Do-it-yourself king Tim Allen once had a conservative Cadillac. Now the car has fetched a record price.
Tim Allen is the inventor and lead actor of the 1990s TV series "Listen Who's Hammering." (original: "Home Improvement"), in which he hosts the home improvement show Tool Time as Tim Taylor. In real life, Allen is a car enthusiast - last October, for example, he auctioned off his Ford GT . Now one of his former cars has changed hands, which, unlike the Ford, gives no visual indication of its potency: A Cadillac DeVille DTSi built in 2000, which Allen had heavily modified.
Maximum sleeper
More sleepers than with the Cadillac DeVille DTSi is hardly possible: The car is a down-to-earth limousine, which at first glance might at least suggest rear-wheel drive. However, the 304 hp of the 4.6-liter Northstar V8 act exclusively on the front wheels. In terms of dynamics, the DeVille didn't have to compete with the competition consisting of Audi RS, Mercedes AMG and BMW M models. But the equipment was great for a car from the early 2000s with a head-up display, separate air conditioning for the front and rear and magnetic suspension. Tim Allen saw the car's potential and took it to his home state-based tuner Wheel to Wheel.
Performance increased - chassis sportier
The refiners built a strut brace in the engine compartment of the Cadillac, modified the chassis at the front with stronger stabilizers and new polyurethane bushes and replaced the brakes with a Brembo system with four-piston calipers and perforated and internally ventilated discs . The tuners swapped the standard rims for 18-inch Konig wheels. The specialists from Wheel to Wheel have also strengthened the motor. Polished intake ports, high-compression pistons, a new intake system, stainless steel manifolds and a Corsa sports exhaust system are said to have pushed the performance to 403 hp.
Interior design from the late 1990s
The tuners didn't touch the interior - so the DeVille looks like a time capsule there too. The look is dominated by a lot (a lot) of black leather and a long antique-looking red-brown wood veneer that sits under a thick layer of glossy varnish. The equipment with optional night vision function can be considered a technical feature - the technology was then and still is a rare equipment feature.
Currently belongs to the Petersen Museum
Tim Allen sold the Cadillac immediately, and for years it belonged to the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, California, one of the world's most renowned car museums. The car may only have 13,000 miles (20,921 kilometers) on the clock, but on closer inspection it could use a bit of TLC. Service history is patchy, there is only one key and there are scratches on the rims.There is a TAD logo on the trunk, which stands for Tim Allen Design and which of course doesn't look very fresh anymore. The second logo in the center console looks less battered.
After selling his Ford GT for millions, one thing is clear: car enthusiast Tim Allen causes high prices for cars that once belonged to him. His Cadillac has now gone for $35,500 (currently the equivalent of around €35,410). That's more than three times the price that customers have paid for such models in the past five years. For an average of $10,000 (9,975 euros), the DeVille DTSi usually changes hands without a prominent previous owner - so the Peterson Museum has fetched Allen's Cadillac about three and a half times the price. The car is equipped with a front transverse Northstar V8, which engine fans will appreciate, but otherwise a front-wheel drive sedan doesn't seem to touch collectors' hearts that much.
Conclusion
This Cadillac DeVille DTSi doesn't look like anything - but it once belonged to the series and cinema star Tim Allen and he had the car properly strengthened in terms of chassis, brakes and engine. So the DeVille is now an absolute celebrity pre-owned sleeper. This combination has now fetched a record price at an auction: $35,500 is 355 percent of what customers have paid on average for such a model in the past five years.
