1970 Cadillac De Ville Convertible: Sumptuous Success
As you know from many, many prior columns, I am a big fan of Detroit luxury from yesteryear, especially Lincolns and Cadillacs. Ask me on 10 different days and I will give you 10 different answers as to what year is my favorite Cadillac. 1960, 1962, 1971, 1976… but sooner or later, I will always gravitate back to the 1970 models.
Likely the biggest reason for this is because the first Cadillac I ever rode in was a cinnamon-colored 1970 Fleetwood Brougham. It was 1985 or 1986, and I was in first grade. We were going on a field trip to Illinois’ Rock Island Arsenal, and as Immanuel Lutheran School was a small place, several mothers volunteered their services—and vehicles.
My mom frequently volunteered her Volvo station wagon, so I usually rode with her, but on this day, one of the moms had her Cadillac, a slightly frayed but still majestic Fleetwood Brougham, with a white padded top and white leather interior. Well, I HAD to ride in that car!
It was big. That was for sure. And it cemented my love for the 1970 Cadillac right then and there. Several years later, our science teacher, Mr. Spilker, let me remove car ads from his vintage cache of 1960s and 1970s National Geographic magazines, and I remember one of them was for a red 1970 De Ville convertible. I quite likely still have that ad in a file folder somewhere!
What I didn’t know until many years later was that 1970 was the final chance for affluent buyers to grace their driveways with a brand new De Ville convertible. Come 1971 only Sedan de Ville and Coupe de Ville models were available, with the convertible model being moved to the front-wheel-drive, personal luxury Eldorado.
And that final 1970 De Ville convertible was a beauty. While only minor cosmetic changes were made from the totally redesigned 1969 Cadillacs, those minor changes appealed to me.
The grille was a new, more simplified “eggcrate” style, the wheel covers went from a somewhat concave design to a more convex shape, and there were revised taillamps and interior trim. I mostly preferred those new, albeit minor, changes over the 1969 model—though those models were very pretty, too.
The 1970 De Ville convertible had a base price of $6068 and tipped the scales at 4660 pounds. The model run totaled 15,172. And while the convertible is usually the least-produced model in any given lineup, in 1970, it was more than double the production of the pillared Sedan de Ville, which saw 7230 built, at $6118 a pop.
The most popular ’70 De Ville was the pillarless Hardtop Sedan de Ville, with 83,274 built. It was priced the same as the non-hardtop Sedan de Ville—$6118. The Coupe de Ville was only slightly less popular, with 76,043 made at $5884 each.
But the best part of ordering a brand new luxury car in 1970 was the options. And many were on offer, including Automatic Climate Control ($516), Firemist paint ($205), cruise control ($95), a tilt/telescope steering wheel ($95), Twilight Sentinel ($37) and power door locks ($68).
No matter what options you selected, however, any 1970 was an imposing and elegant conveyance. And powerful! All 1970 Cadillacs (except for the Fleetwood Eldorado luxury coupe, which boasted a 500-cubic-inch V-8 engine with 400 horsepower), from the base Calais coupe to Fleetwood Seventy-Five limousine, had a 472-cubic-inch V-8 with 375 horsepower, backed up to the bulletproof Turbo-Hydramatic automatic transmission.
And so many colors! Today’s flawless example, spotted by my Cadillac friend from Oklahoma City, Jim Jordan, is in gorgeous San Mateo Red with white leather and red dash and carpet. I did not make the Pennsylvania Cadillac & LaSalle Club event, as I prefer to avoid flying and it was too far to drive, but both Jim and Ryan Lockhart were kind enough to send many photos of the many beautiful Cadillacs on display.
I appreciate their taking the time to indulge me, and likely more cars from this event will be written up in future columns as a result of their generosity. But for now, let’s all take a step back and bask in the lovely lines of the final Cadillac De Ville convertible! Truly Cadillac Style.
The event was the 2024 Cadillac LaSalle Grand National at the Marriott in Gettysburg PA. Please join us at the 2025 Cadillac LaSalle Grand National at the Embassy Suites Murfreesboro/Nashville Tennessee June 2 through June 8, 2025. Tom and all his friends, we are looking at you. 😎😎😎
I’ll be there supplying Tom with multiple photos of all the cars if he’s not able to attend. Family obligations prevented me from attending 2024 but I’ll be in TN for 2025.
Jayson, sorry you missed Gettysburg. One change you may not be aware of is that Judging now occurs on Friday with a Show on Saturday for viewing and photo taking. As you know previously Judging / Show us to occur all on Saturday. Best day to take photos will be Saturday. If you want to talk to the owners they have to be with their cars during Judging on Friday. But either way you can get lots of photos.
The pictures of the Cadillac De Ville Convertible were taken right spot on the Money💵 💰💵. What can I say about that Big Daddy Mack Caddy? That’s one Ride I would most definitely 👍🏾 💯 add that to my Collection of all my Antique, Classic and Vintage Rides.
On warm Spring, Summer and Fall Sunshine Sunny 🌞☀️😎 Days I’d Break it out and go a Luxuriously, Luxurious, Luxury Cruise 🚢 in that Luxury Land Cruiser, Luxury Land Liner, And Luxury Land Yacht. Now That’s What I Call Cruising.
Oh man. I was a high school freshman when the 1970 models came out in fall, 1969. That’s how I know my across the street neighbors including my best friend Tommy had one of these babies. Americans traded in every four or five years back then and his dad had the convertible in Kelly Green – something about droptops made even boring Republican businessman dad’s like Mr P go in for vibrant colors – while his mom had a dark blue Sedan de Ville. My folks were an Oldsmobile family (speaking of blasts from the past) but I rode in their cars quite frequently too though usually alas in his mom’s more sedate one or my mom’s Vista Wagon.
What the author should also mention is that 1970 was the last year for these bodies for DeVilles and Eldorado. Build quality and materials were still outstanding. As much as I like the 1971 to 1976 era, that started taking a unfortunate downturn after 1970. I compare my 1970 and 1974 Eldorado coupes, and this is quite obvious.
Circa 1972-76 my may ma’s boyfriend, a successful realtor drove one the same color…albeit with red interior.
I drove it a few times, not hugely different from the ’69 LTD we had or mom’s new (slightly used) ’73 Mark IV.
They’re more “tossable” (to use a term overused in period car magazines) than the anti-American full size car bigots…most of which have never driven one…give them credit for.
Great ride, low noise, very good brakes and acceleration, what’s not to like?