The Cadillac CTS-V wagon remains one of the most desirable family cars ever to land on American soil. The second-gen CTS came from the sharpest point of Cadillac's Art and Science design language, and the two-box CTS-V shows off the crisp origami lines better than any other. The 6.2-liter supercharged V8 under the hood that ripped out 556 horsepower let it run with the supercars of its day; better yet, if you opted for the six-speed manual, you felt like a god as you harnessed the power with every snick of the stick.
Of course, given both the general American disinterest in station wagons and the lofty (though quite reasonable for what you got) price tag, it's no surprise that it sold in miniscule numbers. Over its four years of production, only 1,767 CTS-V wagons were built. Just 514 of them had stick shifts. And just 42 of those wore Opulent Blue metallic paint.
All of which is to say, this blue manual CTS-V wagon currently up for auction on Bring a Trailer is almost as rare as a production car can be — and about as perfect a dream car as I can imagine.
Full disclosure: I've been lucky enough to have more wonderful experiences behind the second-generation CTS-V — mostly the wagon version — than in practically any other car. (Credit GM's beneficence in making sure that journalists always had ready access to them in press fleets.) I did burnouts on abandoned airstrips, drove through the night to my childhood home, even drove across America in the Gumball 3000. My memories of the CTS-V wagon will stay tucked in a happy corner of my mind until the day I die...and if I'm lucky, heaven will have one waiting for me.
I also have something of a fondness for blue cars. Whether it's an F-150 or a Ferrari, whenever I build a car on a car configurator or search for rides online, I default to blue. Blue cars are always the ones I'm more likely to take pictures of at a car show. My favorite Dishwalla song? "Counting Blue Cars." (Though, to be fair, can anyone name another Dishwalla song?)
Suffice it to say, this 2012 blue CTS-V wagon checks just about every box for me. Somehow, its sole owner has only driven it roughly 21,000 miles over the car's nine-ish years of life. About the only flaw against it is the fugly (functional-but-ugly) wind deflector in front of the panoramic sunroof, but that's a quick fix.
Sadly, the odds of me taking this home are about as low as this car is rare. Bidding already stands at $47,500 with six days remaining, and given this wagon's low mileage, I wouldn't be shocked to see the final price pass the original MSRP of $71,735. Still, if anyone out there is wondering what to get me for Christmas...
