Not the first Italian Cadillac, the late 50s top of the line model Eldorado Brougham were hand built at Pininfarina.

Hey just wanted to let you know the little nipples on the headlights are for aligning the headlights. Some shops like the one I worked in had a tool that uses these to align the headlights. You will see them a lot on older American headlights round and rectangular

I remember it's introduction and Cadillac made the usual 80's mistake of presenting it as a 'European cabriolet', on handling too. Of course then it got slaughtered by the motoring press for not being fast, firm and nimble. Allthough motoring journalists tended to present themselves as almost racing drivers who needed great handling and feedback, it would have had a better chance by emphasizing it's typical American charms I guess.

@nygelmiller5293

Жыл бұрын

Such a Beautiful car,but with the "cut off with a breadknife" front, the lights don't wrap round, like TODAY. So you'd benefit by having some side marker lights installed! Lots of American cars had them - why not THIS one? Besides, SILVER cars merge into the background, IN FOG!

@TheChill001

Жыл бұрын

it would've been better if it advertised itself as a proper grand tourer, which it essentially ended up being.

First time I saw one of these was on the TV show Dallas, where poor old JR Ewing had been prised out of his lovely S Class Mercedes, (so befitting of his character), into one of these contraptions. He looked so out of place in it but I presume some product placement was at work..

@GoldenCroc

Жыл бұрын

Yes, it seems almost a foregone conclusion, doesnt it?

@Romiman1

Жыл бұрын

It was the "Buy American!"-campaign to fight the succesful Japanese and German imports...

Every time you go to the Netherlands I am impressed by who clean and visually appealing it is and the people are so nice.

@laurensnieuwland4657

Жыл бұрын

Just like every country we've got our good and bad parts, but on behalf of my fellow countrymen, thank you!

@PaulTC777

Жыл бұрын

Im from Barcelona and I was impressed by how most buildings in Amsterdam were freshly painted and colourful. In most european cities you just see tall grey buildings with no charm, graffitti everywhere etc... Also I found curious how, at night, most people in Amsterdam didn't use curtains and you could see people eating dinner, reading books....

@laurensnieuwland4657

Жыл бұрын

@@PaulTC777 Just like London is wayyy different from the rest of the UK, Amsterdam is definitely not representative for the rest of the Netherlands. Places like Delfzijl and the Bijlmer district of Amsterdam are just as grey and depressing. I do agree about the curtains however. We feel like we've got nothing to hide, so why hide ourselves away?

@PaulTC777

Жыл бұрын

@@laurensnieuwland4657 Yeah I wanted to add that to my comment, thats true.

@DenUitvreter

Жыл бұрын

@@laurensnieuwland4657 Yes, but there are always lots of green spaces, architects are allowed creativity and there has been a lot more social democracy over the past century that still show. I remember a Guardian article about the most deprived town in the Netherlands, Oude Pekela, and it struggled to find the expected deprivation. And the people tend to be friendly, welcoming and helpful to foreigners. I'll take the compliment.

When I was a kid, I had a Matchbox toy of this car. It was my absolute favourite one - I loved how sleek it looked. Great to see one I'm real life all these years later!

@heikkiremes5661

Жыл бұрын

Same.

I have 2 Matchbox models of these from 1988 & have always been fascinated by them. Glad to see this vehicle is still enjoyable these days.

I believe the little headlight nipples are used for aiming them. (an aiming tool locates on them)

You should try an XLR. It’s on the same platform as the Corvette C5. Cheers.

At the dealer where I apprenticed, we recorded over fifty separate steps to remove and stow the hard top onto the supplied wall rack. Good times. The HT(High Tech - ror)4100 it originally came with was a disaster. "Oil change and a crank shaft please" was what they should have been called. The upgraded HT4500 and HT4900 in later years were hardly any better. The Northstar engines are a better choice for power but are only marginally better on reliability.

I had a '64 Ford Thunderbird for a few years and there's a great sense of a time past with those grunty soft old boats, great fun! What an era. That's probably a time we'll never see again.

Great video Ian, after watching this I had to rewatch the Motorweek Road Test, $50,000 is the price they quoted in 1987, expensive, they got 0-60 in 9.3, at the time it was slow compared to the Mercs they targeted, I'm glad they upped the power a little, the same engine in the Deville made 135 bhp, hilarious, but nowadays paying a lot less it is just about fast enough, and always accompanied by that V8 burble, I like this type of V8 noise best, a lot of modern stuff, they pop and crackle, I'm not sure I like that so much, a good enjoyable cruiser though

The 'headlight nipples' were normal back in the 80's and early 90's US cars when they still used glass lenses. I had a 1988 oldsmobile that also had them.

@brentboswell1294

7 ай бұрын

That was for the headlight aligning machine that every garage in the USA had back then...I believe that it was federal law that the headlights had to have them. The auto makers lobbied the government to drop the requirement so that they could make headlight lenses out of lighter, cheaper plastic 🙄

I'm with you my friend, I love heroic failure like this. It does make you wonder how the project team ever got this insanity approved by the bean counters, but that is what puts a smile on your face before even turning the key. They DID get it approved. Apparently nobody said "Er, hold on chaps I can see a few issues with this project in terms of cost..."...or maybe he did but somehow his protests were lost the feeling of certainty that a gas guzzling American cruiser would fly in Europe (no pun intended, lots of planes involved in production I understand). Well done Cadillac, world class misjudgement. Sadly we have become too sober and sensible to do stuff like this anymore.

@GoldenCroc

Жыл бұрын

"those gosh darn europeans are eating our lunch in sales! And customers are buying them in greater numbers all the time! We got to show them how its really done!

@rafaelfiallo4123

9 ай бұрын

They found out that building it in Italy was actually less expensive than adding another dedicated line at the Hamtramck assembly plant for the Allante alone, they negotiated a good deal on freight from Alitalia.

you rarely (perhaps never) actively want the viewer to be annoyed but the fact that you left the mic plugged in for the indicators shoot at the end shows how much youurself had to endure that horrifying beep :) thanks Ian

Perfect sort of countryside and weather for such a car! That certainly was an impressive array of buttons/switches; I can only imagine what the wiring diagram looks like...I don't recall which car had the first digital/electronic dashboard, though I recall the Aston Martin Lagonda had such a display in 1977...Thanks for the ride along!

I have a friend who's had multiple Allantes and I think of him every time I see one. But wow, that turn signal noise would almost be a dealbreaker for me.

@Blackadder75

Жыл бұрын

I am sure you could mod that into a better sound, with some effort

@chrisrumble2665

Жыл бұрын

Caterham says "hold my beer...!"

Wow nearly as many controls as the space shuttle. When you accelerated it reared up & roared. Thanks Ian the Caddy was glorious.

What a lovely car. Beautiful dashboard too!

Apart from what looks like holes in the seat belts at 9:10, this is a great car and another example of a car written off by journalists but today we think it is marvellous. I imagine you had a big grin on your face for the rest of the day :)

Historically, neither Italian nor American cars were lauded for their build quality. Giving both countries maximum opportunity to bugger it up was an interesting approach! 😅

I absolutely adore that dashboard! And a pig-iron American V8 ...best sounding engine in the automotive world imo 👌

@GoldenCroc

Жыл бұрын

Funnily enough the engine was an almost brand new construction and the block made of aluminium.

@phil955i

Жыл бұрын

@@GoldenCroc my description is a generalisation of American V8s of the time, low revving, low output, but a particular sound all their own, not the actual materials used.

@GoldenCroc

Жыл бұрын

@@phil955i Yeah, I know of the expression and got it, just wanted to add a little extra info about this engine specifically if anyone was curious, or thought it was a model of the old "small block" that was in production since forever, which it isnt. Cheers.

Some of these Cadillacs got a rough ride from the motoring press obsessed with the need for sportiness. I remember hiring an early-2000s Deville in the US for a 5000+ mile road trip around the northern states and the west of Canada in the middle of winter. It was absolutely brilliant - had the Northstar V8 but not really that much power (less than 250Bhp I think). It was spacious, loads of boot space for bags, and it just shrugged off the distance in comfort, and, with decent economy - over 30MPG (imperial, not US) over the entire journey when I calculated how much fuel we'd bought. Drove it on snowy untreated roads, over mountain passes, over seriously damaged and potholed roads, nothing troubled it. It felt solid and well screwed together, in an old-fashioned kind of way, had a wafty ride, and enough grunt for getting up steep hills or overtaking. Yet the motoring press in Europe slated them - maybe they would have been awful on British roads, and the construction and general feeling of the car was 10+ years behind European equivalents, but it was still a really nice car to drive and did exactly what we needed.

I remember watching a certain KZreadr recount this crazy period of shipping the bodies by plane to America, and then fitting the chassis in Detroit. Can't remember his name.

Absolutely bloody love these cars. JR Ewing drove one in Dallas. He chopped in his Mercedes W126 for one of these lol 😅 Larry Hagman must've been furious!

So so 80's 😀 As someone who started his driving life at the very beginning of the 80's that is utterly wonderful. 170bhp from 4.1 ltr is just so American and all the better for it.

@mark_p300

Жыл бұрын

Don't forget that this car was built to comply with _much_ more stringent North American emissions standards. The Mercedes-Benz 380SL (R107) it was to compete with made a paltry 155 hp from its 3.8 L V8... In the R107's final years it was only available in 560SL trim, with what you'd think would be an impressively brawny 5.6 L V8. ... but it was actually only ~225 hp, about the same as the 4.2 L 420SL sold in Europe and elsewhere...

There is an old trope/saying of elderly cadillac owners slowly travelling down the US roads with their indicator stuck on... Presumably because they havent got the hearing and vision anymore to know its on. I wonder if that indicator noise was cadillac knowing their customers and admitting it was true... And attempting to remedy it by making it much more distinct than usual.

Feeling your joy and appreciating the ride. Marvellous.

I enjoyed a Seville with a 4.9 V8 for almost a year, probably of the same engine family. At the time I was slightly disappointed that it did not have the far more powerful Northstar V8 but KZread later taught me that the Northstar is not the most reliable engine in the world and if (no: when) they do go wrong they go seriously wrong. The 4.9 had adequate powered but I do not remember it sounding this well.

Ian from the point you said it's a 4.1L V8 with 170bhp I spent the rest of the video trying to work out how they got such little power from it! Admittedly it does make a nice sound though, so that helped.

@stephenholland5930

Жыл бұрын

Low compression ratios and various lean burn technologies equals low horsepower.

@craigmclean8260

Жыл бұрын

Oh, they could "do" low horsepower V-8s in the "Miasma Years"! I briefly had a 1978 Ford F-250 w/ the 400 cu. in. V-8, rated at a whopping 149 BHP; torque figure I did not know...

@GoldenCroc

Жыл бұрын

That was a lot of power compared to the engines of 10 years earlier! ... Emissions regulations really did a number on American engines back in the day.

@GoldenCroc

Жыл бұрын

@@craigmclean8260 Torque likely somewhere between 400-500Nm, Torque is heavily related to engine capacity for NA engines. But torque figures in isolation actually tell literally nothing about the performance or anything else relevant to a motorist, contrary to what a lot (a majority?) of people think. So quoting them at all is really superfluous, believe it or not.... I dont expect that info to sink in for the general public anytime soon though, quoting torque figures is just to engrained in the general public when it comes to cars, especially in the US and Uk.

@CaptHollister

Жыл бұрын

Emissions controls. At the time, that was not bad power. Engineers were still learning how to create engines that were both powerful and clean. That would only come with full computerized engine management. If you're tempted to negatively compare the Allanté's power to that of comparable Europeans, don't: in North American trim a 5.6L Mercedes 560SL only managed 182bhp while a 3.8L 380SL managed 156.

One of my favourite cars of all time, beautiful. I want a last year Northstar one because that is an absolute monster of an engine. Bulletproof the headgaskets and what a stunning car

Later ones with the Northstar engines claim 300bhp 😂 and 100,000 miles before service, head gasket blew long before that, oh the joys! I’ve owned a few Northstars, unlucky me 😬

My father inherited a Seville of the same age as a company car. He was determined to hate it, but grew to love it.

My uncle has one of these, absolutely loves it. I'm pretty impressed with it too. Very unique Caddy.

Absolutely brilliant video Ian ❤👍 what a lovely car and that interior is amazing brilliant

I'm actually surprised the car didn't talk! Sooo 1980s! Excellent review, thank you.

I stil own a 1992 allante black on black with didital instrument panel. The speed sensitive struts still working and give this little Caddy great road handeling capability. Fun to drive with flomaster 40 series muffler. You don’t need stereo! Can’t wait for the summer though!! Cruising through the Brabant Eindhoven!

For the first time I have seen a man really in love with a car, Ians facial expression and the way he talks about it makes it clear....;-)

Another cracking video Ian. You clearly had a lot of fun with this one. I have to agree it's (hub) nuts to box up a bunch of bits from the US and send to Europe to assemble and box up a smaller number of separate bits back to be finished. As you mention if the target market for the car was the EU they would have another trip across the Atlantic. It's not surprising the cars may wallow around turns, the poor things are already travel sick. Thanks for sharing.

The Car did cost in Germany as a imported car about 15.000 to 20.000 Deutschmark more than an 1986 R107 Mercedes 500 Sl German spec at about 80.000 Deutschmark with 252 bhp while the Allante had only 178 and later 210 bhp, so for cruising. It was enough but for 100k you could get a XJS Convertible V12 with nearly full spec or the R107 500 SL with 20.000 B-Net mobile phone..

Cool car. Thanks for reviewing it.

Having just read the Wikipedia article, I am looking forward to watch this right now. From some angles, it makes me think of the Maserati Biturbo. Cheers!

The little nubbins on the headlights are there to allow machines to automatically aim the headlights.

That looks like a lovely peaceful place for an afternoon bimble in the Caddy. And with plenty of amusement in navigating the wall of pushbuttons.

Love the way it rears and snorts when floored!

OMG that indicator bong would send me back to the funny farm!

This was the car I wanted to road-trip across the US with to a RADwood event in CA. Great review as always.

Squint, and it could almost be a Lancia Gamma convertible - as with most Pinin creations, a lovely looking car! That red interior is awesome!

Fabulous car 🚗 thanks for the video 😊

Fun for Ian driving this American, fun for me watching this video. Good stuff! See you soon - Martin

For comparison you should drive the “Chrysler TC by Maserati” - a similar trans-Atlantic endeavour.

@seed_drill7135

Жыл бұрын

At least the Allante looked the part. The TC just looked like a run of the mill LeBaron. It was supposed to have come out first, but Italy. . .

@lemurvision

Жыл бұрын

@@seed_drill7135 A LeBaron with some of the edges rounded off, and ooh! a trident inside the pentastar! It cost a lot more than a comparably equipped LeBaron as well. Ultimately, both the Allanté and the TC failed because traditional Cadillac/Chrysler buyers didn’t want understated Euro styling for more money, and the people who usually bought European sport coupés weren’t going to be taken in by a rebodied Detroit product either.

Loved that. Objectively that car is so wrong, but it is sooooooo Hubnut. The dash alone is worthy of sainthood.

A most interesting vehicle indeed, another great video on the channel 👍👍

Great video again.

Thank you, enjoyed that review. I knew of the Allante courtesy of following American auto sites but this is the first drive video I think I've seen. I know it's not impossible to run a left hand drive vehicle in the UK but I watch stuff like this and kind of think what a pity we don't drive on the left by default- would open the door to so much more interesting cars...Watching the scenery also reminded me I need to get back over the channel to explore more esp the Netherlands. Yep, you've set off a lot of thoughts!

@syntax_error2306

9 ай бұрын

Buy one anyway!! I've owned American cars since I passed my test 33yrs ago. Had a couple of bad ones but all in all I love running these cars in the UK and not as expensive to run a you'd think if you buy sensible. I run a 3.8 v6 camaro and it returns around 24-28mpg. My daily for 9yrs and fantastically reliable. Had plenty of euroboxes as well and a few german cars in an M5 and m3 but they are all boring. My weekend car is a 78 trans am with a 5.7v8 with a supercharger on it. Cannot ever get bored of there cars.

Nice car another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍

Loved this! I hope someday to own an Allante. Great review of a mostly unloved car of the 80s.

What an interesting car. The mind gets boggles with all of the switch gear for the controls. You certainly always love an underdog of choice of car with interesting history and a great engine.😊😊

Headlight nipples on a Ford Crown Victoria as well. Dashboard reminds me of the Alfa 164, also Pininfarina design of course. Great review as always and a beautiful sound too.

How red shall we have it? RED! ALL THE RED!

It is over 20 years old, still looks good! I like the cluster speedo is cool!

Great to see (one of the first?) retrospective tests of an Allante. I remember as part of Cadillac's promotion, they managed to get JR Ewing in Dallas to ditch his SL and drive one

The nubs on the headlights let you set them face down without scratching the lens.

When this car turned up in the earlier video I was hoping you would get to drive it, it looks very cool and sounds great. I'd forgive it for not being a sports car, even if it was meant to be!

That sidecar you passed made a great sound!! :)

The overall styling is really smart on these cars. The details are not as tastfully done but it is a car I have always wanted.

Great video, Ian! I'd wager on the Allante having the most number of push buttons ever fitted to the dashboard of a production car.

Very co-ordinated Ian, your glasses match the interior 😂. Great review, thank you.

That is a rather nice car but a really crazy idea. Cadillac has done a number of crazy things over the years. The Cimarron comes to mind. If you don't know, the Cimmaron was Cadillacs attempt to add a small economy car to its line which they did by borrowing a lower spec car from another of the GM lines and making it look like a Cadillac. No one was fooled and they sold poorly. Those nipples are for aligning the headlights. You mounted a pair of alignment tools and there were screws in the headlamp assembly that were used to do the alignment.

Goes slow, sounds great, big seats, I love it.

Looks nice anyway!

Very 80's and cool car :) Seems there's more buttons on the dashboard than Knight Rider KITT had :D

This model had competition, there was a K-car variant sold in roughly the same time frame by Chrysler called the TC by Maserati, an italian/american touring convertible.

I quite like this. I can imagine the missus & me tootling off into the sunset with the roof down, pretending we're both 23 again!😆 Any car with a V8 does it for me and I'm a sucker for gimmicky, gadgety dashboards. That control panel is off the scale. Ok, there are way too many buttons but I don't care about that, I'd prefer that to an iPad plonked on top of the dash. A great test Ian, you always review really interesting cars whenever you visit the Netherlands and in the most picturesque places, many thanks.👍

Note to Americans, when he says hood, he means the roof. We need to remember in the '80's hp was bad in all cars sold in the U.S. because of strict pollution regulations. Much more strict than the EU. Also tuned for low end torque and smoothness. And it was a GM car! The latter Northstar engine was a terrible engine that the head bolts would pull out of the engine block.

What a beauty 😍

It is indeed better than the Benz. As you correctly stated not in quality or handling but in the entire Americanism of it. One has to place themselves in the time this car was sold. European and England was foisted with cramped little cars and almost everyone I met back then wanted to see what it was like to drive a big yank tank. When they did they loved it. This car combines the last gasp of an old Cadillac feel in superbly modern styling. The interior is a work of art. As a long time reader of CAR magazine in that era I can't for the life of me remember if that car was sold in the UK, but I think it was as an import from mainland Europe. I think. Hubnut, this must have been a super pleasant experience for you. The feeling this car has was so common in the States at the time that I'm glad you go to drive it. Still a most relaxing car. And you look smashing in that car, like a billionaire. That's what the Allante can do! Was waiting with baited breath for the wiper test. You delivered.

The only way to travel is Cadillac style! That was the commercial ad campaign back in the day. As an American and never owned a Cadillac, I feel I missed out on this. As I love Alfa Romeo's, on number 17 currently. I paid more for a Spider Veloce than one of these. Great review! I may consider one next spring!!! Thanks! Cheers from St Louis MO USA!

That's something I'd love to have in my garage, which I don't have. But I adore it.

It makes the Imp’s assembly look sensible!

Used to see one of these when turning off into Newport. Never knew what it was.

Excellent review, makes a lovely noise, if I turned up with this to my parents with that lovely interior I would be disowned as the interior is the colour of a rival Edinburgh football team😂😂

Iv'e always fancied a Chrysler Labaron convertible and missed out on one recently , but needed a daily after my last one being wrote off

Cool, I liked this car.😀

Any car that makes you smile is a good car

Who'd ever have anticipated Mr HubNut eulogising a Cadillac !!! I had a tour round the Pininfarina factory in the mid 90s so sadly missed seeing them (part) built there although at that time they were making Fiat Coupes, Peugeot 306 (??) cabrios and Ferrari 456 all on the SAME production line, what could possibly go wrong..... Strikes me a whacky comparison with the superficially similar looking Maserati BiTurbo Spider would be in order ?

Awesome stuff. Almost a cross between beautiful and...tacky? 🔥 I'd have one, though!

Hi , there's two problems with the Cadillac Allante #1 should have been R W D and #2 should have made them R H D such a nice looking car Have great time in the Netherlands and have a safe trip back to Wales

@HubNut

Жыл бұрын

Thanks. Have already been back to Wales and am now in England again!

@smhorse

Жыл бұрын

There are a couple of specialists (mostly in Australia) who would be able to convert it to RHD, even today.

@user-ni9gr1qn5t

Жыл бұрын

@@smhorse Yes I've seen it on youtube RHD conversions done in Australia and Malaysia

That crazy low slung sleek styling reminds me a bit of the even more bonkers Lagonda

Love an Allanté!

The three "nipples" on the headlights are used as part of the headlight adjust/align procedure.

That is a very good looking car.

I had a Matchbox toy Allante in that same colour scheme but I don't think I've ever seen a real one. It reminds me of the Chrysler TC by Maserati, a similar Italian-American roadster collaboration that also flopped.

I drove this car last year!

They flew it halfway round the World - and we quibble about sending Hillmans from Coventry to Glasgow!

I seem to remember watching a video by Eric The Car Guy on youtube and those little nipples on the headlights are something to do with the headlight aiming equipment and how aim was ascertained

Are fuel prices quite high in Holland Ian? Nice review, thanks

@HubNut

Жыл бұрын

I'd say unleaded is slightly more than the UK, but diesel is cheaper.

Tyler Hoover, Car Wizard, WatchJRGo and Auto Auction Rebuilds have all featured the Allanté on their channels. The Northstar engine has a reputation for being trobulesome (oil leaks, carbon build-up and head gasket failures).

Front super angular quarter window. Allante has hardtop available. When it came out, it screamed future classic, practically a unicorn even in the US.

V8 and FWD has been a Cadillac concept since 1967, which might surprise some people.