1990 Cadillac Convertible

Cadillac Allante 1990 Description

I "rescued" this 1990 Allante with 99K miles a year and a half ago that had multiple issues; ran on 6 cylinders (installed updated-remanufactured fuel injectors / filterreplaced & new really expensive spark plugs), alarm / key issues ($280 New Rockies bypass unit), dead A/C (1 can 134a per year), severe brake pull (new front calipers, pads& hoses), dead radio (bypassed with a hidden unit that plugs into iPhone or MP3)and have now put 6,000+ miles trouble free on it since April 2015. Now that the demons (Pass Key & alarm) have been exorcised I have even trusted it as my airport car.

I was an Engineer at GM back when this Italian designed hybrid was in production. GM lost Billions on the program flying the chassis to Italy where Pininfarina did the body & interior then flying them back for the drivetrain and suspension.

The 1990 is the 4.5 pushrod engine (not Northstar) with all the 4.1 issues resolved. Also got Mobil 1 10w-40 and new filter before I started driving it. Doesn't burn or leak oil.

It drives smooth, quiet and rattle freewith a nice, healthy growl under acceleration; for the most part just a hot rodded 1990 Eldorado. Tires all match, proper size and have lots of miles left in them along with a full size matching alloy wheel with a good tire to go with the standard space saver,

I have the following new parts in the trunk; RF wheel bearing, RF outer CV boot (noise when RF wheel under load), 4Monroe gas struts (not sure the original speed sensor shocksare bad though as quite stable well north of 100mph) and a set of Delco plug wires.

The car had a minor impact back maybe 10 years ago and has a salvage title after a theft recovery (probably begged for by the then owner?). The pleading by the next owner to get that reversed is in with a lot of the service history; very sad... I have the factory manual (NYC phone book size) as well. These cars have a well-deserved reputation for emptying the wallets of the foolish. Issues have now been solved & very good club support. Parts for the mechanical bits are very reasonable and shared with many GM cars. Body / interior parts are through specialists.

The LF front fender / bumperand door are not the original paint and the remaining original paint could use a 1200 clear coat wet sand and polish to get a really good match. There are lots of small scratches from in garage storage but the car is still straight (20 footer).

I have a lift at the house (I restore cars for fun) and there is no sign of any damage to substructure from that old incident.

The interior is between very good and excellent; the cloth soft top is original & excellent with only minor shrinkage evident and it still has the manual top latches (not the electric ones). Soft top will leak around the side windows in a downpour; just as they did when new! I keep it garaged as it appears it has always been.

It has the usual Allante LCD ancillary display clouds, tail light lens crazing and the top rear pull down motor needs replaced (I made into a manual one that keeps it acceptably tight). Also needs the auto dimmer for the lights; without it the LCD instrument panel will give you a suntan at night & the ancillary dash lights don’t come on without it ($75).

The Delco / Bose system is dead and I have installed a “Hidden” 25W amp unit that plugs into my iPod / phone.

The on board diagnostics works perfectly; no false codes and other than "low A/C" it is not showing faults. That was not the situation when I got it!

Cruise was working until I did the alarm / passkey bypass module; the Allante club says that is not related and I probably just disconnected a wire near the column when I was under the dash.

Also has just developed a trans cooler line drip below the LF headlight area at a crimp from the line to a hose.

Battery getting iffy lately; if it sits a couple weeks it dies; will charge and disconnect if it needs to be shipped.

Been a fun car but I need to sell to make room for a XJS V12 project I just found cheap…….

This is a great buy (assuming it goes cheap) for those with car sense and some basic wrenching skills but could be a complete nightmare for anyone who depend on others to maintain their Camry/Accord/Kia etc.

BTW if it sell under $2017 it would be an excellent Grassroots Motorsports 2017 entry as it is the very rare "W" version (1 better than a "V")!

You can run it against my $700 XJS next year!