Junkyard Find: 1988 Cadillac Allante
For many years, I wandered junkyards in search of one of the rare Detroito-Italian cars of the late 1980s — the Cadillac Allanté and the Chrysler’s TC by Maserati. Finally, just this year, it happened: I found this 1989 Allanté in Southern California, then this TC by Maserati in Northern California, and now we’ve got this 1988 Allanté here in Denver.
This is the most desirable of all the HTV100 engines, with its tuned intake manifold. 170 horses in 1988.
The production process for these cars involved specially-equipped Boeing 747s flying complete bodies from the Pininfarina shop in Cambiano, Italy to Hamtramck, Michigan. As you might imagine, this was somewhat costly for The General and the ’88 Allanté listed at $56,533. That’s an amazing $114k in 2015 dollars.
Since that kind of money would have bought you a brand-new 1988 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL (or, for a few more grand, the 420SEL), the Allanté didn’t steal away many German-luxury-car shoppers with its front-wheel-drive pushrod V8.
Urban legend has it that TC by Maserati and Allanté hardtops, in any condition, are worth an easy $1,000. Here is definitive proof that such is not the case in the real world; this hardtop has been sitting on the ground at this yard for weeks now. Perhaps someone will grab it at this weekend’s All You Can Carry For $59.99 sale.
Comes with car phone!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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There are businesses that will diagnose and fix electronic issues with automobiles. GM Passlock and other gremlins. That may have saved some of the car sitting in junk yards.
Interesting, I did not know the Allante was one of those "crossover" cars (i.e. with a special European body and American engine). I knew about the Chrysler TC by Maserati, and in fact, I drove one when I was in valet parking (at the time I had no idea what the hell it was. It said Maserati, but it was a Chrysler???) And speaking of Italian cars, I just happened across an '83 Alfa Romeo at the junkyard (you can click my name to see it). First one I've ever seen.