Remember when Cadillacs were wonderfully grand luxo-machines, the choice of Hollywood stars, that inspired schoolboys to doodle in their sketchbooks? No, neither do I! Does the Cadillac brand conjure images of majestic road boats that are loaded with technology-firsts? No, same here!
That’s because in our lifetime, Cadillacs have been the victim of terrible, lacklustre design, poor industry management and the two fuel crisis of the 1970s. Those tough times have produced abominations like the 1981 Cadillac Cimarron:
And if you thought it looked vaguely familiar, you’d be right. The Cimarron is based on GM’s J-platform… the same platform that gave 1980s Australia the ghastly Holden Camira! WTF WERE THEY THINKING?:
Which is all a very far cry from this:
And this emerald beauty:
Fortunately though, it appears that someone at Cadillac has the same idea, “lets go back to when Cadillac meant something!” The Cadillac Ciel is a concept car with the grand proportions and audacious styling of the 1940s and 50s. Albeit with the controlled edginess of Caddi’s current Art & Science design philosophy, but far more production potential than the ill-fated
Sixteen concept car.
The Ciel is a four door, four seat open-top saloon. Not quite the configuration you would expect to see on a production model, but one would hope to see the Ciel go into production, even if they had to drop a lid on top.
At nearly 5.2m long the Ciel harks back to the saloons of the 60s, when the wild wings of the previous decade were reined in with bodywork that was more flush and less curvy. The nose is quite imposing, as it should be, but not as brutal as that of the Rolls Royce Phantom.
The backside is possibly the Ciel’s nicest feature. It extends quite far back from the rear wheel arch, again, harking back to the trends of the 60s. In fact, the first picture I saw of this car was a shot of the rear end and with its vertical taillight config, I just assumed it was a Lincoln. It’s a very nice ass.
Are they going to make it? Word is they will… GM needs hero cars like this that can lift the whole brand up. I think it would do wonders for the American car industry as a whole. It would spur on the competition to match it and give consumers something to aspire to.
If it does get produced, I would really hope they switch out the twin-turbo 3.6 V6 power plant. Nothing says ‘strangled brief’ more than a V6 in a big luxury car (I’m thinking Jaguar XJ220). I’m a bit of a greenie these days (I just bought a hybrid BTW), but even I know that a hero car needs a V8, V12 or, dare I say it a V16 engine. They need that impressive power plant as well as a hybrid or all-electric version for me to take the Ciel seriously.
