TBT…

Back to the old cars again, and this time, the FIRST Cadillac Eldorado… This was based on the 1952 Futurama show car, and the same year the Corvette debuted…

$8000 in 1953 was damn near a house, if not MORE than a lot of houses cost…

331CI/210HP, with hydraulic top and windows, it was the lap of luxury back in the day…

I helped restore one of these back in the late 70s, and the amount of corrosion due to the hydraulics was MASSIVE… Two years and a bunch of money (thankfully not mine, I was cheap labor), and it was complete as built/delivered. Tuxedo black, black and white interior, original wire wheels, and forty yards of #$#&*% chrome that we spent a month polishing… And I think he got $80K for it. Today, that car would be worth north of $200K!!!

And no, I never even got to drive it… sigh…

Comments

TBT… — 16 Comments

  1. Absolutely beautiful!

    But it’s funny how none of them are actually driving in those pictures. They’re in the yacht club parking lot bragging to their friends.

    As they should be.

  2. Love it! Sad you didn’t get to drive it really. I love all old cars. Even the ugly ones. Why? Because they are gems.

  3. I just wonder what it would feel like now to have bench seats and a column gear shift. I wish I had the time, money and space to work on one of the antiques. There are plenty of them around, but nothing I can afford or have an area to restore one.

  4. MiGod! that looks like it would be a stone bitch to drive in traffic. It’s frickin’ HUGE! Probably has the turn radius of the Queen Mary. Reminds me of a line form the original version of THE HITCHHIKERS’ GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (the radio play); “Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow”.

    But I’m a mediocre driver at best (and drive VERY careful, because I know it) and that probably colors my thinking.

    Y’ know what the worst thing about knowing I’m a poor driver its? I’ve passed every driver’s exam I’ve ever taken the first time. Every one (and I’ve lived in several states.) And I know full well there are people on the roads that had to take their tests multiple times.

    *cringe*

  5. My parents first house cost them something like $6500.

    Hagerty values that 1953 model at $152k in #3 (“Good”) condition to $196k in #2 (“Excellent”) condition to #256k in Concours condition.

  6. One of my win-the-lottery dreams would be to rescue every abandoned classic/antique car I see moldering anywhere, restore it, and sell it to someone who will love and care for it properly. Such grand machines.

  7. Photos en route via e-mail. Don’t drool on your screen.

  8. Those were the days. Open the hood and you could see the ground underneath. One belt driving the water pump and generator. No seat belts, no A/C. EMP? There was an EMP today?

  9. PH- You’d need a BUNCH of $$ to do that…

    Stretch- Thanks, loved them!

    RHT- Excellent point, AND you could work on the damn thing yourself!!!

  10. Hi NFO!!!!,
    Can’t help but chime in with my 2 cents worth!! The Caddy!! But look at the front bumper… those 2 “Protruding En”TITIES!!!” I recall a few years ago now, at dinner with my at the time wife and friends and don’t remember how the conversation got around to it but the lady was going on about her lack of “Assets” in the “BOOB Dept.” and said that she wished she had a “Pair of CADILLAC BUMPERS!!!!” Nuff said!! (No shit this is a true story!!)
    skybill-out