Looking back: Cadillacs small and large cars for 1986

[91 s-10baja]

1986 Cadillac lineup switched its rear-drive cars to a 5.0-liter (307-cubic-inch) Olds V-8 with 140 horsepower. Other changes to the 1986 Cadillac ensemble were subtle. The bread-winning 1986 Cadillac De Ville and 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood got a slight power increase, from 125 horsower to 135....

1986 Cadillac Small and Large car Promo

[StormHunter77]

A banner year for Cadillac!*








*To be read with deep, deep, deep, abysmal sarcasm.

[Watchdevil]

When you fall this low there is nowhere to go but up...

[rand49er]

My Cruze Eco 1.4L gets that kind of power.

[ByTheLake]

I had a '54 Fleetwood - what a gorgeous car. I miss that car, but I don't miss any of the '86 Cadillac vehicles. I'm certainly glad that today's lineup is much much better.

Cadillac, please build me that Ciel. I'm ready.

[sfdenny]

Hey, a Cadillac without whitewall tires! Wow, that large side-window look did not age well.

I think the ATS was a little bigger effort than the Cimmaron (which at least wasn't too bad looking...)

[Dovetonsils]

Really interesting video, 91 S-10baja. This was a real trip down memory lane. Other than the ridiculous Cimmaron and the lack of horsepower, I actually don't find the 1986 Caddy lineup to be that bad.

Also, as you watch the video, note how many times he mentions FWD as an advantage. When people dismiss the Catera as "forgettable" (Top 10 Forgettable Cars, etc), they don't realize that prior to the Catera, Cadillac was touting its FWD cars as advantageous over the European luxury cars. I remember the TV advertisements featuring how FWD is better in snow. The Catera brought to Cadillac the way a real luxury sports sedan should be packaged.

[mkwelbornjr]

GM was completely out of touch in those years. But the cars are still part of the fun history. It always looked as if all the design elements etc from this era of GM were afterthoughts. Like the lower moldings and air dams.

[johnstarnes]

Thanks for that blast to the past. Amazing how much more powerful engines have gotten since then while improving mileage and reducing emissions!

[Dr. Show-Me]

When you fall this low there is nowhere to go but up...

Cadillac deserves a lot of the criticism they receive, but nobody could reasonably claim that today's Cadillac isn't much improved from then and likely headed (finally) in the right direction.

[Aromanances]

Dark days............

[escaladelover]

As bas as cadillac was in the 80's, there were some nice cars from cadillac.

[osbornk]

Dark days............

It was dark days for all cars, not just Cadillac. I think the dark days started in 72 or 73 when the tough emission requirements kicked in and they didn't end until the early 90s when they finally figured out how to get horsepower, fuel mileage and low emissions from vehicles.

[fastball]

My Grandfather had an '87 Sedan DeVille, which is for all intents and purposes exactly the same as the '86 with the exception of composite headlamps and slightly longer tail lamps.

It was a horrible car. The HT4100 was one God-awful engine that was partly, directly responsible for GM's collapse into bankruptcy. Even for the standards of the era, those engines were horribly underpowered for the vehicle size and weight. 135 hp was all the HT could muster up. The 3800 V6 was more powerful at the time - in '86 it had 150 hp and by 1988 it had 180 - which I could not figure out then or even now, 25 years later, how GM let that happen. You could put a less complicated, smaller displacement, 2 fewer cylinders, lower technology engine in place of the HT and get better performance, fuel economy, and reliability.

Then you compound that with the terrible design of a cast iron block and aluminum heads (or was it the other way around, I forget lol), the intake manifold gaskets that notoriously went bad on every one of the HTs within 100,000 miles, and that load leveling suspension that eventually leaked or died and you were driving around like a low rider in the back unless you wanted to sink $1500 to fix the damn thing.... it's amazing Cadillac survived the 80s at all.

What on earth were they thinking with the HT engines??????

[vanshmack]

My Grandfather had an '87 Sedan DeVille, which is for all intents and purposes exactly the same as the '86 with the exception of composite headlamps and slightly longer tail lamps.

It was a horrible car. The HT4100 was one God-awful engine that was partly, directly responsible for GM's collapse into bankruptcy. Even for the standards of the era, those engines were horribly underpowered for the vehicle size and weight. 135 hp was all the HT could muster up. The 3800 V6 was more powerful at the time - in '86 it had 150 hp and by 1988 it had 180 - which I could not figure out then or even now, 25 years later, how GM let that happen. You could put a less complicated, smaller displacement, 2 fewer cylinders, lower technology engine in place of the HT and get better performance, fuel economy, and reliability.

Then you compound that with the terrible design of a cast iron block and aluminum heads (or was it the other way around, I forget lol), the intake manifold gaskets that notoriously went bad on every one of the HTs within 100,000 miles, and that load leveling suspension that eventually leaked or died and you were driving around like a low rider in the back unless you wanted to sink $1500 to fix the damn thing.... it's amazing Cadillac survived the 80s at all.

What on earth were they thinking with the HT engines??????

Yup... Aluminum block with iron heads. Never understood why they did THAT!