motors, I'd love a go in one!

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

I used to live in dagenham, I'm sure you got a nice* deal on a genuine* motah! 

 

Just kiddin, I would!

[Rocket88]

All the toys work, and it's had stainless rear exhaust  [cat backwards] fitted....makes a lovely noise.......it has a built in mini disc player ......[aka Betamax]

[GeordieInExile]

Are these now in shed budget..?

[Rocket88]

The broken ones [of which there are many] are............but they're a real "caveat emptor" job..............

[sutty2006]

Front wheel drive?

[Uncle Jimmy]

I heartily approve of this, sell a fine, functional, reliable bit of Scandinavian tech to buy a dodgy American waftmobile.

Top bombing- carry on.

[Uncle Jimmy]

We'll call you 'Dagenham Dave' then from now on

[Rocket88]

Front wheel drive?

 

 Yup. but doesn't feel like it..........

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Front wheel drive.... I wouldn't then. Disregard my last statement. Unless... It gets driven everywhere in reverse!

 

How is it fwd with a massive tunnel like that?

[Rocket88]

Nice! These are meant to be great motors, I'd love a go in one!

 

 

Be me guest, if you're ever in this parish.......

[Rocket88]

Front wheel drive.... I wouldn't then. Disregard my last statement. Unless... It gets driven everywhere in reverse!

 

How is it fwd with a massive tunnel like that?

 Becos Cadillac..............

[sutty2006]

Yup. but doesn't feel like it..........

It won’t do. Caddilacs are built to feel like you’re riding on a cloud filled with sponges...

[PhilA]

Becos Cadillac..............

Perception. Large centre console here means luxury car because traditionally RWD. Even if it's filled with nothing but air.

 

It's not a bad thing though, it adds a decent degree of stiffness to the floor pan.

 

 

Nice car. Don't see many around here, most have shat their engine/transmission by now.

 

Phil

[Bren]

Northstar V8? Google "northstar V8 blue devil". It was the American K series. Well done - fab colour.

[Rocket88]

Yup...Northstar.............good engine, ruined by GM stipulating ridiculously long service intervals...........coolant has to be changed every two years, otherwise bad things happen. Oil should be done every 6000 miles, regardless of what the on board computer says. Plugs were given a 100,000 mile life span, which is mad..........they did have an appetite for head gaskets, and they're a bastard to fix. Like a "K" series, great engines, but won't stand being neglected. 

[eddyramrod]

It won’t do. Caddilacs are built to feel like you’re riding on a cloud filled with sponges...

I can vouch for that!

It's exactly what Huggy does.

 

Regular readers will know by now that he's my third Cadillac, so I'm very used to all the pitching and rolling and in all honesty, I love it.  Contemporary road testers marked cars like this low for all suspension-related elements, calling the ride "too soft" and "boat-like" (which is why we now call them land yachts or barges) but to me, the soft ride is a big part of the charm.  I have no trouble understanding the love Elvis Presley had for a Cadillac!  I do feel very much like a king (if not exactly The King, uh-huh) driving one.

I've never driven an STS, never even sat in one, but I can certainly see it happening sometime.  They're as cheap to buy now as they're ever going to be while still being viable cars, so I really should pick one up soon.

[C1am]

The problem isn't neglected services intervals blowing head gaskets, but the early bolt head design:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nf0bp4dmZU

 

Edit - head bolt, not bolt head!

[Rocket88]

This doesn't really fit the pitching and rolling criteria, but is very comfortable.....and appears to do 24 mpg, which ain't bad..............closest I could compare it would be an early Lexus 400.......but better on juice, and quicker....and probably far less reliable......we shall see.

[Rocket88]

The problem isn't neglected services intervals that blows head gaskets, but the early bolt head design:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nf0bp4dmZU

 

They did improve that side of things post 2000 [mine's a 2001] but the 100,00 mile service intervals were asking for trouble..........

[sutty2006]

My mates got a 70s borougham (if that’s how it’s spelt) with the 5.2 GM V8 diesel. Terrible engine. He’s bought a humvee V8 turbo diesel for it. We’ll shoe horn that in one day.

[eddyramrod]

Nope, still wrong.  The clue: diesel.

[cort16]

There was a new video on youtubes just the other day about these engines. The conclusion is they're good engines let down by steel head studs with a fine thread that pulls out the block. All you need to do* is re-tap the block and fit bigger studs.

 

However I think they look great at the interior looks so comfy. Also northstar is a good name for an engine. Better than toyota 1-HD-T.

 

[Mrs6C]

Excellent choice of car!

 

The party trick of the Northstar is that if the coolant is lost, the engine will adopt a 'limp home' mode of 4 cylinder operation, with alternate banks receiving fuel and firing and the whole thing acting as if air-cooled. Legend has it that on the engine's launch, a party of journalists drove a Northstar-equipped car with no coolant at all, coast to coast across America, with no problems experienced...

[wuvvum]

This doesn't really fit the pitching and rolling criteria, but is very comfortable.....and appears to do 24 mpg, which ain't bad..............closest I could compare it would be an early Lexus 400.......but better on juice, and quicker....and probably far less reliable......we shall see.

 

Interesting you should say that - I had both at the same time for a short while, I bought my STS to replace an LS400 (well technically a Toyota Celsior) which I then sold to Exiled_Tat_Gatherer shortly thereafter.  I found the Toyota much better suited to Norfolk roads than the Caddy, which was rather too nose heavy in corners - although to be fair to the old heap it did do a far better job of putting 305bhp down through the front wheels than I'd initially expected. 

 

Toyota felt quicker too, although I came to the conclusion that that was illusory and a product of the perkier-feeling engine and far more responsive gearbox.  A Northstar when on song is a beast of an engine.

 

That Cadillac remains to this day the most expensive car I have ever bought.  I paid £1,650 for it.

[eddyramrod]

Col, whatever happened to that lovely blue Imperial?

[Rocket88]

Col, whatever happened to that lovely blue Imperial?

 

 Deal went south the day before I was due to collect...........seller got cold feet.

[eddyramrod]

Aw, bummer!

[Schaefft]

Oh wow, an STS on Autoshite. These constantly pop up in my search alerts, you'd be surprised how cheap they can get without the engine being blown up. Have a bit of patience and you can get one for around a grand easily. I think most of it has been mentioned here before, head studs getting torn out of the block causing OMGHGF, but like The Wizard explains above, its fixable. Cannot wait to find out that my 4.0 Aurora V8 (thats basically a smaller displacement Northstar) has the same problems...

 

Almost bought one for around 400 quid, as usual the seller was an idiot so it didnt happen. I'll take 59 randoms pls.