Sure, there’s no shortage of celebrities who have flashy or expensive cars. However, not many celebrities can say that they helped design their own car. In the case of comedian and Renovation star Tim Allen, however, is a different story. He had more in hand than you might think when designing and building this Cadillac!
2000 Cadillac DeVille with Tim Allen Design components and a roaring V8 with upgrades
This 2000 Cadillac DeVille, originally built for Tim Allen, is currently for sale on Cars and Bids. However, the vehicle wasn’t just made for Allen. He also played a part in designing custom parts for it.
The car has a “Tim Allen Design” badge on the boot lid and a matching logo on the center console. While the design differences between this car and a standard 2000 DeVille are subtle, comparing them side by side shows the differences. This car features a custom aluminum grille, carbon fiber side skirts and a boot lid insert courtesy of Tim Allen Design.
Since Tim Allen is a bit of a hot rod enthusiast, some power upgrades have of course been made as well. The Northstar V8 engine has high compression pistons and matching ported and polished cylinder heads. It also has a more breathable intake system and stainless steel headers with a Corsa exhaust system. This thing undoubtedly sounds like a monster.
In addition, this DeVille has polyurethane bushings throughout the suspension system and a one-inch drop in ride height. Furthermore, it has Brembo brake upgrades and some chassis reinforcement brackets and anti-roll bars. Finally, it sits on a set of 18-inch Konig wheels.
Another fun fact about this car is that it is sold by the legendary Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. Furthermore, it was also the subject of a video by Cars and Bids founder and motoring journalist extraordinaire Doug DeMuro.
How much will this Cadillac yield?
It’s hard to put a price on something like this. The car has only 13,400 original miles on it, and its celebrity pedigree certainly won’t hurt its pricing. At the time of writing, it has a bid of $31,000. However, there is a small problem.
If you are familiar with the legend of the Cadillac Northstar 32-valve V8, you may be familiar with the damaging flaw. The Northstar often suffers a failure where the cylinder head bolts yank and are pushed out of the threaded holes in the engine block. This was already a problem with standard compression Northstar engines. So going up a gear like Tim Allen and the crew did with this engine could be disastrous.
There is also no lack of concern in the comments and questions about the list of cars and bids. Some even go as far as to describe the car as a “ticking time bomb” if the cylinder head bolts are in stock. Petersen has not yet answered that question.
Overall, though, this vehicle will likely end up in a collection more than it needs to be driven. In all likelihood it will be driven hard enough for the compression to lift the cylinder heads thanks to a bolt failure. However, it would provide potential buyers with some peace of mind to know whether or not preventive measures have been taken.
For the most part, this is just a bizarre piece of history from a not so fondly remembered piece of Cadillac history. It’s interesting to know that, despite the 2000 DeVille being hopelessly boring, someone was still doing cool stuff with them.
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