1975 Cadillac Eldorado Base Convertible 2-door 8.2l on 2040-cars

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The syrupy sweet tale of the Pink Cadillac Margarita

In our last installment of the irregular and irreverent series on drinks loosely connected to – or named after – automobiles, we sipped a Taxi cocktail, which in its original form tasted a bit like a margarita infused with Blackjack chewing gum , except worse. This time, we explore mythos behind a drink so pink it usually doesn't make you stop and think. But that's what we're going to do. And, as always, enjoy cocktails (and reading about them) while you're not behind the wheel. Our brother lives in Detroit, where old American cars go to not die. On the streets of the Motor City, you will see all manner of holey-mufflered, salt-rotted, spring-sagging Big Three iron plowing along shoddily. Our brother's next-door neighbor is a connoisseur of such vehicles, and thus populates his driveway with a cache of Malaise Era Cadillacs. (His dog lives in one.) His latest addition, which our brother texted us a photo of recently while we were eating fish tacos in Los Angeles, is a Desert Rose 1977 Coupe DeVille (seen below). Since we're always thinking about cars or drinking (or both), and we were eating Mexican, this put us in mind of a cocktail our cousin's trashy bridesmaid made us try at her wedding in Charleston: the Pink Cadillac Margarita. Suddenly, we were thirsty. The Pink Cadillac Margarita is, quite obviously, a pink drink – a somewhat cloying, if deliciously chuggable concoction colored with a spritz of Ocean Spray, or Chambord liqueur if you're classy. Pink drinks get a bum rap. Blame it on the Cosmopolitan, and everyday misogyny, but many people find pink drinks frivolous. As expert drinkers, and drink experts, we would counter that the consumption of alcohol is, at its essence, about being frivolous. Never mind that the chemical is a depressive; Consuming it is about putting on your rose (or rose) colored glasses, and getting ready to make some mistakes. The Pink Cadillac is apparently so named not just because of its signature color and the irresistible musical connection between Cadillacs and pinkness (see: Aretha, Springstein, Natalie Cole). The moniker also derives from the quality of the ingredients – drawing on the historical expression "The Cadillac of..." to signify something top-shelf. "It's difficult to know quite how that name was derived," says Melody Lee, Cadillac's director of brand strategy.

Cadillac expects major growth in China

The US sales issues facing Cadillac are not being paralleled in the People's Republic of China, as a new report from Automotive News indicates the US luxury maker should see its sales increase by as much as 40 percent.
The report cites Cadillac's own forecasts, which put its 2014 sales in the PRC at 70,000 units after cresting 45,000 vehicles at the end of August. Provided the sales pace holds true through 2015, the brand would hit its new 100,000-unit sales goal, AN reports.
"We're very optimistic about the luxury market, we believe that the luxury market by 2016 here will become the largest luxury market in the world, surpassing even the size of luxury in Europe," GM China President Matthew Tsien told AN. "With [Cadillac president] Johan [de Nysschen], we have somebody that really is an executive that understands luxury, but he also is very, very keen on understanding what do we need here in China for Cadillac to be successful."

Mystery Cadillac coupe concept revealed in patent drawings

We have been reminded once again that when Cadillac designs a coupe, it's usually spectacular. The reminder comes in the form of a patent drawing filing that was previously reported on by Jalopnik. In the filing are shots of the two-door from just about every angle, and there's not a bad one in the bunch. Unfortunately, there isn't really any other information about the car in the patent, so the car remains a mystery in that regard. Still, there's a fair amount to be gleaned from the images. It certainly looks sportier than most recent Cadillac concepts. It has a fastback roof and a short deck lid. The rear bumper has a diffuser design fitted to it. The rear fenders are very wide. It has large auxiliary grilles on each side of the center one, and the way the taillights are designed seem to hint at extractor vents. The overall proportions even look a bit like those of the Camaro, but possibly a little larger. The car also looks like it's probably a concept. The side mirror stalks are far too skinny to actually be production units. The big diffuser and center exhaust, plus those rear extractor vent designs seem a little much for a production model, too. The headlights are also a little on the small side. Being a concept (probably), we're a little worried. We really want to see this thing come to market, but Cadillac has a bad track record of showing beautiful concepts that never make it to production, even when they aren't particularly over-the-top. The Elmiraj and Ciel are two that come to mind. The former was a coupe, too, and was elegant and grounded. We never got a production version of either. We did see some styling inspiration from the Elmiraj on the ATS and CTS, but they never quite captured the concept's beauty. Then again, when Cadillac has managed to bring a recent concept to production, the results haven't great. The Converj concept became the ELR, and while the styling came through fine, it was hampered by an uninspiring powertrain and an excruciating price tag. But hey, Cadillac could always prove us wrong. And we would like them to. Related Video: Featured Gallery Cadillac Coupe Patent Drawings News Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark OfficeImage Credit: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Cadillac Coupe Concept Cars Luxury