After seeing two massive oil shocks and associated fuel shortages during the 1970s, GM's Cadillac Division looked at the success of the Chevy Nova-derived Seville and decided that an even smaller Cadillac based on the Cavalier's platform would be a fine idea. Thus was the Cadillac Cimarron created, and sales began in the 1982 model year. A couple of years later, Cadillac created the d'Oro appearance package, making the Cimarron d'Oro the ultimate Cimarron (and therefore the most expensive J-Body GM ever made). I managed to find this rare d'Oro in a Denver-area yard recently.
The J-cars were sold all over the world, with versions offered by Vauxhall, Holden, Daewoo, Opel, Isuzu, and even Toyota. In North America, the Chevrolet Cavalier was the biggest-selling member of the J family (with sales continuing all the way through 2005), but you could also buy versions sold bearing the badges of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick. Early Cimarrons had a mandatory four-banger under their hoods, but the 2.8-liter pushrod V6 became an option for 1985 and standard in 1987. That's what powered this car with its 130 horses. When you got the V6 in your new Cimarron, you also got an automatic transmission with it (the four-cylinder Cimarrons had four- or five-speed manuals as base equipment).
The Cimarron had air conditioning at no extra cost, plus an AM/FM stereo radio. This car has the top-of-the-line "Symphony Sound" auto-reverse cassette deck with five-band equalizer, which cost $242 (that's about $655 in 2022 dollars).
The MSRP on the 1986 Cimarron with the d'Oro package was a daunting $14,103, which comes to about $38,125 after inflation. Meanwhile, you could buy the dismayingly similar-looking (and mechanically nearly identical) Cavalier sedan with the same 2.8 and automatic for as little as $7,963 ($21,525 now). GM took some lumps over this car.
Once the SUV craze got going, Cadillac put the bad memories of the Cimarron in the rear-view. We can assume that we'll never see a Lyriq d'Oro, though I remain hopeful that the d'Elegance name will be revived someday.
