A big Cadillac DeVille stretched limousine, seen in central Beijing in 2011. The limousine belonged to a nearby wedding business. The vehicle was parked nicely on the sidewalk, protected by a traffic cone.
She is a he, is she not? The wedding shop had the odd name Roman Rolland. Newlyweds could get everything the needed to celebrate the day they’ll regret most in their lives: wedding dresses, wedding pies, the music, wedding photos, and of course a wedding car.
The shop was quite large with a fish bowl entry and fake marble tiles. Just when I wanted to pic the Cadillac a women paddled bye on her bicycle with a basked loaded with all sort of stuff. Was she married?, I wondered.
The DeVille wedding limousine was stretched by some four meters in the middle. It was painted in virgin white with black windows and a beige vinyl roof. The seventh generation Cadillac DeVille was manufactured from 2000 until 2005. It was designed by a man called‘Wayne Cherry’, really. Good name for a master of ceremonies at a wedding reception.
The DeVille was never officially exported to China but some were imported via the gray market. Back in 2011 and thereabout, most of the stretched limousines were converted in the US and then exported to China. Later on this changed; the cars came from the US in standard form and were converted to limousines in China itself. That’s cheaper, thus better. Power came from a 4.6 liter Northstar V8 with 300hp and 400nm.
The name of the original Cadillac dealer. City L.I. City, NY. This translates to a company by the name of City Cadillac, based in Long Island City, New York state. The shop is no longer around. Their website is dead and it wasn’t very popular back when still alive. Too bad! I am sure they’d be interested to know their DeVille was put to such good use in China.
Anyway! Roman Rolland had some other interesting cars. More on those in my next post.