(first posted 9/6/2016) Chicago is a great city in which to spot classic cars in that much of its iconic architecture has been featured in many now-vintage movies and television shows. The opening montage of “The Bob Newhart Show” is especially relevant to me in that it features scenes from my everyday life today, from Bob and Emily Hartley’s fictional condo building being set literally two blocks from mine, to a familiar elevated CTA train platform, to the downtown area – all set forty years in the past. In fact, it was reruns of the “Bob Newhart Show” that I used to watch on “Nick At Nite” that inspired me to change my major in college from Journalism (to “Undecided”) to Psychology. It’s a very photogenic city, with a lot of streets and a lot of history.
That said, it’s not that hard for me to transport myself mentally back to the 70’s in present day when something like this ’73 Eldorado rolls by an architectural touchstone like the Kluczynski Federal Building, while my earbuds are rocking some classic, vintage funk tunes. Instantly, I’m in a 70’s TV sitcom or action series of my own. “Dr. Dennis, you have an urgent phone call on line one.” “Thank you, Charmaine. I’ll take it in my office.” (…On my rotary phone with a row of lit buttons on the bottom.)
Let’s not body-shame this Eldorado, though many of us (self included) do prefer the lean, lithe, elegant 1967 – ’70 models. Buyers, however, apparently liked the ’73 better when new than any of those aforementioned years, purchasing over 42,000 coupes (and an additional 9,000 convertibles), against the previous generation’s best-year figure of 24,500 hardtops for ’68. I’d also like to point out that this ’73 wasn’t cheap off the lot of your local, friendly Cadillac dealer, with prices starting at about $7,400 (just under $40,000 / adjusted). When Monty Hall would reveal the “Big Deal” of the day featuring one of these in an early-70’s episode of “Let’s Make A Deal”, it actually was a big deal – as big a deal as these cars are physically large.
Much like the Eldorado had changed with the times of the early seventies, from its more restrained and straightforward style of the previous generation, so did the music of jazz musician, virtuoso drummer and bandleader Buddy Rich – with his music having morphed from his straight-ahead big-band jazz of the previous decades to compositions that were bigger, more syncopated, and funkier by the time this ’73 Eldorado rolled off the lot. (In case you’re interested, the cover of the record from which the track below was culled, called “The Roar Of ’74”, features Rich behind the wheel of what might be a race-prepped ’74 Plymouth Barracuda.) Allow me to do my funky walk while we get to the bridge.
Downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Monday, February 20, 2012.
Related reading from:
- Paul Niedermeyer: Curbside Classic: 1972 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Convertible – The End Of An Exceptional Era; and
- Ed Stembridge: Curbside Capsule: 1970 Cadillac Eldorado Hardtop Coupe – Peak Displacement.
I’ll never forget the ’73 Eldorado “Pimp-mobile” in the opening of the James Bond movie Live and Let Die. Paul McCartney’s theme tune is still popular too (at least among those of us who heard it new at the time).
Mr Big’s car is a Corvette, not an Eldorado.
If I recall correctly, one of Mr. Big’s minions used an Eldorado (with the rare “Poison Dart Gun Mirror Group” option) in an effort to kill Bond early in the film.
What it actually was was the Les Dunham Corvorado, Eldo panels done in fiberglass hung over a Corvette frame. If there was such a thing as a ’74 XLR, this would be it.
Oh my gosh, the Dunham Corvorado!! That’s right. http://www.madle.org/edunham.htm
Wow. That is something I never knew existed. Thanks for posting. It’s certainly a product of the 70s, for better or worse.
How did I forget about this? I used to watch the 007 marathon on TBS every year when I was in college. I always thought it was more than a coincidence that James Bond Fest invariably fell on “dead week” before finals.
And now I’ve got to upload that McCartney tune from my computer onto my MP3 player.
See if you can find the whole LALD soundtrack. George Martin created one of the best Bond orchestral soundtracks ever (with a touch of blaxploitation wah-wah), but was overshadowed by McCartney’s track.
Thanks for the recommendation, Don. I will have to check that out. I am on kind of a movie soundtrack kick lately, having recently purchased a copy of Herbie Hancock’s soundtrack to Michaelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow Up” from ’66.
Got it. Nice.
My fave HH soundtrack is Death Wish.
They had a Bond marathon on the Sunday before Labor Day on Encore, and two Bonds every night in August. My Favorites? Dr.No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball and Diamonds are Forever. Although Live and Let Die was fairly good, that was, IMHO Roger Moore`s best Bond. The series just went downhill after that, The Brosnan Bonds are just unwatchable, especially the wretched Die Another Day, but at least Daniel Craig brings an edge to Bond and his films are worth watching. What does this have to do with a `73 Eldorado? Nothing, but as a hard core Connery-Bond fan, I just had to add my two cents in.
My brother and his wife owned the exact duplicate of this car back in the late seventies. I’m not sure why they thought owning a car that returned 8 MPG in normal driving was a good idea as they were both in their early twenties then and didn’t make all that much money. The only thing I can figure is that my sister in law had always wanted a Cadillac, she worked for a bank, and the Eldorado was a repo they got pretty cheaply. To give the beast its due the Eldo was a great car on the open road; the 500 CID V8 seemed to have unlimited torque and, once you got it rolling, it was smooth sailing. As it turned out they didn’t keep the Eldorado very long; once my nephew was born they decided that climbing into the back seat to deal with the car seat was too much trouble and the Cadillac got traded in on a new Chevette, of all things.
Wow, Joe – talk about going from one complete end of the automotive spectrum to another! I’ll bet your brother and sister-in-law had tons of money after the Chevette from all the gas money they saved.
They probably ended up “wasting” the extra money on diapers, baby formula and other kid related stuff 🙂
Joseph, I’m sure many CC readers will agree that your posts of classic automobiles, living their lives in present-day surroundings, truly bring out the everyday reality of these classics still doing what they were meant for, decades after they were built. So many other things have changed, but they remain stalwart. Thanks for all you do.
G. Poon, thank you for the kind words, Friend. I’m glad my stuff is appreciated here.
I’ll never forget the Pimp-mobile in Magnum Force!
I love the pop culture references in these posts, and the recommended musical accompaniments are usually spot on from my perspective. In this case though, while my inner jukebox would probably have immediately started jamming to something by Earth Wind & Fire, the song that just begs for radio play when I see any ’71-’78 Eldorado is Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You”.
Seventies Cadillacs always leave me weak in the knees, as I spent so much of the late ’70’s wallowing about in the last big DeVilles and remember them fondly, but even all of that Cadillac good will just can’t get me past how absurd these Eldos really were. In a million years I can’t picture myself ever seeking to own one of these monstrosities, but I’ve gotta admit that if one were to fall into my lap it’d immediately become my most prized and treasured possession. Not to mention that virtually any Cadillac with acres of white leather upholstery is going to make me swoon.
It’s funny, MTN – this isn’t my favorite year of Eldorado (not even close), but I just remember feeling profoundly depressed when I would see one of these in a demolition derby. While I don’t love this year of Eldo, I respect it, if that makes any sense.
And agreed on the acres of white leather. Poetically stated.
Joseph: great composite photo! Very cool. 🙂 I’ve been to Chicago three times…my favorite part of the Bob Newhart opening is the shot of the Marinas Towers.
Thanks, CD! Marina City is such a cool piece of architecture. And thanks RE: the photo. It’s funny because I put that composite image together for use on this post, and posted it to my Flickr page, just on a lark. It made “Explore” and blew up, which was not expected. 🙂
I liked both opening montages of the Bob Newhart Show, especially the music. Both openers just make you feel almost alright about going to work on a Monday (Tuesday, today) morning.
With family in the Windy City, we made several trips there in the 1970s. One of the things I recall was that Chicago area cars were a lot more likely to have the big, almost exaggerated bumper guards as featured on this Eldorado. These were a factory option that was usually rare – they are not terribly attractive. But, I assume that in areas with aggressive street parking tactics, that owners either wanted additional protection from miscreants, or perhaps anticipated a little miscreantism of their own. The guards suggest this may be an original Chicago area car. (Interestingly, that fixed trailer hitch was a lot more effective in deterring any temptation for a gentle nudge).
The big guards for the big city……….
The trailer hitch works even better. I was moving in Chicago and one of those hit my shin while I was walking in between two cars. I still have a missing hunk of flesh to this day.
I believe those bumper guards were a dealer installed option – never recalled them in any of the Cadillac brochures or ordering guides.
I went through some Cadillac catalogs and also came up empty. I seem to recall some period promotion of those guards that was either GM or GM dealer related. They were well made pieces that were customized to the contours of various GM bumpers – as can be seen in the detail photo I posted. These mostly seemed to appear on GM’s big iron – B, C, D, and E cars.
I don’t recall very well if I ever saw these on Ford or Chrysler products.
It’s amazing how these unattractive things were the solution to the “bump-bump-bump” parallel parking on the streets of Chicago. Now there are those rubber “Bumper Bully” things, but I can’t imagine one of those doing a car with huge, steel bumpers like this Eldorado much good.
Those humongous aftermarket bumper guards were very popular in Detroit too (where parking is ample and most had a driveway and single family home). They were more cosmetic there than functional, believe it or not. The mud flaps with zodiac signs usually completed the package as well.
This prompted me to poke around a bit; new to me was the fact that the front bumper guards were standard; the rear guards were indeed an official OEM option, rather than something from the JC Whitney/PepBoys playbook:
^^^^^^^”option” meaning “accessory,” that is; I have no idea if they anything other than dealer-installed…..
JC Whitney would have been my first choice to look for them if I couldn’t find them at Kmart.
They were. A buddy of mine from Chicago, Ronald Schweitzer, has a ’71 Fleetwood Brougham with those ‘Chicago’ guards on it.
Well Joe, at least you weren’t guest-starring yourself in a Quinn Martin Production that would end up with you and your Eldorado all mixed together in a huge ball of flame. 🙂
This car is one that makes old prejudices bubble to the surface. My knee-jerk reaction was to Google the Mark IV’s production for 1973, to see just how senseless Lincoln beat Cadillac in that year’s luxury slugfest. (Automotive Mileposts says that it was 69,437, which beat Eldo decisively, even including the convertible. And the Lincoln cost another $1500, base priced at $8,984.)
But then I tried to balance myself out and remembered this Eldo in its track suit, and would actually prefer this car to a Mark IV now.
Given that Quinn Martin shows were known for featuring Fords, it wouldn’t be surprising to see an Eldo go out in flames!
That’s just purty, JP! So was 5/28/73 on Memorial Day Weekend of that year? I’ll bet it was.
It was the Monday (Memorial Day) of the weekend, and turned out to be a disastrous choice. Rain early in the day delayed the start of the race and when the track dried the first attempt at starting the race saw Salt Walther’s car vault over another and slam into the catch fence on the main straightaway before spinning back onto the track upside down. Many cars were damaged and spectators were injured, with Walther being seriously injured. As the crash was being cleaned up, the rain came again and stopped any chance at a restart.
On Tuesday, since the green flag had fallen the track tried to restart the race. Everyone but Salt Walther was ready to go (he was in the hospital) and while the cars were on the pace lap the rain started up and washed out any chance to race.
Wednesday saw more rain early but the race did restart (apparently folks in Indianapolis and the surrounding area found out via radio broadcasts). Nearly sixty laps in there was a horrible crash involving Swede Savage that stopped the race, and a crewman trying to offer assistance was hit by a safety truck and killed. Poor Swede would survive the accident but die in the hospital about a month later. The race did restart later and Gordon Johncock was leading when mercifully the rains came again and since it was past 101 laps, the race was flagged complete and Gordon won.
The kicker is, had they held the race on Sunday, the weather would’ve held (or so I’ve been told).
Until Memorial Day was moved to the last Monday in May in the early 1970s, the 500 ran on May 30th unless the 30th was a Sunday. For some reason IMS didn’t want to race on Sunday. The first two years with the new holiday the race was on Saturday, but in 1973 it was switched to Monday. In 1974 race day was set to the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend with the Monday set as a “backup” day in case of a rain out or less than 101 laps of 200 being run. It’s been that way ever since, except for 2020 when it ran in August.
“For some reason IMS didn’t want to race on Sunday. ”
Seriously ? .
You don’t understand blue laws and the backlash of giving folks something to do other than Church on a Sunday ? .
Apparently some think praying only counts on Sundays .
Sad but oh so true .
-Nate
I love Cadillacs – although my passion is for 21st century ones – but I can never get behind these Eldos. The ’67-70 model was breathtaking, one of GM’s greatest designs. This looks porcine; a Mark IV was leaner looking and more crisp, like a greyhound next to a bulldog.
I like the convertible but would take a 70 deville. Convertible over an Eldorado
While I also greatly prefer the ’67 – ’70 Eldorado, I still enjoy seeing these, for the 1970’s kitsch if nothing else. While the bigger bumpers made the ’73 Eldo look more ponderous than the ’71-’72, the smoother side-sculpting (eliminating the fake air-intake vents) was arguably an improvement.
Those rear bumper guards are crazy–I think they would have been a “big city” dealer add-on, ready to tackle New York City or Chicago.
I agree that those bumper guards look super-aggressive, not unlike the big teeth of a sabre-tooth tiger.
We’ll take a dozen!
Nice!!!
Thanx, Joseph .
-Nate
JP got me thinking. I can rather see you, in some form of your picture above, on the introduction to some ’70s era show – Barnaby Jones would be a good choice.
You could be the insurance underwriter who is skimming money and depositing into some offshore bank account and then have to kill the manager who discovers your nefarious activities. You give yourself away one day as your Valiant is traded for a new Eldorado.
I can almost see it…
Okay, Jason, I’m contacting you to help me write the screenplay. I am not joking. 🙂
What an intro. RIP Buddy Ebsen.
My parents get on me sometimes for continuing to drive RWD gunboats–even though I don’t drive all that much.
One of my daydreams is to come home in one of these…”well, I decided you were right and made the switch to FWD!”
Huge and excessive in every way, they couldn’t last of course and in the end sense prevailed, but its good to see some of them still running around. I would never own one but its good that some folks do just so we can see them from time to time.
I was once with a friend and his 15 year old son when we came across an early 1970;s Eldorado convertible of all things (in Brisbane, Australia that is a very rare sighting – must have been one of the Dean Brothers cars). The teenager would not accept that standard production models like this were ever made – he thought its was some special one off. Neither his father or I could convince him otherwise! I guess he just could not process all the unnecessary size and excess.
Just wondering, did any of these ever come with a plain, simple painted roof? I have never seen that – they all seem to have strange variations of partial vinyl roofs, often accompanied with unattractive shades over rear side windows. This example is pretty simple and looks all the better for it. I think they would look nicer with a simple painted roof.
There was one without a strange vinyl roof and it is plain painted and I reckon it looks so much nicer!
Not an Eldorado, but the entry level Calais, where it was optional.
No burning opinion here on the vinyl roof, but they did look best on large cars. In the right color it broke up the huge expanse of sheet metal pretty nicely.
I’m not sure what year a factory vinyl roof first became available on the Calais, perhaps ’73, but it could probably be dealer-installed most places in the 70s.
There were two vinyl roof options. I think that this roof option was required to get the sunroof.
amazingly enough, the pimped Eldorado from live and let die ended up in my neck of the woods in Ontario. by the time I last remember seeing it (in the mid 90’s ) it was just a shell of itself, having been used year round in our salty winters.
and of course the once I talked to the guy I got the usual “gonna fix it up one of these days” routine. yeah right!
I always wondered though how it made the trip from New York of the seventies to a small Ontario backwater in the nineties
Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten to used to cars in the mid to late seventies due to the Brougham love around these parts, but that rear end seems a bit truncated compared to the ’74 and ’75 versions of the Eldorado.
I dont see too many of these here, I still wonder why they didnt vinyl the whole damn top instead half assing it, it looks cheap not luxurious.
My 76 Riviera had a similar vinyl roof treatment. I don’t think it looks bad, but vinyl roofs tend to deteriorate faster than paint, so in the long run I don’t like them.
There were two options for the vinyl top, the low priced one probably was not padded and covered the whole top. This one is available with a sunroof.
Not my favorite year for Cadillac styling but I own a ’73 Eldorado, nonetheless.
Nice, Mike! I love that rich shade of emerald green.
Body-shame this generation of Eldorado? No need; it does that just fine by itself.
These are certainly in the running for ugliest American car of my lifetime.
Having been an huge fan of the Bob Newhart show for several years before I ever physically set foot in Chicago, the very first thing I did in 1979 upon emerging from Union Station on my first trip to the city was to seek out the Marina Towers. I found them (obviously) and only wish I was wearing a London Fog raincoat and a fedora (hat aficionados can correct me here if I’ve gotten the style wrong) to complete the experience. Your city has charmed me ever since. Even if nowadays my landmarks also include most of the on-site locations of The Fugitive movie.
At risk of labelling myself as a super-dork… I actually went to Bob’s office building too (remodeled beyond recognition), as well as their condo on a trip to Chicago. It’s funny how much I still like a show that ended when I was in elementary school.
Jeff, I think I may need to get on board with The Fugitive. Thank you. Re-reading this post from six years ago I’m reminded how much I really enjoy shows and movies set in Chicago, even outside of the obvious John Hughes movies (which I also love).
The Fugitive is a total goldmine for Chicago locations and given its popularity has spawned a number of sites allowing super-dork (yeah Eric, me too 😉 ) fans to tour the city based on the movie’s connections.
https://chicagobikeadventures.com/the-fugitive-map/
One of my personal high points in life was to once have found myself waylaid by weather at O’Hare and thus sent for an overnight to the site of the Devlin MacGregor convention by American Airlines. 🙂
Joseph
Well caught, as usual. I’m a bit partial to red ’73 Caddies….Green ones too!
Very nice, Dean! I’m always impressed with your fleet. 🙂
As big as a…
Yeah, that’s about right……..
I had a ’70 Coupe de Ville that I added a set of JC Whitney over size front bumper guards. Man, did that car look sharp! .That Buddy Rich number really sets the tone for that era.
For me, this Eldorado always brings to mind the final scenes of “Thunderbolt & Lightfoot”.
I believe this is the first year of the factory cabriolet roof. From ’74 until the 90s, Coupe de Villes and Eldorados were rarely seen without them. The ’79-85 Eldo had the most slick roofs, but they’re still uncommon on Hemmings. As someone said earlier, a full roof has better proportions offsetting the massive body, and IIRC, they were less expensive originally.
At the end of the Bob Newhart show, the very end you seen a 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham in orange I thought you guys would have mentioned it..