Could we have a ‘70s Detroiter Week without a Cadillac? I think not. I had another one in mind when I planned this, but this recently-encountered Eldorado seemed even more appropriate. After all, it’s a transitional model, with the dreaded 5mph bumpers (in front only) and it has the biggest production V8 of the marque’s history. And it’s the very definition of a land yacht.
When the FWD Eldorado got a complete redesign for 1971, Cadillac stylist Wayne Kady certainly took the well-trodden “longer, lower, wider” route. Well, except the “wider” bit, as the 1967-70 Eldo was actually a smidge portlier around the edges, though it sure didn’t look it. It also marked the return of the convertible, making Cadillac the only luxury American car still offering open-air driving.
The ’72 was virtually unchanged from the previous year, but the infamous 5mph bumpers were about to make their sad entrance on the American automotive scene for 1973, causing a major redesign of the front end. And for some reason, on the Eldo, it looked better than what was there before. The 1971-72 front end had a far more tortured front bumper shape. For ’73, it was all straightened out, paradoxically giving the car a tidier look, especially as it was paired with the return of the classic eggcrate grille.
The profile was also tidied up thanks to the deletion of the large chrome faux vertical air-intake that used to reside between the door and the rear wheel. Kady was keen on it as a callback to the Cadillacs of the early ‘50s, but he had moved to Buick by the time the ’73 Eldos were being touched up, and it seems the Cadillac stylists were harking back to other models in the marque’s illustrious history.
Not sure if those rear lights were trying to channel the 1967 Eldorado, but that’s what immediately popped into my head when I shot this picture. After all, there are very few Cadillacs of the ’60s and ‘70s with vertical taillights not surrounded by thick lashings of chrome. Not being a very astute connoisseur of the 1971-78 Eldos, I was actually surprised – pleasantly so! – by this one’s almost delicate rear end, which I don’t think I had ever encountered in real life before.
After all, Cadillac only built 9315 Eldorados for MY 1973, and I’m not sure they exported all that many. They didn’t come cheap, and with an 8.2 litre V8 under the hood, they remained an expensive proposition even after purchase. Let’s not forget that 1973 was the time of the first Oil Shock (though that took place in October, so the ’74 models would have been impacted). Said V8 still provided 235hp (net) for 1973 – somewhat ridiculous, but not quite as abysmal as the 190hp that 500ci behemoth produced by 1976.
Going back to the car’s styling elements, what struck me about the front end was the little Cadillac emblems sitting atop the turn signals. It’s another throwback – a very precise one, too, for this was the “wings up” emblem used solely on the 1941-42 models.
Here’s what it looked like on General McCarthur’s 1942 Series 75 Fleetwood limo – a picture taken in Tokyo circa 1946. That and the eggcrate grille makes this handsome classic a clear source of inspiration for the ’73 Eldo. They could have picked worse.
The front end was carried over to the next MY, but the rear end design only lasted one year, as the ’74s had to get the dreaded impact bumpers. Cadillac designers must have felt compelled to dip the whole butt of the car in shiny stuff again. They also revised the dash quite extensively, and not in a very good way either. This earlier dash is not the best design I’ve ever seen by a long shot, but it’s better than what came after.
Eagle-eyed readers might have noted that the speedo is in kilometers. This, coupled with the turn signal repeaters tacked on to the front fenders indicates that this car was sold new in Japan. So they did export a few of these, after all. The gaudy shag carpeting, while not strictly original, is quite period-correct.
GM were proud of their new “scissor top” mechanism, used on all their convertibles of the early-to-mid ‘70s. It took less space, with all of the fabric top being stored behind the rear seat. However, given declining quality controls at Fisher, it is the source of a lot of grief for owners, if web forums are anything to go by. The woodgrain-coloured inner panel assembly also looks a tad flimsy, not to mention leaving the rather ungainly mechanism out for all to see and objects to drop in for a ride.
A friend of mine used to have a 1968 Eldorado. Both in photos and in the metal, that first FWD generation are extremely attractive cars – sharp, well-proportioned and completely bespoke. The 1971-78 Eldos, in contrast, were more derivative, looked bulkier and lasted way too long.
But from this gargantuan generation, the best of the bunch has to be this 1973 model – the only one with both a bit of power left in its huge engine and a tasteful derriere. Surely that’s something one can get behind.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1973 Cadillac Eldorado – Somebody Else’s Nice Things, by Joseph Dennis
In Motion Classic: 1973 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible – Summer Fun, by Eric703
In Motion Classic / CC Jukebox: 1973 Cadillac Eldorado – Big Mac, by Joseph Dennis
That 1942 Caddy badge reprised in stereo on the front fender bulges sure looks awfully familiar to Aussies! Those Caddy wings appeared on the ’48-’53 FX Holden. Wonder whether they had to beg us to get them back? 😉
I’d never noticed the delicate detailling (bumper aside) on the rear of the ’73 Eldo.The delicate rear is quite a contrast to the brashly-bechromed front. Speaking of which, you’d think the fine chaps at Yanase could have sourced a more attractive fitting for those indicator repeaters.
Not a fan of this design; it’s a real letdown after the neatness and individuality of the previous generation. Exchanging the sharp lines and surfacing for generalized overblown porkiness was a bad idea. Good to see they lost that weird rear fender vertical trim piece that afflicted the 71-2 though, but the Eldo was to get uglier before it got better.
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Excellent article and beautiful pictures! I would have bet actual dollars that these were inches wider than the 1967 – ’70 models. I totally see the tie-in with the grille of the ’42-era Caddy, now that you pointed it out. GM of the ’70s: doing extra with less attention to quality control a la the new scissor-top. I love that Madonna dusted one of these ’73s off for her 2012 video for “Turn Up The Radio” – a fittingly larger-than-life car for a similar artist.
Somebody over there has great taste in cars, not to mention, a gas card with lots of room.
Wow this was bought new in Japan But why did they need to put those ugly side directional signal on when caddy has such a nice big cornering / side directional light to begin with ?? Are blind ? lol Especially on a bright red car ! lol again Ok had a 70 ( first year 500 / 400 HP ) love the styling and out of the 71-78 I like the 76 conv. ( last year 500 at a pitiful 190 HP ) the best, the last stately convertible !
indicator lights have to be orange, all over the world except the US.
With this body style I thought the 1971 front and rear where better designed before the heavy flat bumpers first appeared in 1973. I fell in love with the 1975 style changes when the rear wheel wells were opened up, plus thought the front & rear bumpers where nicely integrated. I purchased new a 1976 Eldo convertible, kept it for ten years and 100K miles, never had a problem with the top working properly. My only issue was IMO, the front axle hubs were under-engineered due to the front end weight. I had to replace / repair three of mine during the ten years. Also, considering its weight, I never thought my 1976 was under powered except for the one time I was towing the largest U-Haul trailer (massively overloaded) over mountains during a move from Houston to NYC. First time I saw a warning light for bad fuel economy (LOL) when I had to pull into the uphill slow truck lanes.
These would have looked much better, at least from a distance, without the fender skirts, which were taken off for ’75-8, but those have even-bulkier front ends. What were they thinking, let’s imitate the rotund original ’53 Eldorado, this time with freakish tumblehome? Does this count as the first retro design?
I prefer the finer texture of the ’74’s grille. The vertical-winged crests were put on the chisel-tip fenders of the regular ’70 line. Cadillacs early in the 30s had horizontal wings above their vertical grilles.
The federal standard for rear bumpers was 2.5 mph in ’73. That required the flattening restyling, though Kady said the ’71-2 fender, hood, and trunk metal stampings were complex and expensive.
I’m surprised Japan didn’t require those dorky front-fender mounted mirrors in ’73.
I was also surprised at the lack of fender mirrors. Yet the other details suggest Japan delivery. Maybe they were removed once regulations changed?
Empirical evidence has shown me that fender mirrors were only mandated for domestic cars. Folks put them on their imported cars if said cars were sold without mirrors as standard (in the 50s and early 60s), but I rarely see, say, a 70s Benz or a Jaguar with fender mirrors, nor do they necessarily have them in period Japanese ads or period street pics.
Amber turn signals, on the other hand, were strictly mandated from circa 1972 onward.
Hmm there’s another Caddy behind this one, albeit with rectangular quad headlights.
The shot of the dash of this convertible shows the hood emblem of the Cadillac nicely positioned in the center of the rear hatch of that Toyota Alphard (?) van. It’s almost as if it belonged there.
Excellent photos and story.
It was not an issue at the time when I bought my new 1976 Eldorado, but all 1976 Cadillacs seem to have the same dash and steering wheel. Only now I think Cadillac should have made the up-market Eldorado dash a little more unique.
I checked: even the ’74-6 Calais has fake wood on the wheel hub, dash, and doors, where it has straps while other models have coffin handles in ’75-6. My grandmother’s ’72 Calais had “wood” only on the wheel rim (where it usually cracks off) with bumpy matte black plastic on the dash. The ’75-6 Fleetwood models have 3 dimensional “carved wood” on the doors, but no longer on the dash as before ’74.
I think the 73 would be my pick of this generation. I agree with you on the sides of the 71-72 as being sub-optimal, and always thought that the 1975 re-style tried (and failed) to turn the car into something it was never conceived of to start with. I agree that this rear end is the best by far, and is way better than the later ones with the horizontal lights above the bumper.
I would guess that the owner chose not to mess with the boot, which would cover the top mechanism when the top was folded down. But I have always wondered why Cadillac designed that gear shift to be at such an awkward angle when in the “Park” position.
Trivia note: the 1973 Eldorado convertible was the pace car at the Indianapolis 500 mile race that year.
One other note – you say that there were 9315 Eldorados built that year, but this figure was just for convertibles. There were another 42,136 coupes built, for a total of around 51k cars. For comparison, Lincoln was good for around 69k Mark IVs that year, all coupes. It was a rare example at the time of a Lincoln decisively outselling a comparable Cadillac.
Cadillac has erased the six sitting ducks from it’s corporate emblem–probably a too-late reaction to the Catera commercial(s).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3sm8DuRf5E
Nice to see them back on the hood ornament, where they belong.
I actually much prefer the 75-78 over these early years of the second-gen. But is that just because I grew up playing Grand Theft Auto with its very similar “Esperanto”?
’67-70 is gorgeous and 79-85 is handsome, while this generation just feels like a bloated, less attractive model in between
I don’t want it but it sure is pretty .
-Nate