Is This 2003 Cadillac Escalade Worth $119,780?

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

If you were to buy a 2003 Cadillac Escalade ESV near North Caldwell, New Jersey, you’d expect to shell out nearly $10,000 for an exceptionally clean ride from a dealer, according to Edmunds. Yet, this particular example of GM’s brashly designed full-size SUV sold for nearly 12 times that amount: $119,780.

Why?

Well, this one was driven by a garbage man.

This particular Escalade ESV was featured in the final three seasons of “The Sopranos” with none other than Tony himself, the late James Gandolfini. The vehicle is signed by Gandolfini in three separate locations inside because one of anything isn’t enough for anyone who buys an Escalade.

After bidding ended on November 20, the winning bidder was stuck with a $119,780 bill to take the Escalade home and probably never drive it.

According to the auction house responsible for the sale, Boston-based RR Auctions, this is the highest price ever garnered by a vehicle from “The Sopranos”. The previous record was held by a 1999 Chevrolet Suburban that sold for $110,000 in 2013.

The Escalade’s 6.0-liter V-8 might not be particularly fast, but at least it’s quick enough to chase down Panther-platformed Town Cars that nobody loves.




Mark Stevenson
Mark Stevenson

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  • Skor Skor on Nov 22, 2015

    Talkin sh!t about Tony? Fug all youse guys. /Born in in Jersey (Jersey City) //Raised in Jersey (Bergen County)

  • Dolorean Dolorean on Nov 23, 2015

    SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY! Just wait until I shake this couch and laz-E-Boy out a bit, see what falls. Ooh, a penny!

  • Kjhkjlhkjhkljh kljhjkhjklhkjh A prelude is a bad idea. There is already Acura with all the weird sport trims. This will not make back it's R&D money.
  • Analoggrotto I don't see a red car here, how blazing stupid are you people?
  • Redapple2 Love the wheels
  • Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
  • Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
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