1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible on 2040-cars

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Cadillac moving back to Detroit after four years in New York City

After four years in New York City, The Wall Street Journal reports that Cadillac is moving its headquarters back to Detroit. This comes about four months after former head Johan de Nysschen was ousted from the automaker for a variety of reasons, including slumping sales and a product line not in concert with consumer tastes. It's also months after a Cadillac spokesperson told The Detroit Free Press that "It's 100 percent that we're staying [in New York City], that was never a question." Let's be clear about this, the move to New York was not Cadillac's biggest issue. As contributing editor James Riswick reminded us this morning, "the decision to sell three similarly sized large sedans, a variety of obsessive BMW-fighting cars, and only one crossover was not done while they were in New York." That was all planned years ago, before de Nysschen ever joined the company. He may not have righted the ship, but he didn't set it on its course. Note that the XT4, Caddy's second crossover after the SRX-replacing XT5, is just now hitting the market. The move to Manhattan was meant to give Cadillac more autonomy and put its leadership in a place where they could get a sense of what a luxury car buyer wants and needs. Detroit is great, but it can be an echo chamber, especially in a company as large and storied as General Motors. The problem is that Cadillac still relies heavily on Detroit and that poor communication was slowing development, according to the report. Steve Carlisle, a long-time GM employee, took over the brand after de Nysschen was let go. He and more than 100 others work in New York. Related Video:

Question of the Day: Worst year of the Malaise Era?

The Malaise Era for cars in the United States spanned the 1973 through 1983 model years, and featured such abominations as a Corvette with just 205 horsepower (from the optional engine!) and MGBs with suspensions jacked way up to meet new headlight-height requirements. There were many low points throughout this gloomy period, of course. The horrifyingly low power and fuel-economy numbers for big V8s during the middle years of the Malaise Era make a strong case for 1974 or 1975— the years of Nixon's resignation and the Fall of Saigon, respectively— as the most Malaisey years. But then the GM-pummeling debacles of the Chevy Citation and Cadillac Cimarron could make an early-1980s year the low point. 1979, the year of the ignominious Chrysler bailout? You choose! Related Video:

One of the world's largest muscle car museums is auctioning off its cars

Rick Treworgy's Muscle Car City is one of the biggest collections of high-performance American cars in the world. With over 200 cars of mostly GM makes, it's a mecca for fans of the golden age of Detroit iron. Unfortunately, the museum will be shutting its doors for good on Jan. 17 and auctioning off most of its assets with no reserve. The collection is, to put it bluntly, astounding. Advertised as a combined 65,000-plus horsepower, it occupies a 60,000-square-foot retail space in Punta Gorda, Fla., in a former Walmart store. It make sense when you learn that founder Rick Treworgy made his fortune in the commercial real estate business. As a hobby, he began to amass a truly jaw-dropping collection of muscle cars, filling out a collection that often has every year of a particular model represented, or a grouping of the rarest and highest-performance option packages of that year or model. Often, Treworgy bought placeholders while scouring the country for even rarer versions. It helps that Muscle Car City also houses a showroom where unwanted cars are sold, as well as its own speed shop that stocks plenty of parts. There's even a '50s-style diner called Stingray's Bar and Grill. According to a 2014 episode of Car Crazy, Treworgy has 80 Corvettes alone, more than the actual Corvette Museum. Among them are 20 models from 1967, one of Treworgy's favorites. The rest span the decades from 1954 (he once had a '53 but sold it) to a recently acquired 2020 C8, which, according to The Drive, has only 300 miles on the odometer. You like Impalas? There are models of every year from 1958 to 1969. El Caminos? He's got 'em from 1964 to 1972. Novas? Every year from 1963 to 1970 is represented. Most are the more desirable examples of each breed, with four-speed transmissions, the biggest blocks, and unicorn option packages like a factory 1965 Z16 SS396 Chevelle, one of 200 that were ordered off-menu at Chevy dealerships. And don't even get us started on the Camaros, which include not one, but two COPO 1969s. Treworgy even owns the only known surviving example of a 1936 Chevrolet Phaeton, of which only seven were built. On top of it all, many of these cars are concours quality and have won awards at prestigious car shows. While it's sad to see a collection like this broken up, Treworgy told The Drive that he'd been planning to retire next year anyway. However, the COVID-19 pandemic sped up those plans, greatly reducing the number of visitors to his museum.