1956 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz - Congratulations, Mary-Ann

You ever see a celebrity in public and not believe it was really them? I felt that way the other night when I picked up pierogies at the supermarket down the street from my home on the west side of Cleveland, Ohio and stumbled across that big old white Cadillac. 

At first I didn't think it was that big of a deal. While you don't see 65-year old cars every day, not to mention 65-year old Cadillac's, when I obligingly crept closer to it I almost dropped my precious dumplings when I saw this wasn't just any 65-year old Cadillac but a 65-year old Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. 

I can't recall ever seeing one of these before in person before let alone at a car show. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen one at a show either. Cars like this are usually seen in museums, books or brochures - they don't really exist, do they? Well, apparently they do and in a most ordinary of settings and not even tucked away in a far off corner of the lot. I wonder what the owner was  picking up? Standing rib roast? Lobster tails? Dom Perignon? A suitcase of Miller Lite and a family size bag of Frito's? 

Cadillac's first "El Dorado", in Spanish it's actually two-words and translates to "the gilded one", was a 1952 GM Motorama showcase car meant to celebrate Cadillac's fiftieth or "golden" anniversary. For a limited production run of convertibles starting in 1953, "El Dorado" was shortened to "Eldorado". The use of either "El Dorado" or Eldorado was suggested in an in-house competition by Mary-Ann Marini who was working in Cadilliac's merchandising department. Congratulations, Mary-Ann, you named a freakin' legend. 

Cadillac did so well with the initial run of Eldorado's that they kept building the range topping coupes and charging a king's ransom for them; as much as a one-hundred percent stipend above a comparable Coupe deVille which, surprise, it shared a lot with. 

The Eldorado's price curve flattened somewhat by the mid 1960's before Cadillac switched the nameplate to GM's front-wheel-drive E-body chassis in 1967. For a while in the 1950's Cadillac Eldorado's where the most expensive cars made in the United States and "the rich"  and folks wanting to appear rich gobbled them up. Gobbled them up even if year after year, they became less exclusive and harder and harder to decipher from a Coupe deVille. All that changed in 1967 when Eldorado became an entirely different automobile. 

For 1956, along with the first major overhaul of Cadillac's vaunted overhead-valve V-8 engine that debuted in 1949, Cadillac also introduced a hardtop Eldorado they called Eldorado Seville. The convertibles like this were re-rechristened Eldorado Biarrtiz. 

Incidentally, Biarritz is a city in southwest France meanwhile Seville is a city an hour south of Cleveland. Supposedly there's also a Seville in southwest Spain the Eldo Seville was named after instead. Who knows. Such the stuff automobile historians quibble over. Cadillac used "Seville" on a series of mid-sized models from 1975 through 2004. Biarrtiz was exclusive to Eldorado. 

In my opinion, style-wise, Cadillac topped out with their 1956 models. Anything after this, with some exception, was a half-hearted attempt to out-do these elegant, somewhat understated beauties. That's saying something considering how extravagant they are but compared to the Cadillac's of 1957-1959, especially the star-crossed and utterly ridiculous '59's, these gorgeous thick-as-a-brick brutes are out and out conservative looking.  Note the expired temp tag. When you're rich you can get away with such things. 

I didn't take any pictures of the interior, folks tend to frown on that, but it's hysterical to see just how small and cramped it is compared to how huge the exterior of the car is.  This crazy pointless bumper doo-dad was called a "dagmar" and legend has it it was meant to denote...err, sorry. This is a family friendly blog. 

Back in the late 1970's, my mother insisted my father trade in the 1968 Ford Ranch Wagon he'd been driving for the better part of a decade and get a Cadillac. Much to my mild protest and filibustering that a Buick and an Oldsmobile where the equal if not superior to a Cadillac at that time, my mother could not be swayed - she insisted that there was nothing like a Cadillac and only a Cadillac would do. 

It's crystal clear to me now that what she wanted was a vehicle celebrity like our '56 Eldorado here and not the wannabee 1972 deVille she got instead. That broken down lump eventually replaced by a 1979 deVille that was an even bigger poser

2000 Cadillac Eldorado - When Are You Going To Pick It Up?

I've had my eyes open for one of these Cadillac Eldorado's since they went on sale back in 1992. GM hasn't made them since 2002 so they're getting very rare and the ones I've found up here in Cleveland have been rust buckets so imagine how excited I was when my latest "cheap car search" unveiled this rust-free 2000 "ESC" with just 98,000 miles on it and an asking price of under four-grand. Let's go! 

Sadly, the earliest versions of these cars are actually the ones you want to get your hands on. Those being the ones with the 4.9 liter V-8 engine that started out as the infamous "HT4100" mess than inhaled head gaskets like Cheeto's and couldn't punch a hole in a soaking wet Kleenex. GM eventually worked out most of the kinks and made it into what they should have had from the get go but the problem is the interiors of those 1992 and 1993 4.9 liter versions screams 1980's; GM updated the interior for 1996. Furthermore, just as GM got the old HT4100 right they came out with their "world-beating" Northstar V-8 that while a strong performer out of the box, was just as notorious if not worse than the old HT4100 was for catastrophic failure. However, rumor has it GM fixed those issues come model year 2000. For the record, "Northstar" replaced the old 4.9 in the Eldorado ETC  (Eldorado Touring Coupe) for 1993 and a somewhat less potent version of it was put in place for the "ESC" (Eldorado Sports Coupe) for 1994.  

So, with the improved interior and fortified Northstar this silver fox thought he'd spend an afternoon  after working from home with this silver fox. 

To say I was somewhat dismayed when I realized this car was a good ten footer is an understatement. The driver's door would not close properly without slamming it shut nor was the left side of the hood aligned with the fender properly. Bolts on the top of the fender weren't centered in their holes either - this thing's been in an accident although the CarFax said nothing about one. 

More driver's door shenanigans - there was water in the cutout on the armrest for the door pull and the power lock switch was pushed out behind the bezel. Worse yet, the bezel was loose so it looked like someone had tried to fix it but gave up. Ok. Simple enough stuff. No biggie. Bargaining chips if anything. 

She fired right up and had the smooth, manly growl I love but the check engine light was on. Lovely. Then I noticed the ABS and Traction Control Lights were also on along with the Service Tire Pressure Monitor warning. Oh, brother. And the AC wouldn't blow cold. Another scrolling message on the dash saying that the refrigerant was gone. Thanks for the update. 

Out on the road is where things got really, really bad. The car had no pickup. I mean, none. I told my very nice and accommodating "product specialist" who came with me that the lack of power reminded me of the "HT4100" powered two-ton Cadillac's from the early '80's. I mean, this thing had trouble getting out of first gear! Worse yet, when I'd floor the gas peddle an ominous yet flaccid roar came from the left side of the engine and that damn check engine started blinking. Blinking! That's not good. Suffice to say I'd venture to guess the head gasket or gaskets were gone on this thing. Yes, an engine with a bad head gasket will turn over and run, but with the compression shot in one if not both banks, the engine makes little to no power. If you can find a mechanic who'll do head gaskets on a Northstar you're looking at around seven thousand dollars. Good luck finding a junker to swap and I've yet to see anyone swap a 3800 V-6 into one of these. What a shame. For us fans of these cars there are few other cars like them. 

We limped back into the dealership with the Northstar losing even more power the warmer it got. I swear it had trouble getting up the curb cutout to get into the parking lot. My sales guy telling me that the row of cars this was in was their "auction row" of cars that they don't check anything on. So, at that, four-grand or so was all the money in the world for a worn the hell out old Cadillac that needs just about everything. Even at a thousand dollars this car's a useless money pit. 

He joked through his mask as he elbow bumped goodbye, "so, when are going to pick it up?"