Cheers or Jeers: 663 Mile 1976 Cadillac Eldorado

[wildmanjoe]

Cheers or Jeers: 670 Mile 1976 Cadillac Eldorado

Link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/...=item23195c0508

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible. As new, highly desired Firethorn Metallic/White/White, under 700 miles. Window sticker on car. Original tires, belts, hoses, everything including fillers. All options but non EFI... (huge bonus). Museum history. Just another one of the many stored as new 76 Eldorado Convertibles, but not just another one that was neglected as so many were with storage damage. For just another 76 convertible, I would say this car encompasses the best color combination. This is not another mom/pop throw in the garage and forget car here, a real survivor kept by a real car person. I tend to stay away from 76s as they are a high production car .. but even with their high production, they really have a low survival %. At least to high standards. This one here is in the top % of good true originals, thus I could not say no to such an excellent example. The color combo, condition and low miles on this car pretty much put it as a holy grail of the 76 Eldorados, at least to me.

They called these cars the "last of the breed". They were so "last" they built 14,000 of the darn things. The highest production Eldorado Convertible of all times. Probably more than any other car in the history of cars to date, these cars were saved as collectors items from new. 1976 was really kind of the start of the car collecting phenomena of buying a brand new car and saving them undriven from new. Of course very few people knew how to store a car long term and the build quality of these cars were not exactly stellar either... Many thought it neat to buy a car and collect it at first but it soon got old quick with a large car in their garage with lawn mowers hitting it, kids bikes and more. All the while the nice family station wagon (that would be rare today) was sitting in the driveway rotting away fast. Because it got old fast, many "collectors" sold them in the first few years flooding the market with these things low mile so much it has carried over 35+ years later today. However these cars have now earned their respect as collectors and have finally seen the values that GM thought they would have 30 years ago.... BUT only the few good ones. So many 76s are low mile but so many have storage damage its not funny... None of these cars really were worn out.... They were either weathered out or beaten to death from improper storage.

Today 76 Eldorados are a true desired collector. If a person has a diverse car collection, more than likely, a 76 Eldorado Convertible is in the mix. These are not the rare year Eldorados like the RWD 53-66 Eldorado (2000 or under per year) or an 84-85 Eldorado (2300 or under). But even with so many saved from new and so many that are actual low mile cars, they are not as easy as the internet will have you think to find one that stood the test of time properly and is truly a good original. Probably more of these cars were simply "wasted" because people all thought they had gold on their hands but they treated their gold like tin and neglected the heck out of the cars.

Anyway, a 76 Eldorado Convertible is a neat car. It is a collectible car, it is a good looking car. Rare they are not. But there is one example of a 76 that is rare as far as production #s. That is the "last 200" white bicentennial cars. Although there is nothing the bicentennial offered that could not have been ordered in any of the 14000 other ones (incuding the seat piping), what makes the Bicentennial rare is it has the $ 2.00 plaque and is actually one of the last 200 made...The down side for me is the Bicentennial only came in white... But they are the most collectible of the 76s... Why dont I have one???? I would but for me, put a white one next to to this Firethorn car, I dont care what is rare but I know what is good looking. There is no comparison.

Again the car here is original down to the tires, fillers exhaust, belts, hoses, AC, everything. The window sticker is on the car. Although the top section of the sticker is torn off from age and the window going down the few times it has been moved, it is retained in its original position and never tampered with. If you review the window sticker, this car also encompasses EVERY option less the troublesome power robbing fuel injection. (bad option there) The hubcaps are white on this car because they are the bicentennial caps. All 76s have black hubcaps except for the bicentennial. The white just sets this car off so I put them on. Of course I have the black set too. As a redundant answer, the paint of course is 100% original and it is 100% in show condition. No, they never were made that way, but this car has received polishing to its original lacquer paint and a high level of detail that leaves it looking about 40% better than the day it was made. You have to start with a real good car to be able to do this to an original lacquer car and to do this was not one or two weekends but about 3 weeks of work! No they never looked this good new, yet this is still 100% original! This one is, to date, the best looking most striking 76 Eldoraodo I have ever seen... and that goes all the way back to new.

Offered for sale to the discriminating collector world wide.

[ocnblu]

Red with white interior and wheelcovers... haven't seen one like that before.

EDIT: read the article, the white wheel covers do not belong on it, but at least the seller has the original black ones, which would be on it in a heartbeat if I had it.

Edited February 4, 2012 by ocnblu

[§carlet §wordfish]

Beautiful. It's expensive to be sure, but if you want a (like) new Cadillac convertible right now, this is a great example. And Cadillac sure isn't going to make another convertible this big.

[Robert Hall]

Beautiful car....

And Cadillac sure isn't going to make another convertible this big.

Yeah...the only thing near this size today at Cadillac is an Escalade ESV...

[67impss]

Slade is smaller I believe at least narrower for sure.

[§carlet §wordfish]

In that same vein, I believe the Escalade should be made in sedan, coupe, and convertible bodystyles.

[Robert Hall]

Slade is smaller I believe at least narrower for sure.

Slightly...the '70s Eldo is about 0.8 inch wider and about 2 inches longer also...what a difference in style, though...the Escalade is just a big blingy truck.

[Robert Hall]

In that same vein, I believe the Escalade should be made in sedan, coupe, and convertible bodystyles.

But lower..w/ more car-like height....would be an interesting project for a customizer to build a modern Fleetwood Brougham off an Escalade platform...or a Sixteen-like vehicle. It's too bad the Sixteen was never built..what a shape.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[smk4565]

Cheers, this is perhaps the last time Cadillac was Cadillac. Although $60k or more is a bit steep.

[balthazar]

Problem here (and I'm not up on the market on these), is that like 90% were garaged as future collectibles. 670 miles is fantastic, but '76 E convert must have the lowest average mileage by year/ make/ model of ANY production car 25-50 yrs old.

>>"Cheers, this is perhaps the last time Cadillac was Cadillac."<<

Mission statements can & do change- the CTS is very much the (new) Cadillac.

[SAmadei]

In that same vein, I believe the Escalade should be made in sedan, coupe, and convertible bodystyles.

But lower..w/ more car-like height....would be an interesting project for a customizer to build a modern Fleetwood Brougham off an Escalade platform...or a Sixteen-like vehicle. It's too bad the Sixteen was never built..what a shape.

I love this idea. I'd drive a Escalade coupe or convertible dropped in the weeds in a heartbeat.