The Allante was Cadillac answer to the Mercedes SL convertibles. These cars had been powerfully dominating the luxury open two seater market in America for the best part of 20 years. In search of a sophisticated European image for its new flagship, Cadillac joined forces with the Italian house of Pininfarina. They were the stylist and coach builder to all of Europe’s most prestigious marques including Ferrari.
Not only did Pininfarina style the new car, but it built the bodywork, too, air freighting the trimmed steel shells over from Turin to the Cadillac factory in Detroit. It was an expensive process, but then the Allante was going to be an expensive car, pitched in the same $50,000 bracket as the Mercedes machines that inspired it.
This wasn’t the first time Cadillac had been associated with Pininfarina. In 1930s the company had built a special body on a V16 Cadillac, and there had even been a production run of Brougham Pininfarnia models in the late 1950s and early 1960s, pitched as exclusive top line models for customers who preferred something a little more discreet.
The Allante’s clean lines certainly didn’t look American, and it had a high class leather interior to match, with all the latest electric labor saving devices. Cadillac’s first two seater, the Allante was based on the front wheel drive Seville floor pan. Early car used the transversely mounted 4.1 liter pushrod V8, qhile later cars (from 1990) used the advanced 4.0 liter ‘North star’ with sequential injection matched to traction control.
Wieldy and refined, the Allante certainly found favor with buyers, but it never really stood a chance of getting close to the Mercedes SL’s unassailable position. It didn’t come as a particularly great surprise to anyone when production of the vehicle was eventually stopped in 1956.
Not only did Pininfarina style the new car, but it built the bodywork, too, air freighting the trimmed steel shells over from Turin to the Cadillac factory in Detroit. It was an expensive process, but then the Allante was going to be an expensive car, pitched in the same $50,000 bracket as the Mercedes machines that inspired it.
This wasn’t the first time Cadillac had been associated with Pininfarina. In 1930s the company had built a special body on a V16 Cadillac, and there had even been a production run of Brougham Pininfarnia models in the late 1950s and early 1960s, pitched as exclusive top line models for customers who preferred something a little more discreet.
The Allante’s clean lines certainly didn’t look American, and it had a high class leather interior to match, with all the latest electric labor saving devices. Cadillac’s first two seater, the Allante was based on the front wheel drive Seville floor pan. Early car used the transversely mounted 4.1 liter pushrod V8, qhile later cars (from 1990) used the advanced 4.0 liter ‘North star’ with sequential injection matched to traction control.
Wieldy and refined, the Allante certainly found favor with buyers, but it never really stood a chance of getting close to the Mercedes SL’s unassailable position. It didn’t come as a particularly great surprise to anyone when production of the vehicle was eventually stopped in 1956.
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