Jalopnik: eldorado

1984 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

Murilee Martin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. Today we're going to look at one of the many reasons that Cadillac has had to struggle so mightily to build a coherent brand image- ideally, one that attracts buyers who might otherwise buy European machinery- in the Post Malaise Era: the 1984 Eldorado Biarritz. These cars weren't built for the long haul, but The General built them in sufficient numbers that you still see one now and then. This example parks near the high school, just down the street from the '69 Lincoln and the '76 Buick Donk; while it rarely leaves its parking place, the current registration tags indicate that it has moved under its own power in the not-too-distant past.

In '84, the base engine in the Eldorado was the 135-horse 4.1 liter V8, which was good enough to haul the car's 3,748 pounds. The disastrous Oldsmobile 350 diesel engine was also available… but let's not go there. The '84 Eldorado Biarritz sold new for $23,737 before options, which was $52,422 in 2008 dollars. That's about 800 bucks less than a new '84 BMW 528e, but who's counting?

With the $3,395 Biarritz option package, you got a vinyl landau top for the rear part of the roof and a brushed stainless steel section on the front. The stainless part on this car has laughed off the effects of 24 years of California sunshine, but the vinyl hasn't fared quite so well.

You also got fine "button tufted" leather upholstery with your Biarritz; in this case, the green interior goes well with the Autumn Maple Firemist exterior paint.

We mustn't forget Ace Rothstein's '84 Biarritz (fast-forward about 45 seconds in). Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Choppers!

First 300 DOTS Vehicles • DOTS FAQ

Rear Engine '37 Plymouth Pickup

Ray Wert — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:10:00 EDT

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

This was the craziest thing I saw Sunday at the All Mopar Spring Round-Up in Issaquah. It's a '37 Plymouth pickup with a 500 cubic inch Cadillac engine out of a FWD Eldorado—in the bed. Just check out that exhaust. Gary, who built this radical rod, has had it up to 120 mph and has plans to take it out to the Salt Flats later this year. More pics after the jump.

Bay Area Train Commuters Prefer Vintage Iron

Murilee Martin — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:00:00 EDT

When you're having a quinto-Belvedere tailgate party at the Oakland Coliseum, you pay to park in the official stadium lot, but when you're swilling cheap beer and wolfing chile verde burritos prior to ~~sneaking into the good seats with your bleacher tickets~~ watching a ballgame from the bleachers, you don't want to pay to park your car. That's why me and my cheapskate friends park in the free Coliseum BART station parking lot for most games, where we often have the opportunity to admire vintage machinery driven by commuters. Some of you may remember the Menacing Bee Van from last year, and here we have a quintet of other interesting rides spotted in the same lot. Apologies for crappy phone-camera image quality.

Shopping For An 8.2 Liter Engine?

Murilee Martin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:00:00 EDT

There was a time, maybe a decade ago, when Cadillac Eldorados with high-compression 500-cubic-inch engines were plentiful in self-service junkyards. These days, months can go by between sightings of non-Malaise 500s. As I learned when I helped a friend pull a 500 one sweltering, bloody-knuckled day, the Eldo's front-wheel-drive setup makes engine removal approximately 50 times harder than your typical Detroit rear-driver, but so what? Five hundred cubic inches! Power was a little down in '71, but this car's engine was still rated at 365 horses... and an 18-wheeler-esque 535 foot-pounds of torque.

Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:40:00 EDT

Well, you've done it again - voted into the Jalopnik Fantasy Garage another glass-and-steel piece of history which some, but not all, agree would make for a great addition: the Lotus Eleven. Last week saw no progress towards filling the garage due to Geneva Motor Show shenanigans, but that just gave us some extra time to think about what to offer up this week. Sometimes it's hard to be objective when selecting nominees, this week's pick is a personal favorite from a bygone era of high rollers, big egos, and uncompromising style - the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.

In the postwar era, Cadillac was a dominant force in the world of luxury automobile, outpacing its previous rival, Packard, with styling innovations such as the famous tail fins, as well as myriad luxury options. Cadillac in the 1950s proudly proclaimed its "Standard of the World" slogan. In order to truly own that idea though, Cadillac needed to build something with unsurpassed luxury, besting even its peers from across the pond.

Originally shown as a concept at the 1955 L.A. Auto Show, the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was put into production in 1957 and was at the time the pinnacle of luxury and innovation. It featured numerous options, some of which are still not available today. The engine was a 365 cubic-inch V8, breathing though twin four-barrel carburetors and running through a 4-speed automatic transmission. The body was long, low and extravagant, with a pillarless four-door design and the rear doors opening suicide style (and you know how much we love suicide doors). At the behest of GM styling guru Harley Earl, the car recived a slick stainless-steel roof and road-adjusting quad headlights for better illumination. The suspension was as advanced as anything GM had in it's arsenal at the time: a centrally controlled, self-leveling and auto-adjusting air suspension which provided an uncompromisingly smooth ride.

Where the Caddy really shimmered was in the amenities. Independent of each other, they seem underwhelming, but that all of the features lived in one car in 1957 is incredible. On the inside, drivers were greeted with power seats that included memory settings, remote-adjustable side mirrors and an auto-adjusting rear-view mirror, an all-transistor automatic-station-seeking radio with twin speakers, all-electric windows, a power locking system, and a power open AND close trunk lid. Now that's just the normal stuff. Here's where things get crazy. The designers also saw fit to throw in a stainless steel drinking set for the glove box, a cigarette dispenser, various vanity elements for the ladies, and a perfume dispenser filled with Arpege Extrait de Lanvin perfume. Say what?!

Of course, anything can be built when money is not option, and here's where the Eldorado Brougham took no prisoners. The base retail price in 1957 was $13,074, exceeding even the most pricey Rolls of the time. Toss that number into the Federal Reserve consumer price index calculator and that tally in 2008 dollars rings the bell at $100,311. Only the Cadillac XLR-V has ever commanded a sum so high, and that Caddy merely goes fast and has a lovely Eucalyptus wood interior. The Brougham was offered for only two years; total production of the princely luxo-yachts was 704 vehicles. After the initial run, production was farmed out to Pininfarina, where a redesign was executed, but the quality in craftsmanship just wasn't the same.

The '57 Eldorado Brougham was probably the finest post-war Cadillac produced to date. Peerless in its design and attention to detail, it was the pinnacle of what an American boulevardier could ever be. Smooth, technically savvy, staggeringly handsome and cranking out as much power as the average Eisenhower Era captain of industry would ever need. It's not difficult to imagine driving this car on a lazy, cross-country summer roadtrip, dusk creeping across the sky, the calm glow of an old dashboard and a crackly radio serving as background noise. Not all of the best driving is done at the limit of grip. [image credits to Eldorado Brougham]

1980 Cadillac Eldamino: For When Your Brat Just Isn't Classy Enough

Matt Hardigree — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:40:00 EDT

We've got the deal of the century for you, assuming you are in the market for a car-truck based on a FWD, V8-powered luxury car of the 80's. It's the Cadillac Eldamino and it's got everything an up-and-coming dealer needs: mag wheels, tonneau truck cover, fake Q-beams, 350 c.i. Olds V8 and XM Radio (unless that interferes with your pager). Warranty? It's only got 35,000 miles, you won't need one. Just look at the possibly non-funtioning lake pipes. This is a quality automobile for under $10K. (Thanks to UDMAN) [American Dream Cars]

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

Murilee Martin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:15:00 EST

Almost two months since the last Cadillac? That just seems wrong, given how many old Cads still roam the island. That's why today's DOTS machine will be a Malaise Eldorado, similar to the '78 Eldo we had a while back, only this one's a convertible instead of a T-top car.

Back in '76, there was a lot of hoopla over the Eldorado convertible being the Last American Convertible ever. As it turned out, it was the last convertible for less than a decade, but back in the Malaise Era you had this palpable sense that everything good was being taken away.

The 500-cubic-inch engine in this car was rated at 190 horsepower, which is on the depressing side... until you consider its grunt-tastic 360 ft-lbs-o-torque. This example is in such nice shape that I'm sure the owner doesn't care about the leisurely performance and single-digit gas mileage.

I found this car in the East End, mere yards from the '56 Willys Station Wagon (which is visible in a couple of the photos). And that RX-7 in the background sure looks familiar! In fact, at least a dozen DOTS cars were found within a 2-block radius of this Eldo.

And now we're going to return to a Friday DOTS tradition I keep forgetting to maintain: the Favorite DOTS of the Week Poll! Just pick the car that you like best, for whatever reason, and we'll...uh... we'll contemplate the results!

First 150 DOTS Cars

1978 Cadillac Eldorado

Murilee Martin — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:30:00 EDT

We sometimes forget that you could still get enormous freakin' Detroit land yachts well into the Malaise Era, gas lines and Middle East unrest be damned. This 1978 Cadillac Eldorado is an excellent example of such a car; the '77 Continental we saw a few months back is another.

This car looks big as an aircraft carrier next to just about everything else on the street; the gigantic Malaise Bumpers just make it even bigger.

Dig that Caddy style, baby! Thing is, by '78 your Eldo came with a 180-horse 425 engine (you could get 190 horses with the fuel-injection option... but you were really better off with the computer Q-Jet).

Best of all, you could get the Eldo with T-Tops! Damn, if ever there was a must-have option, this was it! And who knows, maybe these don't even leak.

Pretty close to 5,000 pounds here, which seems a bit much for an engine with less power than a lot of modern-day minivan mills.

But when all is said and done, it's still a proper Cadillac, from the era when Cadillacs were marketed to rich old men who fire their employees just to see the look of dismay on their faces. Not like now, when GM tries to focus-group Cadillac into respectability in younger demographics.

A trailer hitch in a huge front-wheel-drive car? Might be a challenge getting a big boat up a seaweed-coated ramp...

Did this Caddy zig? Hell no!

Last of the Line: Bicentennial Edition Cadillac Eldorado

Murilee Martin — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:00:16 EDT

Just a year after the Fall of Saigon and two after Nixon's resignation, the year of the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence wasn't exactly the high point of American automotive pride. 20% inflation thinned car purchasers' wallets, horsepower ratings were miserable, and huge bumpers uglified just about everything rolling off the assembly line. Perhaps worst of all, the convertible was a dying breed. Cadillac was going to go out of the convertible business in style, however, by building the last of the Eldorado convertibles in a snazzy red-white-and-blue Bicentennial Edition. Here's a nice website put together by some devoted fans of the breed. Hey, is that the future Black Gold Z Guy in the middle? – Murilee Martin

Assembly Line Pictures and Video [bicentennialeldorado.com]

Related:
Hoon of the Day: Eldorado Versus Camper [internal]

Hoon of the Day: Eldorado Versus Camper

Murilee Martin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:15:59 EDT

Mid-70s Eldorado with missing door. Group of young men with beer. Rural setting. Snow. Barking dogs. A fifth-wheel travel trailer. You can probably see where this is going. But where's the meth lab gonna go now? – Murilee Martin

Related:
Trailers for Sale or Rent: Wilderness! [internal]

It's Hard Out Here for an Old School Pimp: The Corvorado

Mike Spinelli — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 12:53:38 EDT

Considering the changing tastes of independent entertainment contractors, pimps of the '70s make today's pimps look like Martha Stewart Living: Rollin' Dirty Edition. Check out customizer Les Dunham's Corvorado, circa 1973. Sure, it looked like an Eldo, but it was a Corvette modified with Cadillac parts. Arguably the first true pimpmobile — in the original sense of the word — the Corvorado is featured in the DVD artwork for the iconic blaxploitation film, "Superfly." Thanks to commenter Mr_Mischif for the tip. And remember, to get commenting access — or if you've tipped us and we haven't sent you an invite because we're drunk — drop us a line at tips@jalopnik.com.

Les Dunham: Corvorado [Madle.com]