The Morning Call and Mcall.com's view

When an old-line luxury car manufacturer decides to take a step up and build an ultra-luxury car, you better believe the result will be impressive. And Cadillac’s new Allante two-seat convertible coupe certainly is just that. But with a price tag of $54,700, it better be.

The Allante, obviously, is Cadillac’s answer to the European-dominated ultra-luxury car market; a market not known for large volumes of cars but rather relatively few very high-priced ones that are more of a statement than basic transportation. When you pull up in one of these cars you arrive in more ways than one.

The test car was supplied by Cadillac Motor Car Division through Daniels Cadillac, 13th and Tilghman Streets, Allentown. This particular car can be seen this weekend at The Great Lehigh Valley Auto Fair at Agricultural Hall, Allentown Fairgrounds. It will be one of the 60 sports and race cars exhibited in a show of ”This History of the Sports Car” being sponsored by the Allentown Art Museum’s Society of the Arts. Show hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow. Another interesting local point about this car is that Mario Andretti, who is honorary chairman of the sports car show, is also the worldwide spokesman for the Allante. He was recently presented with an Allante from Cadillac for his use for two years.

The Allante is really a knockout to behold. Designed by the famous Italian styling firm of Pininfarina, it is a mixture of classic looks and aerodynamic lines. The basis of the design is the contemporary wedge-shaped profile with a sharply raked windshield. The profile, however, does take on a different look depending on what you do decide to do with the top – you can either have a hard top, soft top or, since it is a convertible, no top. But either way, it looks good.

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so. Sergio Pininfarina was awarded the 1987 Design of the Year award for the Allante this past weekend at Auto Expo ’87 in Los Angeles. Rather interestingly, Sergio, who heads the Italian design firm that bears his family name, is the only Design of the Year award winner to have been recognized twice by Auto Expo for excellence in automotive styling. He received the award in 1985 for the design of the Ferrari Testerossa.

After being sufficiently awed by this design, slip behind the wheel and prepare for a little more awe. Even the extensive electronic instrumentation and push button controls have the Pininfarina touch. I have never been a big fan of electronic instrumentation but the Allante’s electronics have the appearance of analog instrumentation. For example, both the tachometer and speedometer have a circular sweep which means the readings are not just printouts. And although the Allante has more than its share of equipment and gadgets, switches, push buttons and controls are relatively straightforward and simply.

As sho uld be expected, or even demanded, in a car this costly, seating is very comfortable. The Recaro seats feature 10-way electronic adjustment. A built-in memory lets the seat adjust instantly to one of two programmed positionings. This allows two drivers to set positions to individual preferences at a flick of a button. For even a more custom fit, the leather- wrapped steering wheel tilts and telescopes.

Since the Allante is a two-passenger vehicle and there is no need to worry about back seat passenger comfort, front seat room, obviously, is excellent. You can stretch, reach and even do some twisting. Somewhat surprisingly for a car this size, the cargo area is quite good. The trunk holds 13 cubic feet of luggage in addition to a full-sized spare. When combined with the behind-the- seats storage area – also accessible through the trunk – there is a total cargo capacity of 16 cubic feet.

Driving the Allante is a relatively simple task. Drop that automatic transmission lever in gear and away you go. But if you happen to be a driving enthusiast, you won’t be disappointed either. There’s a lot of potential for running the back roads in this car. The Allante, like the other ultra-luxury cars, features four-wheel independent suspension. However, what really sets it apart is its front-wheel drive configuration. According to Cadillac, the suspension system has been carefully designed to overcome front-wheel-drive’s tendency to understeer – that is, corner less crisply. The front suspension features MacPherson struts and coil springs while the rear suspension uses MacPherson struts and a composite transverse leaf spring.

The Allante’s chassis also uses a new anti-lock braking system from Robert Bosch of Germany. Called the Bosch ABS III, the system electronically monitors braking conditions at each wheel and compensates electronically for differences. Like other ABS system’s, the Allante’s system is designed to equalize the braking effort at each wheel when two are on ice and two on dry pavement, allowing the car to stop without skidding or loss of control.

Also contributing to good handling are the lightweight 15×7 forged aluminum wheels and P225/60VR15 Goodyear Eagle VL tires. According to Cadillac, these tires were engineered by Goodyear specifically for the Allante to combine the cornering power of a high-performance tire with the quiet smooth ride of a luxury-car tire. They are available exclusively for Allante for 1987.

Supplying the juice for the Allante is a specially tuned 4.1-liter/250- cubic -inch Cadillac V-8 that produces 170 horsepower at 4,300 rpm and 230 foot pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm. There are several interesting points to this engine. For one, it is the only engine in the world manufactured for production cars that has a die-cast aluminum cylinder block with cast iron cylinder liners and cylinder heads. Another interesting feature is that the electronically sequential-port fuel injection system uses a staged two-barrel throttle body, a feature found on no other car in the world.

The transverse-mounted V-8 is connected to a four-speed automatic transmission that incorporates a viscous converter clutch, another unique feature. And, although I doubt very much if many Allante owners will be do-it- yourselfers, the engine compartment is arranged to facilitate ease of routine maintenance, with all fluid reservoirs clearly labeled and easy to reach.

Not surprisingly, performance is quite good. Put the pedal to the metal and it moves out. There is also plenty of passing power. And although fuel economy shouldn’t be a big concern for anyone who can afford this car, mileage is not bad at all. The test car averaged 16 miles per gallon for city driving and 23 mpg over the highway.

The price of $54,700 includes everything. The only option available is a cellular telephone.