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Certainly, there’s no shortage of celebrities that have flashy or expensive cars. However, there aren’t a ton of celebrities that can say they helped design their own car. In the case of comedian and Home Improvement star Tim Allen, though, it’s a bit of a different story. He had his hands in the design and construction of this Cadillac more than you might think!

2000 Cadillac DeVille features Tim Allen Design components and a roaring V8 with upgrades

Tim Allen Cadillac DeVille Custom built car from Petersen Auto Museum
Tim Allen’s Cadillac DeVille | Cars and Bids

This 2000 Cadillac DeVille, originally built for Tim Allen, is currently for sale on Cars and Bids. However, the vehicle wasn’t just made for Allen. He also played a role in designing custom parts for it.

The car has a “Tim Allen Design” badge on the trunk lid as well as a matching logo on the center console. Though the design differences between this car and a standard 2000 DeVille are subtle, comparing them side-by-side shows the differences. This car has a custom aluminum grille, carbon fiber side skirts, and trunk lid insert courtesy of Tim Allen Design.

Of course, being that Tim Allen is a bit of a hot rod aficionado, it’s gone some power upgrades, too. The Northstar V8 engine features high-compression pistons with accompanying ported and polished cylinder heads. It also has a better-breathing intake system and stainless steel headers with a Corsa exhaust system. No doubt, this thing probably sounds like a monster.

Tim Allen Cadillac DeVille Custom Northstar 32V V8 Engine
Cadillac 32V Northstar V8 | Cars and Bids

Additionally, this DeVille has polyurethane bushings throughout the suspension system and a one-inch drop in ride height. Furthermore, it has Brembo brake upgrades and some chassis stiffening braces and anti-roll bars. Finally, it sits on a set of 18-inch Konig wheels.

Another fun tidbit about this car is that it’s being sold by the legendary Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. Furthermore, it was also the subject of a video by Cars and Bids founder and automotive journalist extraordinaire Doug DeMuro.

How much will this Cadillac bring in?

It’s hard to put a price on something like this. The car only has 13,400 original miles on it, and its celebrity pedigree certainly isn’t going to harm its pricing. At the time of writing, it holds a bid of $31,000. There is, however, a bit of an issue.

If you’re familiar with the legend of the Cadillac Northstar 32-valve V8, you may be familiar with its detrimental flaw. The Northstar commonly suffers a failure in which the cylinder head bolts yank get pushed out of the threaded holes in the engine block. This was already an issue with standard compression Northstar engines. So, kicking it up a notch like Tim Allen and crew did with this engine could spell disaster.

There’s no shortage of concern in the comments and questions on the Cars and Bids listing, either. Some even go as far as describing the car as a “ticking time bomb” if the cylinder head bolts are stock. As of now, Petersen has not provided an answer to that question.

Overall, though, this vehicle is likely to wind up in a collection more than it is to be driven. In all likelihood, it’s going to be driven hard enough for the compression to lift the cylinder heads thanks to a bolt failure. It would, however, provide some peace of mind to would-be buyers to know whether or not preemptive measures were taken.

For the most part, this is just a bit of a bizarre piece of history from a not-so-fondly remembered bit of Cadillac history. It is interesting to know that, despite the 2000 DeVille being woefully boring, someone was still doing cool stuff with them.

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