Worst Automotive Components of All Time: 1971-72 Cadillac Door Pull Straps

Learn about these awful door pull straps (and other items) on the 1971-72 Cadillacs!

[JosephStJames]

My dad used to roll down the window to pull the door shut. That skinny strap was a joke given how heavy that door was. But honestly, we felt like royalty floating down the street in that beautiful vehicle.

[bradhoward]

I must agree with you Adam on the low quality of these Cadillacs but I don’t think that the assembly line speed was the culprit. I worked on the final assembly line at Pontiac Motors in 1977 through 1979 installing left front fenders and our line speed was 86 cars per hour. While I don’t consider these Gran Prixs, Bonnevilles/Catalinas, Lemans/CanAms to be wonderfully built quality cars, the problems they had were not related to the speed at which we built them, but the short coming
with the engineering provided.
The problem with the door pulls was they were ONLY attached to the door panel and not through screwed to the metal of the door.
Simply poor engineering and not line speed.

[gordonborsboom]

Got to believe the door strip problems were not limited to this year or brand.

My 78 Olds Cutlass had to have its pull straps repaired and it was clear in the design that it was never meant to have a long life retention using a coarse lag-bolt style fastener.

[Primus]

Yes… an imposing and beautifully sculpted exterior design completely let down by the build quality and cheap interior that even a fully optioned Chevy Caprice could favorably compare with. This era began the long downward march of Cadillac’s reputation that it has never fully recovered.

[airplanes]

Documenting the downfall of Cadillac could take years...

[ronforeman]

1965 Cadillac models represented the apex of marque. The Sedan de Ville I owned 1975-80 was impeccably designed and tastefully appointed in the finest grades of leather, fabric, metals, carpeting. I always felt like I should take off my shoes before getting into the car.

[automatedelectronics]

Well, let's say that GM continued to have door hinge issues even well into the 1990's especially on the "C" series truck line. With the late-80's models, we had to drill out and replace the entire hinges. Then the aftermarket came out with replacement hinge pin and bushing kits. Because of all the re-inforcements, for safety, in the doors, it made them very heavy. It's a wonder that any hinge could support the weight. I've changed bushings many times on GM trucks and multiple times on the same GM trucks.
For re-inforcing the door pull straps, I'm not sure if I've ever seen screws drilled through the trim bezels, and I worked at a Cadillac dealer and saw this vintage of cadillacs. Most of the time, before the pull straps were re-inforced at the factory, the end trim pieces would come off to access the retaining screws underneath them, and we would drill screws into the doors, then put the trim pieces back on. Many other non-GM makes also had problems with the door handles.
Most car manufacturers build qualities we down starting in the late-60's, especially Chrysler. Because of inflation and the increasing costs, they had to cut corners. Engines increased in size to compensate for the power robbing emission controls and lower compression ratios. Then fuel mileage became a concern and the first response was to put taller differential gear ratios in.

[joelafalce]

My Dad bought a '71 Coupe new. It had the smaller vents on the trunk so I guess it was a later one. I know my Dad put some pieces of foam into the round holes on the inside of the trunk lid. I guess this had something to do with the flow-thru ventilation system. The car had woodgrain, not that silver stuff and he had the car for years but luckily never had a problem with door sag or the pull straps.It really was a stunning car. The color was Clove with a black vinyl roof and black leather interior.

[kevinvoyer]

Never got to drive more than a couple Cadillacs, but my wonderful Dad owned a new Lincoln every 2-3 years through the 70’s. The first was a 71 Lincoln Coupe, plain light blue with dark blue vinyl roof with matching silk like cloth interior, with full power and climate control, arm rest in front and rear. This was also the best running, with a premium gas required 460/4brl dual exhaust setup. That on one night, in Sept 73, while I was home on leave from The USARMY, I was caught n radar by a Rhode Island State Trooper, in his big Fury I Interceptor, in none other that Lincoln, RI, at a staggering 129 mpg! I had just came up the on-ramp and just floored it and held it there till I seen the flashing lights, I let up and looked down and saw the speedometer drop below 110! I was like oh is Dad going to be pissed off! Long story short the Trooper was fresh out of The Army himself! Let me go with a written warning! The next Dad bought new in Dec 73, a beautiful triple dark green Coupe again, that ran fine, but the 460/4 had single Exhaust and didn’t run as well as the 71, only got to drive that one once, up to 110! But that was it. The next was the best looking, a dark president blue 75 Town Coupe’ that had a gorgeous padded white vinyl Landau roof that only covered half the roof, with four sided rounded corners rear side windows, with the Lincoln Crest in the center and gold leaf trim. With a dark blue leather interior, loaded with everything but moon roof, but a great sounding AM/FM 8 track Quadraphonic sound system I added a couple extra speakers to and amp, that really enhanced the sound. That car ran or I should say walked like a dog, smog killed 460/4 brl single exhaust dud. The next and last was a 78 Town Car Sedan, in triple baby blue with leather interior! That Dad kept like new for 18 years and 142, 000 miles. I even got to use as a daily driver for a couple years. After Dad retired when the teamsters union put the family trucking company out of business, Dad strapped for cash fresh out of Court, needed a pickup truck for a small “Your Handyman”, business he set up. He needed some upfront money so my 5 siblings and I came up with the down payment and I signed a note with him to make the payments on a very nice and modest 1986 Dodge Ram D100 short bed 4x2, Slant Six Automatic, with a nice SE package, he got to use. So he lent me the Town Car he had paid off. We had them both registered to him.

[The_R-n-I_Guy]

Door hinge pins and bushings are regular maintenance for old GM cars. Most people just don't do it. Even though it's cheap and easy to do

[gregt]

Excellent video! Very informative, even for a ' cadillac car guy' like me!
I will say though, that these years were some of the smoothest, most comfortable Cadillacs ever made. Silky- smooth silent-surg engines and wonderful rides

[ralphl]

I really missed the '65-'70's proud, chisel tip fenders when these came out. The V under the crest returned in '72 after 2 years away. The center hood chrome strip, too. The Calais had textured black plastic across the dash, but still had the fake wood around the wheel. The wood usually fell out in pieces after a few years.

[joser]

I’m altogether too familiar with flimsy 70’s GM door pull straps. My ‘78 Monte Carlo had them and they also pulled out. I couldn’t believe how weakly they were attached. I then assumed from their construction that they were decorative since the Monte had cutouts in the armrests where you could pull the doors closed. I always had to point out to new passengers not to use the strap, lest it come off in their hand.

[komradkolonel]

I knew a guy who inherited a 1972 Buick Electra and it had bad door sag. It was so bad that you literally had to lift the door to close it. It wasn't as easy of a fix as you would think either. I had an uncle that had some money and he was big on Cadillacs. Until they downsized them. Then he bought a Lincoln and he said it was a much better car than the Cadillac. If he had known that then he would have bought Lincolns from the start.

[johnscanlan]

A friend of mine's father got a 1973 Coupe de Ville and I clearly remember those door pulls breaking off within just a few weeks after the car was bought!

[pcno]

My favorite "strange feature" of the '71-'76 Cadillacs was their retention of the "strut-rod" caster adjustment that had been a feature of GM cars during the 1960s and had been dropped from their non-Cadillac B and C body cars for 1971. My theory is that Cadillac kept the strut-rods to make it easier for limousines, ambulances and hearses to accommodate either bias-ply or radial tires, or even to switch between the two with the change of season. I know that heavier vehicles were last in line for the switch to radial tires, so it's likely that a lot of ambulances were still using bias-ply tires during these years.

[MrBanacek]

My late father's '71 Calais coupe snapped those door pulls somewhat regularly without unnecessary force. They were still available from Cadillac at the time (1977).

[GoldenGun-Florida]

I applaud you for keeping ORIGINAL CONTENT on your channel, rather than loading re-runs of prior videos like "some" channels do.

[tombradfiled]

Many GM models had very weak pull straps in the 70's, remember well replacing the sheet metal screws with much larger machine screws and was lucky it could be hidden by the cap that flipped open. The 71-73 Caddilac dash was horrendous with very cheap plastics an 83 Camaro could laugh at, IMO all GM divisions were equally as horrible but the 71-73 full size Buicks which seemed somewhat solid and tasteful. I owned a 73 DeVille and the ride alone was unmatched by any other car Ive owed before or since, just a perfect cloud.

[rogergoodman]

I feel privileged to have grown up in an era when almost every car looked cool and had features to brag about. And that they were available in a wide range of colors inside and out.