'89 De Ville...salon funéraire or ultimate sleeper?

Heheh

I'm 17 and looking for a first car...I had my sights set on a Duster 340 but my parents could eventually give me their '89 Caddy De Ville...now, and I'm serious, could it be worth it to spice this up a bit? #1 what I'm looking for is originality, and I don't want a Civic or another compact (no offense to those who like these cars, it's just a personal taste). I'm not looking for a bling-bling pimpmobile either, but I think that with an LT1 under the hood (I could probably get an easy deal) and minor exterior work it really could eat some rice Gas and insurance would be a pain, of course, but I can live with that.

Now, are you guys gonna fall over laughing when I roll over in that boat, and do you think it should better be left to septuagenaries, or would it be a worthy project?

Really curious- what do you think, honestly?

sorry to rain on your sunshine..but Caddy's weight ALOT..so even with a LT1 you would still be dragging alot of weight around...not don't laugh but what you could do is buy a chevette and shoehorn a LT1 in there..can you say power to weight ratio!!!!

bTW insurance on a 89 Caddy would be about a grand a year..so almost a 1/4 of your car's value...stay away from it...gas consuption would be worse than most new full size trucks..

not don't laugh but what you could do is buy a chevette and shoehorn a LT1 in there..can you say power to weight ratio!!!!

Click to expand...

That would be nice too

Thanks for the tip- I didn't know insurance would be that much...

I'll check around some more. Not sure if that Duster is still available, it was really nice.

i have to agree with colt_gt...just too much weight. Even with a LT1 you'll be running 16s if not higher at the 1/4 mile. The point of changing the engine is to compete with other moded cars. I say sell the car and buy a sleeper. I have an S-10 with a corvette engine...maybe not the ultimate sleeper but still a sleeper. Chevettes are kicking some ass...you'll probably get one for 500$ and you could fit a small block inside. That would be a sweet ride

I vote for the s-10 with a vette engine..or if mopar are you thing...Mopar sell a enging mount kit for the viper V10 into a Dodge Dakota...

I like Dusters...if you wanted to go a bit cheaper and fwd..dodge shadow dusters (with turbo) can be made pretty quick..

If you can find and old duster...make it into a Duster Deamon...by swaping a hemi..that could be a bit sleeper...or buy a mustang LX (4cyl) and put a 5.0 in it...or to keep with the ford them..get and old ranger 86-89 and put a 5.0 in it...


so many opions..bTW what is your budget???

you could do many beautiful things with a pickup. They sell alot of s*it for them. Plus the engine room is sweet...you could fit a big block.

Scrubs got a ponit yuo can pick up a decent big block for about two grand, if you shop well...I know of a yes I know what you're going to say but its true...an Ls6 for sale the guy wnats twentyfive hundred

big cars are cool!

i always loved Cadillacs.....
but i really don't know why?.....
i have issues.........
Marc

OK, the S10 is lighter than I thought...it does have the weight/power ratio advantage, roughly 4.5 kg/HP vs 5.15 considering a stock 300 HP LT1. I'm not sure I want a pickup though...

Shoehorning a V-10? Well, for the price I could get one of those monster 528 Hemis instead... I'm on a roughly $5000 budget, that should double by next fall, I'm not really hurrying to buy a car as I probably won't have a lot of free time this summer...just scouting out options. Heck I don't have my regular license yet.

Here's an interesting Chevette project...
http://w3.one.net/~watscarb/4-3LV-6vet.htm
He does mention that there was no room for a 305 though.

Why don't you buy a car that would be able to modify and take de DeVille for winter ?

BTW Scrub, while I agree the DeVille is a cow it doesn't weigh that much compared to other models- around 1550 kg, which AFAIK is less than, say, a new Camaro... Weight/power isn't everything but I think it would be able to do better than 16's, the stock does it in around 17 with 155 HP. Northstar Sevilles easily do 15's.