Hi all, first off let me say I found this forum from my local Cadillac dealer. We both agreed I would need a lot of help and he said these forums were the best place to research and start. And WOW!!! U all have a lot of information waiting for me to read. Thanks everyone for these amazing contributions.

I have inherited a 2004 Cadillac Seville SLS. My only brother passed. He was the middle child and only boy in the family. My Dad is gone too. I am the youngest and while I love cars, he LOVED cars. He purchased this car to get it car show ready. That's my legacy... I need to get this car car show ready. It's going to be a labor of love, time and money, but I plan to do as he asked.

He wanted a lot of things done but first up is the factory radio. I think he was in the process of finding one because the car has an empty box where the radio system should be. This car has the Bose system with the 6 disk CD in the arm rest. I found a factory radio at the junkyard (they have fancy new names for them now). I took it to Best Buy to have installed but it needs brackets and some piece that goes on top of the radio as well as a code to make it work. This is an RDS radio. Does that mean it must go to the dealership? If not, can anyone point me in the right direction. As far as the brackets go, I can't find them on the internet. Any idea where I can get them? And lastly, was there a clock or some other piece on top of the radio? The radio fits but clearly there was something else there once upon a time.

Apologies for rambling. I have no idea what I am doing, but I am going to do it and I heard this is a great place to start. I'll keep reading as I have lots to learn.

 

Rezzy,

Congrats on the car and welcome to the fun of owning a middle aged Seville! I have not noticed a lot of traffic on the Seville pages since I joined but I will add my input and maybe some help. Not sure if a 2000s Seville is ever going to be a show car in the near future so you might want to temper your expectations and your brother's memory. You have to keep in mind these cars, though extremely fun, are not worth much. I bought my 2001 STS with a 155K on it for $2,400 back in August and I overpaid. I actually gave the old guy I bought it from a couple of extra dollars cuz he was on a fixed budget and needed some cash. I love my Seville, don't get me wrong. It is bad ***. It is fast. It looks and sounds good. Unfortunately, it has a lot of first gen items that we take for granted in the 2020s that are prone to annoying faults. I have sunk over $3K to get it up to snuff and safe and have cleared most faults but you learn to live with a couple like the stability control. Basically, things like regular maintenance that did not happen over 20 years are what I hit first. And that was mostly with friend pricing as my mechanic. Not friend pricing would probably be double that. I have had to get the alternator rebuilt (replacing with an OEM is over $1600 just to buy and the off the shelf models do not generate enough voltage to power everything. My rebuilt one pushes 15 volts and only cost $250! But it was a hard fix as you have to take the front wheel off, etc. I had to replace all the mounts and bushings (motor mounts, trans mounts, etc). Brakes, belts, etc. I did not go ***** to the wall and use genuine OEM parts here but definitely mid range to upper mid range. Mine has provenance to me as it reminds me of the good old days when I was a road warrior traveling in my 20s and getting as a regular rental at Avis. And it makes me feel like I am on the Sopranos! however, I am never going to get that money back. But, who cares!! it is an awesome car and I love driving it around town. It still has some faults but I am not going to sweat them as they have to do with emissions type things that are too expensive, even after 20 years to fix as you need genuine OEM parts. Mine currently has a 15 foot paint job. It looks good from far but is far from good! However, I am waiting to see how long the car lasts before I do any body work (bumpers, scratches and dings).

As for your radio, take a pick and show what you have. The 2004 is the same car as my 2001 so the stacks should look the same. You might want to go back to the junkyard and have them pull the bracket from the stack from you. I am actually heading out shortly to a junkyard that I have been pulling parts from. After twenty years, I have had to replace just about every light and the latest are the taillights. Going to grab both even though I just need one. Basically, the lights are all two plus pieces and the glue fails over time. I live in FL so the salt air has done a number but I just find a donor car and pick up the parts. Use some RainX Plastic restore and they look great.

Keep us posted and welcome to the club!

Jim