Well, this is cool, I made it to RU-vid! So the car in question was my grandfather's and my grandmother's. I guess it was what they could afford at the time. After my grandfather passed, my grandmother basically drove it to the grocery store and back, which is why today it only has 18,461 original miles on it. She loved the car so much that if it rained she would pull it in the garage and hand wash it. They were hard working European immigrants and this car was a symbol of success for them. When my grandmother passed, my mom and sister didn't know what to do with the car, so I bought it and kept it for the last 20 odd years. I just don't have time for it, but there is a lot of interest and as the video says it's a rare one 😁
I like the Calais a lot! The simplicity of the design, especially without the vinyl roof is beautiful! I really enjoyed seeing it on the video. Kudos to your Grandmother for taking such good care of it!
It's weird that Cadillac thought they needed a cheap version, since their whole identity was you pay up for the quality and luxury of a Cadillac. If you wanted to save money, Buick and Oldsmobile was right there for you.
I think it all came down to sales per division, which would then lead to budgeting for the ensuing market year. Caddy figured they could get an additional 5000 cars sold if they sold strippers, so that's what they did. Just my opinion.
GM of yesteryear was a different company. Each division was really its own company and ran the way its upper management saw fit. They really competed with each other for sales as much as they did with outside brands. This car is also pre-platform sharing between brands. In those days it was common you bought a certain brand car because you believed in the quality and reliability of just that brand and not so much in its "sister" brands. The person that bought this car didn't want a Buick or Oldsmobile; he wanted a Caddy because he trusted the brand name more. He wasn't so much after the class statement (unless he was a budget baller lol) he probably thought Cadillac cars superior to the other brands in quality.
My friends dad had a 1972 Calais Sedan without AC, no vinyl top, no power door locks... NOTHING! He absolutely loved that car. My friend called it a Cadillac Biscayne!
In my high school years early 70s working at a gas station, we had a regular customer with a '70 Calais coupe... No A/C no power locks or seat, and the car had crank up windows. We also had a funeral director as a customer... his '67 Cadillac hearse was better equipped!
My grandparents owned a five &dime store from the 50s-70s. Grandpa owned Buicks most of his life. In1956 he bought a Roadmaster 4 door hardtop with every option. The car cost more than a Cadillac. My dad asked why he didn't buy the Cadillac, gramps said" If his store customers looked down from the hill and seen a Caddie, they would think he was making to much money from them." No one questions a Buick. Thanks for the video......RF
My uncle had a Zenith TV store and he always drove a 98 for exactly that reason. Lived over the store, and played his golf at the municipal golf course too. Worked for them.
Power windows were not made standard on all Cadillac models until 1968. Lincoln had made them standard on all models in 1961, Imperial slightly later IIRC.
I normally like cars without vinyl tops, but the '71-'73 Cadilac coups looked a bit weird without one, since Cadillac put the imprint of the vinyl section into the sheet metal for some reason.
Keep in mind that Cadillac did not just offer the 'bargain base car' in the Calais. Before that, is was called the 62 series which they renamed the Calais in 1965 . The Calais was the 62 series that they finally gave a proper name to. Actually, the 62 series is what you had before they started adding the Deville name to a more deluxe 62 model, which was a 63 series.
I had an uncle who had a '69 Calais with no a/c. Meanwhile my Aunt (his wife) had a '72 Plymouth Fury loaded with just about every option available, including automatic climate control, split power seat with passenger recliner, and cruise control.
We had a 1965 Calais that was acquired when my aunt’s father traded it in. It had very low mileage and was plenty fast. The only thing about it that was much different from the deVille was the brake and accelerator pedals didn’t have chrome. It had an FM radio with no signal seeker. The original sticker was in the glove compartment and the total cost was in the mid-$6,000 range. The automatic comfort control was over $600. It had two front seat belts with retractors but no seat belts in the back. My father later gave it to me. I sold it in 1985 for$650.00 with 75,000 miles. It was like new on the inside because it had been covered in plastic bubble seat covers when new. It got 7 mpg, 12 highway. It was the only car I ever took up to 120 mph. I was 16.
@@app_manifestation Back in 1984,1985,1986 it was very common to 'find' 8,9,10 years old cars for $50,100,150 or $ 300-400 dollars for a clean one (46,000 miles). People changed cars (buy new) every 1-2 or 3 years back then. A 'new' Ford Escort was 4,995 $ CDN or $ 4500 US where i lived. An ugly squared Chrysler 'K' car was in the $7,500 to 9,995 $. Back then when i was 18, (still) i couldn't afford these 79-85 Cadillac models (Eldorado Biarritz, etc) which were selling for $ 2,500 - $ 5,000 dollars 6 or 7 years used (brand new 15k-20k). We kids, began our first cars ownership with anything FREE from family OR anything below $ 400
@@app_manifestationthat wasn’t cheap for a 20 year old, high mileage car in 1985. Most cars lose 50% of their value within 5 years. He sold that car for 10% of it’s initial cost 20 YEARS later with a lot of miles on it (relatively speaking for the time). That sounds like it would be market value for 1985.
@@Lamtitude Sounds about right. I bought my first Cadillac when I was in college in '85. It was a 1977 Sedan DeVille D'Elegance with around 80K miles and I think I paid around $3,500 for it.
Circa 1991, I took a couple of weeks to drive my 1970 DeVille convertible from western North Carolina to Los Angeles. I stopped at my brother's place in New Mexico for an overnight, and when I got ready to roll further westward, the car wouldn't start. A quick disconnect of the fuel line at the carburetor showed no fuel during cranking, so the hunt began for a fuel pump. I think I spent 2 days making the 15-mile trip into Santa Fe and back, visiting every parts store. Finally, a guy looked up a fuel pump for a 1972 DeVille/Calais 472 *without* air conditioning, and the arm on the fuel pump was a match! I was pretty much astonished, because I didn't realize that Cadillac had made any cars in this era with no AC. (The convertible had AC/automatic climate control.) My brother and I had no way to lift the convertible, so I spent the afternoon looking down at the left side of the engine, then reaching up behind the driver's side front wheel and installing the fuel pump by visual memory and feel. The next morning, the car fired up on the first try, and I was on my way!
@@palmermccall7309 I don't know which is stranger, the fact that they had a different fuel pump based on the climate system, or that your engine had the wrong pump installed! It obviously didn't make any difference to performance in all the years before the pump died... 🤔
My father had a wonderful conversation with a Cadillac dealer in 1970. The dealer remarked how almost all Cadillacs he saw in the 1950's were either Series 61 or Series 62 models. By 1965, he noted how Cadillac owners drifted towards more luxury/more flash, and speculated that the Great Depression/WWII generation, that had preferred less "showy" Cadillacs, were responsible for keeping the Calais series in production for so long. Some of Cadillac's most long term and most loyal customers were frugal and were fans of the understated Calais series.
That makes complete sense. I think it’s also why you could still buy a Deville or Fleetwood with radio delete (complete with a credit for not having the standard radio) and you still had to pay extra for stuff that was standard on a Honda Accord like a power trunk release and a rear defroster until the late 80’s.
@@mydsmber05 Also, the Japanese subsidized their auto industry, so they operate as if they are government agencies - no need to worry about profits, whereas our auto makers are all private companies. No profits? Eventual bankruptcy.
One night back in the seventies, an acquaintance showed up at my apartment to drive us to dinner. He'd just bought a brand new 1975 Calais coupe. He said he'd craved owning a new Caddy since he was a kid and now at 28 this was the only one he could finally afford. Even so it took every penny he could scrape together. The color was Firethorn Poly according to the window sticker and it was the first time I'd seen a Cadillac without a vinyl roof in years. I thought it looked classy that way. I remember it was upholstered in some sort of stripped corduroy material that closely matched to exterior color.
I’m actually a huge fan of the Calais model. I just love the effort Cadillac put into making these cars CHEAP! No wood grain on the dash. No wood grain on the doors. No brake/accelerator dress-up trim. No puddle lights. No rear seat center armrest. No rocker mouldings. And yet, due to their rarity, they remain some of the most sought-after Cadillacs you can find! The lack of rocker mouldings & vinyl top (an option) meant less rust too.
Just goes to show you how times have changed. I remember back in the 80's you could pick one of those up for a song and a dance. Because people thought they were ugly and way under equipped for a Cadillac.
@@retroguy9494agreed. I remember these too. They were so cheap used no one wanted them. For another $200 you could get a fully loaded Coupe Deville. I paid $400 for my 75 Coupe Deville in 87. 500ci. I used to beat 302 Mustang 3 speeds starting out in low gear with the hydromatic turbo trans. LOL And I was twice their weight!
My first car was a Cypress Green 1971 Cadillac Calais 4 door. It did have AC although I never used AC back then. There was nothing "cooler" than driving around with a 4 dr hardtop with all 4 windows down. 2nd car was a Balmoral Green 1972 SedanDeville with white leather interior and white vinyl top. They were 10 year old used cars by the time I got my hands on them but were very reliable. $500 for each of them.
I'm glad you did this video. I grew up in the south where every Cadillac I saw had AC. I went to Maine for the first time when I was about 9 or so. We drove there in a Chevy with AC, and while there, encountered a family that had a Cadillac without AC. When I got home and told people about this they all thought I was lying to them. I'm glad to have it confirmed that you could get one without AC. In places like northern Maine you really don't need it.
I grew up in a rural area northwest of Toronto. My dad never owned a car with air-con until 1989 (at which point it was standard equipment on the model that he wanted, so he had no choice), and I think the first car I owned that had air-con that worked was in the late nineties. It's common in some parts of Canada to have a "winter car" that you don't care about, and which can be thrown away without regrets after the rust holes get too big. Often this is a used car, but several manufacturers made special low-priced de-contented economy cars available to fill the market for someone who wanted a winter car that had a warranty. Of course, no air-con in those.
I once was the custodian of a '69 Calais in the early oughties. I could see why it sold back in the day. If you were upper-middle management or were doing rather well, you could go for an optioned-out Olds 98 or Buick Electra, sure...BUT why would you if for the VERY SAME PRICE you could have a gen-u-wine Cadillac in your parking spot? That's a mighty big pull to move you up a slot in your GM progression. Become a Cadillac Man a few years early and trade in for a DeVille in a couple of years! BTW, I had to rebuild my '69s auto climate system, and it's an absolute work of genius. Vacuum manifolds, contact wipers, and thermistors, and the whole system is beautifully engineered. And the 472 was such an amazing engine. Gosh I miss that car.
I have personal experience with the GM auto climate control of this era as I owned a 1976 Buick Electra 225. It worked wonderfully. I had to change the temperature setting 2 times per year, spring and fall and it always kept us comfortable. Any car I’ve had since then requires daily if not hourly fiddling to keep things in line. Thanks for your great videos of these old beasts. I love them (the old beasts that is).
Excellent work as always, Adam. I will add that Cadillac did not have Climate Control as standard equipment until August, 1974 for the 1975 model year. Please note that this particular Calais has a very rare combination of options. While no Climate Control, it does have the rear defrost, am-fm radio (no tape player!), and the auto dim headlights. A radio was not standard until the 1975 model year. Note that the car does not have power door locks, also not standard until the 1975 model year. This car is Cotillion White with a dark blue Mayfair Cloth interior. Despite being a low line car, Mayfair cloth was well received by Calais buyers as it was similar to the upper trims in DeVille at the time. The only Cadillacs to have A/C standard were the Fleetwood Series 75 Executive Sedan and Limousine, which not only had A/C but TWO A/C (or Climate Control from 1964, onward) for front and rear with separate controls. Calais are prized today among Cadillac collectors because of rarity. The holy grail is a 1976 Calais with a Cabriolet roof and astroroof options. Allegedly only 4 were made!
What surprises me is that they bothered to stub the outer AC outlets with those tacky plugs. I'd think it would have cost them less to just leave out the compressor and make the vents the same. By the early 1980s, the dwindling number of cars that were sold without AC often came that way.
I have a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado in Ireland, been in the country since basically new. No AC, no vinyl top, and has the bucket seat interior (black). Big project but still a stunning car.
Adam. It’s uncanny that you’ve featured so many cars that I have owned. Coming of age in the 90’s I loved old American iron which put me at odds with everyone. Owned a 1972 Deville NO AC. This was in Calgary. I suspect relatively common for the region. Same shitty temp selector and the funny rad hose reminding you you’re missing something. Really appreciate the video. If I recall, there was a vent lever that would open fresh air for that middle vent. It wouldn’t close well and I had to stuff a sock inside the vent in the freezing winter! Cold air came in all the time.
Sometime in the 1970s the Canadian federal government introduced a $100 excise tax for all cars manufactured or imported with an air conditioning system. It was a response to the OPEC embargos, and predicated on the assumption that AC wasted fuel. The tax remains in place today, and even applies to newly imported used vehicles.
Seeing these cars from this time always surprises me at the way folks were able to equip their Cadillacs, in the day when you could still order them. Options on this Calais that I saw were: 1) Right Side Mirror 2) Rear Defogger 3) AM-FM. 4) Auto Dimming Headlights!! 5) Factory Mats 6) Waste Basket. Yup, almost a fully loaded no-air Calais. Can't be another one like it Adam. Love it!
Actually became standard Jan1 1974. In this year, they all had it and had to be special ordered without it. The exception would be commercial vehicles where no ac was more common. Thanks for another great video.
My dads first Cadillac was a ‘68 Calais coupe, pale yellow over Parchment vinyl. No vinyl top, but being in Miami it did have A/C. Dads business took off and the Caddy was traded for a new 70 Mark III, fully loaded. That Caddy was pretty plain but dad made up for it from the Lincoln forward.
Mom always had a Cadillac every three or four years from 1966 until about 1980 when the dairy business started to lose money. After that she had a Sevllle for about seven years, and then an ElDorado Biarritz for about five years and a few more different Caddies until she passed away in 2010. She mostly drove DeVilles, but tried other models from time to time. The biggest one I remember was the 1970’s Fleetwood Brougham. A giant heavy car with a 472 cid engine. Gas prices were not a factor back then.
That's a nice white 1973 in the beginning, but the wire wheel covers weren't offered for a couple of years after....As for Calais, my 2nd Cadillac was a Silver Calais sedan, It had smooth black cloth interior. It had electric windows but the wing windows were cranks. It had A/C but not thermostat type just A/C, heat like a Chevy. It lacked some of the appointments a DeVille had like fake wood, Calais had brushed Stainless Steel or black. No seek on the radio, just small stuff. I've only ever seen 1 Calais since and it was newer. It was a nice car, wish I still had it but I was young and only kept it a year. Thanks for the great video.
Learned to drive in a 67 Calais. I also drove the family at 16 from Pittsburgh to Florida. The lack of AC sucked but it really was a comfortable trip car.
Great Video Adam, two years ago I serviced two low milage Cadillacs from a one owner family. A 69 coupe DeVille and a 68 Fleetwood. The Fleetwood had NO AC! Same picture in the engine bay as the 73 here. What was more hilarious: you had those manual operated air doors in the kicker panel area...in a Fleetwood! 😂. Otherwise beautiful cars. Had 27k miles on it . Even the factory plastic wrap was on the seats. So bad you can't post pictures here...I would like to show that
Of the 12 Caddys my Dad owned, his first 3 were Calais models His '65 not having electric windows nor a vinyl roof! His '67, '69 '@ '71 had everything except the vinyl roofs. Then from '73 to '95 all were LOADED Sedan de Ville de'Elegances @ Fleetwood Broughams! My favorite was the '73 which was a Metallic Broze with a Camel colored top and Leather int! "Carnut" since '51, owning over 80 vehicles, Love your show!
Thanks for this video. I had a 1972 Calais that I still regret selling 30 plus years ago. Creamy beige exterior with a rusty brown leather interior. Mine did have AC,tho it didn't work very well lol. 472 cubic inch beast that could certainly get out of its own way if given enough runway. Unfortunately I was in my 20s and things started going wrong with it. Essentially nickel and diming me. So I sold it and bought a very pimping '83 Deville.
It was common up thru the 80's for people to buy cars without A/C north of the Iowa line and in the Northwest. My uncle had a 62 Cadillac convertible that came from Detroit and it didn't have air.
Nobody in Seattle bothered with A/C in those days. Now that it's standard, everyone has it set on "cryogenic" if it gets above 70F, which is a 'heat wave' to natives who rarely see sunshine.
I loved our 1973 Cadillac Calais, with a engine work it was back up to 400 hp and I didn't have the electrical problems that some people had with the more expensive models!!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Yes Adam, I actually HAVE seen a non-A/C Caddy! It was just a couple years ago that I came across a 1975 hearse in a parking lot. I think the general design was the same, but it did have the thick, fluted, 'plastichromed' handles on the levers that matched the later toggle switches for the cruise control, antenna, rear defog, etc. I thought it particularly cruel for the mortuary's employees to have to sit in a slow funeral procession without air conditioning while undoubtedly wearing suits... but I guess the clients in the rear never complained. 😁 I also remember the Calais not having rear cigar lighters (The barbarians!) Another interesting tidbit is that even before air conditioning, Cadillac had automatic temperature control for the heater and defroster in the 1940s! There was a single lever for under-seat heaters and another for the defroster, and the farther you moved the lever the warmer the car got. I think the fans were only two speed, but it had a copper capillary tube to sense cabin temperature just like the thermostat in my refrigerator.
in 1970 I was starting my working career, I need a cheap car-----------my uncle gave me a 1963 series 62 the cheap caddy. ran great couldn't keep gas in it! love your vids!!!
I remember the Calais but I knew right off the bat the car was from Canada! You show so many luxury vehicles from Canada with no AC like a Caprice with a 454 and no AC!
I had a 73 Cadillac in high school that I bought from a neighbor for $500. It originally came with A/C but it didn't work. I didn't have the money to fix it but who needs it when you have a hard top convertible!
Like you said, being Canadian this isn't surprising. But let's also consider the customer base. These people likely road around (or drove) Model As. Even with the seeming paucity of options on this car, it had to feel magical. Imagine having a heater, power steering/brakes, and automatic transmission, etc. none of those were available 40 years prior. Excellent coverage as always ~ Chuck
A radio wes also optional. I was working at a service station back then & we had a customer that had a new Cadillac with no AC or radio. And this was in south Florida.
I own a 1964 Series 62 coupe, which was functionally the Calais model for many years. It likewise has no vinyl top, which I love because it along with lack of extra stainless strip around the roofline vs. Deville series accentuates the clean, crisp styling of the car as the brand pivoted from the styling excesses of the late 50’s. It likewise has lower level interior fabrics and carpeting than standard in Deville, yet was still luxurious appearing and feeling. My uncle had a 1973 Coupe Deville, and the entire interior appearance and build quality was miles behind the 64, and frankly wasn’t all that different than our 1975 Chevy Malibu Classic wagon. Something interesting about my 64 series 62 is although it has no vinyl roof it is rather highly optioned. It has climate control, power windows, seats and antenna, am/fm radio, auto-dimming headlights, twilight sentinel and trunk light. The one de-contented feature it doesn’t have that I wish it did was a front center armrest. Strangely, it does have a rear center armrest, you figure that should have been an obvious cost cut too.
Back in the 1960 our neighbor got a 1961 Cadillac 4 door sedan with the short rear trunk the car had no radio, no power windows, no A/C, black wall tires, cloth interior basically a Chevy Biscayne with a Cadillac name. Her husband drove a 1960 Cadillac convertible with every option, wire wheels, tri power, continental rear tire kit, bucket seats, wide whites and a tonneau cover for the rear seating. Candy apple red with white leather interior. A 16 yr's old dream car and he would get a new car ever 2 years! In 1965 his wife got a new Fleetwood loaded and every two years she got a new one until she passed away in 1994.😎
Funny, the greatest sacrilege to me of that list you gave is the black wall tires. No full-sized Cadillac sedan or coupe made before 2012 should have black walls.
I totally agree With you Adam! I I never can understand how people back in the day would buy a Cadillac without many options. I have my dad's nineteen eighty seven fleetwood brougham without a Tilt telescopic steering wheel and when we ordered The car at the dealerI had an argument with him. I have the car to It this day in mint condition now. About Five years ago I went to I went to the salvage yard and bought a tilt Telescopic column and installed it last . May life is now happy! I
We had a 74 Sedan De Ville. It became mom’s second car after buying a 280Z. My sister and I would race all of the Large Cars in town. With the Big block 472 V8, that Caddy would peel rubber like crazy. We won every race. We’d pack 10-12 kids in the car, everyone pitched in a buck and we’d put it in the tank. Back then gasoline was less than 70 cents per gallon, then we’d go party. Our town was unincorporated so we only had Sheriffs and they were very cool. We were very roudy back then. I had a blast growing up and I still do today
My great grandmother used to get a new Fleetwood Brougham every three years through the ‘60s, ‘70s, into the early ‘80s. And she would have to order it because she would NOT have a radio in it! There would be a blank face plate over the opening where the radio should have been. It didn’t look bad, but definitely odd. And strangely, there would still be speakers in the doors, dash, and behind the back seat. She was convinced that radios were a distraction that caused accidents, and I suppose that was her form of protest? But since she was the only one who ever drove her car (my granddaddy wasn’t allowed to drive it except to get it out of the garage) I never understood why she just didn’t turn it off. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it has to be on. She wasn’t eccentric, and in most ways very forward thinking, but for some reason she layed a heavy blame at the feet of car radios. 😂 (I sure do miss her…and her beautiful Cadillacs)
Rich people (I'm assuming if they upgraded every 3 years) are oddballs. I worked at a motel in San Diego, CA near sportfishing hub and some weird things I saw was one real estate investor with a half a pallet of energy drinks as supplies
When I was a kid my neighbor ordered a new Cadillac with roll up windows and no radio and no power steering and no power brakes no power seats a stripped down version but he had a new Cadillac.
I love the Calais in these years! they could come with the coolest plaid upholstery which was awesome. one of my bucket list items is to get a car with plaid seats, whether Porsche, Mercedes, or Cadillac! I would have to have a/c tho, if for no other reason that to fill up the empty spaces on the dash
As a "kid" I worked for a Cadillac dealer for a bit over a year spanning 1973 and 1974. I remember 1 Calais, maybe 2 that was sold in a year. They just didn't fit the "Standard of the World" image. I would guess for what a cheaped-out Calais cost, the same buyer could get a nicely equipped Olds 98 or Buick Electra. It's funny how the brochure photo made the Calais look much better than it did in person.
Canada has a high luxury tax on air conditioning in vehicles. In the 1980's I worked at a place in the Detroit area installing aftermarket air conditioning in vehicles. Some of our customers were Canadians with nicely equipped new Buicks Oldsmobiles, or Chryslers. We would install A/C in their vehicles, then they would go back across the border. Never installed A/C on a Cadillac though. Even into the 2010's some Canadian market vehicles still had A/C optional when it was standard in the U.S.
I remember the first Cimmaron I ever saw. It came into my father's shop and I had to go get it and bring it in. The last thing I was expecting in a Cadillac was a 5 speed manual, lol.
HEY ADAM! Thanks for showing this ultra-rare 1970s Caddy with no air conditioning! I've NEVER seen a 1970s Caddy without AC ever before. I suspect the no AC take rate was less than 1%. I wonder if the buyer was surprised by how cheap the dash looked when he took delivery of this no doubt special order car because it was not pictured in the sales brochure. Buy the weigh, even the lowly AMC "AMBO" (Ambassador) had AC standard in 1973. I agree the dash looks ridiculously plain, cheap and just awful especially with those 2 black blank plastic plates covering where AC would blow out of the passenger side of the dashboard. IMO, the dashboard looks way worse than a 1973 Chevy Bel-Air with no AC. And, this is a Cadillac; "the standard of the world". HA! The positive of this car is that it looks gorgeous without the vinyl roof, just like the 1972 black beauty Calais that you passed on buying. THANKS ADAM for your continued EXCELLENCE IN AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY PRODUCTIONS
I can remember visiting relatives up in Connecticut with my parents in the early 70s and they would criticize our car that had air conditioning (we lived in the south) saying it was a waste of money. Most cars far up north did not have AC according to what i was told.
I have a 1964 Cadillac series 62 coupe, which was basically the Calais equivalent in ‘64. No a/c, and a cheaper tuxedo interior instead of color options. 4 speed Hydramatic from the year before’s car instead of the turbo 400 all the other caddy’s got in 64. Also less trim on the outside. I was happy to get it since I LS swapped it, and I feel less bad about modifying the lest valuable model
Great video Adam. Are you aware of the Cadillac Park Avenue?A man named Harry had one in our car club.Supposedly it was developed to fit in garages.The area behind the back window to the truck was shorter.Great series.I have an awesome 86 Parisienne with Motor Wheel Spyder wheels.Love to see a story about the American Parisienne
Maybe they had a specific hose for a non-ac car, but the parts store only stocked the ac style hose. I'm pretty sure that hose has been changed sometime in the last 50 years. Very cool car. I really loved that black one.
I prefer the vinyl top on a '71-'73, but I do dig the slick-top - especially that extra, usually unseen, character line in the C-pillars, just aft of the quarter glass. Love those pre-Colonnade Coupe Devilles, and other two-door Caddies!!!
The 1st thing I thought was; What a Cadillac without A/C unheard of. The 1st automotive manufacture to offer A/C standard in the 70' s I believe was none other than AMC go figure. I do like the Cadillac's without the vinyl roof though.
A little Cadillac history....I think the surprising thing is not that you found a Calais without air conditioning. The real surprise is that air conditioning wasn't standard in all Cadillacs until 1975! So yes, that gorgeous Eldorado that belongs to Adam could have been ordered with just a heater and no A/C (yes, I know...unlikely in Texas where the car came from). The only Cadillacs that did have A/C standard during the 60s and early 70s was the Fleetwood 75 limousine. Also, the "Calais" name directly replaced the Series 62, a nameplate that dated all the way back to 1940. Back then, Cadillac all had number models until you began seeing models like the 1949 Coupe DeVille, the 1953 Eldorado and the 1968 Fleetwood Brougham (which would eventually replace the Sixty Special, another pre-war name plate). I'd agree that the Calais wasn't that popular. As a kid in the 1970s, I don't remember seeing that many of them compared to DeVilles (my grandparents each had one...a '74 and '76). Even Cadillac's marketing material described the Devilles as their most popular cars. I would probably guess that the early Calais's in 1965 were a lot nicer than the 1973 model featured here since as Adam as detailed in other videos that Cadillacs were more nicely appointed pre-1968. After that, real wood got replaced with fake wood and other niceties were costed out of cars, even the nicer Fleetwoods. By 1973, yes Cadillac interior designers were just "phoning it in".
My mother had a 1973 Cadillac Calais Coupe back then in the mid-70's. It was very dark green and had a special, heavily-padded, white, "crown landau" top that only covered the sail panels and crossed over. It looked unique. Our Calais actually DID have woodgrain applique on the instrument panel and passenger side. I have never seen a blacked-out dash before like the one shown here. We did of course, have climate control air conditioning being in Texas. It did not have woodgrain applique on the doors or rear passenger compartment. But I still loved that car! It got lots of attention with that cool custom top. Great stereo system also, with 8-track.
It was GM founder Al Sloan's concept of different brandnames for different price points. Consumer starts with an entry level Chevrolet, then aspires to a Pontiac, then upgrade to an Oldsmobile, then graduate to a Buick, and finally a Cadillac to those who have achieved the pinnacle of success. Then the independently managed brand divisions wanted to move outside their areas and cover all basis. Thus we get the polar opposites of Chevy Caprice and Caddy Cimmaron.
@@jamesbosworth4191 Cadillac indeed should have known better. Despite that, we get the Catera after it. Then we get the CTS, but that was actually successful. It shows how far manufacturers moved away from “bigger is better” by the early years of the 21st century. The biggest of that time was the Lincoln Town Car which was only 215 inches long and, in the 70s, would have been a mid-sized car at best. (I know there were long-wheelbase Town Cars, but they were rare, particularly as privately owned cars given most were used as livery vehicles).
@@DavidPysnik This was not a new model, it was a model that came out in 1940 and given a name in 1965. Lots of these were sold in the 50s and 60s. Many Senior Citizens did not feel the need for AC, and more than a few were leery of power windows and power seats, as they were not all that reliable back in the day. Many of those buyers had experienced used late 40s/very early 50s cars with them as used cars, and had trouble with them, (they were hydraulic, not electric, and you were supposed to use brake fluid in the system, but just as wheel cylinders and the master cylinder eventually leak, those systems also could leak, and ruin the door panels, and rust the bottom of the doors.), so it wasn't always a case of being a tight-wad, they just wanted total reliability. Also, many people in the late 60s and 70s, when plastic wood was the thing, strongly disliked it. Vinyl roofs were also frowned upon, as they eventually cause rust. Often severely so. Many older people, when they buy a nice car, figure that it will be the last car they buy, so they want it to last. You have to look at the market as it was in that era, not through modern eyes.
My 1968 Eldorado was a factory non A/C car. I recall reading somewhere that less than 1% of the Cadillacs produced were non AC cars. That stat might have been for 1968.
My 1975 LeSabre was the other way around. Also canadian but the original owner cheaped out on almost every option (no power locks, no power windows, no power seats, no power antenna etc) BUT he did check the boxes for luxury broquet upholstery, automatic climat control and the 455 engine.
Growing up in Maine I saw no AC caddies from the 60’s and 70’s regularly. I owned a 69 Eldo that no options to speak of. No AC, standard two way seat, no vinyl top, no tinted glass even the windshield. It did have an AM radio and leather seats. It was an attractive color combo with factory red paint and white leather.
Funny American preferences. The rather tasteful design of the Cadillac coupe's roof was typically covered in horrific vinyl, contrasting in color with the main body. Then the interior was slathered with faux wood vinyl appliqué. Looking as cheap as any Dodge Dart with the same fake walnut. The Calais was by far, the most tasteful of the series.
Oddly in 1983 my boss bought a 1983 Fleetwood and it didn't have a rear defrost. It was optional and you had to buy it as part of a package with outside thermometers. I always poked fun and told my boss I was happy I could only afford a Buick LeSabre because the rear defrost was standard equipment.
Adam, very cool, back in '76, my mom was gifted a '72 Caddy, Coupe De Ville, from my brother Mike who was then in the USMC. Wow, that car was so fantastic, "forrest green, with a white, vinyl top...... I was l;13 yrs . old, did lots of reading, and studying of/about Cadillac's. Read about the Calais.......never, ever seen one. I was "Promised" that can, and when the time came, 1980, I had to turn it down......for one tire: L78x15, was going for $45.oo. At 18 yrs old,,,,,nope, couldn't afford that!
Excellent My dad got a new 73 green/white white coupe deville that we destroyed before he got his new 75 coupe deville He was a doctor and had a corporation we other three other radiologists He was good friends with the Caddy dealer, so they started leasing cars in ‘71 The dealer loved them because they usually turned cars in after a year My dad liked the 73 even though it fell apart because of my brother’s abuse of it, and we moved to Texas with it and dragged an over weight U-Haul trailer behind it and destroyed the shocks and springs Oh the good old days
In 1977, I bought my sister a 1967 Calais coupe. Robin's egg blue, dark blue interior, no vinyl top. The only tangible options it had were: floor mats, cornering lights, AM radio. That's it! No A/C, wind up windows, manual seat, fixed steering column. No clock, no door lights, no cruise control, no auto headlights, no power door locks or trunk release, no under hood or trunk light, as well as no interior courtesy lights. Driver side only exterior mirror, not even a day/night interior mirror. No vanity mirrors, either. Ran/drove great, good body. She drove it for about 10 years. It was a reliable car, but ZERO luxury appointments.
That's nuts! A bare bones caddy with no AC. It's strange I have a 76 dodge dart with factory AC and it still works. These were considered economy cars.
I would agree that the Instrument panel looked like something a base fleet model Chevrolet would used! Makes a Ford LTD Instrument panel look like a luxury car!!!
I had a 1972 Sedan De Ville once, I maintain that 1972 was the best looking year of that 1971-76 era. No fender fillers, smaller bumpers and the front turn signals were moved between the headlights, giving the bumper a cleaner look. Anyway, I wanted to comment that the automatic climate control worked flawlessly! I was amazed. Very consistent, regulated the temp just right. I miss that car but I don't miss getting 7 miles to the gallon!
Wow, this brings up something else I never knew. I always assumed, regardless of make, that vents were, well, vents and air conditioning just made the air cool. I never knew there were cars that had vents only for air conditioning.
My dad had a sky blue 1968 Calais. Frank Shirey Cadillac. Oak Lawn, across the street from Chicago.. It was a beautiful car. The hard top set it off. He worked around the corner from the Caddy dealership- Shirey- so the temptation of the 1970 Coupe De Ville was too much for him. Traded the '68 for a gold Coupe with a black top. Again beautiful... both had AC!!
A lot of old timers back in the day would skip buying a car with A/C if they lived in a cold or even moderate temperature area. They didn't want to pay the extra cost for just another system to break on their car. I really like this car, it has the Cadillac look but is much simpler- less to break down over time. Cadillac had to have had these certain types of buyers in mind when they rolled this model out. They wanted the Cadillac look and quality, but with the simplicity of a car from 20 to 30 years earlier. It wasn't necessarily all about a cheaper cost in other words.
Had a neighbor nearby and she had two coupe's. She bought them brand new. She didn't drive and had a driver drive for her and the driver would always put on a chauffeur's cap anytime he took her anywhere and he looked like the old school chauffeur. I saw the cars being driven into the late 90s.
I haven't seen a no a/c Cadillac from that era either. Here's something I'd like to see I've NEVER seen: a Rambler/AMC with electric windows. Try that out 😉 If you happen to find one with power windows, it's got to be extremely rare.
The newest Cadillac that I have ever seen is a 1969 Calais hardtop sedan. It was bought new by an old couple in my hometown. No tilt, cruise, power door locks or a radio. It was light green metallic with no vinyl roof and a black vinyl interior. It did have whitewall ties.
I inherited this car with 36k miles in 1978 with AC And fancy roof. I was 21 years old. I call it the princess cruise. I kept this for many years. I gave it to a family member when i bumped up to a Seville. The ride in that car was the best ever.
I remember seeing a '74 Cadillac Calais in a junkyard with a pimped out Deora package with the continental truck lid, thick padded top with slotted side windows and smaller backlight and a chunky RR grille. I guess it was a way for the dealer to add a markup to such a cheap car. About 25 years ago a customer who frequented my job owned a '75-'76 Calais that was white with no vinyl top. His Calais' didn't have rocker trim or a tilt/tele wheel. It did have an AM/FM stereo, pull straps instead of coffin handle pulls and no rear center armrest. Still an attractive interior. My '72 Cadillac S&S Victoria funeral coach had the same plain Calais dashboard and peddles. It had a manual bench seat. Door armrests were off of a '68-'72 A body car with the cheap '71-'73 Cadillac pull straps. I think the fact that Cadillac still made 2,000 commercial chassis cars a year through '76 for coach builders gave Cadillac more room to justify all the cheap bargain bin Calais parts as both shared the same parts. Calais was sunset in '76 so my '77 Superior Crown Landaulette coach had a Fleetwood interior up front as the Crown was the upscale model. The exception was a vinyl bench seat with two way (front/back) power and limo pull straps but it still had the wreath and crest on the side, steering wheel and door lights along with the door mounted map lights. Lesser funeral coaches and ambulances shared their front interior with the DeVille. One unusual feature in my Crown was that the car was radio delete. It had a woodgrain block off filler where the radio would be and a block off panel where the power antenna would go. There was no antenna nor a hole to accommodate one later. The Notorious Luxury site wrote a couple of scathing Calais articles worth checking out. Oldsmobile revived the Calais name from 1979 through 1991.
I wish they had kept the 5mph (8kph) impact standard. Today's plastic painted bumpers seem mostly ornamental. Even a small tap can cause hundreds to repair.
Calais also had roll up windows. I can see some opting for a low spec Cadillac with the jumbo 472 back when this model was being fashioned. Less weight, less complexity, maybe get the cool automatic lights option... the stereo... and pay less than a Buick.
