We have plenty to be downtrodden about these days, but let’s focus on something good. With gas prices at about $1.90/gallon here in Virginia, there’s never been a better time to feed your 500-cu. in. V-8. These Eldorados aren’t exactly my favorite cars, but seeing this one recently was like an elixir to all the accumulated problems of the last few weeks. Who can’t feel good when seeing a 5,000-lb. Cadillac convertible roaming around? Well, I’m sure some people can’t, though maybe those people can at least find some humor in the thought of seeing one at a gas station… the big convertible’s natural habitat.
I will always associate ’76 Eldorado convertibles with the frenzy surrounding their status as the “last American convertibles.” The ironies of that statement seem as vast as the car itself. Though convertible sales had been lagging for a decade, customers eager to own a piece of history flocked to Cadillac dealers, pushing sales up 57% over the ’75s. Speculators nudged prices to ridiculous heights, and if all that wasn’t enough, GM produced 200 all-white Bicentennial Edition cars for Boss Hogg wannabes, as if the standard cars weren’t garish enough. And finally, as if to ridicule those speculators, none of this mattered when Detroit began producing convertibles again a whopping six years later – so much for being the last convertible.
Cadillac produced 14,000 1976 Eldorado convertibles, and it seems as if about 20,000 of them survive… and that most of those are in pristine condition. So seeing this original-condition Calumet Cream example was somewhat of a treat. In fact, I can’t ever remember a ’76 Eldorado that I enjoyed seeing as much as this one. Maybe Eldorados didn’t end up being quite the collector’s items that they were intended to be, but this sure provided me a mental tankful of cheerfulness on rather dreary afternoon. I hope this Eldorado brings even more enjoyment to its owner than it does to folks like me who simply gaze admiringly at it. With gas under $2.00 per gallon, it’s likely to do just that.
Photographed in Arlington, Virginia in April, 2020.
I recall a family vacation in 1976, and pulling up at a gas station to see an Eldorado this same color, and an astonishingly young and stylish couple getting in and out. Ah, to be that guy with that girl.
I didn’t fully appreciate the demographics were misaligned with reality, but I like a good malaise era Caddy and still enjoy recalling that memory!
Nice to see one out and about!
I actually like this generation as opposed to the bloated version that I am reminded of every time Live and Let Die is on TV.
The downsized Eldo also still looks good to me today.
The owner must keep the car in good stead to get a VA inspection sticker, right?
Virginia’s safety inspection requirements aren’t too rigorous, and cars 25 years or older are exempt from emissions inspections, so most roadworthy older cars can be inspected without too much of a problem.
On my last visit to the local U-pull bone yard there was a red convertible awaiting it’s demise. Sad.
This is the reason I adore Curbside Classic. It truly celebrates people who actually *use* their classic vehicles.
+1
It’s a good thing many of these have seen pampered lives since those plastic filler panels where the sheetmetal ends and the upright bumper stantions reside are notorious for deteriorating and leaving a huge gaping space that looks hideous.
Excellent find Eric. I’m not a Eldo observer, but it seems Cadillac switched from clear turn signal lenses and amber bulbs in the front bumpers in 1975, to amber lenses and clear bulbs in 1976. Strange they would make that change, as the clear lenses did make the nose look cleaner, and more elegant. Not as cheap looking, as with the orange lenses.
Growing up, I used to find it so old fashioned that the Eldo used bulk and weight to represent wealth. Besides me, it must have turned off a lot of future potential Cadillac customers.
Bulk and weight: This was a self-defeating desire. The old rich didn’t bother with status symbols because they knew their status and didn’t need a booster or display. The new rich went for giant flashy cars, hoping to be accepted by the old rich. They weren’t. They didn’t really fool anyone except themselves.
Unfortunately it was that sort who formed the stereotype many of us foreigners have of Americans. Thanks for nothing, Hollywood! It’s so refreshing to find that all the Americans I’ve met have been nothing like this.
These cars are future collectables, like Duesenbergs are now! This was a common statement back then.
(A couple of years later it was the Indy pace car Corvettes that would finance your old age.)
I was only 20 in 1976 and no fan of the huge, full size Detroit iron. The mid-size line was fine with me.
The ’67 Eldo was a great looking car, and had been ruined by bloat.
But, I was not in the demographic for these behemoths back then. My opinion that these cars were something that a lot of young people like myself would never aspire to meant nothing to the “Big-Wigs”.
However, I am thankful that someone loves these cars and has kept them alive.
My 24 yr. old daughter loves these types of cars and sees them for for themselves.
She is unecumbered by the concerns of the times, of how American manufacturing was unravelling, oil shortages, and inflation.
The next Eldo convert was built in 1983 and 1984 in only two colors, red and white. The Riviera did the same. The last 200 built were the Bi-Centennials,arguably the most collectible car of all time.They were triple white and had accents of red and blue throughout, and had an MSRP of about 12,000
dollars
There was one in the showroom at McArdle Cadillac in Midland Michigan for over 40 years until the dealership changed hands. The car had like 10 miles on it.
I looked for it every time I was in Midland. Surely hope it was high and dry during the recent flooding.
I like this car. How wonderful to see it being actually driven and enjoyed by its owner, regardless of its apparent condition.
It is understandable that folks got fooled on these. To the demographic who could afford these, it was clear that all of the high-dollar American collector cars were the pre-war classics like Cadillacs, Packards and (especially) Duesenbergs. The modern Cadillacs were sure to take their place at the table in the future and these convertibles were going to be the ones everyone wanted.
Except that they did not see the 50s car wave and then the muscle car wave coming. Not only did Junior not buy new Cadillacs, when he got enough money to collect old cars he didn’t buy old Cadillacs either.
Gas/petrol here got down to $172 per litre during lockdown level 4 simply because nobody is buying the stuff, diesel is about half that but the tax is paid by the kilometer not litre. Plenty of old classics getting exercise though but now lockdown is mostly over and traffic has returned to normal all the import rubbish is obscuring the roads again,
It got down to around 90 cents a litre here, and cheaper in the capital. Gotta love supply and demand when nobody wants the stuff you do!
I think what happened with these cars was that the death of the convertible was considered inevitable due to demographic and legislative changes that were either on the horizon or believed to be. I don’t think anyone in 1976 could have imagined a reversal of these changes and that we would be able to purchase convertibles again.
In 1984 I was part of a caravan of drivers from a local Buick dealership to pick up several new Riviera convertibles for customers. I was thinking of these Caddys as I was driving back to Northeast Ohio and marveling at the changes that had taken place in a fairly short amount of time. By then we already had convertible K-cars and Mustangs, with more converts on the way. It was good time to be a convertible fan.
Now, these Caddys have their own following, generally not as trailer queens from show to show, but many like the featured car as drivers or better condition, but being run frequently. Not a bad thing, in my estimation.
EDIT: When I first read the headline for this post, I thought it was a nod to the song: “Fill ‘er Up” from the 1999 Sting album “Desert Rose”. One of the lines in the song is “that you have to fill er up with happiness…”
Funny about the title… I’ve never heard of the Sting song, so it’s definitely a coincidence!
In defense of the Eldorado convertible frenzy, it really kind of was the last of its kind, a big wallowing boat without a roof… like a boat.
I’ve never been much of a convertible fan because there is such an inherent compromise that comes with them, even in aesthetics which some may disagree with, but at the extreme ends of the spectrum I can see the appeal, there’s no pretense of performance in a long low wide 5000lb car with a lazy V8 and an automatic, it’s the ultimate cruiser, and a convertible works quite well in that respect. At the other end are stripped roadsters without any sort of power folding top or even roll up side windows, it adds to sportyness being so stripped down that even the roof is deemed unnecessary weight. Convertibles that were revived in the 80s were stubby little K cars, Fox Mustangs, J cars, VW cabriolets etc. I’m sure they were a welcome sight for sun worshipers but they’re a different breed and they all ultimately (mostly)died again of natural causes without much hubbub, unlike the Eldo
Never was a big fan of post 1970 Eldorados myself but these had some memorable movie roles. Rolling Thunder featured one extensively, and even included dialogue talking about it being the last of the convertibles. Car chase in the first Terminator comes to mind too, this is one of the only cars that looks cool to me doing FWD burnouts
I own a 38k mile1976 Eldo convert in Firethorn red over white leather, bought it two years ago and use it all winter as a daily driver in Florida. I was 11/12 in 1976 and didn’t care for these. I grew to desire a stylish, differentiated but accessible vehicle for my winter use and it was my wife who spied this at the auction and said “that looks nice, if you buy anything,buy that”, so I did.
It is a wallowing sow of a ride and NO ONE who owns one of these has anything but scornful disdain for fuel – either the price of it or the rate at which the car consumes it. The attributes of lugubrious handling, smooth ride and voracious fuel consumption are characteristics to be celebrated in this class of car, just as conventional measures of performance are in most other cars. Throw in 190HP of scandalous under performance from 500CID and you’ve achieved peak nose-thumbing at today’s convention.
The car draws comments, gazes and attention in a manner I never expected, and I suspect I will own, drive and enjoy it for a very long time.
Just like the one in the 1976 brochure…
Back in February, Taylor’s Auto Sales in Lexington, SC had a ’75 Eldorado Convertible on their dealer lot. I think Daniel M. is correct about the turn signal bulb & lens changes between ’75 & ’76, as this one appeared to have the clear lenses. You can’t take but so well a shot when it’s dark out and the temperature is around freezing, but it would’ve been next to impossible to take it in the daytime in the same area–the traffic is MUCH busier along the intersection this dealership is near (US 1 & US 378).
This would otherwise be off-topic, but I also managed to snag a shot of both a Ford Econoline AND a Transit parked near each other at the same dealer. Both were white cargo vans in their smallest configurations & just happened to be parked alongside the Eldorado (look between the vans) when I spotted it. Again, this shot would be near-impossible to do during the day b/c of the traffic.
Nice comparison with the two cargo vans.
IIRC, the other noticable changes of the rectangular headlight, mid-seventies Eldorado were the wheel covers. I think they went from color-keyed, to black centers, and, finally, the plain brushed aluminum of the ’76.
While theses are not my favorites, their fuel consumption is not far off many 10 mpg. 60’s and 70’s cars. As daily transportation they are obsolete but as an occasional week end cruiser they are fine. You might spend an extra 40 bucks driving it over the weekend, but it doesn’t burn any gas sitting in your garage most of the time. They are collectible, but just like a Mark IV or V they only appeal to certain people. Most folks would rather have an old Mustang or Camaro
Great unstaged shots, especially like the last one, front wheel slightly turned out, front end slightly higher than the rear, ( which is impressive with all the driveline up front )
Car appears eager to hit the Highway and do what it does best, burn gasoline, I mean cruise effortlessly down it.!!!
Dear Old Dad bought a ’74 ElDo. “Front end slightly higher than the rear”? Easy. The trouble-prone self-leveling system failed. There’s nowhere near enough rear spring under the ass-end; the rest was intended to be carried by the air shocks and vacuum-powered on-board air compressor. The entire system was under-engineered. The shocks failed, the leveling valve failed, and the compressor failed.
As a car-crazed teenager, I can’t tell you how many cheap plastic headlight adjuster screws I broke trying to get the headlights pointed at the correct height…only to figure out later that the reason they kept going “too low” then “too high” was because the self-leveling was toast, the entire car was tilting up and down in back which changed the angle the headlights were shining.
Typical Cadillac Junk.
The front suspension, by comparison, was a marvel of engineering. If GM had not deliberately sabotaged the alignment angles, the rubber control-arm bushing durometer, (enormously too soft) and put too-small, too-narrow (i.e., cheap) wheels and tires on the thing, and then added larger brakes to fit the larger wheels, the Eldo and Toronado would have been truly remarkable.
I’m sorry…. but this is what a Caddy is supposed to be. Big, elegant, stylish, kind of sporty, and luxurious. People aspired to own a Cadillac. What GM designs and sells as Cadillac’s today is nonsense. Not one of the new models has the presence that these Caddy’s did.
Every time I pass a Cadillac dealership, I pull in and take a close look at CT4, CT5, and the crossover / SUV things that I can’t even think of their names (well except for the Escalade). Even though I try, and I try very hard, to accept or even like one of the new Caddy’s, I can’t. Nothing about them says Cadillac like the real ones did.
Growing up, my parents always drove Caddy’s. Dad would get a new one every few years, and mom got the hand me down one. When Dad passed, my mom stuck with Caddy for a few more years with her last one being a 1984 Eldorado, then eventually turning to Honda and hasn’t turned back since.
Every time I’m driving with her, and I see one of the new Caddy’s, I’ll point one out and ask, “Hey Ma, ya know what kindah car dat is?” (that was in my Brooklyn accent), and she usually replies, “I dont know.. it looks kind of crappy and it’s pretty non-descript”. When I tell her its a new Caddy, she just can’t believe it…
It’s a shame that this has happened to poor Cadillac.
I’ve never enjoyed driving a big car, having pretty much always gravitated toward 4 cylinder manual transmission transport vessels, but owning a full-size American convertible is still a bucket list item. There’s just something so “F&%^ You” about these cars. It’s like the guy in a tuxedo with cowboy boots. You’ve just gotta love it. A Pontiac Grand Ville would be my choice over one of these, but there’s still no denying the appeal of the Eldorado.
Drove a FUSELAGE 1971 Triple TX9 Imperial LeBaron as my daily driver for ten years! Sure, 440 fuel efficiency was atrocious at 12 mpg, but boy did that Black Beauty float, perform and look about as cool as any MOPAR I’ve ever owned . . . and it was never about what other people thought about my ride [i’m an iconoclast] just the absolute love of my daily interaction with a machine with immense elan.
This title is a mild take-off from Sting’s great song, “Fill Her Up,” from his album, Brand New Day. Great song to go along with this great old convertible! “A V-8 engine, she runs so pretty, Woo! Fill ‘er up son, with unleaded. I need a full tank of gas where I’m headed. Up in the front seat a pretty red head, we’re going to Vegas, we’re going to get wed. Fill her up son! Don’t be staring! Yeah that’s a real diamond she be wearing.”
A family member bought a “white-on-white-in-white” ’73 Eldorado with the torquey, 235-horsepower 500 cu. in. engine, and it was a handsome cruiser with the engine often “running on” after being shut off. Gas mileage was beyond terrible just about the time of the ’73 oil embargo and subsequent gas crisis and long gas-station lines, so this car’s terrible gas mileage became a real problem. The car was a smooth, effortless cruiser that never failed to get attention, but dad sold it soon thereafter.
Another comment above also mentioned Sting — amusing because I’d never heard of the song “Fill Her Up” before, so the title is a complete coincidence. But an appropriate one.
My first new car! Had it for 14 years, after some “teething” issues it was trouble free. My family took several long trips (MD to NM) and usually covered 1,000 miles the first day. Sure, 13-15 mpg on the road, but the completely flat floor meant keeping a stocked 16 quart cooler in the front floor to avoid hunger. As a car, it was comfortable, reliable and contributed to lots of good family outings.
Great story! That’s quite a First New Car. And the flat floor that can contain a big cooler sounds wonderful.
Nice to see someone enjoying their antique Caddy! Wonder how the quarter panel got dented like that?
Sometimes unappreciative riders will get kicking around in the trunk, or get a hold of the jack or its base. LoL
What’s the old saying about dogs looking like their owners?
Late
1975, I was in my mid-20s. Mobbed up boy-friend gave me a new 1976 Eldo conv., white with red interior. Drove that car from Miami Beach, Houston, Cape Code, back home to NYC. Two cats, one small dog. Best road adventures in that beautiful convertible.
Purchased a few years ago from M. Kennedy from Monroe, MI, this 1976 Bicentennial Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Convertible has been completely refurbished and is now ready for a 1 000 miles trip which will commence in September in Vienna, Austria, taking us to a sightseeing tour to the 83 castles of the Loire valley, France.