1991 Cadillac Sedan de Ville: Margaret’s Caddy

I miss the Cadillac of my youth. Who would have guessed, even ten years ago, that virtually all manufacturers would snub the traditional, four-door sedan? But they have. For the majority of 2024 vehicle choices it is truck/SUV/crossover, and little else. But once upon a time, not only did people buy sedans and enjoy sedans, they were the car companies’ bread and butter—especially at Cadillac.

The 1989–93 Cadillac Sedan de Ville was—and is, in your author’s opinion—”just right.” It was a good size but not huge. It had excellent interior room, excellent glass area, and … elegance.

Remember elegance? When not everything had to be a super turbo sports machine? In this day and age, even Rolls-Royces look more like armored Pullman cars than the elegant Silver Clouds, Silver Shadows, and Silver Spurs once available.

But we’re talking about Cadillac, aren’t we? In 1991, all Cadillacs were cars, and with the exception of the Allanté, the Fleetwood Coupe, the Eldorado, and the Coupe de Ville, all were four-door sedans. By 1991 the de Ville series consisted of the $30,205 Coupe de Ville and the $30,455 Sedan de Ville.

Both the de Villes and the front-wheel drive Fleetwood and Fleetwood Sixty Special had a new nose with a power-dome hood and larger grille. And under the hood was the new, 4.9-liter V-8, an upgraded version of the previous year’s 4.5-liter V-8 (itself an enlarged and enhanced 4.1-liter engine that originated in 1982).

Featuring sequential port fuel injection, the 4.9 produced 200 hp and 275 lb-ft of torque, impressive figures for 1991. The EPA average fuel-economy figure for the new engine was 26 mpg, also respectable in its day. Smoothness was still the watchword; the hot-rod CTS and CT5-Vs were still many years off.

Today’s featured car is extra special, as it is a virtually flawless example with extremely low mileage. It is owned by my friend, Ryan Lockhart, who is a fellow Cadillac fanatic.

As he related: “The car originally was sold to Mrs. Margaret Gutzmer of Oakbrook, Illinois. It was sold by Heritage Cadillac, as indicated by the original, new-in-the-box, Heritage of Ownership medallion. It was her third new Cadillac. She took delivery of the car March, 27, 1991, with 12 miles on the odometer.

“She eventually relocated to be closer to family and the car was located in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was inherited by her grandson when I bought the car from him after he owned it a few years. It had 16,400 miles on it when I picked it up. It was in need of a slight mechanical refresh. It now has 18,600 miles on it, nearly three years later, and is superb.

“The Cadillac factory paint is Slate Gray with Dark Slate Gray lower accent and Slate Gray Leather interior. The MSRP new is $32,551. It has De Ville option package C, as well as the digital dash, leather and illuminated entry options.”

I remember these cars so well in my late grade-school and early junior-high years. They were immensely popular in my Midwestern city: Tidy on the outside and roomy on the inside, with front-wheel drive for those rough Illinois winters.

My inaugural experience with one was when my Grandma Ruby was in a slight fender-bender with her 1987 Continental. She got one of these, a then-new ’90 model while the Lincoln was being fixed. And she knew I wanted to check it out, so one day she stopped by and took me to lunch.

Ten-year-old me loved it. It was Carmine Red with a silver lower tone on the cladding, with the same dove-gray leather interior as this one. It was so smooth and quiet. I enjoyed it thoroughly! And years later, I test-drove several, thinking about maybe buying one as an extra “fun” car. But I was still in college then with no place to put an additional car.

And they were elegant! Not a front splitter, rear spoiler, or low-profile tires to be seen anywhere! My folks were members of the Rock Island Arsenal Golf Club and so many of these were in the parking lot back then, along with Park Avenues and Town Cars.

I miss that era. I’ve never been much of an SUV or truck guy. I’ve always been a “car” guy. And with all the seemingly indifferent manufacturers axing four-door sedans left and right, I might just have to find a nice one of these someday, instead of buying a crossover or SUV I know I won’t like!