Cadillac Allante
| Cadillac Allanté | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer |
Cadillac (General Motors) Pininfarina (body) |
| Production | 1986–1993 |
| Assembly |
San Giorgio Canavese, Italy Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly (Detroit, Michigan) |
| Designer | Pininfarina |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Luxury roadster |
| Body style | 2-door convertible |
| Layout | FF layout |
| Platform | V-body |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | 4.1 L HT-4100 V8 4.5 L HT-4500 V8 4.6 L Northstar V8 |
| Transmission | 4-speed 4T60 automatic 4-speed 4T80 automatic |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 99.4 in (2,525 mm) |
| Length | 1987–89: 178.6 in (4,536 mm) 1990–93: 178.7 in (4,539 mm) |
| Width | 1987–1991: 73.5 in (1,867 mm) 1992–93: 73.4 in (1,864 mm) |
| Height | 1987–1991 52.2 in (1,326 mm) 1992–93: 51.5 in (1,308 mm) |
| Curb weight | 3,720 lb (1,690 kg) |
| Chronology | |
| Successor | Cadillac XLR |
The Cadillac Allanté is a two-door, two-seater roadster marketed by Cadillac from 1986 until 1993, with roughly 21,000 units built over a seven-year production run.
Originally designed to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL and Jaguar XJS, the Allanté featured a slightly modified variant of the 4.1 liter V8 used across Cadillac's model line.
The Allanté is noted for an unusual production arrangement, where completed bodies — designed and manufactured in Italy by Pininfarina — were shipped 4,600 mi (7,400 km) from Italy in specially equipped Boeing 747s, 56 at a time, to Cadillac's Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly plant where they were mated with domestically manufactured chassis and engine assemblies. Bodies had to be flown from the Turin International Airport in Italy to Detroit's Coleman A. Young International Airport, about 3 miles northeast of the new Hamtramck factory, known as the "Allante Air Bridge". The expensive shipping process was implemented because GM had recently closed the Fisher Body Plant #18 which traditionally supplied Cadillac bodies since 1921. This was not the first time that Cadillac turned to Pininfarina for body work, they previously farmed out body production to the Turin-based coachbuilder for the 1959 Eldorado Brougham, as well as that for several one-offs, customs, and concept cars.
The name Allanté was selected by General Motors from a list of 1,700 computer generated names.
The 1987 Allanté featured a removable aluminum hardtop, the industry's first power retractable AM/FM/Cellular Telephone antenna and a multi-port fuel injected variant of GM's aluminum 4.1 L (250 cu in) HT-Cadillac 4100 V8, along with roller valve lifters, high-flow cylinder heads, and a tuned intake manifold. The roadster featured an independent strut-based suspension system front and rear, Bosch ABS III four-wheel disc brakes and a complex lamp-out module that substituted a burned-out bulb in the exterior lighting system with an adjacent lamp until correction of the problem. The Delco-GM/Bose Symphony Sound System – a $905 option on other Cadillacs – was standard on Allanté. The only option was a cellular telephone, installed in a lockable center console.
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