1980 Cadillac Seville Elegante: Hooper Coachworks Hits Detroit

The 1980-85 Cadillac Seville was one of the last overtly styled cars General Motors ever made. Oh sure, there would be other interesting cars in the future, but the 1980 Seville was arguably the last car designed simply for the look, and not for any practical considerations. It was also the last car GM Vice-President of Design Bill Mitchell signed off on before retirement.

That’s not a coincidence.

Mitchell had some pretty big shoes to fill, after Harley Earl retired. But he did a great job, and unlike Earl, who loved gobs of chrome and fins, Mitchell was more restrained. Cars he had a major hand in include the ’63 split-window Chevrolet Corvette and ’63 Buick Riviera. But the last new GM product he signed off on was this one.

The Seville itself had given Cadillac a new arena to compete in. Folks who bought luxury cars but weren’t overly enthused about Nimitz-class land yachts found the all new K-body 1976 Seville to be a revelation.

I detailed all of this in my 1978 Seville writeup, but long story short, sales of the new Seville from May ’75 to April ’76 totaled 44,475. During that same period, 45,353 Mercedes-Benzes (of all types) were retailed. As one would expect, GM was extremely pleased with this.

The 1976-79 Seville was smaller but still sufficiently roomy, extremely luxurious, and very appealing. While clearly identifiable as a Cadillac, it was more restrained and not quite so over the top as the Fleetwood Talismans and Coupe de Ville d’Elegances it shared showrooms with. And naturally it was much easier to park.

But 1980 would usher in the new bustleback Seville, now based on the front-wheel-drive E-body GM coupes—the Eldorado, Oldsmobile Toronado and Buick Riviera. And unlike the original Seville, it was now arguably the most baroque, over-the-top looking vehicle in the lineup.

Bill Mitchell loved cars, all kinds really. He had a soft spot for the prewar classics, both from the U.S. and Europe. And that’s where the ’80 Seville came from. It was a nod to the pre-war classic cars he loved, but especially towards the Rolls-Royces and Bentleys that had been re-bodied in the bustleback style by the British coachbuilder Hooper & Company.

Of course, when a really unique design comes onto the scene, it is not going to be uniformly loved by the motoring public. I’m sure there were people who loved their 1976-’79 Seville, with its elegant yet restrained styling, who took one look at the ’80, and either kept their earlier Seville or perhaps went for a Sedan de Ville or Lincoln Continental instead. Or maybe a Mercedes.

But I’m sure some folks who weren’t too fond of the earlier model saw this one and fell in love. Love it or hate it, you really couldn’t mistake it for anything else on the road—at least, until the Chrysler Imperial reappeared with its own bustleback styling in 1981, followed by the Fox-bodied Continental in ’82.

As before, the 1980 Seville was the most expensive Cadillac, except for the Cadillac factory limousines. The Seville had a base price of $19,662. If you wanted the extra-luxurious Elegante package, as seen on our featured car (spied by my friend Jayson Coombes at the CLC Grand National show in Albuquerque), it was an extra $2934.

Special features included a chromed French curve separating the two-tone paint (later this would become an option on non-Elegante Sevilles), leather-wrapped steering wheel, special upholstery with a 40/40 divided front seat and center storage console, Elegante badging on the sail panels, and other refinements.

For comparison, the 1980 Eldorado based at $15,509 ($2494 extra for the Biarritz package with cloth; a Biarritz with leather was an added $466 on top of that). Least expensive 1980 Cadillac was the Coupe de Ville, at $12,401.

Oh, and just for fun, the aforementioned Fleetwood limousine was $22,586. The Formal Limousine was $23,388, the primary difference being the divider between the front seat and the rear compartment. Other popular options for all Cadillacs included cruise control ($147), tilt/telescope steering wheel ($142), an electric rear window defogger ($170) and a theft deterrent system ($153).

The 1980 Seville was also touted as the first American car with a standard diesel engine. Of course, if you wanted the gas-fed 368-cubic-inch V-8, it was available as a no-cost option. California-destined Sevilles were the exception; they had a 350-cubic-inch V-8 due to its lower emissions.

And while the Seville was very different looking from the ’79 version, it was close in size to its predecessor, with a 114-inch wheelbase and a length just shy of 205 inches. Of course, it was now newly front wheel drive, same as its Eldorado cousin, with the corresponding flat floor.

Seville sales were down a bit in its inaugural year with the new body, with 39,344 sold in total, compared to 53,487 in ’79. Part of that may have been due to the 1979 gas crisis. Eldorado sales were also down: 67,436 were sold in 1979 and 52,683 were sold in 1980, despite the car being virtually identical except for a revised grille.

But sales continued to drop for the Cadillac Seville: 28,631 in 1981 and 19,998 for ’82. But in 1983 a funny thing happened: Sales got a healthy bump to 30,430 and again in ’84 to three shy of 40,000 units. It could be that it was becoming more familiar now that a few years had passed, and the Imperial and Continental, with their own versions of the Hooper/English coachbuilt bustleback, made it less polarizing.

The last year for this body style was 1985, and starting in 1986 the Seville would get downsized, perhaps too downsized, but it was the end of the bustle. The ’86 model had a normal three-box silhouette, with a conventional trunk lid. The Imperial lasted to 1983 and the Continental until 1987. Starting in 1988, the bustleback fad that had begun with this car ended. 

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