Starting in the late 1950s, officers in The General’s Michigan command post pushed hard to get Americans to buy German-built Opels. Buick dealers sold Kadetts, GTs, and Mantas well into the 1970s, and Isuzu-badged Kadett Cs could be purchased here as late as 1984. One of the most ambitious attempts to move Opels out of North American showrooms took place during the 1997 through 2001 model years when the Opel Omega B became the Caddy That Zigged. Here’s a final-year Catera in a northeastern Colorado yard.
By the 1990s, the Cadillac Division desperately needed to attract younger buyers. Perhaps a leaner, more European sedan with rear-wheel-drive and an irreverent ad campaign featuring one of the ducks from the Cadillac logo would do the trick!
The Catera did not lure hordes of sub-80-year-old buyers into Cadillac dealerships, but building Cadillac-badged Chevy Suburbans (starting in 1999) sure did. Once the Escalade started showing up in rap videos, it didn’t matter that the Catera had flopped.
These cars started showing up in junkyards at a fairly young age, but this one made it to age 20… and just past the 100k mark.
If I’m ever made Global Warlord For Life, my first act upon taking office will be to outlaw purple-tinted window film.
Since the Catera was built in Germany, its VINs begin with the letter W (a hangover from the old days of West Germany and still used in US-market German-built cars to this day).
The Catera had a 200-horsepower V6 engine and rear-wheel-drive, but you couldn’t get one with a manual transmission.
Since this car lived on the same platform as the Holden VZ Monaro, it’s a close cousin to the 2004-2006 Pontiac GTO. That means that it shouldn’t be too rough a swap to put a GM LS V8 and manual transmission into a Catera… and, sure enough, such swaps have taken place. The low-budget version would feature a truck-sourced cast-iron Vortec 5300 and whatever transmission came out of the donor vehicle. Then you’d have the opportunity to buy every junkyard Catera differential in your time zone.
MSRP on the base ’01 Catera was $31,305, or about $47,745 today. That got you a car with more power than a new BMW 525i sedan (200 versus 185 horsepower), and at a substantially cheaper price than the $35,400 525i. BMW also charged you $1,275 extra for an automatic transmission, which nearly every American 5-Series buyer got, while the Catera came with one as standard equipment. On top of that, the Catera’s interior featured High Zoot leather everywhere. Of course, you could buy a brand-new Daewoo Leganza for a mere $14,399 that year, which would get you plenty of Opel engineering via the South Korean outpost of the GM Empire. Was the Catera worth more than twice as much as a Leganza?
The Saturn Division took one last shot at North American Opel glory, shortly before its demise, with the American-market Astra. Prior to that, The General spent a billion bucks putting plastic body panels on the Opel Vectra. Now that Opel has switched sides, the danger of Ziggy’s return to battle has abated.
Cindy Crawford was issued a Catera— bought or leased— via Wizard Ziggy.
For links to more than 2,100 additional Junkyard Finds, visit the Junkyard Home of the Murilee Martin Lifestyle Brand™.
I have been to exactly one Cadillac Dealer Council meeting in my life (around the turn of the century). Escalade brand team was showing a new ad and [sort of] soliciting feedback.
(Might have been this one:)
https://youtu.be/L4ZnUr49MEo
Direct quote from one Council member: “It’s as bad as the duck.”
Enjoyed the link to the LS swapped version. The original CTS-V. The GM 54 degree V6 has been a troublesome package in pretty much whatever chassis it was sold in.
This is further proof that pretty faces *don’t* sell cars.
A co-worker proudly bought herself a 2-year old Catera back in the day. She was a low-pay scale member of our organization who worked very hard. She was so proud to finally own a Cadillac. I can’t begin to tell you the aggravation that car brought her when the typical GM Opel maladies showed up. After 2 years of constant repairs (and under 50k miles total), she finally took a bath and traded it in on a new Hyundai.
One of the many reasons I’ll never buy a Chevrolet.
One of the many reasons I haven’t owned a GM in… checks notes…34 years
When is your anniversary? Says here the celebration gift is Jade for your 35th.
https://www.gifts.com/35th-anniversary-gifts-g35avgs
Well technically that was a Motors Liquidation product.
GM-not even once
Its impressive the Ellesmere Port POS motor did not self immolate earlier on this example (timing belt tensioner pulley or valve cover gasket).
“Worse for GM, the earlier push for leases meant that the cars mechanical woes came back to haunt the company when the leased lemons came back to the dealer. Not only did lessors not want to buy their troublesome rides, but they frequently proved hard to sell off-lease because of the car’s known issues.”
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-1997-2001-cadillac-catera-caddys-dead-duck/
“If I’m ever made Global Warlord For Life, my first act upon taking office will be to outlaw purple-tinted window film.”
I think making manual transmissions available – no, required – in all trim levels of all models in perpetuity would be a more helpful use of your Power.
Got my vote. Can we also add an edict stating only one CUV model per marque be made available?
The purple color and bubbles tells the world “I did it myself” using a $15.95 auto parts store tinting kit that intentionally will cover all but 1/4th of your last window.
What I’ve always heard is that the film doesn’t start out purple, but turns purple from owners cleaning it with Windex and similar cleaners – a definite no-no.
Gah! I’ve been scouring the local-to-me (as in, within 100 miles since none are close) pick-a-part websites for a Catera. I own a 2006 GTO and the door handles on my car are made of plastic and there was some issue with the formula that makes the paint chip off over time and use. Catera’s have the same door handle design but they are made of metal. I have a grand plan of repainting my GTO and replacing the door handles as part of that. Next time if you wouldn’t mind grabbing a set for me, Murilee, I would appreciate it!
I have a really big soft spot for these. In 1995 I went to Italy and I kept seeing a very attractive car every now and then. I finally saw one parked and went to look at it and noted it was an Opal Omega. Instantly I thought GM should be selling cars like that here in the States. Imagine my surprise when it turned out they did just that. And interestingly enough, I didn’t realize they were RWD until well into the 2000s.
E-bay was of no help?
A couple of options
Car-part.com, you can search wrecking yards across the US and Canada and most of them will ship the part.
partsmarket.com is a similar thing except they all ship and you deal with the middle man for payment and warranty.
I’ve used both options successfully.
Then there is row52.com which lists the vehicles for self serve yards again across the US. They don’t ship but there is a place where people can sign up to be parts pullers for a particular yard. So once you find a place with a suitable donor you can contact one of the parts pullers listed for that yard and negotiate with them directly on the cost to pull and ship the parts. I’m sure many will take pictures before they start so you can verify it is the part you want. I have not used any of their parts pullers but of course each one is an individual so they will vary.
Thanks for the info.
Ebay wants $50 for the only driver’s side listed.
Car-part has them, but the only reasonably priced ones were declared not available when I called.
I’ll check out row52 – it’s been a long time since I checked that.
But, I’d prefer to pay the $10 my local yards charge even though it likely means I spend more in gas getting there and back. It’s the principle! Plus it gives me an excuse to go wander around the yard if they ever get one.
I definitely understand just wanting to do it locally but those are great when you need something sooner rather than later.
Try to scour some of the Cadillac dealers. It’s possible that some might have NOS parts like this on the shelf.
I know of some Lincoln Mercury dealers who still stocked parts for some of their “orphaned” captive imports Capri and Merkur.
The purple tint is usually not on-purpose. It’s cheap tint that uses an inferior dye that fades to purple over time. It’s a red flag on a used car, for sure.
Yup it is faded to purple. I’m not sure why that is a red flag on a used car though. On the one hand it could mean they shopped around for the cheapest place to do the tint but it is also possible that the dealer shopped around for the cheapest place that would come out and do the tint, or that the person just got screwed and paid top dollar for sub par product because they don’t know the difference.
Whenever the topic of worst engines comes up, the Ellesmere 54 degree V6 makes my top 3 without blinking. The Chrysler LH 2.7L 60 degree V6 is ahead of it. I think there are several you could then debate of belonging in the top 3.
I had a friend who bought one of these. He was so proud of the great deal and all the GM Visa points he got toward the purchase of another GM. He was so disappointed when the car went south on him, but to cash in on those GM points he had to buy another GM. So, he traded the Catera in on an equally problematic Seville… and the cycle continued
These cars really deserve more hate than they get. Their saving grace is that they sold so poorly when new that most people have forgotten about them.
“These cars really deserve more hate than they get”
Indeed! The 80s gave us the Cimmaron, the 90s gave us….this. I was a teenager working part-time for a GM dealership washing cars when these came out. They were utterly pathetic little sh*tboxes. Poor quality all around. I can remember back then thinking “THIS is a Cadillac?!”
Parents leased one of these in Phoenix. A/C was very weak, typical of most Euro cars of the time. CaddyDaddy had to shuttle it from the Colorado Front Range to Winslow, AZ. I would describe it as comparable to a modern KIA. Meh…. Caterra was totaled when Mom ran over a 22.5″ Semi steel wheel on I-10 at highway speeds outside of Quartzite. It was replaced by a 02′ DTS which burned oil at a quart / 500 miles which GM said was acceptable. Sold the DTS to a local plumber at 16K miles. Threw a rod at 20K, GM bought it back from 2nd owner under a factory extended warranty. Both Cadillacs were 100% driveline garbage.
Non-DOD LS engine Tahoes and Gas non turbo BOF Ford SUVs ever since. All have been 200K + mile problem free experiences. Caddydaddy will admit we have been lucky on the Triton 5.4L.
“CaddyDaddy had to shuttle it from the Colorado Front Range to Winslow, AZ”
Please tell me it was on a flat-bed Ford, please…
“Well, I’m a-standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord
In a flat-bed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me”
The folks had a Sedan DeVille of similar vintage. Engine behaved, but there was some crazy fix needed on the suspension that was going to cost $4000 – after the car had just timed out of warranty and was still well within the mileage range. Mom ended up with a CPO Lexus ES300 within a month. Another month later Dad had jettisoned his umpteenth not-yet-problematic (but inevitably going to go there) Blazer/Trailblazer/Jimmy for a used RX. The only GM products they kept after that were a pair of Corvairs.
The Omega this was based on was a fairly successful car in Europe, without extraordinary reliability problems.
It’s really kind of impressive how badly Cadillac and GM North America managed to screw it up when importing it.
All manner of self destructing European crap has stayed successful in Europe at the same time that it was destroying brands here. Toyota expectations come from Toyotas, they didn’t have either.
I have an 18 year old Honda that runs flawlessly. It spends a lot of time waiting for me at the airport and there’s no point buying a new car just for that. But it shocks me when I see newer cars than mine with far fewer miles (245k in my case) that have been scrapped. What a waste of money, material and resources.
2001 isn’t newer than your 18 year old Honda.
Math.
I have a 20 year old Honda with 130k on the clock that still runs flawlessly after a couple of acceptably cheap repairs and normal maintenance. It’s a terrible time to buy a car anyway but even if it weren’t for the supply chain issues, I see no need to replace it. Gets me where I’m going and beats walking.
As a plus, you don’t have to remove the intake manifold to change the failure proned thermostat if you LS swap it like you do on the V6.
Had this motor in a Saturn VUE…what a thirsty, gutless and not especially reliable turd.
I root for Cadillac and hate that the Catera existed.
I will say – it did show well. I remember checking them out on the showroom floor, and the interior had that German tautness and soft rubber finishes that was very in-fashion as “luxury” at the time.
Also, I’m probably the only one that remembers the demented weirdness with “Who is Lisa Catera” and then it being a TV show character. (Actually I just checked wiki and there’s a blurb about it on the Catera page so I’m not the only one!)
The linked V8 swapped car is a true John Lingenfelter LPE build. That’s a hell of a car, for sure.
BTW, in the Cadillac crest they were called “merlettes”, not ducks.