1975 Cadillac Sedan De Ville

Here's a 1975 or 1976 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, the year of peak size for the big GM C-bodies.

The 130 inch wheelbase is almost three feet longer than that on my little euro roadster. Stretching 230.7 inches from bumper to bumper, it casts a full six feet more shadow on the asphalt than the BMW Z3, too.

According to Wikipedia, "[t]he new GM full-size bodies, at 64.3 inches front shoulder room (62.1 inches on Cadillac) and 63.4 inches rear shoulder room (64.0 inches on Cadillac) set a record for interior width that would not be matched by any car until the full-size GM rear-wheel-drive models of the early to mid-1990s."

The standard... and only ...engine option was the 500 cubic inch V8. This had begun life as an Eldorado-only performance option. When it debuted in 1970 it had a 10.0:1 compression ratio and was rated at 400 SAE gross horsepower. In 1975 it became the standard engine in all the Caddies except the new "compact" Seville. By then the compression ratio had been dropped to 8.5:1 for the sake of emissions and fuel economy. Add in the more restrictive catalytic-converted exhaust and power in this '76 model had dropped to 190bhp SAE net, or 215bhp with the optional Bendix fuel injection.

Not a lot of motive force when asked to propel two-and-three-quarters tons of velour, vinyl, and Galloway Green Firemist paint down the boulevard. Road Test only managed a 10.6 second 0-60 from a '75 Coupe De Ville.

EDIT: Looking more closely at the grille and the interior, this is a '75, not a '76. That Jasper "Maharaja cloth with leather" interior wasn't available in '76. (Nor was fuel injection an option.)

This one was snapped in July of 2021 with a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens.