Friday, March 05, 2021

My Daily Driver: DF's 1994 Cadillac Sedan Deville


1. How did you come to the decision of buying this car?

It was a little bit out of frustration actually. I had recently had to junk my 2002 Kia Rio because the ball joint failed, it was a rusty heap that was no longer viable. I had started looking at various cars but with COVID-19, the car market has been a little bit weird to say the least where a lot of the cars I had looked at were kind of junk and a lot of the good ones were selling at a pretty rapid pace. 

Out of frustration with the two Nissans that I was going to look at selling underneath me, I had decided to start looking at rear wheel drive American cars, like the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Buick Roadmaster. It just so happened that this car was the third vehicle I had looked at on that particular day with my dad, who is a retired mechanic and was able to help me look at cars. My dad gave it his seal of approval. 

I took it out for a drive and I gave the owner his asking price and the rest is history. I also have a bit of affinity for these older General Motors cars because my grandma had a 1994 Buick Roadmaster that I have some fond memories with, and I also grew up in a General Motors household where I have family members that had Buicks and Chevys. But this is the first Cadillac in my immediate family.

2. What has your ownership experience been like?

Pretty good for the most part. This vehicle has the 4.9 L V8 engine which is the latter of the GM high technology V8s from the 80s/90s. It’s a front wheel drive platform and given that I live in the Chicago area, it’s been pretty good with winter weather. I’ve had to replace the tires and the distributor coil and the ignition system but other than that I’ve been pretty happy with my ownership experience. Driving this car on the highway is really a treat.


3. What is your fondest memory with this car?

It was actually ironically enough the day that I decided to quit a job. Because I had gone for a nice fun drive to clear my head and that is one of the great things that I love about this car is that I can have the crummiest day ever and just get in my beautiful old Cadillac and forget all about it. Because I’m just driving a nice comfortable car that can help me relax.

4. Why do you love cars?

I’ve been obsessed with cars my entire life.

My dad is a retired heavy equipment and truck mechanic and so was his dad before him. So I grew up around all manner of cars and would always love going to the Chicago auto show every year and just getting to sit in and enjoy all the cars and I would get all the literature. I actually learned to drive later in life because I thought that a visual impairment would keep me from driving but I was able to overcome that. If it has to do with cars I absolutely love it, I’ve been learning a lot more about working on my own car, doing automotive videography as a hobby, going to car shows every chance I get.

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If you would like to participate, just answer the above four questions and submit one to three photos of your daily driver to milhousevanh at geemail. Thanks and have fun! 

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