More on that Cadillac Seville I was looking for earlier

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
01/09/2020 at 00:58 • Filed to: None

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Apparently it was featured in Car and Driver in the February 1983 issue. This timetable makes sense since I would get hand-me-down copies of C&D in the early ‘80s from a friend of the family. I don’t know if R&T actually covered this car, so I might have been mistaken there. My main sub to R&T was 1978, and apparently this car was a ‘79, so it wouldn’t have been in the issues that I received in that subscription. The owner’s name is John Ward. The license plate reads “1FASTMF”. According to a few bits of info I’ve read it has a twin-turbo LS7 454 with 750hp, running on propane with nitrous. It is basically a stock-car tube-frame chassis with a Seville body thrown on top of it. Four huge Hoosiers, necessitating the huge fender flares (you can sort of see them in the video capture at the bottom of this post) A pneumatic actuator tilts down the rear license plate to reveal an aircraft landing light to blind those behind you which, I assume, is to get rid of cops - they can’t chase you if they can’t see.

There was also a 1979 Cadillac Seville run by John Ward (the Evil Seville) that sported a 750hp NASCAR-derived big block under the hood, backed by massive race slicks at all four corners.

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I spoke with John Ward again this morning. For a guy who is semi-retired he is busy still doing bodywork and refinishing cars.

The Evil Seville: based on a 79 Seville body and grafted the upper body skin onto a Speedway Engineering Chassis. John’s best friend is Ken Sapper (started Speedway Engineering) and is known throughout the stock car circle. The Seville was powered by a LS7 454 with twin turbos, propane powered and aided by a cold shot of laughing gas. I asked why he built it (dumb question). I cannot put in text his exact words but something to the tune of blowing the ******* doors off Ferrari and Porsche’s with a laugh.

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DISCUSSION (10)


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/09/2020 at 06:59

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That's one wild ride!


Kinja'd!!! someassemblyrequired > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/09/2020 at 08:18

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Ha the James Bond rear license plate takes the cake


Kinja'd!!! Thomas Donohue > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/09/2020 at 08:20

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Apparently it was in the “I Love LA” video for a split second....

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It’s at the 3:00 minute mark behind the Ferrari.  Don’t blink.


Kinja'd!!! RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/09/2020 at 09:47

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The ZZ Top picture is great.


Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > shop-teacher
01/09/2020 at 10:04

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From what I was reading in one article, the front bumper flew off at 100+ MPH when C&D was driving it. Aerodynamics can be a bitch.

When I saw that C&D cover, I realized that I had that issue until I moved in 2012. 


Kinja'd!!! GoodIdeaAtTheTime > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/09/2020 at 10:16

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So that is what Dus ty Hill did to Cotton Hill’s old Cadillac car from the one “King of the Hill” episode...

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Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > GoodIdeaAtTheTime
01/09/2020 at 10:26

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I had almost forgotten about that episode, but yeah, I think that may have been where they got the idea!


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
01/09/2020 at 10:56

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Yeah, air can be very unforgiving!


Kinja'd!!! dieseldummie > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
07/17/2020 at 00:18

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When I was a kid in high school I worked at an Exxon station at Lyons Ave/HWY5 in Newhall(now Santa Clarita), Ca. One weekend while pulling an early shift I hear what sounds like a Sportsmen car/Modified car(local short track stockcar classes) pulling into the Texaco station next door. I wandered over(it’s like 6am and dead) to see what was making the noise and there sits a baby blue Seville on huge Goodyear tires with Nascar car style steel rims parked next to the propane tank. I had heard of this car thru some older serious motorheads I knew, but had never seen it in the flesh. I asked the owner if I could check out his Caddy and promised not to get any drool on it. After a cupla’ seconds I had to asked him “Is this the car I think it is? Twin turbo big block on propane, right? Good for over 200?”. He confirmed with a nod and opened the hood to show off the big block in all it’s glory. The descriptions are right, it’s basically a cup car chassis with a Seville body. The car’s interior as I remeber it was light blue carpet everywhere, no rear seats, floor shifter (I don’t remember there being any sort of center console), minimal roll cage compared to a Winston Cup car, stock door panels and stock appearing dash. The thing that stood out the most to me was the exhaust exiting thru vents/louvers in the top rear corner of the roof. There were ducts that I assume were for the exhaust pipes to run thru, these ran from just behind the seats and diagonally up to the rear corner of the roof. To this day, that car is the coolest car I’ve seen and man that car had a bark.. The pics posted here are the only ones I’ve ever seen of this car. I’m buying the Car and Driver issue with it in it just to prove to people the car e xisted. Does anybody know who owns it now?

Here’s a link to an article about Bonzai Runners from the 70's/80's. There’s mention of the Caddy and Dan Hagerty’s street legal Lola .

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiHiuuSsdPqAhUHeKwKHUV9CyYQFjAAegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.drivingline.com%2Farticles%2Fbanzai-runners-cracking-the-200-mph-code-on-californias-freeways%2F&usg=AOvVaw1IZqPCMMiZpwIzBaIRnL0K

Sorry if that was long winded.


Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > dieseldummie
07/17/2020 at 15:11

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No need to apologize - I loved reading it. Thanks for posting your memories of it.