posted at the Cohort by Dean Edwards
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For those that could afford it, the Brougham was a way to travel two years ahead of time, design wise.
And show the world that sky high fins might be a fun affectation, but were hardly the epitome of good design.
Or truly beautiful.
Paul Niedermeyer writes up this special edition here
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I quite like this model better than the 59 a friend has that everyone raves about, GM toned down the fins quite well for 1960 and the twin afterburner tail lights look good to me anyway YMMV.
Beautiful car! These were the days when Cadillac was King!
Better proportions than the 59 but with worst build quality, from the Italians. Never mind the 61 had the same styling.
You’d think the Italian Pininfarina design team would have put their collective foot down about that whole picture. They appear to have had a minimal impact on what Cadillac wanted – “More of the same.”.
Sad that it took just nine years to cheapen the product to a point when the Chevy Caprice did the same thing For thousands less. Twice the money for a crest on the hood.
Someone built a hot rod outta one of these. Stunningly beautiful.
I have never known quite what to make of these. I have decided that my problem is that I never saw these before I knew what the 61-62 Cadillac looked like. Knowing what I know now, it looks like a doughy 61 Cadillac. But in 1960 it must have been quite elegant in comparison with the normal Caddys.
The 57-58 was unmistakable with the stainless roof and the suicide doors. This one was more subtle. But maybe that was why the 59-60 sold at a rate only about 1/3 the original. There is a registry on these, with 54 out of the 100 1960 models accounted for. I wonder if this is one of them.
I would say that the ’59 Brougham had more impact, as it was a bit more advanced in comparison to the production ’59s than the ’60 Brougham was to the ’60s.
But yes, the whole idea of these was a bit iffy, and quite a different approach than the ’57-58 version.
This article found in Hemmings might interest you:
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/eldorado-extravagance-1957-eldorado-brougham
It seems that Cadillac went through a lot of trouble for nothing. This is visually similar to the standard models. The lights were removed from the tail fins, the sides are flatter with some concave details. The tiny skeg fins premiered those on the standard ’61 and ’62 designs. I don’t that it was more attractive than the Detroit cadillacs. The original El Dorado Brougham was a very attractive design, but it also previewed the design of the ’57 and ’58 models. Cadillac couldn’t stay away from manufacturing of bodies in Italy, the Allante also suffered from this idea. It raised costs to the point that really cut into the profit margins. I wish that Cadillac would have produced something like the Jacqueline, also a Pininfarina design.
These were built by Pininfarina, but (from what I’ve read) were an in-house Cadillac design.
If a Corvair and a ’65 Rambler Ambassador “had a baby.” (SNK, yes I DO realize how stupid that sounds! XD)
A highly remarkable find, especially in authentic CC condition. This would be my ultimate unicorn find.
The ’59 and ’60 Eldorado Brougham was a very curious undertaking. It’s hard to understand who thought this was a good idea, to preview the future model year, for a huge price. One of the stranger chapters at GM.
Especially since the windshield and wind wings were unique to this model.
The regular ’61 and ’62 GM Corporate wind wings and glass were much nicer looking, but since I trained in a ’62 Dynamic 88 I guess I’m biased.
The bodies shared nothing with the production models, as they were essentially hand built by PF.
The majority of the body panels were stamped in America. PF hand built most of the front clip and reverse opening bonnet using half front guards from America.
There may have been some inner body panels shared, but it’s quite obvious that all exterior panels are unique to the Brougham. Meaning they were hand fabricated. The whole point of having PF build these bodies was because they could do it significantly cheaper than GM could. This was PF’s expertise, building small volume car bodies.
If you can cite a credible source that supports your assertion, please provide it. Otherwise, it’s not credible.
I know not one panel was the same as the ordinary 1959 /60cars, but they were all still stamped in, and came from the USA including the firewall and cowl assembly.. Remember the plate under the bonnet, ASSEMBLED by Pininfarina. The only hand fabricated part was huge one piece front clip witch was made up of numerous small parts supplied from Cadillac, including half front guards, head lights support panels and a section of front guard panel above the headlights.
Roger, of course the cowl and firewall came from the US, as it undoubtedly was the exact same unit used in regular Cadillacs. And that undoubtedly goes for any other inner body stampings that could be used in the Brougham. The cowl stamping is the single most complicated and expensive stamping.
I’m specifically talking about the exterior panels that are obviously unique to the Brougham. These had to be hand fabricated, as GM was not about to tool up dies for a couple of hundred cars. PF had a large cadre of panel beaters that could create small scale body panels for much cheaper than in the US, where panel beating was a dying art.
Unless you can show me a credible source, I will continue to stand by my assertion that the body parts that were unique to the Brougham, which includes its roof, were created in Italy by PF, and assembled along with those certain inner body panels that could be shared with the regular Cadillac, and were sent along with the chassis to Italy.
End of story.
Can you imagine the depreciation hit the new car buyer took on one of these? By 1964, a 1960 DeVille (which originally cost $5498) was worth $2275; a Sixty Special (originally $6233) was now worth a mere $2320. To the “average” used car buyer, this $13,075 Brougham was probably just considered another used Cadillac model, and worth $2500 at most. Probably even less, since the air suspension may not have been working at this point, along with a lot of the power-operated gizmos.
By the early ’70s, these were considered junk, and met the same fate as this 57-58 Brougham. This green survivor shown above is really an interesting find!
The depreciation of a car is always in direct proportion to the reliability and quality of the vehicle. Have a look at this:
https://usedfirst.com/cars/mercedes-benz/s-class/https://usedfirst.com/cars/mercedes-benz/s-class/
A 2020 MB S-Class costs $131,820.
A 2017 is worth $67,000.
That’s 60% in three years.
Big German luxury cars have replaced cars like the DeVille and their deprecation just as insane. Have a look at Acura TL ads. A good one is still $10,000 after ten years.
131820 to 67000 isn’t 60% depreciation. In fact, it’s under 50%.
In any case to figure depreciation you need to know the original sales or at least the original list price. Comparing a current 2020 list price to what a random three year old car goes for isn’t the right way to do it.
What does a 2017 TL(X) go for, i.e. actually sell for, today?
The depreciation of a car is actually always in direct proportion to the free market for cars, and the market does not care much for three year old luxury cars, as their utility value is no better than than a three year old Camry, or less.
You’re making assumptions that aren’t relevant. Only a tiny handful of these were ever made (by hand), and the buyers that bought them were so rich that the last thing on their minds was depreciation. Did folks who bought a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud in 1960 were concerned about its future depreciation?
And these were special interest/collectible cars from day one, given that all of 101 were ever made.
Are you aware that these cost $13,075 when new? That’s $115k adjusted. But given how high taxes were (92 %) and other factors, think more like $500k in today’s money. These were just about the most expensive cars you could buy then.
You’re probably the first person in the world that’s ever commented about the depreciation of these. Congratulations. 🙂
The depreciation figures for the “regular” 1960 Cadillacs have to be considered in the context of their time.
People traded their cars more often. Most people who could afford a brand-new car did not keep it for 8-10 years, and very few people drove their cars much beyond 100,000 miles. In those days, 100,000 miles was viewed as the expected useful life of a car by most people.
By 1964, most 1960 cars were well on their way to “old car” status. Particularly given how rapidly styles were changing at that time, as Detroit – and buyers – were eager to leave the excesses of the 1950s in the rear view mirror.
Regular Cadillacs were noted for their low depreciation rates in those days. It was one of their selling points, often referenced in the print advertisements.
This is the first GM car with the crisp Bill Mitchell look. I like the sorta-lookalike standard ’61 models better though.
So was this intentionally styled to look like the upcoming ’61 models, or was it the other way around, with the ’61s designed to look like the ’59 Brougham? Or just coincidence?
The former. Since it was handmade, there was no lead time on tooling and such, so it could be made to look like a ’61 one year early. Same with the ’59; it previewed ’60 styling one year early too.
I’m no expert, but I’ve never seen a ‘60 Cadillac with skegs, a panel that plain between the trunk and bumper, and no taillights in the fins. Very interesting
It’s not obvious with a casual glance at the pictures but these didn’t have front parts in common with a “regular” ’60 Cad.
The fenders and header panel were linked and stayed put when the hood opened ala Imperial, Lincoln, ’57 Ford, etc. Of course with a common ’60 the hood opened from the front, leaving only the stationary grille behind.
The whole body was handmade by PF in Italy. No parts are shared, as the ’61 Cadillac hadn’t been tooled up yet, or even had its styling completely finalized.
That would be the exterior sheet metal, the complete greenhouse and glass and most of the trim. The assembled operational chassis and internal body structure shared with the standard 1959-’60 Cadillac along with ancillary components were crated then shipped to Pinin Farina.
58L,
That’s roughly what I said in a post that didn’t make it through publication. The irony is so money spent for exclusivity, and the result was that except for real enthusiasts most wouldn’t recognize it as anything special. Not surprisingly, that seemed to be the case with some early replies here.
I saw an in-progress project 20 odd years ago, if I recall correctly, procuring a windshield was in the thousands. It seems like the glass was sourced in South America?
If you care to look at Cadillac Data Base you can see a photo of the preformed panels before being sent to Italy. Incidentally the roof panel was fitted in America. Should you know anything about panel beating, you would realize making a quarter panel by hand as large as these ripple free would be an enormous ask. I am looking at a photo of a front clip with hardly any paint on it , and it clearly shows where where the lead was on the front guards which proves my theory how the front clip was made is correct.
Where exactly? How about a link? Do you know how to link to something.
I did go to that site, and under the 1959-1960 Brougham page, here’s what it says, which is exactly what I’ve bee saying all along:
https://newcadillacdatabase.org/Historical/Automobiles/Eldorado/EB5760/195960/Overview
The 1959 and 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Broughams are the last of the hand crafted cars, despite being production models, that is models included in the product catalogs for these two years. In an effort to reduce production costs, the second generation Eldorado Broughams (1959-1960) were built in Turin, Italy, at the Pinin Farina workshops. Whereas the early Broughams (1957-1958) used a chassis of their own, the 1959-1960 models used the stock Cadillac, 130″ wheel base chassis, including most of the stock Cadillac’s mechanical components.
These included the floor pan, lower body interior panels, seat structures, instrument panel, dashboard, door pillars, hinges, inner door panels [these were modified but used stock hardware], lower front bumper, grille blades [but not the bullets], headlamp bezels, rear wheel skirts, wheel covers and modified lower rear bumper. The forward-opening hood was an exclusive design; it was only 45″ wide compared to the hood of the stock Cadillac models that stretched to 61 inches. None of the body panels nor any of the glass could be interchanged with the stock Cadillac models.
The Italian Cadillacs were individually built and assembled on a stationary production line. Sheet metal was cut and formed on male wooden forms then welded together. Seams were filled with lead. Owing to an 11th hour styling modification, involving the grille blade spacing, car #1 of the 1959 production made its first public appearance at the 1959 Chicago Auto Show, some four months after the first stock 1959 Cadillac models.
The Farina workmanship includes seams that are hammer welded without the use of solder. Potential rust spots are filled with sealer. Chrome trim is made from brass castings. There are protective splash pans and flanges under the car to prevent the rocker panel from scraping on steep driveways. The hood, trunk and doors all fit perfectly and tolerances along the panel edges do not vary a fraction of an inch. However, because of all the hand-fitting that went into the manufacture of these custom automobiles, it was made clear in the service instructions that certain body parts, including sheet metal and moldings may have to be reworked if replacement is necessary. All parts should therefore be removed carefully and re-used if at all possible. Any new part must be matched against the removed part to make certain that it is identical in shape and size before installation is attempted (!)
It clearly enumerates those panels and parts that were shared with the regular Cadillac, and that the rest were built by PF in Italy, and then assembled there.
If you have some other info, link to it please. That means copy the url (web address) and paste it here.
Do you mean this image? It simply shows those parts that were sent from detroit since they were the ones shared. There were quite a few panels shared, mostly inner ones. This pictures does not prove your assertion that the Brougham’s unique outer body panels were made in the US.
Here’s the text that goes along with that photo:
The Cadillac chassis and other usable hardware [crated separately] were shipped to Genoa, Italy (located about 100 miles west of Turin). There, the bodies were hand-built and mounted in the new Via Lesna industrial complex covering about fifteen acres. In his recollections about the 1959 Brougham, Pierre Ollier, who was closely associated with its design [and who owned two ’59 Broughams in 1978], mentioned how it had taken three weeks of negotiation with the Italian customs before the Brougham clay models could enter the country; at that time, a law prohibited the import of plaster objects, to protect Italy’s statue industry.
Where does it say anything about the roof being fitted in the US?? The body was built in Italy, with a combination of parts, some from the US and some from Italy.
Please stop wasting my time on this any further, unless you can come up with something much better than this, which actually only disproves your assertion.
Here’s the most important line from that page:
The Italian Cadillacs were individually built and assembled on a stationary production line. Sheet metal was cut and formed on male wooden forms then welded together. Seams were filled with lead.
You think PF couldn’t make a quarter panel? Ha! Please stop spewing misinformation. Fake news!!
You know everything. Tell me, what panel would be made on a “male wooden form’?
Are you really so clueless about how car body panels are made?
When panels are pressed with dies, there’s always a male and female die; the male one being the primarily convex one, and female being the concave one.
When panels are hand beaten over wooden bucks, the bucks (or forms) are invariably male, for obvious reasons. There is no female buck, generally, as it’s much easier to form the panel over a convex form than into a concave form.
Got it?
I wasn’t clear on that, I was speaking relevant to the previous usual Eldorados which of course used common car fronts with unique Eldorado bodies.
Wow, Dean where did you spot this one?! This is a true find of a lifetime! Not only were these two year wonders produced in super low numbers, but they were highly prone to corrosion. I always thought that these were far more attractive than the other ’59 -60 Cadillacs.
This was taken at Classic Caddy in Oakville circa 1991. Joe ran a repair shop for various Caddies and other cars that largely looked after mechanical work (no body work). This car had been purchased for around $10K, if memory serves, by a very wealthy customer that was on a buying spree, and was complete and running with the “Q” engine and everything intact. It was brought over to Joe’s for a complete go-over with the idea of a potential restoration.
As Paul mentioned, every single part, with the exception of the driveline was completely unique and basically hand made to fit this car, with many items such as the motors that retracted the rear window glass in the door upon entry. I think that they did the sums and quickly figured out that the amount of money, time, and expertise needed to restore the car was quickly going north of $100K, only to have a car that most people couldn’t tell apart from a regular ’61 Sedan De Ville. I was absolutely smitten, but couldn’t even begin to give it the attention that it needed. Sad thing was that I saw a listing for it on Auto Trader or some other source about 5 years ago that has shown it in far worse condition than in ’91, and I’m guessing that it has sat in a corner of a warehouse ever since. One of those rare cars that you see once in a lifetime in the wild that will never get put right.
Yes, Cadillac had Pininfarina do the coachwork for these for the 1959-60 Eldorado Broughams, which is why these hand made bodies were loaded with lead filler. They are beautiful machines, but I’d hate to have to restore one. I am sure even body panels between different cars aren’t identical. There were only 99 made in 1959 and 101 in 1960. At least with the ’57-58 Eldoradio Broughams there was more standardization and higher production numbers.
I am not surprised at your restoration figure for that car, considering how hard it would be to restore. It’s too bad to hear it has just sat and deteriorated. Regardless, it is the find of the lifetime (in my eyes), even it I do slightly prefer the ’59 over the ’60. Thanks for sharing.
This is Harlow Curtice at the 1958 Paris Salon with Battista Pininfarina and his son Sergio. The car is one of two PF designed themselves that year, a vert and hardtop. Note how comparatively plain the grille and headlight features are. Most curious is that neither Harley Earl nor Bill Mitchell are present. Makes me think the whole exercise came from above them.
Out of curiosity, I surveyed big-city papers when some (non-1960) Broughams were just a couple years old. Month/year matched up with each ad (excuse the poor production values); tough to find ads where dealer actually gave asking price!
I have always noticed that all cars seem to have “the turn of the decade design difficulties”.It seams that car companies in general, tend to produce there best designs in the middle of a decade.Cadillac has had its duds accordingly.I am a huge Cadillac fan,but I will admit,I don’t love every model.The 1960 models I struggle to like,but that’s just me.Thank all of you for your comments! Robert Levins.
Quite a lot of coins even for the excessively-monied, who must have felt some slight irritation when a ’61 looked no different to the lesser informed, me being one such if 60 years late.
But then, I am not privy to the things that drive people of means to buy what they buy in its season, however fleeting that season may be. I doubt they had regrets.
In fact, like their 1960 hat, I doubt they still had the same car by ’61. Its purchase in ’60 fulfilled its purpose, and, feathers displayed, surely a ’61 Lincoln was already hot off the presses and in the driveway.
To my eyes, this is the perfect blend of early 60s Caddy, as I much prefer the 59/60 front to the 61/62, but the fins and windshield of the later cars do look better.
Needs a few coats of black lacquer paint, but other than that, I’m sold. Where do I sign?
+1. Though make the frontal styling that of the 1962, and a ’61-’64 60 Special roof quarters, four armchair seats and center-opening doors…
I would see these few auto in New York City where, at the time, we were living in midtown Manhattan, a right place for such a car. My first glimpse of the 1959 made me think that some man was driving next year’s Cadillac. Quite the contrary. Nice boat.
What do you all mean by hand made? Most body panels came from America.
From the website cadillacdatabase: https://newcadillacdatabase.org/Historical/Automobiles/Eldorado/EB5760/195960/1959Features
The Italian Cadillacs were individually built and assembled on a stationary production line. Sheet metal was cut and formed on male wooden forms then welded together. Seams were filled with lead.
Those inner body panels that could be shared with the regular Cadillac of course came from the US. But all of the outer panels are unique, and were hand made at PF in Italy.
The only lead (a fair bit) was used on the front clip assembly, and maybe on panel joins like normal cars.
You know everything. Tell me, what panel would be made on a “male wooden form’?
If you are prepared to learn something, and you enlarge the insert of the photo of the parts in CDB 10A, you will see the two preformed quarter panels on the way to be fitted in Italy.