Description
Finished in Firethorn Red with White convertible top and white leather upholstery, this 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible is showing 89319 miles recorded and has just arrived in the UK. All duties and shipping have been paid, I’m currently just waiting on the new V5C. It is currently insured on the VIN until I have the UK registration. I’m only selling it as I lost my large storage (this happened after I bought the car), for now it’s safely stored in a smaller unit, going forward I simply just don’t have the room.
What can you say about the Cadillac Eldorado? This was the very last word in luxury motoring in the 70´s. In 1976 Cadillac stopped making convertibles, this car has the 500 CID V8 engine, that’s 8. 2 litres and was the biggest engine fitted to a production car at the time. You know what they say, there’s no replacement for displacement. It has factory options like cruise control, climate control A/ C, heated rear window, power windows, power brakes, power top, adjustable drivers door mirror etc.
It’s a very clean car, runs and drives, and starts first time, automatic choke works when you start from cold.…it’s also very quiet too.
This car has had a recent major service, with new plugs, oil, oil filters, new gaskets, front and rear shocks, new tyres etc. In the photos there is a handwritten list of work and parts that have been replaced recently. It comes out to about $3k without his time for fitting the parts.
Anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of driving a mid 70s Cadillac might be forgiven for imagining them to be quite intimidating out on the road. They are in fact, incredibly easy and pleasurable to drive. This car fires up on the first turn of the key and that big lazy 500cu V8 settles down to a smooth tick over. The steering is super light and visibility is excellent, you very soon forget you are driving a car so large it has its own postcode. I don’t have a lot history on the car, I bought it from an old friend in Minneapolis who has spent the last year getting it roadworthy. He saw it for sale in his neighbours driveway, the neighbour had owned it for 20 or 30 years, it had been dry stored and not used for at least the past 10 years. They did a deal and it moved across the street when my friend got it roadworthy, he has included lots of receipts for the new parts that he needed to get the car running and reliable again.
I first saw it about a year ago, it wasn’t for sale at the time.
Earlier this year he mentioned he was thinking of selling. The idea of a road trip to California came up as I was going over for a few weeks, so I agreed to buy it on my holiday in April.
I flew to Minnesota with every intention of driving to California, he had prepared the car for a long trip and was confident it would be all good to go.
Unfortunately, the weather in April/ May wasn’t great, with a forecast of 5 days of rain across the US, hurricanes hitting the mid west and the only nice weather seemed to be in California and parts of Nevada…I didn’t fancy driving a convertible with 5 days of bad weather as part of my holiday. The timing was just wrong. I had a quick rethink and thought what if I just shipped it back to the UK, which is what I did in the end.
I’m a great believer in showing warts and all, so I am happy to answer any questions on the car, I show the bad points as well as the good points as I don’t want to waste anyones time.
The paint work on the car is fair, by that I mean it looks great in the photos, its a solid rust free car (except a few tiny bubble just starting on the rear passenger wheel arch, which might be missed unless your looking for it). I want to say it has original paint, but I can see tell tale signs of overspray in small places, so I can say it has had some localised paint work done in the past. It has the usual paint chips for a 49 year old car, I´ve taken photos to show all of the imperfections. The previous owner fitted replacement front and rear fender filler panels, the original ones dry and crumble over the years. He painted the new parts to match the car colour, but it’s not the best paint job.
The power hood is in great condition and is fully functional, the passenger side tension cable was broken (there is a new one that comes with the car but not fitted), because of this the centre support bar in the top was removed (just so it didn´t damage the top when using it (its also in the boot).
If it had a black interior you wouldn’t notice the patina as much I think, but being bright white you can notice the cracks in the leather surface, the white has yellowed in places, the door arm rest have cracks due to age of the material used, the dash has a very small crack too. I’m sure these can be repaired by a good auto detailer. The carpet is red, in fair condition, faded a little in places but generally very nice. The boot has black wool like carpet over the floor and sidesa (including the spare wheel). There are a couple of age related cracks in the steering wheel. The AM radio works, but nothing as yet on the FM, but there is a freshly rebuilt antenna in the boot (not fitted yet), so FM might work once fitted. There is also brand new rubber weather seals for the windscreen side pillars (not fitted).
There is also a full size car cover included with the car, plus 2 service books (1974 and a 75 edition), 2 factory dealer books included also, these are showing paint colour samples and interior material samples (I saw a similar set on eBay selling for £500). It also has the hard parade top cover (two half), and for now it’s in the boot, but you can see it fitted when the car was in the US.
The Cadillac has historic car status and is registered as such, making it both MOT and ULEZ exempt.
Here is a link to photos as found, in transit and then here in the UK, the most recent photos were taken this weekend, along with a little film where I´ve tried to show as much of the car as possible. Once I have the UK plates I will take fresh photos.
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