Guess who’s back ladies and gentlemen! Eminem’s twelfth studio album, The Death of Slim Shady, is officially out today and it’s just as ridiculous (in a good way) as this heavily modified 1969 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.
That whole thing with the title is straight out of an Eminem song – more specifically ‘Won’t Back Down’ from the album Recovery (2010). It kind of matches what we’re looking at here. By the way, when Eminem says “stupid” wheels, he means ‘stupid’ as in ‘nice’. I definitely don’t mind the look of these custom wheels, but more on them in a second.
Let’s do a general overview of the exterior, for starters. The main reason this car looks so flashy is because it was modified by the guys over at West Coast Customs, so it’s officially been pimped! It was later purchased by the Petersen Automotive Museum of Los Angeles, California and recently sold at auction for a sweet $57,700.
This first-generation Coupe DeVille left the factory wearing Persian Sand but was repainted yellow by WCC. You’ll also notice that the door handles have been shaved, adding to the sleek look.
Other visual highlights include the tri-bar headlights, rear fender skirts, side-exit exhaust pipes with paired finishers, plus a set of polished 20” disc wheels with Cadillac-crest center caps and Yokohama AVS Sport tires measuring 245/40 out front and 275/35 at the rear.
The suspension has, of course, been lowered, and Bilstein shocks have been installed – there was no way they were going to leave those parts factory-standard.
Moving on to the interior, there’s a lot to unpack. The cabin features beige upholstery for the bench seats, to go with the color-coordinated dashboard pad, door panels, and carpets. You’ll also find a McIntosh AM/FM/CD head unit, working alongside an Orion amplifier and trunk-mounted subwoofers.
Other features include the operational power windows, a two-spoke steering wheel, auxiliary gauges for oil pressure, alternator output and exhaust temperature, plus dual AutoMeter boost gauges (added to either side of the instrument cluster).
Now, the reason why this car features boost gauges to begin with is because the small-block Chevy V8 found underneath the hood comes with a Banks Power twin-turbo system, as well as a serpentine-belt accessory drive and dual Optima Red Top batteries. The power is sent to the rear wheels via a TH350 three-speed automatic gearbox with overdrive.
How much power? Hard to say exactly. People in the ad’s comments section believe it could be more than 800 horsepower, and it’s certainly plausible from where we’re standing.
As fun or interesting as this might be to drive, I reckon its new owner might want to act more as a caretaker rather than a driver, because putting miles on this thing seems kind of unfair given all the work that’s gone into it. On the other hand, taking it out for a short drive on any given Sunday should be fine too, from a value preservation standpoint.