Minneapolis Street Sighting: Cadillac Coupe de Ville

By now, I've delved into both the Sedan deVille, and the convertible. What bodystyle is left? The coupe--the bodystyle that's familiar with O.Gs, pimps, the Sopranos, bankers, and car enthusiasts alike. This is the bodystyle that made the deVille into a legacy, into a world-known nameplate. Cadillacs and coupe bodies go together like Macaroni and cheese, and hot dogs. Simply swathed in American excess, these cars spoke the American dream like no other vehicle of its time--or since--could. If one owned a Cadillac Coupe deVille, chances are, he or she was doing well, and knew how to carry his or her self. As a result, the Coupe deVille gained a following in all sorts of automotive circles. Pimps drove them, mobsters drove them, and well in the 1980s, lowrider crews drove them. In short, the deVille was the spokescar for a wide audience of the car buying public.













I first spotted this example lurking behind the transit station; as a Cadillac nut, I quickly deboarded the bus, and got to this specimen as fast as I could. From inside the bus, this big coupe looked tremendous, if not a bit aged. The paint--though a bit dirty-still looked nice, even up close. The hubcaps and the rest of the body chrome looked not-quite-immaculate, but not horrible either. This is what I'd call a "good driver". It's obviously not in beater condition, but it doesn't really lend itself to show status just yet. There are a few minor kinks to sort out; one of the main ones is the badging. I do know that this particular car is a Coupe de Ville, despite the driver's side badge declaring otherwise. Yes, I do know that badging is something relatively minor, but when the badge identifies something as the wrong car, there's a problem.
I'm not sure if the owner of this classic coupe realizes the badging is incorrect, or if the owner ever cares; but I do. To a car enthusiast, displaying the wrong badge means either you know nothing about cars and bought purely because you could afford to, or either you simply don't care about small details, and only focus on it being "a Cadillac." If this boat were mine, I'd put back all the correct badging, and have myself a nice boulevard cruiser.