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, 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 General Motors' styling chief Harley Earl and subsequently widely copied by other marques. Available in four unique colors; Aztec Red, Alpine White, Azure Blue and Artisan Ochre. as were wire wheels for US$325 ($ in dollars ). Only 532 were produced, comprising just 0.5% of Cadillac's 1953 sales.
| wheelbase =
| length = 1954: <br />1955: <br />1956:
| width = 1954: 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 all-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.
<gallery widths="200" heights="145">
File:1957 Cadillac Eldorado Seville Hardtop Coupe in Silver, rear right.jpg|1957 Cadillac Eldorado Seville (hardtop coupe; rear)
File:57 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (9125175255).jpg|1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (convertible)
File:1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham hardtop (6997694908).jpg|1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham interior
File:Cadillac Eldorado Convertible 1958.jpg|1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
File:1958 SEVILLE BLACK.jpg|1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville
</gallery>
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 competitors Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud,<!-- The price I see in the source is: "Original Price: $15,650 - $22,750". --> 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 handbuilt Brougham at Cadillac's Detroit factory, as future manufacturing of the special bodies was transferred to Pinin Farina of 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 leveling 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 finally, 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.
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, and so this would also mark the first time in 20 years that a Fleetwood-bodied car was paired with the Brougham name.
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.
<gallery widths="200" heights="145">
Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.jpg|1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
Caddy-Eldorado-B1958.jpg|1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
Cadillac Eldoradio Brougham all-transistor car radio-1957 dash.JPG|1957 Eldorado Brougham all-transistor, in-dash car radio
</gallery>
Fourth generation (1959–1960)
1959
Along with the rest of the General Motors divisions, the bulky, originally proposed 1959 styling was abandoned in favor of a significantly lower, longer and wider theme as an overdue response to Virgil Exner's striking redesign of the 1957 Chrysler products. The 1959 Cadillac is remembered for its huge sharp tailfins with dual bullet tail lights, two distinctive rooflines and roof pillar configurations, new jewel-like grille patterns and matching deck lid beauty panels.
For 1959, the Series 62 became the Series 6200. De Villes and two-door Eldorados were moved from the Series 62 to their own series, the Series 6300 and Series 6400 respectively, though they all, including the four-door Eldorado Brougham (which was moved from the Series 70 to Series 6900), shared the same wheelbase. New mechanical items were a "scientifically engineered" drainage system and new shock absorbers. All Eldorados were characterized by a three-deck, jeweled, rear grille insert that replicated the texture of the front grille; this front/rear grille treatment was shared with the Fleetwood Sixty Special and would continue through 1966 with textures being revised each year. The Seville and Biarritz models had the Eldorado name spelled out behind the front wheel opening and featured broad, full-length body sill highlights that curved over the rear fender profile and back along the upper beltline region. Engine output was an even from the engine. Standard equipment included power brakes, power steering, automatic transmission, back-up lamps, windshield wipers, two-speed wipers, wheel discs, outside rearview mirror, vanity mirror, oil filter, power windows, six way power seats, heater, fog lamps, remote control deck lid, radio and antenna with rear speaker, power vent windows, air suspension, electric door locks and license frames. The Eldorado Brougham also came with air conditioning, automatic headlight dimmer, and cruise control standard over the Seville and Biarritz trim lines.
thumb|1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible
<gallery widths="200" heights="145">
File:1960ELDORADO1.jpg|1960 Cadillac Eldorado in Siena Rose Metallic
File:1960ELDORADO3.jpg|1960 Cadillac Eldorado in Siena Rose Metallic
</gallery>
1959–1960 Eldorado Brougham <span class="anchor" id="1959–60 Eldorado Brougham"></span>
For model years 1959 and 1960, the Eldorado Brougham became longer, lower and wider. The Brougham featured narrow taillights integrated into low tailfins; an angular rear roofline with rear ventiplanes that contrasted to the rounded roofline; and the dual rocket-like taillights and tall fins of the standard 1959 models. Front and rear bumper assemblies were shared with the standard Cadillacs.
Designed in-house, Cadillac contracted with Pinin Farina of Turin, Italy for the manufacture of the low-volume model. The Eldorado Broughams were among the first Cadillacs to be hand-built in Italy; concept cars were also hand built as needed. Cadillac chassis were sent by boat to the port of Savona, Italy where they were then delivered to the factory in Turin at Grugliasco, mated with the body and sent back to Detroit by boat.
Priced at $13,075 ($ in dollars ), the Brougham cost $1 more than their older siblings and did not sell as well as their forebears.<gallery widths="200" heights="150">
File:1961 Cadillac Eldorado (7458453896).jpg|1961 Cadillac Eldorado (rear)
</gallery>