Not much going on in this one. People looking at cars, an older gentleman in the office with one of the salespersons. This video from October at the Williamson Cadillac in Miami last around 6 minutes or so. #cadillac
It’s crazy how there were so many niche markets in the car industry back then compared to today. There really isn’t any car manufacturer that caters to an older demographic anymore, not even with just a singular model in their lineup. Everyone is pushing for a young and sporty image, but I kinda like the classical and conservative styling these older luxury cars have.
I think Cadillac actually tried to target a younger hipper Uppie market back then. They became the baby-boomers car of choice by default. Old people just love Cadillac no matter who their target market is.
@@timmartin7664 Boomers went buying Caddy's in the 90s, they buying BMWs and Lexus, now they're all targeting youngsters who can't even afford new cars
@@mr.chronograph9022 probably most would honestly. That time period certainly was not without flaws but compared to what we're going through today it's just sad. I was blessed to have experienced what may be the last good innocent time in society before everything went horribly wrong.
I agree with Elemtality. I would go back in a nanosecond at my current age. That 93 STS blows the current CT5 out of the water! Plus I'd of probably been dead by now & wouldn't have had to go through what we're seeing now!
This is when they started making them more round edged. My grandfather drove Cadillacs in the 70's/80's when they were all square and boxy. On very rare occasions i'll see one on the road as i'm walking and for just a tiny moment i'm 8 years old again and thinking "Grandpa's coming!" and it's such a nice, comforting feeling even if it only lasts for that split second. I have a special place in my heart for those cars.
I also noticed that they started chopping off half the trunk. I major selling point of the old Cadillacs is that they could hold 7 full-size suitcases. When they changed that, it wasn't for the better.
I know the scary thing is 30 years from now I’ll be 79 and most likely won’t make it that long. 30. 30 years ago I was 19 still living in the Bronx. In my mind, I was still a kid that’s the year my grandmother died. My uncle came to tell me she passed away while I was working at a gas station in Mount Vernon or 1st Ave., Timeflies. Time flies that’s why we have to make the best of all life we owe it to ourselves, if we’re lucky we will get 75 winters 75, summers 75, springs 75 Falls and that’s if we’re lucky. I remember 1985 playing stick ball in the street I would go outside at 8 AM and finally finish playing manhunt once it got dark not wanting to come in for dinner.
Everything these days, is watered down (even folk). You can't expect to buy anything that lasts, minus the need for you to go out of your way to preserve it.
As I child, I remember my main concern with a new car was how high the speedometer went. I remember they had new cars in the local mall and I went around checking how high the speedometers were. I think 240kmph was the fastest I saw (I'm Canadian)
Ha I used to do the same thing. American cars were no fun because they usually only went up to 85 during those days. Going back and forth between the US and the Middle East I could convert MPH to KPH instantly
i remember my friends parents had an e34 or even e32 bmw back in like 00/01/02 and i think the speedo went up to like 260kmh 😄 anyway i know what u mean and also have a memory like that^^ haha
These are most likely WW2 and Korean War vets buying their "retirement car". These car were the best road trip cars. So nice. Everyone is smiling and looks like they're having fun with an old school shopping experience. Go walk into a BMW or Audi dealership today and it won't be like this!
They were NOT the best road trip cars at the time. That would be the Lexus LS400 that would have been the best. But these GM and Ford cars were utilizing technology from the 1970's with leaf spring suspension. These cars were even in the same league as most cars back then in terms of suspension and road feedback. They drove like boats floating in water. The lack of steering precision had them floating around on highways with any sort of cross wind. They were at the time, some of the worst built cars on the road. But you couldn't tell these old timers different. Because Cadillac was the pinnacle of cars when they grew up, they wouldn't even look at a Japanese or German cars at the time which were far far superior. When it came to car buying, this generation wasn't very smart. Their children however, didn't have the nostalgia their parents and grandparents had and would only buy reliable cars that used the latest technology. Bottom line, these were large boats floating on the road with absolutely awful reliability and performance handling.
@@christschool The Lexus was built better no question however these Cadillacs rode MUCH better for sheer comfort and the very bland style of the Lexus couldn’t hold a candle to these Caddies! At least Lexus wasn’t using that hideous grill yet in ‘93.
@@christschool The LS 400 is very floaty, which I love. Sadly I don't have lots of experience with American cars, but the LS 400 fees and sounds very American. I've never driven a body on frame RWD American, but the Seville STS (92-97 and 98-04 gens) is very similar to the Lexus.
Not a retirement car. The way GM was structured, you bought a chevy in high school, then a pontiac in college, an oldsmobile at your first job, a buick after you made manager and got the corner office. Cadillac was when you owned the company.
Main reason for majority seniors in the Caddy show room because they had the money! The expression "Grandma Credit" comes to mind as well. Back in the day most of us looked at such a purchase meant one had worked they're way to a certain level if success. I miss those days and I know I am not alone.
The 90s are already 30 years ago. This is probably the last time buying a Cadillac was still a prestigious thing. These cars were typically bought by the 65 to death crowd, but every once in awhile you might find somebody young driving one. The design of the Seville and Eldorado was geared more towards a younger audience.
cadillac prestige started to stagnate in the late 60's, and really started to die during the 70s 80s. they put all their effort in cost cutting and marketing instead of better engineering and innovation. by the 90's they are prestigious to the older generation who remember them fondly, but the younger folks gravitate towards european luxury like bmw and mercedes. that's why they're remembered as an old man's car even though every brand has old and young buyers.
I was about 15 when this video was made, about the time I really became a full blown car nut. I recognize the Cadillac brochure, because I had the 1995 version. I would send away for brochures and videos from literally all the manufacturers, and many were quite generous. They don’t offer free materials through the mail like that anymore, but there was a time when it was like Christmas, and every week I’d receive something really cool in the mail from GM, Jaguar, BMW, Nissan, Mercedes, Infiniti, Lotus, etc etc. Many with hand signed letters from some executive in the sales division. Packages that really stand out in my memory were usually new models getting the red carpet promotional treatment. The brochure and video box set for the new for 1995 Buick Riviera. The video for the new Jaguar XJ, the hardback book for the Olds Aurora, the spiral bound book for the Olds Bravada. The Nissan 300ZX brochure with a clear plastic page providing an X-ray view of the car, and the Altima booklet that came with a hard disk. I’d receive a ton of goods from BMW North America, one of my favorites! The brochures of course, but also videos, posters, and a DVD set of the BMW short films from around 2001, which I still have.
@@timmartin7664 Yes, I always ordered by phone (I had no computer and internet was still pretty new) but I was able to seem older than my age! And also, maybe the call centers didn’t care one way or the other, ha.
I still have the brochure for the Chrysler 300 when it was redesigned to look like a Bentley around 2005. For some strange reason I also have the VHS tape of Dodge Intrepid. Pretty much the manual in video format. I read your comment and it brought back so good car memories.
Gotta love how Cadillac back then was known for catering to an older audience. Even to this present day I will sometimes see a 90's Caddy being driven by a senior and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that they are indeed the original and only owner to that vehicle. I wasn't even born yet during the making of this video but it's nice to see how people operated before my time.
They weren't catering to an older audience, they were just building cars that were luxurious and smooth riding. It has been a huge mistake imo that they decided to chase after the European market by abandoning what made them special.
@1:38 I think I understand what that man in the white shirt is complaining about: In the 92-93 model year Sevilles you had seat controls in the center console to operate the power seats. In typical GM fashion of cutting costs, they moved the controls from the center to the sides of the seats and rather than filling it in with something else, just left an open hole right in the the center where they use to be. That type of thing would bother me too.
Thanks for explaining this. The first time I watched this clip, completely obvious to what they were discussing, the salesman was annoying me. Now understanding the valid question the customer was clearly trying to get across, I’m even more annoyed with the salesmen trying to be cute with his responses when he undoubtedly knew from the jump what the customer was getting at.
Boy, this almost brings me to tears..my grandfather was a 30+ year worker at GM in NY, absolutely SWORE by GM products..Caddilacs Oldsmobiles and Chevys were his preferred. Taught me how to work on cars on a '88 Chevy Spectrum that he gave to me, free and clear, when I turned 17 in '92.. Man, i miss him and these times in my life.
Nice upload, takes you back to a simpler place and time but also sad when you realize the senior citizens looking at these cars are WWII vets and probably all deceased by now and most of these cars ended up in the junkyard by now or fell victim to the cash for clunkers scam. When I was a child until I was 16 my uncle inherited a 1990 Cadillac Brougham from his fathers estate in 1998, which he'd purchased new in March of 1990 for his 60th birthday. To this day I have not found a car that rides quite as comfortable and silky smooth as that big boat. Gas filler behind license plate was a nice feature I figured was well thought out because you could fill from either side, if there were a long wait at the gas station you'd pull up to whatever side opens first.
I miss the WW2 generation badly....they were the backbone and glue that held everything together. Once they faded away is when things started falling apart. Not that they were perfect but when you grow up with virtually nothing through the Great Depression and then in your young adult life fight in WW2....you have a certain appreciation, reverence and respect for things unlike consecutive generations.
That generation built a lot of modern America as we know it today. And with that, they "built" a lot of things that made our country more anti-social and isolated. Their generation engineered suburban sprawl, strip malls, and highways. When you travel to Middle America and see the same copy-paste suburban streets, same fast food restaurants, and same dollar stores - you're looking at the legacy of 20th Century mistakes.
Thanks for this upload! I am very glad to see someone's home video of shopping at a Cadillac dealer during the 90s. This really takes me back to when I remember looking at these cars brand new. Looking at all these nostalgic car buying videos from the past actually makes me homesick because I'm not able to go and revisit anymore. Even the same showroom locations that I use to frequent are not even there anymore. My area was Central Florida, west coast.
The WW2 and the Silent Generation really loved Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln. Even though there were superior cars on the market like Lexus, they didn't even shop Lexus. For the most part, Gen X doesn't shop domestic like our parents did because our generation valued reliability more than they did the country of origin.
I went to Detroit before the pandemic hit and I hardly seen any foreign cars on the roads in Detroit. I saw mostly Ford and GM vehicles. The Uber drivers that took me to and from the airport drove Buicks, which are made by GM.
@@TeeroyHammermill I’m technically a Millennial born in 1984 but I consider myself a Gen-X as I do not identify with Millennials at all and I would not even consider anything but an American car even though many of them aren’t even made in the US anymore
@@TeeroyHammermill Thus why I wrote "for the most part". There is always outliers that buy American without consideration of quality, like the buyers in this video.
I remember my dad had a coworker that had a Cadillac from the early 90s. Man that suspension was so floaty it literally felt like the car was flying. To this day I still remember it. People say Mercedes ride soft. I think nothing will compare to this era of Cadillac as far as cushy suspension.
My Uncle Frank had a 1990 Cadillac Brougham that he inherited from his dad in 1998 when he passed and for the younger folks that was best described as two La-Z-Boy recliners and leather sofa on wheels. Great Uncle Thomas, which we knew him as Uncle Tom, purchased that car new for his 60th birthday March of '90, his older brother Henry was a pear harbor survivor and it was those reasons all of my older relatives now deceased always purchased American cars truck's and station wagons, by the time they began retiring in the 90s and earlier 2000s they were set in their ways and you weren't gonna convince them otherwise that Toyota, Honda, and Volkswagen to name a few, were producing durable and more fuel efficient cars than the Big 3.
I love all the old people looking at Cadillac. I remember as a kid so many older people loved them. I don’t know who buys them now, I see a few here and there, but not older people behind the wheel.
Whenever I see a pre 2000 or so Cadillac on the road today I'm impressed by them still, but also wowed how small they are compared to today's SUVs and trucks. Even the "big" cars of my childhood are comparatively small to many of our vehicles now. They got smaller, then bigger again.
I’m learning to appreciate this oldies too. I miss the the floaty big cars where you didn’t feel a thing going down the road. Today’s roads suck and now I appreciate these floaty cars.
You can see why Cadillac had a crisis moment as they realized all of their clientele was literally dying, hence the shift to Art & Science with the 03 CTS. It worked, at least for a while.
@@lurch789Buick messed up when they tried to appeal to younger buyers which is stupid considering that younger buyers can't afford luxury cars anyway.
@Lurch Oldsmobile over Pontiac? But Olds was catering to the exact same market as Buick. It's easy to see why they got the ax. At least Pontiac was the youth orientated brand, kind of like a cross between Mazda and BMW.
Yes, you're not kidding. This really takes me back to exactly what I remember. I think probably what makes me sad is many of these vintage showrooms are not around anymore to even revisit again.
I mean a lot of cars from that era are still on the road, I still see a lot of cars from the 60s on the road(although most probably with rebuilt engines by now).
They are 100% collectables now. Even up to 2012 Ford Panther platform vehicles (Crown Vic, Marquis, Town Car) are, especially those beautiful Town Cars. All the SUVs and crossovers of the last 3 decades have been mostly driven by women with penis envy. They didn't have to be pretty but they had to be big, pushy and sit up high.
The Seville looks like such a sharp youthful car here. I wonder how many lifelong Cadillac owners called it quits after owning a bad Northstar of this vintage. I know of a few who went to Lincoln and Lexus after that ordeal. But Man, to be back in a time long before oversized trucks and endless indistinct crossovers ruled the roads. Cars had character here.
@Lurch the Impala SS is a wonderful hidden gem of the 90s. I drive a 96 Lincoln Town car and those last body on frame cars really evoke such a classic feel
My 2011 Lincoln Town Car is one of the most beautiful cars on earth, when I walk up to get in to my Town Car is just speaks volumes on it own. Gas mileage you say, try 32 mpg on the highway at 70 mph and city is a respective 23 mpg, The comfort and reliability of this awesome machine is just amazing. I own 3 Lincolns, Mark 5 Mark 4, Continental, and this Town Car has to be the best built and solid quality of all of them. My 1977 Oldsmobile 98 is probably one of the best built of the GM cars of that era, 75 Pontiac Grand Safari is wonderful but the build is so so it is a woody sport model and can actually carry an 8ft piece of sheetrock or plywood with ease. MY 1977 Ford Ltd Brougham is a real cruiser it rides like a dream but not built on the Panther body so the quality is again questionable but it is exactly the same car Barnaby Jones drives on his show it is absolutely beautiful. I love the large American luxury car and the statement it makes when you park next to a Mercedes they always salivate when they see my cars. My dream car is a 1991 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with a 350 ci engine!!!
Back during this time, Cadillacs were actually good cars and they didn't cost as much as a house. Just like the stereotype only older people buying them and I get it the older you get the more comfort you want you start hurting in places you never felt pain before.
Or at least in their late 90s, I'd imagine that because they were likely WWII veterans and fought against the Japanese and Germans when they were young they pledged never to buy a German or Japanese car, I can't blame em. And until the 1970s energy crisis Cadillac set the standard for what luxury cars should be: Buttery smooth suspension and big plush leather seats that absorbed every imperfection and bump on the road, large displacement V8 engines that delivered effortless and smooth acceleration, tremendous low end torque, it didn't matter that many of the Cadillac's of the era were lucky to get 10 MPG, owning a Cadillac or Lincoln during your golden years meant you excelled in life.
This was the tail end of car designs with some distinction and character. Now they all look alike. Was behind a new Accord yesterday, tailights across the back looked just like a BMW. The Lexas 350 looks like an upgraded Camry, the Acura TSX looks like a fancy Accord, if that. It goes on and on. I would love a 66 Tornado, they were masterpieces. BTW, im 70
No old Cadillac should ever be sent to the junkyard to be destroyed, i dont care how bad the engine claimed to have been, thats why we now got engine swapping, there will never be ever made again the way they all started , no car has ever gave its owner the level of confidence any Cadillac has ever gave there owner, and no there not close to the best car ever built but its something about a Cadillac thats hard to explain with the many flaws and all....
It's one of these luxury cars that older people tended to purchase. Unfortunately they also tended to get stolen by thieves. I remember one of my beloved uncles owned such a car during my childhood. They were fun to ride in. Those days are now long gone and probably that elderly man in the video too.
Look around out here in Central Florida you see a sea of Lincoln Town Cars 2003-2011 and the same with Grand Marquis and Crown Vics they are all over. Even older Fords and mercury's. The magic Car here that you literally see thousands and thousands is the older Ford Ranger Truck now that's a well built vehicle hopefully its with 6 cylinder they seem to last the longest!!!
Im 23 and have 3 really nice 94-96 cadillac fleetwoods I got a burgundy one with eg top and tan interior A grey one with eg top, sunroof, black interior, gold package. And a white one with red interior
My family has owned these Cadillacs: 1956 Sedan deVille, 1967 and 1968 Sedan deVilles, 1985 Eldorado, 2000 and 2002 Eldorado ETCs and I just bought a 1979 Coupe deVille in mint condition with 54,356 miles.
This was me in the mid 90s looking at Columbus Cadillac downtown Columbus Ohio when I worked at State Auto Insurance one block south. I loved looking at these on my lunch hour. Good times, good times...
This made me chuckle. My Uncle George until very recently owned a Cadillac dealership. My parents never owned a Cadillac as they always professed the “wrong kind of people” drove Cadillacs. Whatever the hell that meant. I remember reading a consumer survey commissioned by Cadillac identified the typical new Cadillac buyer was over 65 with no college degree. Hardly an impressive or promising demographic. I just bought my third consecutive RX hybrid. A Cadillac was never considered.
This shows how behind the times a lot of American brands were into the 90s. They still had the boxy 70s/80s-style cars in showrooms well into the mid 90s. By this time, most car brands has switched to more aerodynamically-shaped sedans.
And now they are all boxy trucks and suvs. There are no vehicles left with aerodynamic styling. Boring lookalike mommy wagons and reverse teardrop crossovers.
Back when a top salesman at a dealership could make a fortune. No friggin customer service surveys tied to money from the car makers, lenders approving anyone and everyone, and huge margins, spiffs and bonuses.
My grandfather born in 1919, all he ever brought was Cadillac’s and I do remember 2 Buick’s, I remember going to the Cadillac dealer around this time and he was at one side of the car and me at the other and put a folding ruler mirror to mirror through the windows to measure to see if the car would fit through his driveway
The average Cadillac buyer was around 187 years old, that's why there were so many mint condition cars after the first owner who did not have enough lifetime to properly use it:)
Always was curious, are you the one who recorded all these videos? If so, what was your purpose for doing so? Did you intend to show the public what life was like somehow in the future not knowing RU-vid would be a thing?
Looks like basic B roll footage to me. News archives have astronomical amounts of this sort of stuff ( assuming wasn't destroyed). BBC is a great example, most of it isn't available to the public but is great for researchers etc
They're collated from various news channel b-roll footage. In the past they would send out people to record "life as it happns" stock to possibly be used in the background of a news story that would be edited to contain a voiceover.
I remember the GI and silent generation were into those big and bulky American cars. It's a shame they became out of favor now. Ever since the late 70s and 80's the younger generation prefer the more compact Japanese and Korean cars as they were more affordable and fuel efficient.
It was just the fact that the car had a familiar look and style but with new features and technology and I wish our generation would bring that back. Longevity, reliability, unique style and new features together.
These are REAL Cadillacs! Land yachts with fish tails, hood ornaments, chrome bumpers. Cadillacs today are the same plastic garbage-looks like every other car on the road-for twice the price
Its amazing people had the foresight to just silently record random people at random stages of buying random cars, just as a sort of time capsule for people wondering what it was like back then
It's neat to see how car buyers acted 30 years ago and what their buying priorities were. One thing you immediately notice is just how outdated the designs of some of those models were even for 1993, while the silent generation was loving that 1950s era design with the leather-esque top and fin taillights, car buyers of the 90s weren't having it and it reflected an overall 25% sales drop between 1990-1993, Cadillac struggled with sales dropping each year until 1998 when Mercedes surpassed it in the domestic luxury market. No surprise GM filed bankruptcy in 2008.
