(first posted 12/11/2017) Again I visited my Mom last Friday, and went out for a run. This time I stumbled upon an American luxury icon. Well, maybe not this specific Malaise-Era Eldorado.
The vision I saw from across the street was this beauty (?!), flanked by two generation 6 Golfs, which quite remarkably manage to dwarf the Eldorado:
I never cease to be amazed at the difference between classic and contemporary cars – their size, their proportions or their (quite evident by this photo) wheel size.
Moving in closer, the majestic blue rears its head. It actually looks quite good. As for the Caddie itself? well alright, it’s got all its trim, even the emblems. But it’s also obvious this has not been restored and is a weekend car, not being moved much. I don’t know if you can see some washout under its wheels from a recent rain.
Parked in the sun too long, as you can tell by the cracked rubber (and burned paint clear-coat). Also, it carries foreign license plates, white at the front, yellow at the rear – British? It’s obviously a new import, but you’d expect it to come from the US. Curious.
I’ll finish off with this photo of a classic Eldorado most certainly not common in Israel. Not that I’m a Cadillac expert, but judging by the front grill I’d place this one at around 1984-1985.
Plate looks french
My thoughts exactly. “75” = Paris
Thanks, the white front/yellow rear threw me off but French it is.
The Eldorado is an ultra-deluxe Biarritz!
Back in the 1980s no one would of believed all the SUV & CUV now on the road. It is amazing how the Golfs dwarf the Cadillac by being taller & just as wide.
The difference in height is really startling. In the second picture, the Eldorado appears as if it’s three-quarter size.
A very nice car and Wifey and I got to ride in one a few times, but being technically a pillarless hardtop, why the fixed rear glass?
It is things like these why I got to HATE GM back in the 70s-90s.
I didn’t know of the fixed rear glass — ugh.
Bring back the hardtops!
Is that really burnt clear coat? I didn’t think Cadillac was clear coating cars this early, but could be wrong. If the issue is that hood, paint wear on the hood was a GM thing from the 80s, even with single stage paint finishes. All 3 of the 1984-88 B bodies I owned suffered from it. And oddly, in each case and with each color (white, metallic navy blue and metallic copper) the fender tops right next to the hoods shined beautifully.
Someone once told me that GM used aluminum for the hoods and that the heat/cool cycles of that metal overtaxed the paint’s ability to keep up, causing a bazillion little teeny cracks in the hood finish.
GM did use aluminum for hoods on these cars and on some of the G Body cars however they were not consistent and also used steel hoods. When ordering new hood hinges it was always good to take a magnet to the hood to see if it stuck. because you wanted to make sure you got the correct hood hinges for the aluminum hoods because if you used ones for the steel hood, then you risked bending the hood in half when closing it because the ones for the steel hood have more spring tension.
An interesting mystery —
Are there any window stickers or other clues that might suggest what country it came from? Does Israel allow 2 different plates?
There were some stickers present on the front windshield, but sadly I neglected to photograph them. Self face-palm indeed.
My wife gave her father a white on white on white ’84? Eldorado Biarritz to drive when he stayed at her place in Palm Springs in the winters in the late 80’s, early 90’s. The ? on the date is that it was a V 8-6-4 that was disabled. Fun to drive in a bizarre way, especially in Palm Springs.
Couldn’t figure out why the cruise would disengage, turns out it was GM protecting us from ourselves. If you set the cruise @ 82, and went down a grade once you hit 85, boom, off!
Now the cruise will engage a lower gear.
The Cadillac version of this E-body is the best version of the 3 used by the various divisions at the time. The Riviera (sp?) ran it a close 2nd, while the Toronado looked just 1 step above what Chevy might have done for styling if it had had a version.
Colors are so classy looking, even today.
As others have said, incredible size difference. It looks like one of those laughably faked car ads where the manufacturer has used trick photography to emphasize how roomy the newest Golf is.
“So big inside, you won’t even need that SUV and it’s 3 rows of seats.”
I agree on the color. That navy blue with a slight metallic was popular in the 80s on more traditional cars, and looked really great with some chrome to set it off. The 85 Crown Victoria that my mother picked out (and that I later bought from her) was that color, with a matching navy vinyl roof and velour interior. It was a really attractive car when it was all cleaned up.
I too agree on the color. My father bought a Caprice Brougham LS new in late 1988; it was metallic blue and looked really sharp in that color. Then again, it seems like the majority of Caprice Broughams around where I lived at that time (central/southern Ontario) were the exact same color.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I’ll take the Toronado amongst the 1979-1985 GM E-K bodies. The Riviera is a distant 2nd as the Toro’s crisp front and rear end designs harmonized better with the formal roof and wide C-pillar. I give Buick credit for the sail-mounted mirrors, available (and rare) aluminum wheels, and the solid-feel door handles.
So you ask “why don’t I rank the Eldorado higher than 3rd place?” Simply, the engines were horrible quality nightmares. And the fit & finish was no different than the Olds or Buick.
Regardless of the brand, beware of the sagging headliners, the disintegrating bumper fillers, and the cheap turn signal stalks.
My favorite generation of Eldorado, for all its flaws. They just weren’t the same after this one.
That’s originally a US- or Canada-spec car; a French- (or other European-) spec unit would look like this from the rear.
As for its trim level: probably one of the most mispronounced ever. I’ve heard “Britz”, “by-YARR-ritz”, “BYER-itz”, “BY-ritz”, and I actually ran into one nitwit who pointed to the script and insisted it’s “By-YARR-itty”.
Daniel, I’d say the last “y” should not be there (you can always call me if you need a nitwit) No problem in Israel, though. Nobody cares much about pronunciation. In any case, in Ashdod there is a sizable French community. Why expensive American cars needed foreign names, which so often were misspronounced? Cadillac is a case in point…
What a coincidence, Collectible Automobile got a featuring article about the 1979-85 Cadillac Eldorado in the recent issue. 😉
Nice find! Israel seems like a real melting pot of cars, not unlike Turkey, which surprised me when visited there a few years ago. And indeed an interesting size and shape contrast between the Eldo and the Golfs. As for the use of European placenames on American cars, I honestly think that given the large population of the US, more Americans associate names like LeMans or Monte Carlo or Monza with cars than with European locales. Well, at least 20 years ago. And I suspect that even its heyday as a resort, Biarritz was almost unknown to most Americans. I just did a little research and learned that Biarritz is not too far from Cadillac, France, but was not yet a resort in Antoine’s time; in fact there probably weren’t many resorts anywhere in the 17th and 18th centuries.
To answer the author’s implied question of “this beauty (?!),” my vote is for “!” not “?”
This generation Eldo arrived in 1979 and, in addition to being 20″ shorter and over 1000 lbs. lighter (were the ’78s really over 5,000 lbs. — yikes), they had much cleaner styling.
To me, it’s a very well-executed combination of classic long-hood, short-deck proportions, traditional Cadillac styling cues, and a confident stance.
Those traditional Cadillac styling cues soon fell out of style, of course, and Cadillac didn’t find a suitable replacement until the XLR and Art & Science came along in the next century. Maybe that’s why these still appeal to me. At a time when personal luxury coupes were still a signal of economic success, and when vertical chrome grills and bladed fenders still looked contemporary, this was a very successful execution.
Well, to each his own. Of course you’re entitled to your opinion. To me (especially from afar, especially as I was without my glasses) it looked much like a 1980 Cutlass Supreme…
Great catch, great pics! It’s funny… this generation of Eldorado didn’t really do much for me when they were fairly common. Removed thirty-plus years, I think they have really fantastic style. There are a few details I’d change, but love how even in your profile shots of this Eldorado it looks longer than it is for great dramatic effect.
This old Caddy is well kept. There is a Sedan de Ville of similar vintage near where I live that’s slowly being consumed by the grass on the lawn where it’s parked. I’m sure the two VWs are much roomier on the inside and more practical, which is probably why these personal luxury coupes fell out of favor. For some reason I always liked these Caddies; probably because they came in a more manageable size than the leviathans they replaced?
I had a chance to drive one of these on a longish trip in the late 80’s. Very nice long distance car!
A nice looking car and one that still had that exclusive Cadillac “vibe”. These ’79=’85 E-bodies received high praise when they were introduced and sold much better than the downsized nondescript cars that replaced them.
A 4-dr version of this is what the ’80 Seville should have been, not that abomination GM foisted upon the world. Somebody here should photoshop a mockup of what that might have looked like. I’ll bet it would have looked pretty nice.
+1 for your Seville suggestion.
Nice find- it was a pretty car when it was new, and still wears that bodystyle well. We bought an ’84 new- had to order it, because Firemist Paint with a Vinyl Roof, Cloth Interior, and the Touring Suspension just wasn’t a dealer stock item. Even got special plates- “B430.” I thought being able to afford a car like that before I turned 30 was quite an accomplishment. Sadly, it turned into one of the most troublesome cars we’ve ever owned. I sold it a year later an bought a Cutlass Supreme… ich is probably what I should have bought in the first place. ’79-80 were the best years for these cars. After that, the 8-6-4 and the aluminum 4100 turned the car into a shadow of its former self.
As ever, thanks for all your comments.
🙂
Hey. Are you still okay? I haven’t seen you post or comment lately. Hopefully I just over looked. Praying for you and all of Israel.
Nice, but this generation looked best without all the gingerbread that came with the Biarritz. Without a landau roof it was stunning.
I would proudly drive any of the 79-85 E-body cars…a neighbor got a new 79 Toronado, dark gray, red leather, no vinyl top, aside from the cheesy wire wheel covers it was amazing.
For that matter, I briefly owned a bustleback Seville, and aside from the strange exterior styling it was a really nice car, albeit under powered with the 4100 under the hood. Light metallic green with sort of olive green pillow tufted leather…
Looks like the stand up hood ornament got stolen for some kid’s belt buckle or key chain. I also liked the Astro Roof. The Eldorado & Rivera looked ok as convertibles, even though the roof chopping came later.
Was it one of these that HB Halicki used in the Junkman 2 movie?
One of my favorite Eldos, just get one with the 350 Olds engine. There were a number of Cadillacs at my office that had the trouble some HT4100. Lot’s of leaking head gaskets that lead to even more serious problems. Probably most of the cars were purchased used, out of warranty. This engine really killed off the desire of most potential buyers to aspire to a used Caddy. One guy had a beautiful steel top, green Eldo with the HT4100. When I heard that he wanted to sell it I asked how it ran with the 4100, Slow, was his answer.
I know GM was in a panic about fuel mileage and CAFE, but this was as small as the Eldorado should have got.
Aren’t the proportions interesting when viewed alongside the Golfs? Its lowness allows it to carry off the downsizing without compromising its appearance. Even in this Mediterranean setting it looks special; not something that could have been said of its successor. While obviously a different take on luxury, it avoids the overblown hugeness of its predecessor and the toylike proportions of its successor, while not being too chintzy to be taken seriously. Well done Cadillac stylists. (And you never thought I’d say that!)
Growing up (I was 4 when this body came out) and being very interested in cars, I thought this Eldorado was the epitome of wealth. I had the pleasure of driving a 1983 Biarritz recently and what really struck me were some things from the interior. The plushness of the carpet. The Cadillac chime that I’ve heard in no other GM car. The almost yellow warm interior lights that made the interior look like a picture from a welcoming ad. The other thing that stood out (and it’s evident when compared to the VWs in the pictures), was how narrow the interior felt with a passenger sitting next to me. My old Ford Focus felt roomier.
I test drove a Golf like those recently for a mate, never realised it was the size of a small Cadillac
It’s a shame so many of these have landau roofs and those awful FWD fake wire wheels. I’ve been weekly emailed new Eldorado Hemmings ads for several years now, and 90% of this generation are Biarritzes.
hi yohai
i love you blog – how can i talk to you? i have a great story for you 🙂
10x,
aviv