Welcome to the first edition of Cars on Campus. This new weekly segment will share the rare, notable, vintage and just plain interesting cars we have spotted on our college campus with The College Driver. To start, most rides to be featured will be from the school parking lots here at Rochester Institute of Technology. Later on, we may open this up to include cars from college campuses elsewhere.

 

To be considered a Car on Campus, it must firstly and most obviously be found on a college campus. This includes any car. We would like to keep it aimed at college students' cars but since it is too hard to distinguish sometimes, any car can be featured on this segment. Some will be students' rides, others may be luxurious professor commuters and the rest will just be whatever pops up that catches the trained, car-spotting eye.

 

A side note, as the cars and their license plates are in full public view, they are fully legal to take pictures of and post. As of yet, I haven't gotten any worse than curious glances from other folks in the parking lot. One person even stopped to ask, but with the number of photography majors at this school, it isn't uncommon to see a camera-toting student.

 

The first Car on Campus is a Cadillac Catera [how alliterative]. This handsome hunter green specimen hails from the year 2000. Later models are more favorable for reliability. Stock chrome wheels and a leather appointed interior add some much needed class to its uninspiring exterior styling. It's hard to believe a car like this is already a decade old. It wears its age nicely for being a used winter car in the Northeast.

 

I can almost guarantee this is not a student commuter though. Interestingly, the Catera was Cadillac's failed attempt to cultivate a youthful interest in the brand. In 1997, Cadillac was suffering from a strong case of Buick-itis. Its brand mostly catered to the elderly and hearse builders appropriately enough. This car ensured future marketability so to speak.

 

The sporty European rear-wheel driver was certainly a stark contrast to the heavy, full-sized comfort cars that proliferated the lineup. The Catera was based on the Opel Omega platform and was expected to bring some foreign flair to the domestic market. However, all this car really managed to bring were headaches. The 3.0L V6 was plagued with problems and the 2000 design refresh didn't change a whole lot.

 

Lack of market appeal, ineffective ad campaigns and a troublesome engine led to the model being discontinued in 2001. Meaning to replace the Fleetwood, Cadillac had instead resurrected the infamous Cimarron. However, we have to thank the Catera for beckoning its 'arts and science' replacement, the 2002 CTS.

 

A rare find nonetheless. I would assume that the Catera chassis could accept various modern drivetrain components to replace its shoddy powerplant. Something in the vein of a CTS 3.6 V6 or Corvette sourced V8 would yield quite a reliable sleeper car. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on campus and stay tuned for our next featured car.