2012 Cadillac Escalade Platnium *very Clean* on 2040-cars

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Online Find Of The Day: 2008 Cadillac XLR picks up where Excalibur left off

We try very, very hard to keep snark away from creations like the one you see here. After all, someone poured plenty of enthusiasm, time and money into turning a 2008 Cadillac XLR into a modern interpretation of the new-old cars typically done by cottage builders like Excalibur and Clénet. Even so, it's hard not to wince when you set an eye on this machine. With its wheelbase stretched to accommodate the extra bodywork, goofy sidewalls and upkicked nose (examine it in profile, it looks slightly bent in the middle), this "neoclassic" takes whatever was loveable about the Cadillac underneath and buries it in a tacky grave.
Miraculously, the engine bay has been left unmolested, which means the retractable hardtop convertible still features a 4.6-liter Northstar V8 engine good for 320 horsepower. If only that were enough to outrun its shame. If, for some reason, you feel like taking this thing home, Harry Kaufmann Motorcars of Milwaukee says it can be yours for a paltry $74,998. We wish were joking. Check it out here.

Liberace's gilded Cadillac could be yours

With their chrome grilles and oversized wheels, it's hard not to notice a Cadillac these days. But this one is even more blingtastic on account of the 23.75-karat gold-leaf bodywork.
The 1931 Cadillac Golfer's Drop Head Coupé is said to have belonged to the inimitable performer Liberace, who didn't just have it covered in gold - he also had the exterior door handles plated in silver and the inside handles in 24-karat gold as well. It's also got a white leather interior and headlights that - well ahead of their time (if you'll pardon us, Mr. Tucker) - pivot with the steering wheel. All that bling is powered by a 5.7-liter V8 mated to a three-speed automatic transmission that pales in comparison to the seven, eight and even nine-speed gearboxes appearing on luxury sedans today.
The project was undertaken over the course of three years in the 1970s by one Jack Smith from Kansas. Smith (if that was his real name) sold it at auction in 1975, and it was most recently displayed for 12 years at a museum in Germany which claimed it was Liberace's own. The car is now going up for sale by Barons' at the Sandown Park horse racing track in Surrey, England, on September 17, when bidding starts at 85,000 pounds - equivalent to over $130,000 at today's rates.

Hotter Cadillac CT5-V could use the CTS-V's 6.2-liter V8

Cadillac is in the final stages of testing the high-performance variant of the CT5, prototypes are racking up miles all over the world, and a recent report sheds light on the engine screaming between its punched-out fenders. It's a V8, to no one's surprise, but it's not the twin-turbocharged, 4.2-liter unit many believed the sedan would use. Sources familiar with Cadillac's product plan told Car & Driver the hotter CT5 — whose name hasn't been revealed yet — will receive an updated version of the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 that powered the mighty CTS-V. It developed 640 horsepower in the firm's last German-bashing super-sedan, though where engineers will peg the CT5's output remains to be seen. It will roast the rear tires through a paddle-shifted automatic transmission. The publication explained Cadillac chose the 6.2-liter because it's more compact than the 4.2-liter Blackwing engine it developed for the CT6. The former features a pushrod design, while the latter gets twin overhead cams that make it taller and wider. The CT5 is a new model, but its Alpha platform is older than Cadillac's newest V8. Cadillac hasn't announced what will power the flagship CT5. The model is tentatively due out in showrooms before the end of 2020, so we expect to learn more about it in the coming months. Seeing it in the metal for the first time during the 2020 Detroit Auto Show in June isn't entirely out of the question. What's next? If the report is accurate, the much-hyped Blackwing may end up being an orphan engine. It was developed specifically for the Cadillac brand, and inaugurated by the CT6-V that recently went out of production. The many rumors claiming General Motors will put the engine in other models to recoup its investment are falling like dominoes. It won't fit in the CT5, so there's no reason to believe it will end up in the smaller CT4; its flagship version will likely arrive with a twin-turbocharged, 3.6-liter V6 borrowed from the ATS-V. An earlier report claims the next-generation Escalade won't use the Blackwing, either, because making it fit would cost too much. Looking beyond Cadillac, the only General Motors-owned brand that could use the Blackwing is Chevrolet, since we can't imagine the GMC Yukon will get it if the Escalade doesn't. The Tahoe/Suburban duo is off the table, too.