The Cadillac Eldorado is a luxury car manufactured and marketed by the Cadillac Motor Car Division of General Motors from 1952 until 2002, over twelve generations.
The Eldorado was at or near the top of the Cadillac product line. The original 1953 Eldorado convertible and the Eldorado Brougham models of 1957–1960 had distinct bodyshells and were the most expensive models offered by Cadillac during those years. The Eldorado was never less than second in price after the Cadillac Series 75 limousine until 1966. Beginning in 1967, the Eldorado retained its premium position in the Cadillac price structure, but was manufactured in high volumes on a unique, two-door personal luxury car platform.
The Eldorado carried the Fleetwood designation from 1965 through 1972, and was seen as a modern revival of the pre-war Cadillac V-12 and Cadillac V-16 roadsters and convertibles.
Name The nameplate Eldorado is a contraction of two Spanish words that translate as "the gilded (i.e., golden) one"—and also refers to El Dorado, the mythical Colombian "Lost City of Gold" that fascinated Spanish explorers. Chosen in an internal competition for a 1952 concept vehicle celebrating Cadillac's golden anniversary, the name Eldorado was subsequently adopted for a limited edition convertible for model year 1953.
Cadillac began using the nameplates "Eldorado Seville", after the city in southern Spain, and "Eldorado Biarritz" after the luxury seaside resort in southern France, to distinguish between the hardtop and convertible models (respectively) while both were offered, from 1956 through 1960 inclusively. The "Seville" name was dropped when the hardtop was initially discontinued (1961), but the Biarritz name continued through 1964. Beginning in 1965, the Eldorado became the Fleetwood Eldorado. "Biarritz" returned as an up level trim package for the Eldorado for 1976 until 1991.
First generation (1953)
The Cadillac Series 62 Eldorado joined the Oldsmobile 98 Fiesta and Buick Roadmaster Skylark as top-of-the-line, limited-production specialty convertibles introduced in 1953 by General Motors to promote its design leadership. A special-bodied, low-production convertible (532 units in total), it was the production version of the 1952 El Dorado "Golden Anniversary" concept car. Along with borrowing bumper bullets from the 1951 GM Le Sabre show car,Flory, J. "Kelly", Jr. American Cars 1946-1959 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Coy, 2008), p.1021. it featured a full assortment of deluxe accessories and introduced the wraparound windshield and a cut-down beltline from Cadillac's standard production models.
The expansive frontal glass and distinctive dip in the sheet metal at the bottom of the side windows (featured on one or both of GM's other 1953 specialty convertibles) were especially beloved by GM styling chief Harley Earl and subsequently widely copied by other marques. It was available in four unique colors: Aztec Red, Alpine White, Azure Blue and Artisan Ochre. Convertible tops were available in either black or white Orlon. AC was an option at US$620 ($ in dollars ), as were wire wheels for US$325 ($ in dollars ). The car carried no special badging other than a gold-colored "Eldorado" nameplate in the center of the dash. A hard tonneau cover, flush with the rear deck, hid the convertible top when stored.
Although technically a subseries of the Cadillac Series 62 based on the regular Series 62 convertible and sharing its engine, it was nearly twice as expensive at US$7,750 ($ in dollars ) as the Packard Caribbean convertible.
The long, wide vehicle came with such standard features as windshield washers, a signal seeking radio, power windows, and a heater. Only 532 were produced, comprising just 0.5% of Cadillac's 1953 sales.
Second generation (1954–1956)
In 1954, the Eldorado lost its unique sheetmetal in an effort by GM to lower its price in order to increase sales. Now sharing its basic body shell with standard Cadillacs, it was distinguished mainly by trim pieces, including golden identifying crests centered directly behind the air-slot fender breaks, and wide fluted beauty panels to decorate the lower rear sides. These panels were made of extruded aluminum, and also appeared on a one of a kind Eldorado coupé built for the Reynolds Aluminum Corporation. Also included in the production Eldorado convertible were monogram plates on the doors, wire wheels, and custom interior trimmings with the Cadillac crest embossed on the seat bolsters. Sales nearly quadrupled at a much more modest US$5,738 base price (equivalent to $ in dollars ), with a total of 2,150 Eldorados sold.
For 1955, the Eldorado's body gained its own rear end styling with somewhat higher, more slender, and distinctly pointed tailfins, a styling change that portended extreme exaggerations to come. The Eldorado sport convertible featured extras such as wide chrome body belt moldings and twin round taillights halfway up the fenders. Sales nearly doubled to 3,950.
For 1956, a two-door hardtop coupé version was released, called the "Eldorado Seville", and a two-door convertible called the "Eldorado Biarritz". An Eldorado script appeared with fender crest on the car, which was further distinguished by twin hood ornaments. An extra feature on the Eldorado convertible was a ribbed chrome saddle molding extending from the windshield to the rear window pillar along the beltline. With the addition of the Seville, sales rose yet again, by 60%. Of the 6,050 sold, 2,150 were Sevilles. Still the division's halo car, Eldorados accounted for just 4% of all Cadillacs sold.
Third generation (1957–1958)
Cadillac was restyled and re-engineered for 1957, with stylistic updates in 1958.
1957 1957 saw the Eldorado (in both Biarritz convertible and Seville hardtop body styles) receive new styling with an exclusive rear-end design featuring a low, downswept fenderline capped by pointed in-board fins. Just behind the open rear wheel housings, the lower rear quarters were trimmed with broad, sculptured stainless steel beauty panels that visually blended into the split rear wraparound bumper assemblies. A form of this unique rear-end treatment first appeared (sans fins) on the Cadillac "Interceptor" prototype from the immediate post-war era. Series 62 Eldorados (as distinct from the Series 70 Eldorado Brougham) were further distinguished by the model name above a V-shaped rear deck ornament and on the front fenders. The three section front bumper was shared with the rest of the redesigned Cadillac model line, as the Eldorados previously came with a long list of standard features. Four specially built 4-door hardtop Eldorado Sevilles were also built in 1957.
1958 For 1958, the car received quad headlights as the front clip was again shared with this year's updated standard Cadillacs. GM was promoting their 50th year of production, and introduced Anniversary models for Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet.Image of 50th Anniversary promotional photo The 1958 models shared a common appearance on the top models for each brand; Cadillac Eldorado Seville, Buick Limited Riviera, Oldsmobile Starfire 98, Pontiac Bonneville Catalina, and the new Chevrolet Bel-Air Impala.
This year's revised front clip incorporated a new hood, a new front bumper with "dagmars" mounted lower and further apart combined with a full-width jeweled grille. On the Biarritz and Seville, a V-shaped ornament and model identification script was asymmetrically mounted to the deck lid. Other styling updates included the addition of ten vertical chrome slashes ahead of the open rear wheel housings and crest medallions on the flank of the tailfins. The split rear bumper assemblies were each updated with a low-profile combined reverse light/grille unit that replaced the previous year's separate, round exhaust exits and reverse lights; the round brake/tail light units at the base of the fins remained unchanged. The rear license plate housing was now flanked on each side by five vertical hash marks.
1957–1958 Eldorado Brougham Announced in December 1956 and released around March 1957, the Series 70 Eldorado Brougham was a distinct, hand-built four-door ultra-luxury vehicle, derived from the Park Avenue and Orleans show cars of 1953–54. Designed by Ed Glowacke, Cadillac's 1950s design studio head, it stood out by featuring the first quad headlights (at the time still illegal in the United States), and other unique trim, foremost a brushed stainless steel pillarless hardtop. Like the later 1961 fourth-generation Lincoln Continental, it had rear-hinged rear doors (suicide doors), but unlike the Continental, the Brougham was a true, pillarless hardtop, as the doors latched onto a stub pillar that did not extend beyond the beltline.
It cost US$13,074 ($ in dollars )—twice the price of a conventional 1957 Eldorado and more than the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, Facel Vega Excellence or Continental Mark II. Sales were 400 in 1957 and 304 in 1958. 1958 was the last year for the domestic production of the hand-built Brougham at Cadillac's Detroit factory, as future manufacturing of the special bodies was transferred to Pinin Farina in Turin, Italy. It was a marketing approach revival used in the early 1930s with the Cadillac V-16 with similar attention to detail and engineering pursuits as a halo car.
The car featured a roof trimmed in brushed stainless and self-levelling air suspension. The exterior ornamentation included wide, polished lower rear quarter beauty panels extending along the rocker sills and rectangularly sculptured side body "cove" highlighted with five horizontal windsplits on the rear doors. Tail styling treatments followed the Eldorado pattern. It also had the first automatic two-position "memory" power seats, a dual four-barrel V-8, low-profile tires with thin white-walls, automatic trunk opener and closer, high-pressure cooling system, polarized sun visors, electric antenna, electric door locks and a dual heating system. Other unique features included an automatic starter with restart function, Autronic Eye, drum-type electric clock, power windows, forged aluminum wheels and air conditioning, six silver magnetic glovebox drink tumblers and an Evans leather-trimmed cigarette case and vanity kit containing a lipstick holder, ladies' powder puff with powder, comb, beveled mirror, coin holder, matching leather notebook, gold mechanical pencil, and an atomizer filled with Arpège Extrait De Lanvin perfume. Buyers of Broughams had a choice of 44 full-leather interior and trim combinations and could select such items as Mouton, Karakul, or lambskin carpeting.
There were serious difficulties with the air suspension, which proved troublesome in practice. Some owners found it cheaper to have it replaced with conventional coil springs than to keep repairing the air system.
The 1957 Eldorado Brougham joined the Sixty Special and the Series 75 as the only Cadillac models with Fleetwood bodies, although Fleetwood script or crests did not appear anywhere on the exterior of the car. This would also mark the first time in 20 years that a Fleetwood-bodied car was paired with the Brougham name.
The 1957-58 Eldorado Brougham also marked the return of the Cadillac Series 70, albeit only briefly. An all-transistor signal-seeking car radio was produced by GM's Delco division, and was first available for the 1957 Eldorado Brougham models, which was standard equipment and used 13 transistors in its circuitry.Radio & TV News, August 1957, "Delco's All-Transistor Auto Radio", pg 60The Cadillac Serviceman, Volume XXXI, No.4, April 1957 issue, Pg 34
The Eldorado Brougham received minor changes for 1958. The interior upper door panels were finished in leather instead of the metal finish used in 1957. New wheel covers also appeared. Forty-four trim combinations were available, along with 15 special monotone paint colors.
Fourth generation (1959–1960)
1959