Is This the Best American V8 of All Time? All About the Cadillac 472/500/425/368 Engine

Learn more about the last of the GM Big Blocks, the Cadillac V8.

[AJ]

As an owner of Cadillac's 365, 390, 425, 472, and 500 engines, I rarely had any problem with them. They were always smooth and quiet as intended. I also had a 1985 Fleetwood HT4100 and a 1999 Northstar Eldo TC. While I had no problems with those engines, their reputation is well known. I likely just traded them off before they had a chance to fail. Thanks for covering the big blocks :)

[chriscadillac]

I've always thought of the 500/472/425 as Cadillac's smoothest and most reliable engine... and it deeply grieves me how many of these engines were lost to idiotic demolition derby scene.

[alsguitars]

The various GM big blocks were designed for different tasks. The Cadillac was designed for the ability to power accessories, have a smooth idle and a board flat torque curve from 1000rpm and up. That doesn’t make it less of a motor. It was supposed to be reliable and dead quiet under hood, and it was. Certainly one of the best big block designs. I don’t think they were jetted that lean either because an AIR pump allows you to run richer and clean up the emissions on the back side after combustion. Love your picture of the V8-6-4 with the air cleaner lid flipped. Hi Performance mode.

[Jeff_Pendleton]

They were very high nickle-content blocks and were practically indestructible with anything even resembling care. It was uncommon for engines to run 250K miles in those days, but the 472/500's did it routinely.

[MetalTeamster]

I was 18 years old in 1981, I worked for a old timer in a shop as an " apprentice " . One of our customers was a wealthy old timer who at the time owned a 1968 Couple de Ville. I got to drive it 25 miles round trip to the near by town for front tires and alignment . The old timer was an orig owner and the car had 60-70k on it. I recall floor boarding it numerous times ( I probably burnt 6-8 gal of gas in the 25 miles ) and I recall it seemed to have one hell of a roar and a lot of giddy up and go. Not too much after this period of time, the old timer bought a brand new 1981 Sedan de Ville with the V-8-6-4 which I did not get to drive, but I recall he was very disappointed and irritated with the car. So, this video is very cool to see that I got to drive one of the best 472s ever made.... Thanks...

[gregharvie]

In 2 weeks I'll have owned my 1974 Fleetwood Brougham for 40 years, here in Australia we went metric in 1974, so it's a kilometres car and is sitting at 704, 000 kilometres, about 440, 000miles. It has just had its engine overhauled & rebuilt FOR THE FIRSST TIME IN MY 40 YEARS OWNERSHIP. with well over 500 foot pounds of torque in "granny" spec these cars have serious punch, over 500 ft lb torque is in modern turbo diesel territory, however this is in a half century old petrol V8 with a spread bore Rochester Quadrajet which was designed to be frugal. Properly set up these give you 15 mpg around town in peak hour & on the freeeway/highway 20+ mpg not shabby at all from an old 8 litre v8 pulling a fully stocked 6 metre long Fleetwood Brougham that weighs in at 3, 180 kilos. Owning a 1973 mk4 Lincoln Continental as well, the difference is dirt obvious, in the Lincoln you need to let it kick down into 2nd gear, let it rev & it will then deliver what the Caddy 500 does by flexing your big toe while remaining in 3rd gear, Caddy has effortless punch instantly. REAL WORLD DIFFERENCE:- due to having to work the revs on the Lincoln to deliver same outcome, Lincoln eats fuel at 5mpg in traffic from a shorter lighter car, WHEREAS, Caddy delivers 15 mpg doing same thing, SO in the real world of day to day driving the Cadillac 8 litre engine delivers 10 out of 10 as mega torque, frugal for size and built to be long lasting 704, 000 kilometres durability (or 440, 000 miles) what current new item gives this outcome ?? None.

[edwinmassie]

Bought an emerald green 76 Eldorado convertible with 27, 000 miles in 1983, it was so quiet you could not hear it run. The car also handled surprisingly well.

[tomjefferson]

cadillac 429 in 1964 was a beast! had a couple 390's, but was real happy with the 429

[adamcampbell]

I've had the joy of owning one of these engines and what a joy. I owned it for 10 years and it was very smooth and reliable.

[greggc]

I remember pulling the oil pan off a parts guy's 472 CID 71 Deville that worked at the dealership with me in the late 80's. The dip stick tube was broken off even with the block so I was replacing it. Funny thing, I found a small piece of a piston skirt laying in the pan. Cleaned it out, reinstalled, and that engine ran with a piece of a piston skirt missing for several more years that I know of. Probably ran longer than that.
I figure it got over revved at some point, IDK. Tough engine though.

[HypocriticYT]

A friend in the late 70’ had an early 70’s Cadillac and wanted to collect an insurance claim. He put something on the accelerator to keep it at high rpm. He came back the next day to find his car ran out of fuel and still ran well

[Cheezwizzz]

I was lucky enough to own a 75 Eldorado with the monstrous 500. My mechanic mate stood in awe of its size, mainly because I’m in Ireland and he serviced 4 cylinder cars on the regular!

[tombradfiled]

Ive owned a 73 Coupe, 76 Eldo and a 80 Coupe D'Elegance and have to say the 80 was my favorite overall of the three. The 368 was just as sewing machine smooth as the 472 and 500 when the deactivation was deactivated. It was the last model with a traditional Cadillac engine, the 4100, Olds 307 or Chevy 350 in the later years of this body style never had the smoothness of the big block Cadillac engines.

[EdWard-jihj]

I still miss my 77 deville with 425. I was never sure how many times the odometer had rolled over before I got it and then I put on 100 k miles. After trying to maintain a north star I’ve never needed another Cadillac. Always learn so much from this series

[rileysteve]

The 429 was a fine engine. Our funeral cars and even our ambulances used this engine from 1964 to 1967. Never gave us any trouble. We loved the 472 and the increase of power. I can still hear the sound it made when starting and idling. Our only gripe was their tendency to overheat in traffic when hot and humid outside. This was an issue that continued on into the 500 engines as well. Most annoying thing having to pull a limo or a hearse over to the side of the road and let it cool off while everybody else in a procession sat there the
The 425 was acceptable when the body size changed in 1977. We were surprised that our 1977-1979 Cadillacs ended up being so trouble free. Out 1979's were just about the last Cadillacs we had with any get up and go until 1993-1996. Those were the last of the old Cadillacs we saw in the funeral business.

[MrScottie]

I might be the minority, but the Chrysler 383 and 440 were great and reliable engines and the 3 speed torqueflite transmissions were the bomb….never gave me an ounce of trouble.

[jondoes]

Back in the 80’s, a friend of mine installed a 472 Cadillac engine in his beater Chevelle. He couldn’t afford a Chevrolet 454 but 472 Cadillac engines were plentiful in the junkyards in those days.
Car was a tire fryer but engine was out of breath at 4000 rpm.

[Thomasr]

When GMC came out with their awesome motorhome in the early through mid '70's they chose the Olds 455, and then 403 for a reason. They could have used the Cadillac 472/500, but they chose the Olds V8.

[zeon]

I remember disconnecting the V8 6 4 system back in the day. As I recall you only needed to disconnect the brown wire at the transmission. The people that bought these cars wanted smooth and they did not care about gas mileage.

[erikstrawn]

I have a '69 472 and a '76 500, and I drove them both stock and modified. If you had a bog on part-throttle tip-in, your Quadrajet needed adjustment. Even with only a 4800 rpm redline these engines have plenty of get-up-and-boogie to them. The monstrous amounts of torque available just off idle and their tall highway gears make them both fast and comfortable at speed. They feel like they're accelerating slowly until you look down at the speedometer and see you're into triple digits.