Cadillac Allanté History

The Allanté was Cadillac's front-wheel-drive flagship roadster, conceived to challenge the Mercedes-Benz SL. Its aluminum body was designed and built by Pininfarina in Turin, then shipped to Detroit for final assembly aboard specially equipped Boeing 747s — a transatlantic logistics operation Cadillac dubbed the 'Allanté Air Bridge.'

Early cars used a 4.1-liter and later 4.5-liter V8; the car was widely seen as underpowered and overpriced for most of its run. It finally came good in its last year: the 1993 Allanté received the new 295-hp 4.6-liter Northstar V8 and adaptive suspension, just as production ended on July 16, 1993. About 21,430 were built across the seven model years.