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'61 Cadillac Dangerous Cruise Control
Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2026 9:27 pm
by electra225
I wasn't aware of this one. This guy should do a video of Buick cruise control from 1963 to 1968 with the little chain from the actuator that could hold get entangled on the spark plug wires and hold the throttle wide open.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-amAN9g5CFk
Re: '61 Cadillac Dangerous Cruise Control
Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2026 10:23 am
by walyfd
Blah blah blah until I fast-forwarded to the actual cruise control portion. I do agree that switch was poorly designed and located. Cadillac started with that style wiper switch in 1957.
As for the cruise engaging by "mistake"... um no... the only way for that to happen is A: the speed of the car has to match or exceed what the lever is set for. Once that speed is reached, the pedal gets harder to push. Cruise will only engage when the button (old washer button) is pressed.
Now, what COULD happen is one could confuse the cruise switch for the old wiper switch and IF DRIVING IN RAIN mistakenly increase the car speed but the cruise would already have to be ON. A whole lot of booboos would have to align for this to happen. And you shouldn't use cruise in the rain anyway, especially not back then.
In '62, Cadillac and Oldsmobile went to a speed calibrated dial. I installed cruise on my car and it works beautifully.
Re: '61 Cadillac Dangerous Cruise Control
Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2026 1:47 am
by electra225
I typically enjoy that guy's videos. He can be a tad long-winded at times, but his presentation is usually pretty much spot on. I thought he strayed a tad from "reasonable" in this one. I never did see the "dangerous" connection. Unhandy, maybe. Confusing, maybe. Poorly executed, maybe, but "dangerous"? Most people who could afford a Cadillac had sense enough to familiarize themselves with the controls so as to be able to operate them safely. Some engineer at Cadillac was apparently so proud of the windshield wiper controls in 1957 he wanted the same look with the cruise control. I readily admit I am more familiar with Buick than with Cadillac, but I like the look of the 1961 model instrument panel on Cadillac. More like Pontiac than Cadillac.