The Cadillac de Ville series is a 4-door 6-window hardtop / 4-door 4-window hardtop / 2-door hardtop from Cadillac, built from 1958 to 2005, at the height of the post-war boom. Under the bonnet: 390 cuin OHV V8. Bill Mitchell drew it.
Where it came from
The Cadillac DeVille is a model name used by Cadillac over eight generations, originally to designate a trim level of the 1949 Cadillac Series 62 and later for a standalone model in the brand range.
The last model marketed specifically as a DeVille was the 2005 full-size sedan, at the time, Cadillac's largest model. For 2006, the DeVille nameplate was retired, when the model line was carried forward (with minor revisions) as the Cadillac DTS, (DeVille Touring Sedan) using a nomenclature adopted by the Cadillac STS (Seville Touring Sedan) and CTS (Catera Touring Sedan).
Under the skin
Power comes from 390 cuin OHV V8. It weighs 4900 -. It shifts through a 4-speed Hydra-Matic automatic. The wheelbase is 130.0 in. 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 DTS. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Mini Mini, the Dodge Challenger, the Nissan Patrol — 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 de Ville series 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.