Cadillac Crazy!

     I've had Cadillacs on the brain the past few weeks.  I can't stop thinking about the stately designs of the older cars and the bold, unique styling of the current cars.  Every time I see a knife-edged CTS coupe going down the road, I daydream about being the guy behind the wheel of such a statement-making car, parading stylish American automotive design up and down the streets of Austin.  I love some of the recent (produced) designs and have rediscovered some of their best looking concepts, such as the Sixteen and the Ciel (below.) 
     I never used to be a Cadillac fan, which makes sense because I was not in their previous demographic: retirees and the elderly.  The fuddy-duddy image of Cadillac was shattered with the first utterance of Cadillac's Art & Science design language and the company's new focus on engaging, sporty, performance-oriented cars in 2002.  I love the way the new models look and the fact that you can get an American rear-wheel-drive sedan with a supercharged Corvette motor and a 6-speed manual transmission. 
     However, as I've gotten older, I've become more familiar with Cadillacs from years past and have discovered quite a few "grandpa-mobiles" that really catch my eye, my age be damned.  (I still haven't developed an extensive knowledge of or appreciation for Cadillacs before the '80s and '90s; perhaps I will one day.  My tastes reach farther back in time as the years go by.) 
     (Big thanks to Autoblog's John Neff for helping me tweak this post.)
     Anyway, here are my favorite Cadillacs, both production and concept:

PRODUCTION CARS

1992-2002 Eldorado Touring Coupe (ETC)

This is kind of a "drug dealer's car," but I still like it.  The lines are simple and straight, but softer than those of the modern Art & Science cars.  I've always driven sedans and tend to favor them not only because I'm familiar with them, but because their lines are given more room to express themselves than they would be in coupe form.  I find a lot of coupe versions of sedans to be visually abbreviated in an unflattering way.  However, the lines of this coupe are fully voiced and form an attractive personal luxury coupe (a very indulgent, yet sensible, ride for a single guy like me.)  (Take a peek at the ETC's Wikipedia page.)

1993-1996 Fleetwood Brougham
What a majestic highway barge.  This is like the tuxedo of sedans, especially in this particular color scheme.  I love the broad swaths of chrome along the bottom and the landau roof.  I couldn't drive this particular specimen every day, though.  Being that it's the tuxedo of road cars, I would only drive it to special occasions, like weddings.  It would be a ton of work to keep this behemoth clean and looking its best, but it would be worth it.  This is the kind of car that wouldn't look good at all with road warrior scars.  After all, who wants to wear a dirty tuxedo?  (Here's its entry on Wikipedia.)

2000-2005 DeVille
We all know the prices on luxury cars and American cars depreciate like crazy, which is what makes one of these such a tempting purchase.  I love the looks of these DeVilles and the idea of picking up a wood-and-leather-lined, V8-powered piece of American luxury for a steep discount.  I'm a big fan of road trips already, but if I had one these, I think I'd invent reasons to go on one and treat my friends to the experience of riding in a Cadillac.  (Here's a link to more info on the DeVille.)

2006-2009 XLR-V
I love the decidedly non-curvaceous styling of this car as well as its, at times, awkward geometry and unforgiving, committed straight lines.  It might not be the prettiest car out there, but, by Hell, it makes a statement.  It's different and refreshing and stands out, for better or worse.  The fact that it has a supercharged, 443 horsepower Northstar V8 makes it even more attractive, although, for $100K, you'd think Cadillac might have chosen to put the 556 hp motor from the CTS-V or the 638 hp motor from the Corvette ZR-1 into it.  A missed opportunity of sorts, but still a bad-ass car.  (More information about this car can be found on its Wikipedia page.)  

2013-? ATS
I saw one of these being loaded into a truck a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to forget it since.  I love its evolutionary CTS styling and its tidier size (and more accessible price), as well as the inward-biased positioning of its dual exhausts.  I grew up with Japanese sedans and I still love them, but this is the first American non-muscle/sports car that's made me want to buy a Detroit 4-door.  Mayhaps I should go test drive one when they come out...  (See more of the ATS here.)

2011-? CTS-V Coupe

I know I said at the beginning of this post that I'm partial to sedans, but this is another coupe I really like if only because it's so odd-looking and unique.  Like the XLR-V, it has an attractively brutal geometry to it, but it also has a dramatically raked rear window and a quirky, high-riding rump that is chiseled off to a cool, dual-outlet center exhaust (it looked good on the first generation Jeep Cherokee SRT-8, too.)  The icing on the cake is the 556 horsepower, supercharged V8 and the 6-speed manual transmission.  Sometimes I day-dream about driving this 2-door American rocket cross-country.  What a quick, but stylish, trip that would be.  (Check it out here.)     

CONCEPTS

2003 Sixteen
It's such a shame this was never produced.  It harkens back to the days when Cadillac was known as "The Standard of the World," both in terms of styling and powertrain.  It has presence and the paradoxical restrained outrageousness of a Rolls-Royce and a 16-cylinder, 1,000 horsepower engine.  Cadillac really pulled out all of the stops with this one.  If I were insanely wealthy, it would be tempting to have one of these custom-built and legalized for road use or, at least, buy the concept from GM.  (Learn more about the Sixteen concept on Wikipedia.)

2011 Ciel
Like the Sixteen, the Ciel makes a hell of a statement that quotes old-school Cadillac adages, at least visually.  The hybrid-assisted 3.6 liter, direct-injected V6 is an unpleasant surprise for such a grand piece of sculpture.  While I'm not crazy about the squared off front end, I do love the profile and rear end.  "Ciel" is French for "sky" and this 4-seater convertible is made just for that.  I fantasize about wafting down a sunlit coast line with 3 of my closest friends in this glorious land yacht.  (I wonder what it would look like with its top up.)  (Learn more about the Ciel on Cadillac's website.)