The Cadillac Calais is a car from Cadillac, built from 1965 to 1976, in the decade that gave the world the pony car and the mid-engined supercar. Under the bonnet: gasoline engine. Bill Mitchell drew it.
Where it came from
The Cadillac Calais is an automobile produced by Cadillac from 1965 to 1976. The Division renamed its entry-level Series 62 as the "Calais" in 1965, after the French port city, derived from the Greek mythological figure Calais.
The Calais was identical in styling and mechanics to the better-equipped, more expensive Cadillac de Ville. No convertible model was offered in the Calais line. The Calais name would be reused for future models of other GM divisions: the Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais, Holden Calais (VE) and Holden Calais (VF).
Under the skin
Power comes from gasoline engine. It weighs 4600 -. It shifts through a 3-speed TH-400, automatic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Cadillac Series 62; its successor was the Cadillac Seville; assembly was at Detroit Assembly, Detroit, Michigan, United States. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Nissan Silvia, the Ford Transit, the Ford Bronco — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Cadillac catalogue sit the Cadillac 353 and the Cadillac ATS.
What it costs now
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Cadillac Calais has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.