In his 1981 short story “The Gernsback Continuum,” science fiction writer William Gibson chronicles the strange experience of a professional photographer who’s hired to illustrate a (fictitious) new coffee table book called The Airstream Futuropolis: The Tomorrow That Never Was and begins to have hallucinatory visions of another world that never existed or could have existed. I get a similar sensation whenever I see one of these 1959–1960 Cadillac Eldorados, perhaps the ultimate four-wheeled exponent of an aesthetic Gibson’s characters aptly called “American Streamlined Moderne” or “raygun Gothic.” Maybe that’s why I find these cars so appealing.
Director Alfred Hitchcock famously described drama as “life with the dull bits cut out.” The same could be said of nostalgia: A nostalgic object, like an old car, is a gateway to an alternate world, a romanticized vision of another time and place with all the unpleasant, confusing, complicated parts trimmed away. In reality, no previous era was categorically simpler, easier, or more innocent than today (anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you something unwholesome, and should be regarded with grave suspicion), but in the fantasy, the road and the sky are always clear, the engine always starts, and neither the roof nor the air suspension ever leaks.
1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / Mecum Auctions
This fantasy world is permeable — if you stay there for too long, the unhappier aspects of the real world will inevitably intrude — but one of the big appeals of collector car nostalgia is that when the thrill wears off, you can just park it and switch to something more suitable. For that reason, you also aren’t obligated to weigh your nostalgic old ride on the harsher scales on which most people judge new or relatively new daily drivers. An old car is usually an occasional indulgence, not everyday fare.
1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / Mecum Auctions
The 1959–1960 Cadillacs were before my time, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s nearly impossible for me to see them the way people at the time saw them. Most contemporary automotive reviewers tended to be politer than they would be not too many years later, and while gigantic, glitzy “Detroit dinosaurs” like these had their outspoken critics, those detractors didn’t necessarily differentiate one oversize glittering monstrosity from another. I know that even some of the stylists who designed the American cars of this period felt they’d gone about as far as they could, if not too far. However, not having been there when these cars were new, I have no contemporary associations with them: By the time I became aware of them, they’d already become something more than the sum of their parts.
1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / Mecum Auctions
For at least 40 years now, the 1959 Cadillac has been a leading icon of ’50s fancies gone berserk — the ultimate exponent of the Harley Earl school of design, the last hurrah of the chromium horde. Even people who can only identify a very few of what a friend of mine calls “breeds of car” usually know what it is; its tail fins have appeared on pinups and postage stamps.
It’s probably for that reason, as much as anything else, that I’ve become more partial to the 1960 models. The 1960 Cadillacs have the same stance, size, and presence and presence of the ’59, but are a little tidier — “more tasteful” might be stretching a point, but the 1959 car’s overwrought detailing was brought down to a nice rolling boil.
Cadillac tail fins were toned down for 1960, losing the fin-mounted taillights of the ’59 / RM Sotheby’s
If you’re going to have a 1959 or 1960 Cadillac (or if, like me, you’re going to briefly indulge a pleasant daydream of having classic cars you couldn’t possibly afford), I’m of a mind that it ought to be an Eldorado — the top of the line in these years, barring a formal Series 75 with its own chauffeur (an idea that has its own appeal some days …).
Eldorado-specific “fluted” wheel covers / RM Sotheby’s
There were actually three Eldorado models in 1960. The rarest and most expensive by far was the four-door Eldorado Brougham, built (though not styled) by Pinin Farina in Turin and priced at a rather harrowing $13,075, reflecting its transatlantic shipping and substantial hand labor. Positioned below that in price and exclusivity were the Eldorado Biarritz convertible and the Eldorado Seville two-door hardtop coupe, both priced at $7,401. Befitting their price, Eldorados came with many features optional on lesser models, including Cadillac’s troublesome air suspension system and the Q-code Tri-Power engine.
Choosing between these three is not too difficult. While the Brougham has interesting styling that previewed the design of the 1961–1962 Cadillacs, its coachbuilt pedigree does little for me, and I find it more historically significant than really compelling; if I wanted a 1961 Cadillac (which I might!), I’d look for a ’61 Coupe de Ville.
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, body 67 of 101 / RM Sotheby’s
The Biarritz convertible is the most common of the three, albeit still quite rare (there were 1,285, compared to 1,075 Seville hardtops and just 101 Broughams), but, as incongruous as it may sound, I actually really dislike convertibles and don’t enjoy driving or riding in them. Also, while the Biarritz was available with front bucket seats as a no-cost option, they don’t look right in a car this size, a reminder of how central a Thunderbird-style center console was to creating the cockpit-like aesthetic effect of ’60s “bucket brigade” full-size cars.
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz / Bring a Trailer
This leaves the Eldorado Seville, for which 1960 was the final year. The Seville had arguably become extraneous, since it looked similar to the cheaper Series 62 and Coupe de Ville hardtops. However, if you’re going this way at all, you might as well go big or go home, and if you like these big GM two-door hardtops — which I really do — “go big” means a loaded Eldorado Seville with all the available factory options, including air conditioning.
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / Mecum Auctions
You’ll notice that the black Eldorado Sevilles pictured above and below both have vinyl roof coverings, in a material Cadillac called Vicodec. This was standard on the Seville, but it wasn’t compulsory: You could have a painted roof instead, either in body color or a contrasting color, at no extra cost. The sales guide includes a table of factory-approved combinations, which for Ebony cars were normally limited to Ebony or Olympic White, but Cadillac was prepared to accommodate nonstandard combinations if you were insistent and were willing to wait up to six extra weeks for delivery.
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / RM Sotheby’s
I like the Ebony and Ivory effect of the white roof, although I think a painted roof would be preferable. Blue over black could also be nice (you could get the Vicodec top in Pelham Blue, but a blue painted roof would have been a special order), but it wouldn’t look right with some interior trim combinations.
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / RM Sotheby’s
Part of the appeal of the white roof is that it visually lowers a car that was already low-slung (a 1960 Eldorado Seville was 54.8 inches high). It also serves to emphasize the delightful incongruity of this relatively small bubble-canopy roof on such a massive body, which evokes the ’50s Batmobile, or some science fiction flying car.
The 1960 Eldorado Seville shared its roofline with the Series 62 hardtop coupe and Coupe de Ville / RM Sotheby’s
Both of the black 1960 Eldorado Sevilles pictured here have white leather interiors, which look great and work well with the Ebony exterior:
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville with white Cardiff grain leather trim and white Florentine grain bolsters / RM Sotheby’s
Per the sales book, the 1960 Eldorado Seville upholstery is “longitudinal biscuit- and elongated button-pattern, accented by full bolsters of supple, fine-grained Florentine leather” / RM Sotheby’s
However, I’m still haunted by a 1960 Eldorado Seville I spotted over 15 years ago at a local Cadillac specialist. It was Ebony, with a painted roof, but the interior was red and white leather, a combination the sales guide describes as “red Cardiff grain leather with white Florentine grain leather bolsters and trim,” and which was normally exclusive to the Seville. (You could get red and white leather on a Series 62 convertible, but it wasn’t the same pattern.) Unfortunately, I never got very good pictures of that car, and the combination is rare. Here’s an example from a 1959 Eldorado Seville:
I think the 1959 Eldorado Seville pictured here, from a now-defunct auction listing, was once owned by Hank Williams Jr., but don’t quote me on that / Barrett-Jackson
Looking at it from a strictly practical standpoint, many of the Eldorado’s features are not necessarily desirable. The air suspension (which I’ve never experienced in one of these cars) allegedly gives superior ride and handling, but keeping it working is a headache, and many survivors now have steel springs. I assume the various ’50s-tech power accessories can also become money pits even if the body and engine are sound. As for the engine, I also suspect that the standard engine’s single Carter four-barrel might be easier to manage than the all-or-nothing vacuum linkage of the Tri-Power Q engine.
The Q engine was the same 390 cu. in. (6,384 cc) displacement as the standard Cadillac engine, but had three Rochester 2GC carburetors rather than a single four-barrel, giving 345 gross horsepower to the standard engine’s 325 hp / RM Sotheby’s
However, those kinds of considerations tread perilously close to treating a car like this as an appliance rather than a four-wheeled fantasy of an era that seemed to promise endless prosperity and limitless technological growth. Cadillac boasted that these Eldorados had “every power and convenience accessory,” so clearly they should be fully equipped in every respect (even though that added some $700 to the price tag). This is the kind of car where you expect to press a button and see a slim robot arm extend from some hidden panel to touch up your hairdo or brush specks of dust from the dashboard, like something from The Jetsons. In short, an Eldorado of this period is a car you love not so much for what it is, but for what it represents.
The car with the white roof has air conditioning, but not cruise control, which I would consider essential to the complete 1960 Eldorado experience / Bring a Trailer
In Gibson’s “The Gernsback Continuum,” fictitious author Dialta Downes describes “American Streamlined Moderne” as an artifact of “a kind of alternate America: a 1980 that never happened. An architecture of broken dreams.” As the photographer protagonist confronts his hallucinations of that alternate world, at once beautiful and sinister, he remarks:
Dialta had said that the Future had come to America first, but had finally passed it by. But not here, in the heart of the Dream. Here, we’d gone on and on, in a dream logic that knew nothing of pollution, the finite bounds of fossil fuel, or foreign wars it was possible to lose.
Reality was already fast closing in even when these cars were still brand new. The recent recession had seen significant numbers of Americans balk at the enormous thirst of the latest Detroit iron, leading to increased sales of imported and domestic compact cars. The outgoing decade’s fancier and more ambitious automotive technologies had proven to be over-sold and underdeveloped, and features like air suspension would soon disappear until more of the bugs had been worked out. In December 1959, not long after the 1960 Cadillac line went on sale, the California State Department of Public Health published the state’s first motor vehicle exhaust emissions standards, which would eventually become the model for the first federal standards. Public health officials in 1960 were still reluctant to speak ill of the lead then being added to premium gasoline at a rate of up to 4 grams per U.S. gallon and dumped on urban areas in alarming quantities by automobile exhaust, but its toxicity was well-known, and the petroleum industry wouldn’t be able to keep a lid on its dangers for too much longer.
1960 Cadillac Eldorado Seville / Mecum Auctions
Today, the scattered survivors of the 142,184 Cadillacs and 2,461 Eldorados built for 1960 are too few and far between, and too infrequently driven, to pose much threat to public health. They aren’t especially practical for today’s traffic — the brakes, inadequate even in 1960, would be worrisome in stop-and-go freeway conditions, and the thought of parallel parking one of these beasts is sobering — but if you can afford a nice 1960 Eldorado, you don’t have to drive it every day unless you really want to.
Otherwise, you can just look at it parked in your garage, keeping it polished for those few opportunities to take it out and open it up on a stretch of clear, uncongested interstate — feeling the rush of speed as the front and rear carburetors open up like an afterburner kicking in, carrying you back to the streamlined “raygun Gothic” future for which the Eldorado was seemingly designed.
We don’t live in that future, and in many respects, we’re better off for it, but it is fun to visit every now and then.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille – False Prophet Of A New Era (by Paul N)
Curbside Classic: 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville – Flamboyant Survivor (by MoparLee)
Car Show Classic: 1960 Cadillac Series 62 – Patina With Class (by Tom Klockau)
Vintage SIA Design History: “GM’s Far Out ’59s – When Imagination Ran Rampant” Part 1 (by Paul N)
Vintage SIA Design History: “GM’s Far Out ’59s – When Imagination Ran Rampant”, Part 2 (by Paul N)
For all the outlandishness going on, at the aft of these Cadillacs, the nose and forward of the ‘A’ pillar remained relatively clean. And somewhat anonymous. Cadillac’s somewhat anonymous noses, lasted for years. Until an eggcrate grille, later evolved.
The fins obviously were considered a big part of the Cadillac brand. Rather than a malleable styling element, that could easily come and go as styling trend or fad.
Cadillacs of this era and into the ’60’s, could probably been better remembered with stronger, more defining nose and grille designs. Instead the outlandish, and overwhelmingly defining fins, primarily represented Cadillac’s brand. And how we recollect Cadillac during this time period.
A more distinctive grille and nose, more defining to these Cadillacs, with less emphasis on easily and quickly dated huge tailfins, would have helped build a better-lasting long term brand for the marque.
Eldorados tended to get next year’s tail fins and some ’59 Eldorados got a version of the ’60 fins instead of the iconic ’59 fins… a bummer if you paid more and didn’t get the now iconic look… LOL!
While my Dad was buying my Mom a used rose colored ’60 Cadillac 2 door, I noticed a ’57 Olds 98 Starfire on the rear of the lot that looked pretty much in still new condition… although crap dark grey color… when sunlight reflected on it there was some light green metallic in the paint… except it looked “hot rodded” as we said in those days, something most buyers avoided… no wheel covers… dual glass packs exhaust… Atlas Bucron drag rear tires… but it wouldn’t start… the same salesman trying to make a deal with my Dad accepted my ridiculous offer of $75 for it… he kept mentioning they had ‘bad cams’ and it may have some kind of aftermarket cam in it… he seemed to know more about the car than he was letting on… We went back home and I promptly sold my Sears Allstate/Piaggio scooter for $75… then I bought the Olds… there was no sales tax on used vehicles back then, figuring it had been taxed when new… (that didn’t last much longer) … we towed it home with a chain and discovered it would start when towed, but not on the battery… my Dad listened to the engine and said it “sounded as sound as a dollar”… (sound dollars didn’t last much longer, either)… the car may have been repossessed as it seemed to be sabotaged… a piece of the coil wire was missing under a rubber boot… apparently when using the battery, there wasn’t enough coil voltage to jump the gap, but when towed it would… there did seem to be a performance camshaft as I discovered the big 98 with 4 barrel engine was quicker than a smaller 88 car with tripower engine IF manually shifting the Hydramatic at much higher than stock RPMs… top speed was also around 135-140…
Rando, More of the story please. What happened after you got it, etc..??
We want details.
Thanks.
LOL! Not too much, it was OK for driving around town or the 2 miles to high school, but tended to over heat if driven above 60 MPH for longer distances. I then needed something to drive the 100+ miles to GMI in Flint. We found a ’62 Jetfire, metallic red/white/red. at a good price on the same used car lot at the (kinda rare) full range GM dealership. Guess Dad sold the ’57 while I was gone. He was an Olds guy and prolly would have loved to have kept it if it wasn’t overheating. He was going through a couple ’51 Olds 98s as his drivers in those days… He ended up changing the heavy Hydramatic in the Cadillac and swore off automatics after that. Wanted a stick shift Olds, kinda rare. I found him a ’64 Olds Jet Star 88, 330″ 2 bbl. V8, 3 on the tree, 4 door… beige… it used some oil, got pretty good MPG, and he never did come to love it… but it got him around.
I saw the ’57 later, it apparently got an Earl Scheib $29 light blue paint job at some point. I disliked that color even more than the grey. But we weren’t into blue, I could get car sick just looking at the blue interior of a blue car on a hot sunny day. Maybe something to do with having blue eyes?
Later I learned the overheating of the ’57 might have been an easy fix. If you don’t put the spring looking thing back into the lower radiator hose, that hose will suck flat at higher RPMs/speeds blocking coolant flow. You can see that while looking under the hood and revving the engine.
I did some research and apparently only about 100 ’59 Cadillac Eldorado BROUGHMANS made with smaller ’60 look fins. I was a little shocked to see they have one piece front ends, other than shorter hood. Tended to have the vacuum operated tripower engine.
Not everyone enjoyed the fins. I was a car-crazy 10-year-old in 1960. I was far more interested in weird little Euro cars like Goggomobil or Messerschmidt or Goliath. Luckily I lived in a college town with an Army base nearby, so I saw and admired lots of weird Euro cars.
I recall a few of these vehicles being serviced by the Cadillac specialist that I knew at the time, and all were impressive in their own right.
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Excellent article, Aaron. I particularly like your points about how these cars have taken on significance that’s more than the sum of their parts (something that I’d argue is a necessary criteria for anything that deserves the term “iconic”…which these cars are) and how one of the best parts of owning a truly old car is not having to drive it every day. Also, the fact that even in their day these cars an impracticality that was in conflict with reality is a point well taken. They’ve always inhabited a kind of fantasy world; a world that looks more fantastic the farther we get away from it.
I also think that I’m with you so far as preferring the 1960 over the 1959. Although those tail lights on the 59….
Superb writing: “Raygun Gothic”; Hitchcock quote; Jetsons analogy; “a car you love not so much for what it is, but for what it represents.” Details on colors, options, accessories, history, driving experience. Vivid descriptons. You’ve really captured the essence of it! I’m a professor; I grade papers. You get an “A”, maybe “A+” (if I’m in a good mood!)
The 1958 model I owned (sold in 2021):
Such a huge change from the ’58 to the ’59/’60. The ’59 and ’60 look so clean and lithe compared to the ’58 which tries to look even heavier than it is. Of course in actuality the ’59s were even heavier than the ’58s.
Cheers, Stephen — it means a lot!
That huge rear window certainly must have heated the interiors up in Summer .
I too think this looks slightly better than the over the top ’59s but only by a slim margin .
I believe one can still drive a classic daily but care must be taken .
-Nate
Similar to polistra’s comment above (but younger) I was a car crazy 4 year old in 1960, and there were still enough of these around when I was older and more knowledgeable. I too lived in a college town, with Isetta’s and Ford Consuls and Morris Minors, but these Cadillacs were pretty special. Definitely a symbol of wealth, if not always good taste, but also a bit frightening to a young child with their sheer size and dagger-like fins.
Today, I agree that these are quite stunning and a peak of styling refinement for this era of Detroit excess. A very enjoyable perspective; thanks Aaron!
The funny thing is, one of these should still be a plenty capable daily driver, if you could learn to overlook the occasional non-working accessory. These were powerful, durable and had both handling and braking that was better than most for their era.
I remember being a tot who puzzled over some Cadillacs that put the Twin round lights in a vertical bumperette and others ( the 61) which were horizontal.
Those eho disdain these,cars , with a snippy attitude of ” good taste ” are not people I understand ..
These Cadillacs are products of there time .
The cars with ” good taste ” are forgotten.
A Cadillac was – is for the independent..
Someone who doesn’t need to worry about outshining the boss , but is the boss.
Entrepreneurs, CEOS , medical professionals, good trail lawyers, film stars , rich farmers, high society.
Buicks , and Oldsmobile for those who wanted the more sedate.
It’s not about being practical , yet surely tough enough in construction, I knew rich contractors, and ranchers who hauled heavy materials in those trunks .
People made campers, pickups out of them later.
They are about imagining, and fun in daily life ..
The trip , as important then the destination.
A free spirit pushing the envelope.
A time , not so long ago , men , women, children, dressed nicely everyday.
Holidays special, and aspirational thinking : Hope for a better world beat hard.
Nobody looked like they where cleaning out the basement in a decent restaurant.
These Cadillacs are legendary.
I rode in them as a small child , and became Cadillac all my life ..
Imagine the world of cars without them ?
Surely a more impoverished one .
A professor of mine used to slam his fist and say don’t judge people in history by what you know today . I own a 1968 Cadillac DeVille convertible and I drive it every several days. I Love these cars and always have. The cars of today are boring and too expensive for what you get. The society has become subservient to being content to pay more for less. These cars weren’t just built for transportation, they were for if you already arrived. The world then offered things that approximated style and grace. I go by large stateley homes here in Florida with an suv parked in the circular driveway and it looks like the help parked up front.
I have never been a fan of the 1959 Cadillac models. I see them as over the top kitsch, which is why they are so collectible today.
It is nice to see the 1960 car here. It is still over the top but not excessively so like the ’59. By far my favourite of the series is the 1961, which is a beautiful car in my opinion.
I’m with you Aaron in that I prefer the 1960 model.
I really like the black one in the lede photo.
Agreed with others here that the slightly toned-down ’60 is a lot more attractive than the fin-tastic ’59. However, that swoopy double chrome side striping on the ’60 Eldorado is WAY too much. The cleaner, mostly unadorned sides of the lesser models (some pictured in the comments above) are much more appealing in my book.
What the chrome side striping facilitates — and I recognize that this is a controversial point — is a contrasting color swish:
(more photos of the same car)
Tempting, to be honest.
I have owned several 1959 and 60 Eldos and some Series 62 convertibles as well. They are spectacular cars that represent America’s dominance in the Postwar era at its zenith. Hard to not love them.
This was a wonderfully evocative article, Aaron. I too prefer the ’60 Cadillac over the ’59, although my favorite in styling of the X-frame Caddys (1957-64) is the 1962 model.
I was a young tot when these 1959-60 cars were new; I remember being enthralled not so much by the fins, but rather the GM corporate windshield of those years, featuring the ultimate in wraparound design with gracefully curved A-pillars. Knowing nothing of glass distortion and doglegs, I thought GM’s move in 1961 to more conventional windshields was a retrograde step.
The 1960 actually conflicts me, as on one hand the 59 is way over the top for my taste yet the 60 looks so similar overall I can’t help fit feel it’s missing something, which are probably in fact the outrageous 59 details. Other thing that gets me is the rear end, I LOVE the 60 taillight treatment, but there’s also something a little predictable about it, as tge 61-64s all basically ran with the core design in either a more chiseled way or laid out horizontally, and there’s even a bit of BulletBird Tbird resemblance going on. The 59 is outrageous and I actually think even a wee bit ugly, but it’s one of the most distinctive rear ends I can think of.
Further to my conflict, I too am not into convertibles for a variety of practical and aesthetic reasons…… yet that’s the shape that these late 50s-60s Cadillacs simply must be in my head. Stick a roof on them and I just see the Chevy platform relationship.