I started working at Haritage Cadillac in Atlanta around 1973. Young 19 year old. During the 70s got to deliver all of those great caddies from Atlanta to south Florida on many occasions. Drive them down and then fly back. What a great time for a young 20 something.
Just a suggestion: I’d love it if you’d put arrows to elements that you’re talking about in your videos. It would help a non-expert like me. Love the videos!
Here's a fun Eldorado story. So I had an aunt that lived her whole life in Las Vegas and my cousins grew up there too. We used to fly out and visit her in the summertime. When I was just 16, we went out there and she handed me her keys to her nearly new 1976 white Eldorado convertible. She knew all the bad guys that ran the town, even babysitting for some of them. When I took that Caddy out to cruise, I felt like I was the king of the world, lol. Everywhere I went, they knew exactly whose car that was and because I was family, I was always treated like a king. That town was a lot different back in those days! The feeling of driving that beast out in the desert was exhilarating! Cool car for sure!
Thank you for everything you do but a special thanks for pausing on the tires. I saw those and thought, "Who is making a reproduction of the Uniroyal tire?". That tread pattern is so distinctive that nearly 50 years later I picked up on it. Well done as always.
Nobody is making a reproduction of the tread, but you can get the wide whitewalls in the correct size from Coker Tire. They are NOT cheap, and my understanding is they are poor quality. They are made for show cars, not daily driving.
These cars are insane. Growing up in this era, we really didn't know how good we had it. We were bombarded with ideations of space, robots, and future, but didn't properly appreciate the present. Couldn't see the forest for the trees type thing I suppose.
Adam, Over the years there have been many car models named after cities. I believe the Eldorado Biarritz is one of the few cars bigger than the town it was named after. 😉 On the subject of style, I don't know if aircraft carrier-sized hoods will ever come back in fashion but red dashboards and red steering wheels are overdue for a comeback. 🤩🤩
Unfortunately, colour choices are very limited today. Some manufactures now only offer white, black, silver or grey exterior, with a charcoal grey interior on some models.
@rightlanehog3151. It really was nice when GM named their cars after destinations that we fantasized about traveling to like the Riviera, Biarritz , Bellaiire, Biscayne etc and even fantasy places like Eldorado. It made the model names aspirational allowing the designers to make the cars more fantasy like. Like this Eldorodo I had a LeSabre and my father had a Delta 88 each of which had hoods so long that the fronts of the cars arrived five minutes before we did. Those were the days when we were afforded a lifestyle I doubt we’ll ever attain again. It was a way time to be alive.
@rightlanehog3151. Unfortunately limited interior color choices are the norm since the mid 1980 since Detroit took the lead from Japan due to lower production costs by limiting the interior color choices to two color options .
"Be Thankful for What You Got was not a song by Curtis Mayfield, but William DeVaughn (common mistake). And the "diamond in the back" refers to a custom vinyl top that literally reduced the rear glass to the shape of a diamond. I know - my neighbor had one circa '74.
@@sterlinsilverHaha, brings back great memories! Can't picture an average Cadillac driver sayin' " Breaker, breaker..."! Of course now all this talk of Cadillacs makes me think of Johnny Cash's Caddy that he "picked up at the factory.." ~ten-4, good buddy!
Adam,you brought back memories of me working at a Shell service station in high school.We had 3 bays and a regular customer had his Biarritz in for service and a recently hired cocky older mechanic failed to drain the second drain plug claiming it didn’t drain any oil.Our head mechanic called him out on it and they actually almost came to blows over it.The owner came out of his office and and reminded cocky that the customer also brought his 59 Lincoln and his late model Jaguar in for service.Cocky kept talking the same shit and was subsequently fired on the spot.Mike the Greek
Much love from Denmark! The most outrageous automobile we had at the time must have been a six cylinder Ford Granada 😍 This vehicle is just over the top 😇😍🤩
Ten years ago I had a 44k mile Eldo in this same color inside and out. You are right it is a good color combo. Very smooth and nice driver. Sadly, after so many pimp references I gave up and sold it. I did have to replace the hydro boost when it began to leak. Cadillac anticipated this and there was a little trough below the hydro boost to prevent the fluid from dripping straight down onto the exhaust pipe.
Great coverage. One possible point of correction. I believe the trumpet horn was standard on all Cadillacs from the early 1960s. I'm not sure which year it started. I lived in the Detroit area then and you always knew a car was a Cadillac due to the unique horn. I had a 1972 Coupe de Villle, a 1975 Sedan de Ville, and a 1979 Sedan de Ville. The latter two were purchased new. They all had them. I don't recall the trumpet horn being an option on the two I got new. Buicks at some point offered it as an option. I have no idea when. I custom ordered a 1976 Park Avenue and wanted the horn to sound like a Cadillac, so I ordered it as an option. I could be wrong about the Caddys coming with the horn as standard, though. Age is catching up with my memory!
An aunt and uncle of mine had a ‘78 Biarritz, in triple yellow. Theirs had the ASC sunroof. My aunt drove the Biarritz, and my uncle drove a Squarebody Suburban.
Of all the cars I've owned, my favorite was a 1979 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham, white vinyl over white with gold pinstriping and a saddle tan velour interior, 8 track and climate control. It was surprisingly torquey, drawing raves from every mechanic who worked on it and would peg the 85 mph speedometer without breaking a sweat. Smooth as silk with a ride that was stable rather than floaty as were most of the 1977 downsized GM B bodies. And with all that, got 20 city and hwy combined. At 55 mph on the interstate, it would approach 30 mpg.
Always wanted the 76 Bicentennial Eldorado. Loved the white with red dashboard and carpet, plus the white painted hubcaps. Saw this 78 one on Competition Cars.
5:03 Great song, but it's not a Curtis Mayfield song. You're thinking of "Just Be Thankful for What You've Got" by William DeVaughn. Curtis Mayfield sang "Superfly" from the movie of the same name. The title character drove an El Dorado customized by Dunham Coach. The company is still in business.
At about the 5-minute mark you reference a Curtis Mayfield song. It is not Curtis Mayfield. It is William DeVaughn, "be thankful for what you got", 1974. The song and those lyrics are repeatedly attributed to Mayfield who was an incredible talent, but Mr DeVaughn deserves his due. He is still alive and well at age 76.
Diamond in the Back was an aftermarket custom padded vinyl (or leather) Landau, or full, vinyl top, with the cutout for the backlite (rear window) being in the shape of a diamond.
@@DanEBoyd No. Produced by Frank Fioravanti and John Davis...among the countless great tracks out of Philadelphia in that era with MFSB backing the singer, including the great Earl Young on drums at Sigma Sound.
Beautiful car - I also love white with red interior though I'm personally fond of black exterior with red interiors. Thanks for sharing this video and information, Adam.
A really beautiful and classy American behemoth of the late seventies. What a pleasure cruiser of an automobile. Wish I had garage space for that monster! Enjoyed the video, thanks 😊
The car videos are terrific. Thank you for the work you've done. I have a '78 Eldorado and the biggest challenge for me is lifting the hood. Wow...those are enormous and heavy but add so much to the love I have for this car. Pewter with silver vinyl roof and very light gray leather interior. To me, a timeless color combination. Driving this machine on the road is almost as satisfying as staring at it in the driveway, lol.
ASC did more than just sunroofs -- among other things they did the conversion from hard top to convertible for a lot of cars in the 80s -- they did the 1985 Toyota Celica convertible. I believe they also did one for Infiniti in the early 90s as well.
Yep, they actually did all the Celica convertibles that were sold in the US until 1998 (the last year a Celica convertible was available). They also did all the Buick GN's that were converted to GNX's.
Hey Adam, in response to your request for other Brougham content, I submit the last of the B/D bodies, the 94-96 Fleetwood Brougham. I owned one for a few years, and loved the excess of having a 2 row sedan that was as long as a Suburban. Fender mounted indicator lights, rear seat vanity mirrors, LT1 V8, everything on that car was 2.5 tons of fun.
Love the long hood on that beauty. There’s a person in my area who drives a 1978 Oldsmobile Toronado that’s in very nice condition. I see it quite often.
Adam - I love that you’re using this example from Bill at Competition Cars. He always has great examples of American Luxo-Cruisers. Keep up the great work!
Growing up, my grandfather always had white Eldorado’s with red interior. He had many until his death in the late 1990s. Such amazing memories. I particularly remember the stainless steel roof.
Except for my 1954 Nash Ambassador, this is the most beautiful car. I test drove a new one at Bob Spreen Cadillac in Downey California. I remember the words "aircraft carrier" and "battleship" came to mind. I love it! 😊
A friend of mine and I were on a Phoenix freeway in the early 1980s and saw one of these parked along the access road with a For Sale sign in the window. We looped around to check it out, and found it unlocked. Sitting in those seats and enjoying the grandeur of it all, I think we both drifted off for a moment. Ultra comfortable. Nissan advertises Zero Gravity seats, but the Biarritz had them first!
Astro/Safari vans use hydroboost because another benefit it not having to fit a big vacuum booster on the firewall. My neighbor got a 4 door Brougham growing up and it was the first and only time I saw an OE interior with throw pillows.
We had the twin to this car. You’re right about the seats. They look way more comfortable than they are. It looks like a comfortable cushion, but you sink right down. They could have done much better. Nice thick firm padding would have helped. The standard Eldo seats were much better.
Cadillac seats, at least for the driver, went downhill from '71 on, in my opinion. The seatback was too reclined and if you tried to make up for it by tilting the whole seat forward, you lost thigh support. I think that "Great GM feeling" of doing a pullup on the steering wheel was intended to improve crash performance. The only way around it was a telescoping wheel and/or power recliner.
Thank you Adam. Eldorado. The elegance and spirit of Cadillac. The thing I never understood is the later front wheel drive cars did not have flat floors. There was so much attention to detail. That has been lost. I still would take a 1975-1976 Oldsmobile Toronado. Thank you for sharing and spreading your knowledge.
As a kid, I was AMAZED by the flat floors, and thought that was GREAT. I now own a front-wheel-drive Acura, and the "transmission hump" is GIANT. Whua? Why do I need a transmission hump AT ALL ??
@@josephgaviota I hear you. That is so true. I say the same thing about both of my Oldsmobiles ( 98 and Toronado)I own. The floors are not flat and the consoles take up so much space. I looked underneath the car trying to understand why they have them. Oh, well....
The flat floor was a cool gimmick, but they only could offer it by wasting a lot of space. The exhaust system still has to be housed (not to mention the full-perimeter frame on these cars), which explains the small bulge in the center of most FWD cars. That said, its sad that most FWD cars today have center consoles; they would feel much roomier with just the exhaust system bulge.
These cars from what I understand used a 3/4 length frame (or a full perimeter frame, honestly I'm still not entirely sure with these), but regardless, was still a frame underneath the cabin. This combined with the torsion bars, meant the floorpan had to be several inches higher than the frame itself, or the bottom of the car. This allowed the exhaust to simply be routed under the floorpan, without the need for a tunnel. Unibodies like say a FWD C-Body GM car, the floorpan extends all the way to the bottom of the car for maximized footspace, and is practically level with the rockers. Because of this, there is no space for the exhaust under the floor (at least without it being extremely visible or excessively low), so the tunnel is necessary. With these old E-Body cars, think of it less like they moved the exhaust tunnel down to level out the floor, and more like they moved the rest of the floor up, to level it out with the exhaust tunnel. To make up for the lack of internal cabin height, these cars (and other cars of this era) had a very low seating position, and a long cabin.
Great content as always, thanks Adam! These are definitely beautiful beasts. The “Diamond in the back” references a day-2 mod that was popular in the 70’s: adding a heavily padded vinyl top and blanking the rear window except for a diamond-shaped porthole in the center… don’t forget the gold wire wheels and body trim, or the crushed velvet and shag carpet interior, or the gold-plated “rabbit-ears” TV antenna angled forward over the center rear of the roof! (usually mounted at the top of the diamond shaped rear window)😁
What a car! I remember th 17:18 em well from my childhood. I must say I like the old Cadillac logo much better than the current one. Love all your insight into the backstory of this wonderful automobile
Hey Adam - Glad to see you featuring Christian’s cars in NC, he finds real beauties! My aunt had a white 9th gen Eldorado with white vinyl roof and full red interior rather like your black ‘68 she replaced it with a ‘77 Biarritz. I have a blue ‘73 with white roof and dark blue hides. (Don’t make me mention those spammers! - investments my foot!)
@@RareClassicCars Now I understand why he named his business Competition … I always thought it was a misnomer given that he doesn’t feature race cars. Your collection is still my favorite of those I see featured on RUclips. Thank you for your videos, I love the channel.
Adam, Ford used the double drain plugs for years on their V8 5L and 5.8L also to work around the suspension, front held about a quart. Quick lube years on the job. If it was a quart overfull, the pit man missed a drain. Starting about 79
That upper radiator hose has to be the world's longest! I bought a new 1976 Seville that had a similar dash with an entire bank of warning lights spread out on that upper darkened slotted part. I too thought that the L-slotted windshield wiper control was pathetic, felt cheap and had the tiniest knob mounted on a truly spindly shaft. I always felt that it would break off with repeated use. That year's Eldorado was just too ponderous for my tastes. PS: Are there enough bumper guards on that Eldorado's humongous front bumper? JS
Thank you so much for the work you put into these videos! A wonderful beautiful car here, but after '74 they cheapened up the front bumper by cutting off the corners. Just not the same.
They tried to make the bumper look smaller with body-colored urethane fender tips. It was probably a lot more expensive to manufacture and the devil to replace when the plastic disintegrated.
Yes, up to '74, the Eldorado was the only Cadillac model on which the bumper did not wrap back to the wheel opening, but wrapped around a little. But from '75 on, it stopped with the cap at the end of the forefin. I'll venture a guess that the Eldos avoided wrapping the bumper back to the wheel opening because that would emphasize the huge overhang.
I love that trumpet horn setup. I had a 1989 Chevy S-10 with only one horn, so I went to the junkyard and pulled that trumpet horn setup from a Seville, it sounded great. Regarding the hydro brake booster, my 1984 Audi 5000S had that, too. It was nice because it gave about 20 powered stops after the engine stopped.
All the chrome accents goes well with the white exterior color. Personally would prefer a blue interior. The red looks nice as well. Its good to see some people have some of these old styles of vehicles still around.
just like my dad's old 78! cept his had all red interior, red vinyl top. he special ordered it like that to match OU's colors, red/white. had an amazing comfortable ride, and pretty decent sound system for the times. and had a 8Track player along with am/fm. i swear it must of had some kind of small subwoofer in the read, cus it had tons of bass, or really really good 6x9s. he let me drive it, take it out alot. i drove his hand me down 72 Sedan. and at age 16! the reason was, he used to take Pepsi business trips often, and sometimes i'd tag along, and stay with one of my aunts in Tulsa, or wherever, sometimes we'd stay at a motel. the Trade Winds in Tulsa was my favorite (miss their swimming pool!) right across from the Camelot hotel, one looks like a castle. anyway, reason he trusted me with the big caddies, was in case he had a health issue while on the road,, he wanted me to be able to drive.. he had some mild heart issues at the time. so at age 12, he taught me drive his big 72 Sedan Deville. and wasn't an issue for me, i was tall for my age, at 6.1 now. and i grew up riding motorcycles, go-carts, you name it. so it was pretty easy. so at age 16 went from motorcycle permit to actual license, he gave me the 72, and he got a 77 Sedan Deville, then 78 got the Eldorado. it was my favorite of all his caddies! ☮
I'm not a fan of late 70s American cars but they sure did make the seats and interior super plush and comfortable. So even though the power was sucked out by the emission regulations at least you got a super comfortable ride as consolation.
I had a 1979 factory limousine without the divider. I forget exactly what they called it that year. Anyway it had the pump for the rear suspension identical to the one in that car. But it had been disconnected when I got the car. The car was fully loaded. I loved it, but after a couple of years it suddenly got a serious engine problem and I stopped driving it. (At just about 90,000 miles) It had a black cloth on black interior. The exterior was white with black vinyl top. My suggestion for a future video would be a Cadillac-based ambulance, either Superior or Miller-Meteor, from any year from 1971-76. That would be great.
Beautiful specimen. That being said, this gargantuan land-barge is the epitome of elephantine garish excess and is emblematic of the steady but gradual demise of the Cadillac marque that started in the '70's. Lincolns were also large but with more classic touches and less kitsch, and finally outsold Caddy in 1998. Caddy has never recovered and never will.
I have 3 vintage Jo-Han Cadillac Eldorado dealer promos with this body style in my model car collection. I have a few other Jo-Han Cadillac dealer promos including some rare model kits of a 1966 and 1970 Cadillac Eldorado.
I love this style of Eldorado, all original is the key in my book. Takes me back when bigger was definitely better. Contrary to popular belief in the 70's unlike 55 mph speed limit there was no government mandate one had to purchase a big car! However if you had a Cadillac like this one parked in your driveway the Jones' would have to try and catch up to you!
Back in the 70s movies like Convoy, Smokie and the Bandit featured CB Radios when running or avoiding the cops. This culture was massive with every manufacturer offering a CB in nearly every model. Long road trips were especially fun listening in on these truckers, their stories ... Technology has advanced so much we've lost personal communication skills.
The trash container was the first version of the cup holder. People would leave bottles of soda in them Remember when the soda bottles had foam jackets
Going from memory, I think the tires had a "TPC 801" notation on the sidewall. The Caddy dealer I worked for in 1973-74 was hit by thieves multiple times for these tires. They were a hot commodity back in the day. We also stocked Vogue tires, which at that time were all bias ply. I never could understand why anyone would have the great radials replaced with Vogues.
Sinister.?? Some of us think they are the ultimate in refined. Although not this car, it was actually rather a vulgar looking design. It was not up to the previous Eldorado standards.
As a kid, these were the cars with “all those bumper guards up front”. I wonder if anyone has bothered repopping the plastic bumper fillers that are missing on a good chunk of these cars today.
That cb radio could be a nightrider, they were kinda rare because the microphone handset had the channel selector in it. this required running dedicated wires for the binary programmable phase locked loop which back then were all parallel. so there could be 6 wires for the channel, 2 for power and ground and 4 more for the standard mic plug, tx rx, audio, ground. then there's a chip to display the channel on the 7 segment display. this was very high tech for the day.
GM was sued for claiming they was stopping the convertible and hardtop. We purchased the 1978 for that purpose alone. We were in the class action suit.
The problem with that low of a mileage car is every engine, transmission, and axle seal will likely be dry rotted. I’d definitely do a tear down and reseal of that drivetrain before driving it.
@@rogerdodrill4733 rear main seal, valve guides and head gasket leaks are no joke. You can easily do serious damage in a short amount of time. Nobody wants their dream car to become a paper weight because the engine or axle locked up.
Had a memorable trip cruising the Driftless Area of the Wisconsin countryside in a ‘76 Eldorado convertible. Also had a friend with a ‘75 convertible, but was never a fan of these big boats which were looking pretty long in the tooth by the time the the Mark V came out in 1977, which also had a long hood, obscene front overhang, and horrible space utilization.
I started working at Haritage Cadillac in Atlanta around 1973. Young 19 year old. During the 70s got to deliver all of those great caddies from Atlanta to south Florida on many occasions. Drive them down and then fly back. What a great time for a young 20 something.
Just a suggestion: I’d love it if you’d put arrows to elements that you’re talking about in your videos. It would help a non-expert like me. Love the videos!
Here's a fun Eldorado story. So I had an aunt that lived her whole life in Las Vegas and my cousins grew up there too. We used to fly out and visit her in the summertime. When I was just 16, we went out there and she handed me her keys to her nearly new 1976 white Eldorado convertible. She knew all the bad guys that ran the town, even babysitting for some of them. When I took that Caddy out to cruise, I felt like I was the king of the world, lol. Everywhere I went, they knew exactly whose car that was and because I was family, I was always treated like a king. That town was a lot different back in those days! The feeling of driving that beast out in the desert was exhilarating! Cool car for sure!
GREAT STORY , FINE AUTOMOTIVE MASTERPIECE. STILL WE ONLY OWN ( 2 ) 1970'S LAND YACHT'S ❤❤
Thank you for everything you do but a special thanks for pausing on the tires. I saw those and thought, "Who is making a reproduction of the Uniroyal tire?". That tread pattern is so distinctive that nearly 50 years later I picked up on it. Well done as always.
@charlesdalton985. Those Uniroyal’s treads were designed to ride almost completely silently over the road.
Lol! Same here.
Nobody is making a reproduction of the tread, but you can get the wide whitewalls in the correct size from Coker Tire. They are NOT cheap, and my understanding is they are poor quality. They are made for show cars, not daily driving.
My mom had a 59 El Dorado, convertible, white with red leather.....oh the memories!!!!~
These cars are insane. Growing up in this era, we really didn't know how good we had it. We were bombarded with ideations of space, robots, and future, but didn't properly appreciate the present. Couldn't see the forest for the trees type thing I suppose.
@@joshuagibson2520 I’m not sure which era you are talking about because that SAF wasn’t the 1970’s.
Adam, Over the years there have been many car models named after cities. I believe the Eldorado Biarritz is one of the few cars bigger than the town it was named after. 😉 On the subject of style, I don't know if aircraft carrier-sized hoods will ever come back in fashion but red dashboards and red steering wheels are overdue for a comeback. 🤩🤩
Unfortunately, colour choices are very limited today. Some manufactures now only offer white, black, silver or grey exterior, with a charcoal grey interior on some models.
So where is “Eldorado Biarritz” lol?
@@perryelyod4870what apart “Cheap Apartment Tan”?
@rightlanehog3151. It really was nice when GM named their cars after destinations that we fantasized about traveling to like the Riviera, Biarritz , Bellaiire, Biscayne etc and even fantasy places like Eldorado. It made the model names aspirational allowing the designers to make the cars more fantasy like. Like this Eldorodo I had a LeSabre and my father had a Delta 88 each of which had hoods so long that the fronts of the cars arrived five minutes before we did. Those were the days when we were afforded a lifestyle I doubt we’ll ever attain again. It was a way time to be alive.
@rightlanehog3151. Unfortunately limited interior color choices are the norm since the mid 1980 since Detroit took the lead from Japan due to lower production costs by limiting the interior color choices to two color options .
"Be Thankful for What You Got was not a song by Curtis Mayfield, but William DeVaughn (common mistake). And the "diamond in the back" refers to a custom vinyl top that literally reduced the rear glass to the shape of a diamond. I know - my neighbor had one circa '74.
I remember seeing one around 1974, as a 10 y.o. kid learning about cars.. blew my mind, especially since it was in Vogelweh W. Germany!
The bold styling really made a statement. Bill Mitchell's design leadership was incredible.
You really got your money’s worth in heavy metal in the 70s cars…. Nice 😊
I had a 1989 Eldorado Gold Biarritz. It was the smallest Eldorado, but it was still classy.
Just got to love a factory CB radio in a Cadillac, really love that logo on the mike.
Makes me want to watch _Smoky and the Bandit_ again. 😀
"It was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June in a Kenworth pulling logs, cab-over Pete with a reefer on and a jimmy, hauling hogs..."
@@sterlinsilver GREAT comment!
@@sterlinsilverHaha, brings back great memories! Can't picture an average Cadillac driver sayin' " Breaker, breaker..."! Of course now all this talk of Cadillacs makes me think of Johnny Cash's Caddy that he "picked up at the factory.." ~ten-4, good buddy!
@@trudygreer2491 he built it one piece at a time!
Adam,you brought back memories of me working at a Shell service station in high school.We had 3 bays and a regular customer had his Biarritz in for service and a recently hired cocky older mechanic failed to drain the second drain plug claiming it didn’t drain any oil.Our head mechanic called him out on it and they actually almost came to blows over it.The owner came out of his office and and reminded cocky that the customer also brought his 59 Lincoln and his late model Jaguar in for service.Cocky kept talking the same shit and was subsequently fired on the spot.Mike the Greek
It does indeed drain a bit of oil. Not much, but definitely some.
Who signs their own comment?
@@Bloodcurling Mike the Greek, apparently.
Much love from Denmark! The most outrageous automobile we had at the time must have been a six cylinder Ford Granada 😍 This vehicle is just over the top 😇😍🤩
Would that be an American Granada?! The English one, I wouldn't really describe as terribly "outrageous"!!
@@trudygreer2491 Yes, I'm from Denmark, and that's my point exactly 😅
I didn’t like these cars when new but have grown to like them over time. The Biarritz’ were really nice, even into the following generation
Ten years ago I had a 44k mile Eldo in this same color inside and out. You are right it is a good color combo. Very smooth and nice driver. Sadly, after so many pimp references I gave up and sold it. I did have to replace the hydro boost when it began to leak. Cadillac anticipated this and there was a little trough below the hydro boost to prevent the fluid from dripping straight down onto the exhaust pipe.
Great coverage. One possible point of correction. I believe the trumpet horn was standard on all Cadillacs from the early 1960s. I'm not sure which year it started. I lived in the Detroit area then and you always knew a car was a Cadillac due to the unique horn. I had a 1972 Coupe de Villle, a 1975 Sedan de Ville, and a 1979 Sedan de Ville. The latter two were purchased new. They all had them. I don't recall the trumpet horn being an option on the two I got new. Buicks at some point offered it as an option. I have no idea when. I custom ordered a 1976 Park Avenue and wanted the horn to sound like a Cadillac, so I ordered it as an option.
I could be wrong about the Caddys coming with the horn as standard, though. Age is catching up with my memory!
An aunt and uncle of mine had a ‘78 Biarritz, in triple yellow. Theirs had the ASC sunroof. My aunt drove the Biarritz, and my uncle drove a Squarebody Suburban.
Of all the cars I've owned, my favorite was a 1979 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham, white vinyl over white with gold pinstriping and a saddle tan velour interior, 8 track and climate control. It was surprisingly torquey, drawing raves from every mechanic who worked on it and would peg the 85 mph speedometer without breaking a sweat. Smooth as silk with a ride that was stable rather than floaty as were most of the 1977 downsized GM B bodies. And with all that, got 20 city and hwy combined. At 55 mph on the interstate, it would approach 30 mpg.
Not bad ml for a cad. The only v8 car I've owned that got 30 mpg was a97 tbird w little 4.6 ltr going to Montana running bout 90 mph w air on
Always wanted the 76 Bicentennial Eldorado. Loved the white with red dashboard and carpet, plus the white painted hubcaps. Saw this 78 one on Competition Cars.
5:03 Great song, but it's not a Curtis Mayfield song. You're thinking of "Just Be Thankful for What You've Got" by William DeVaughn.
Curtis Mayfield sang "Superfly" from the movie of the same name. The title character drove an El Dorado customized by Dunham Coach. The company is still in business.
At about the 5-minute mark you reference a Curtis Mayfield song. It is not Curtis Mayfield. It is William DeVaughn, "be thankful for what you got", 1974. The song and those lyrics are repeatedly attributed to Mayfield who was an incredible talent, but Mr DeVaughn deserves his due. He is still alive and well at age 76.
His vocal intonations were remarkably similar to Mayfield's.
@@pcno2832 Did Mayfield produce that song maybe?
Diamond in the back, Sunroof top, Digging the scene with a gangster lean, oo-oo...
Diamond in the Back was an aftermarket custom padded vinyl (or leather) Landau, or full, vinyl top, with the cutout for the backlite (rear window) being in the shape of a diamond.
@@DanEBoyd No. Produced by Frank Fioravanti and John Davis...among the countless great tracks out of Philadelphia in that era with MFSB backing the singer, including the great Earl Young on drums at Sigma Sound.
Correct 👍
9:16 My eyes literally bulged out of my head! Absolutely gorgeous! Too bad they’re not as cushy as they look, but wow!
Say what you want but those seats look comfy just looking at them. Absolutely beautiful interior. 🏆💪🏻🇺🇸
Beautiful car - I also love white with red interior though I'm personally fond of black exterior with red interiors. Thanks for sharing this video and information, Adam.
The refreshed 1975-1978 Eldorado is one of my most favorite generations
A really beautiful and classy American behemoth of the late seventies. What a pleasure cruiser of an automobile. Wish I had garage space for that monster! Enjoyed the video, thanks 😊
Review an early to mid 80's Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham, they were Americas number one selling car.
I Love the 1978 Toronado Brougham. I had a friend that had one, She bought it new.
Jeff
Did your friend's Toro have the beautiful wrap-around rear window? Love that one!
What a beast! Distinct, luxurious, and comfortable.
The car videos are terrific. Thank you for the work you've done.
I have a '78 Eldorado and the biggest challenge for me is lifting the hood.
Wow...those are enormous and heavy but add so much to the love I have for this car.
Pewter with silver vinyl roof and very light gray leather interior.
To me, a timeless color combination.
Driving this machine on the road is almost as satisfying as staring at it in the driveway, lol.
Excellent video. I installed the hydroboost master cylinder on my 56 Chevy Nomad wagon, a rather heavy car, and I love it!❤️
What a beautiful land yacht!
One of my best mates in Vancouver, had a red-on-white, '78 drop-top, as his daily driver. What a smooth beast!
ASC did more than just sunroofs -- among other things they did the conversion from hard top to convertible for a lot of cars in the 80s -- they did the 1985 Toyota Celica convertible. I believe they also did one for Infiniti in the early 90s as well.
Yep, they actually did all the Celica convertibles that were sold in the US until 1998 (the last year a Celica convertible was available). They also did all the Buick GN's that were converted to GNX's.
ASC also did T-tops
ASC also did the convertible conversion for the Camry Solara in the 2000s.
And…..Buick GNX
My 85 Biarritz convertible is an ASC conversion! that converted car cost $31K!!!! Everywhere i drive it, someone compliments it!!!
Havent checked my lotto ticket yet today, but im super motovated to now!
Yes, i would drive it a lot!
Hey Adam, in response to your request for other Brougham content, I submit the last of the B/D bodies, the 94-96 Fleetwood Brougham. I owned one for a few years, and loved the excess of having a 2 row sedan that was as long as a Suburban. Fender mounted indicator lights, rear seat vanity mirrors, LT1 V8, everything on that car was 2.5 tons of fun.
Love the long hood on that beauty. There’s a person in my area who drives a 1978 Oldsmobile Toronado that’s in very nice condition. I see it quite often.
notice the crack in the faux wood trim piece on the 2 spoke steering wheel - this was a perennial flaw in all of this type of wheel.
Adam - I love that you’re using this example from Bill at Competition Cars. He always has great examples of American Luxo-Cruisers. Keep up the great work!
Growing up, my grandfather always had white Eldorado’s with red interior. He had many until his death in the late 1990s. Such amazing memories. I particularly remember the stainless steel roof.
Except for my 1954 Nash Ambassador, this is the most beautiful car. I test drove a new one at Bob Spreen Cadillac in Downey California. I remember the words "aircraft carrier" and "battleship" came to mind. I love it! 😊
Aaahhhh, the Cadillac of personal luxury cars!! Beautiful car!
Wow, that interior. GM was pimping in 78.
That car remains the standard for all of pimpdom.
Very interesting enjoy all your videos. Thank you.
A friend of mine and I were on a Phoenix freeway in the early 1980s and saw one of these parked along the access road with a For Sale sign in the window. We looped around to check it out, and found it unlocked. Sitting in those seats and enjoying the grandeur of it all, I think we both drifted off for a moment. Ultra comfortable. Nissan advertises Zero Gravity seats, but the Biarritz had them first!
Astro/Safari vans use hydroboost because another benefit it not having to fit a big vacuum booster on the firewall.
My neighbor got a 4 door Brougham growing up and it was the first and only time I saw an OE interior with throw pillows.
I had one of these a 1977 in 1980. Was blue on blue. Amazing car. You are correct, the seat comfort was a huge disappointment. Nice video. Thank you.
We had the twin to this car. You’re right about the seats. They look way more comfortable than they are. It looks like a comfortable cushion, but you sink right down. They could have done much better. Nice thick firm padding would have helped. The standard Eldo seats were much better.
Cadillac seats, at least for the driver, went downhill from '71 on, in my opinion. The seatback was too reclined and if you tried to make up for it by tilting the whole seat forward, you lost thigh support. I think that "Great GM feeling" of doing a pullup on the steering wheel was intended to improve crash performance. The only way around it was a telescoping wheel and/or power recliner.
They had to quit making these - they needed the hoods to make Chevettes out of them.
Thank you Adam. Eldorado. The elegance and spirit of Cadillac. The thing I never understood is the later front wheel drive cars did not have flat floors. There was so much attention to detail. That has been lost. I still would take a 1975-1976 Oldsmobile Toronado. Thank you for sharing and spreading your knowledge.
As a kid, I was AMAZED by the flat floors, and thought that was GREAT.
I now own a front-wheel-drive Acura, and the "transmission hump" is GIANT. Whua? Why do I need a transmission hump AT ALL ??
@@josephgaviota I hear you. That is so true. I say the same thing about both of my Oldsmobiles ( 98 and Toronado)I own. The floors are not flat and the consoles take up so much space. I looked underneath the car trying to understand why they have them. Oh, well....
The flat floor was a cool gimmick, but they only could offer it by wasting a lot of space. The exhaust system still has to be housed (not to mention the full-perimeter frame on these cars), which explains the small bulge in the center of most FWD cars. That said, its sad that most FWD cars today have center consoles; they would feel much roomier with just the exhaust system bulge.
These cars from what I understand used a 3/4 length frame (or a full perimeter frame, honestly I'm still not entirely sure with these), but regardless, was still a frame underneath the cabin. This combined with the torsion bars, meant the floorpan had to be several inches higher than the frame itself, or the bottom of the car. This allowed the exhaust to simply be routed under the floorpan, without the need for a tunnel. Unibodies like say a FWD C-Body GM car, the floorpan extends all the way to the bottom of the car for maximized footspace, and is practically level with the rockers. Because of this, there is no space for the exhaust under the floor (at least without it being extremely visible or excessively low), so the tunnel is necessary. With these old E-Body cars, think of it less like they moved the exhaust tunnel down to level out the floor, and more like they moved the rest of the floor up, to level it out with the exhaust tunnel. To make up for the lack of internal cabin height, these cars (and other cars of this era) had a very low seating position, and a long cabin.
@@pcno2832 Well stated response. The cars back then were large. It was about room and spreading out.
Great content as always, thanks Adam! These are definitely beautiful beasts. The “Diamond in the back” references a day-2 mod that was popular in the 70’s: adding a heavily padded vinyl top and blanking the rear window except for a diamond-shaped porthole in the center… don’t forget the gold wire wheels and body trim, or the crushed velvet and shag carpet interior, or the gold-plated “rabbit-ears” TV antenna angled forward over the center rear of the roof! (usually mounted at the top of the diamond shaped rear window)😁
That song was recorded by William DeVaughn, not Curtis Mayfield..
@@billgueltig6136Curtis Mayfield drove one
What a car! I remember th 17:18
em well from my childhood. I must say I like the old Cadillac logo much better than the current one. Love all your insight into the backstory of this wonderful automobile
Hey Adam - Glad to see you featuring Christian’s cars in NC, he finds real beauties!
My aunt had a white 9th gen Eldorado with white vinyl roof and full red interior rather like your black ‘68 she replaced it with a ‘77 Biarritz. I have a blue ‘73 with white roof and dark blue hides. (Don’t make me mention those spammers! - investments my foot!)
We have sometimes competed for the same car
@@RareClassicCars Now I understand why he named his business Competition … I always thought it was a misnomer given that he doesn’t feature race cars.
Your collection is still my favorite of those I see featured on RUclips. Thank you for your videos, I love the channel.
Absolutely GORGEOUS Cadillac. This is what CADILLAC Was and Should Be. !!!! God Bless America. !!!!!
Adam, Ford used the double drain plugs for years on their V8 5L and 5.8L also to work around the suspension, front held about a quart. Quick lube years on the job. If it was a quart overfull, the pit man missed a drain. Starting about 79
That upper radiator hose has to be the world's longest!
I bought a new 1976 Seville that had a similar dash with an entire bank of warning lights spread out on that upper darkened slotted part. I too thought that the L-slotted windshield wiper control was pathetic, felt cheap and had the tiniest knob mounted on a truly spindly shaft. I always felt that it would break off with repeated use.
That year's Eldorado was just too ponderous for my tastes.
PS: Are there enough bumper guards on that Eldorado's humongous front bumper? JS
Thank you so much for the work you put into these videos!
A wonderful beautiful car here, but after '74 they cheapened up the front bumper by cutting off the corners.
Just not the same.
They tried to make the bumper look smaller with body-colored urethane fender tips. It was probably a lot more expensive to manufacture and the devil to replace when the plastic disintegrated.
Yes, up to '74, the Eldorado was the only Cadillac model on which the bumper did not wrap back to the wheel opening, but wrapped around a little. But from '75 on, it stopped with the cap at the end of the forefin. I'll venture a guess that the Eldos avoided wrapping the bumper back to the wheel opening because that would emphasize the huge overhang.
I love that trumpet horn setup. I had a 1989 Chevy S-10 with only one horn, so I went to the junkyard and pulled that trumpet horn setup from a Seville, it sounded great. Regarding the hydro brake booster, my 1984 Audi 5000S had that, too. It was nice because it gave about 20 powered stops after the engine stopped.
What a beautiful Cadillac.
All the chrome accents goes well with the white exterior color. Personally would prefer a blue interior. The red looks nice as well. Its good to see some people have some of these old styles of vehicles still around.
This is one of my favorites, too....and i hope to one day own one.
Those litter containers were mostly for when your on long road trips so you don't have to throw garbage on the floor or litter the road .😊
just like my dad's old 78! cept his had all red interior, red vinyl top. he special ordered it like that to match OU's colors, red/white. had an amazing comfortable ride, and pretty decent sound system for the times. and had a 8Track player along with am/fm. i swear it must of had some kind of small subwoofer in the read, cus it had tons of bass, or really really good 6x9s. he let me drive it, take it out alot. i drove his hand me down 72 Sedan. and at age 16! the reason was, he used to take Pepsi business trips often, and sometimes i'd tag along, and stay with one of my aunts in Tulsa, or wherever, sometimes we'd stay at a motel. the Trade Winds in Tulsa was my favorite (miss their swimming pool!) right across from the Camelot hotel, one looks like a castle. anyway, reason he trusted me with the big caddies, was in case he had a health issue while on the road,, he wanted me to be able to drive.. he had some mild heart issues at the time. so at age 12, he taught me drive his big 72 Sedan Deville. and wasn't an issue for me, i was tall for my age, at 6.1 now. and i grew up riding motorcycles, go-carts, you name it. so it was pretty easy. so at age 16 went from motorcycle permit to actual license, he gave me the 72, and he got a 77 Sedan Deville, then 78 got the Eldorado. it was my favorite of all his caddies! ☮
The song you quoted was actually by William DeVaughn not Curtis Mayfield. The song was called “Be thankful for what you got.”
I'm not a fan of late 70s American cars but they sure did make the seats and interior super plush and comfortable. So even though the power was sucked out by the emission regulations at least you got a super comfortable ride as consolation.
That's one beautiful caddy!😊
I love information of course but I am writing to thank you for using penultimate correctly. Very rare occurrence on social media.
You are so welcome!
I love that car Adam.
These were fabulous cars. What a statement they made!
I had a 1979 factory limousine without the divider. I forget exactly what they called it that year. Anyway it had the pump for the rear suspension identical to the one in that car. But it had been disconnected when I got the car. The car was fully loaded. I loved it, but after a couple of years it suddenly got a serious engine problem and I stopped driving it. (At just about 90,000 miles) It had a black cloth on black interior. The exterior was white with black vinyl top.
My suggestion for a future video would be a Cadillac-based ambulance, either Superior or Miller-Meteor, from any year from 1971-76. That would be great.
My dad had a '77 Eldo, white with the white vinyl roof, a a green houndstooth pattern interior.
1979 was home run, they got the size just right👌🏽
Same with '77 B-body, especially the Caprice. Way better looker and driver.
1977 C bodies were also home runs, along with the 1977 B bodies.. Also 1978 A bodies, and 1979 E bodies
Beautiful specimen. That being said, this gargantuan land-barge is the epitome of elephantine garish excess and is emblematic of the steady but gradual demise of the Cadillac marque that started in the '70's. Lincolns were also large but with more classic touches and less kitsch, and finally outsold Caddy in 1998. Caddy has never recovered and never will.
My dad had one as a convertible in a metallic coffee brown stunning
70s international scouts had two drain plugs for a similar reason
My 89 Crown Vic had 2 drain plugs because the oil pan straddled the cross member.
This car just sold for $49K US on BAT.
Well, if you adjust for inflation, that's just a little less than new!
I have 3 vintage Jo-Han Cadillac Eldorado dealer promos with this body style in my model car collection. I have a few other Jo-Han Cadillac dealer promos including some rare model kits of a 1966 and 1970 Cadillac Eldorado.
I love this style of Eldorado, all original is the key in my book. Takes me back when bigger was definitely better. Contrary to popular belief in the 70's unlike 55 mph speed limit there was no government mandate one had to purchase a big car! However if you had a Cadillac like this one parked in your driveway the Jones' would have to try and catch up to you!
Bill from Competition Sales loves his caddies
Just now I learned that Diesel engines don't have vacuum. Wow, Never knew that.
PS: I texted my friend of 50 years, and HE didn't know this either!
No throttle plate
All current diesel pickups have hydraboost
A Cadillac CB radio - wow!
Back in the 70s movies like Convoy, Smokie and the Bandit featured CB Radios when running or avoiding the cops. This culture was massive with every manufacturer offering a CB in nearly every model.
Long road trips were especially fun listening in on these truckers, their stories ... Technology has advanced so much we've lost personal communication skills.
The trash container was the first version of the cup holder. People would leave bottles of soda in them Remember when the soda bottles had foam jackets
..back when they were glass?!!
I love this channel!
I thought that Cadillac Eldorado, Oldsmobile Tornado, and Buick Riveria are E-Body cars.
They are
He was just saying that in ‘71, they made the E-bodies basically the same size as the B-bodies, so that a chunk of parts would be common to both.
Going from memory, I think the tires had a "TPC 801" notation on the sidewall. The Caddy dealer I worked for in 1973-74 was hit by thieves multiple times for these tires. They were a hot commodity back in the day. We also stocked Vogue tires, which at that time were all bias ply. I never could understand why anyone would have the great radials replaced with Vogues.
@5:02 “Got a Superman Benz that I scored from Shaq… and an old school Caddy with a diamond in the back!”
I remember when these roamed the Earth. The Cadillac brochure said “At the summit of the maker’s craft.”
If a car looks good in white, then you know it's a good design. I love cars in white. Black cars are sinister looking. But white looks classy
Sinister.?? Some of us think they are the ultimate in refined. Although not this car, it was actually rather a vulgar looking design. It was not up to the previous Eldorado standards.
White is definitely an excellent color for great car designs. It can even make ok designs look much better.
I like black cars, but living in So. Cal., a black car is hard on the A/C.
So, I bought a gray one ;-)
These cars were huge but had very little leg room in the back seats.
As a kid, these were the cars with “all those bumper guards up front”.
I wonder if anyone has bothered repopping the plastic bumper fillers that are missing on a good chunk of these cars today.
So was your CB handle "One Adam Twelve???" 😁😆
That cb radio could be a nightrider, they were kinda rare because the microphone handset had the channel selector in it. this required running dedicated wires for the binary programmable phase locked loop which back then were all parallel. so there could be 6 wires for the channel, 2 for power and ground and 4 more for the standard mic plug, tx rx, audio, ground. then there's a chip to display the channel on the 7 segment display. this was very high tech for the day.
Another great video
My dream car
GM was sued for claiming they was stopping the convertible and hardtop. We purchased the 1978 for that purpose alone. We were in the class action suit.
Wasn't the last Eldo convertible in '76?
The problem with that low of a mileage car is every engine, transmission, and axle seal will likely be dry rotted. I’d definitely do a tear down and reseal of that drivetrain before driving it.
Absolutely
Try it 1st if it leaks then reseal. Don't rain on everyones fantasy parade
@@rogerdodrill4733 rear main seal, valve guides and head gasket leaks are no joke. You can easily do serious damage in a short amount of time. Nobody wants their dream car to become a paper weight because the engine or axle locked up.
This was the first car I owned as a young sailor international early 80's. Traded it for anew S10 pickup. I have regretted doing so to this day.
My '71 Dodge Charger SE has a factory option ASC sunroof. It was first offered on the Charger for 1969.
You got my 'like' @4:59, well played!
Had a memorable trip cruising the Driftless Area of the Wisconsin countryside in a ‘76 Eldorado convertible. Also had a friend with a ‘75 convertible, but was never a fan of these big boats which were looking pretty long in the tooth by the time the the Mark V came out in 1977, which also had a long hood, obscene front overhang, and horrible space utilization.
They are called personal luxury cars , not efficient use of space cars