Added on October 25, 2019  The News Wheel   ,
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Check Out the Retro Escalade That Never Was

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2018 Cadillac Escalade

A good romp through the Alternate History genre typically allows you to explore nightmarish dystopias and engage in provocative thought experiments about the course of society. But not every peep into an alternate timeline has to be doom and gloom — in fact, some can be downright groovy. Like this 1970s spin on the Cadillac Escalade. 

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It’s 1977, Star Wars is out and velvet is cool. Cadillac was trying to keep up with a new brave world of emission control and smaller engines with cars like the Seville, but still doing its thing with wonderful big boats like the DeVille. Despite that, have you ever wondered how the Escalade would’ve been if it was manufactured back then? Wonder no more! This right here is the “what-if” Escalade from 1977! This point in time is really interesting, Cadillac still had a lot of buyers from the “old days” but wanted to appeal to a broader audience with cars like the Diesel Seville. This Escalade has the 500 CI V8 (Yes, 500 cubes. That’s 8.2 lt) with the Bendix fuel injection system. This engine was discontinued in 1975 but I thought it would be appropriate to have it back as “Escalade exclusive”. The base for it, as all real Escalades have been, is the Chevrolet Suburban. In this case, it wears a DeVille face and rear bumper with the oh-so classy wire wheels and white line tires. It’s still 4WD. What do you think? What color shag carpet would have on this? How many ashtrays do you think it has? . . . . . . . . #cadillac #escalade #1977 #v8 #500 #big #block #suv #before #suvs #custom #whatif #not #real #caddy #boat #gold #velvet #shag #leather #bendix #3d #render

A post shared by Abimelec Arellano (@abimelecdesign) on

Rendered by the talented artists at Abimelec Design, this golden-brown behemoth is a true 1977 dream machine. Accompanied by a faux advertisement, the fictional 1977 Escalade promises a Bendix fuel-injected V8 engine and a roomy 144 cubic feet of cargo space.

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Why wasn’t this a thing?

In reality, to create this 3D-rendered retro Escalade, Abimelec Design affixed the front of a Cadillac DeVille to the body of a Chevy Suburban. The vehicle also sports some era-appropriate accessories, like wire wheels and white-line tires. Oh, and plenty of ashtrays and shag carpet on the inside.

While Instagram commenters were open to the idea of a retro Escalade, commenters on the Facebook post were quick to point out that this model wouldn’t have fared well in the real 1970s. Given the skyrocketing fuel prices and limited oil availability, cars that prioritized fuel economy ruled the day back then. Ah well, even if it’s implausible, the retro Escalade is still a fun idea.

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The real first Cadillac Escalade

The real Escalade debuted back in 1998, in the midst of the SUV craze. Designed to counter the Lincoln Navigator and Lexus LX, this massive luxury SUV hit the streets with a 5.7-liter V8 that pumped out 255 horsepower. It was based on the GMC Yukon Denali, but boasted a more opulent interior, complete with leather seats and a segment-first Bose surround sound system.

Since then, the Escalade has evolved to be even bigger and better. It further differentiated itself from its cousins, the GMC Yukon and the Chevy Tahoe, by adding increasingly opulent features and exclusive design cues, like its massaging seats and signature thin taillights.

Sources: Motor1, Money Inc.