How Much Did the Cadillac Allanté Cost in 1987?
By the Price Time Machine team · Updated
The Cadillac Allante price was $54,700 (its base price) in its first model year. Adjusted for inflation, that is about $162,206 in September 2026 money, roughly 3.0 times the original price.
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Cadillac Allanté at a glance
- US launch price
- $54,700
- In today’s money
- ≈ $162,2061987 average (launch month not known) to September 2026 (CPI-U, BLS)
- US launch year
- 1987
- Where the company was based
- Hamtramck, United StatesFinished at Cadillac's Hamtramck Assembly plant in Detroit, using bodies flown in from Pininfarina near Turin, Italy.
- Category
- Big purchases
- Price source
- en.wikipedia.org
Today’s price is the US launch price adjusted for US inflation with the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, comparing the launch month with the latest published month. It updates automatically as new figures come out.
What did $54,700 get you?
The Allanté was a two-seat luxury convertible built to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL and the Jaguar XJS. It had a 4.1-litre V8, front-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes.
Almost everything was standard, including a removable aluminium hardtop and a Bose sound system. The only option was a cellular telephone.
The Cadillac Allante price in today’s money
Inflation means a dollar buys less today than it did in 1987. Using the US Consumer Price Index, the original Cadillac Allante price of $54,700 works out at about $162,206 in September 2026 money, around 3.0 times the original figure. That is what the same amount of spending power would cost now, not what the Cadillac Allante sells for second-hand.
The world’s longest assembly line
Pininfarina designed the Allanté and built its bodies in Italy, at a new plant near Turin. Specially equipped Boeing 747s flew the bodies from Turin to Detroit, 56 at a time.
The bodies landed at Detroit City Airport, about three miles from Cadillac’s Hamtramck Assembly plant, where the cars were finished. The operation was called the “Allanté Air Bridge”.
When was the Allanté sold?
- First model year: 1987, at $54,700
- 1988: base price raised to $56,533
- 1989: base price $57,183, with a bigger 4.5-litre V8
- Last model year: 1993, with the Northstar V8
Cadillac Allanté facts you might not know
- GM chose the name Allanté from 1,700 computer-generated names.
- Over 21,000 were made in seven years of production.
- It was not Cadillac’s first job with Pininfarina, which had built bodies for the 1959 Eldorado Brougham.
Frequently asked questions
How much did the Cadillac Allanté cost?
The 1987 Cadillac Allanté had a base price of $54,700.
How much is $54,700 from 1987 worth today?
Adjusted for US inflation, the Allanté’s $54,700 price is about $162,206 in September 2026 money.
Where was the Cadillac Allanté made?
Its bodies were built by Pininfarina near Turin, Italy, and flown to Detroit for final assembly at Cadillac’s Hamtramck plant.
How many Cadillac Allantés were made?
Over 21,000, from the 1987 to 1993 model years.
Want to compare the Cadillac Allante price with other launch prices? See what the AMC AMX cost, browse more famous launch prices, or play this question in Price Time Machine.
Sources
Launch prices and dates are checked against the sources below. Today’s price is calculated from official US inflation data and updates automatically when new figures are published.
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