Bring A Trailer is your go-to place to find top prices on just about any collector car, but every once in a while, you’ll find a bargain. For example, someone picked up a mint-condition 1987 Cadillac Cimarron for such a good price that the car itself is so desirable it makes you wonder if the Cimarron really deserves its reputation.
The Cadillac Cimarron has gotten a bad rap because it’s essentially an upscale Chevrolet Cavalier. Everyone from Forbes to CNN Money has slammed the compact car as a terrible example of badge engineering. The Cimarron joined the J-Car program just 11 months before the Chevrolet Cavalier was scheduled to hit showrooms, and so it shared a lot of its parts with the cheaper Chevrolet, including much of its interior and exterior.
But wait a second. Why is it a bad thing that this is a J-Car? Cavaliers and Sunbirds have endured the onslaught of teenage overconfidence and periodic neglect, surviving much longer than they should have before getting wrapped around a telephone pole or rusting into a fine mist. Most luxury cars are unlikely to last as long as the Cimarron. We don’t mean to put undue strain on this example, but it’s good to know that it’s not a pain to drive.
Oh yeah, this Cimarron has just over 15,000 miles on the Carfax and is not only spotless, but it was originally delivered to Massachusetts and somehow managed to escape the horrors of a Northeastern winter. Sure, there’s a little corrosion on the brake lines, but the underside of the car is like new. Sure, the low mileage is part of it, and maybe the move from Massachusetts to Missouri is also a factor, but how often do you see a Cimarron this clean?
Looking inside this low-mileage Cimarron, it’s hard not to take a serious look at interior trends that people might have scoffed at decades ago, but are now making a comeback in luxury cars. A dash wrapped in soft vinyl? Check. Finely etched aluminum trim? Check. Silver accents on the pedals to jazz up your footwell? Check.
Under the hood is a 2.8-liter V6 engine with 129 horsepower. Is it amazing that it took a 2.8-liter and a six-cylinder engine to make just a few more horsepower than the Nissan Versa’s 1.6-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder? Granted, this Cimarron comes with a three-speed automatic, so the torque from the V6 will be of great use. Get there in style.
Perhaps even more appealing than this Cimarron’s beautiful beige paint, low miles, or incredible condition are the documentation and trim that came with it. Not only does the original window sticker list the price at $16,911 including shipping in 1987 dollars (about $46,823.82 when adjusted for inflation), but the stack of brochures includes the original gold keys. That’s right, Cadillac gifted the owner a set of gold-plated keys. If that’s not a nice gesture, we don’t know what is.
In some ways, rebadging the Cavalier as a Cadillac was ahead of its time. Sure, it’s a lot more obvious than the BMW X1’s connection to the Mini, but in an age of platform sharing, it’s truly unprecedented for a luxury car to share its bones with a mainstream car. As the capability gap between mainstream and luxury cars becomes smaller and smaller, the Cimarron may have symbolized the direction of the entire industry.
Oh, and we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. Someone paid $5,100 for this Cimarron. In today’s car market, that’s a bargain. Where can you get a car with 15,000 miles on it for $5,100, let alone a Cadillac? From the perspective of ironic cool, and through the lens of today’s car market, the Cadillac Cimarron deserves a chance at redemption. If you want to blend in, drive a BMW or Audi or Mercedes. If you want to stand out, drive a Cimarron.
(Photo courtesy of Bring A Trailer)
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