At first glance, this 1983 Cadillac Eldorado Paris Opera Coupe feels like Brougham excess taken to its logical tacky extreme—piled high with ornate trim and unapologetic flair. It’s the kind of car that makes you wonder who would take things this far… until you learn it once belonged to Jerry Lee Lewis. Suddenly, it all makes sense. Bold, controversial, and impossible to ignore, the car mirrors the larger-than-life personality of its former owner, turning an already custom Eldorado into something that truly belongs to rock ’n’ roll history.
It wasn’t a planned encounter. Back in 2014, I was pedaling down Beale Street on a Saturday when I ran across this Eldorado. Naturally, I pulled over and began to take pictures. As you can see, this one has had its “Broughamness” augmented with the addition of some exquisitely tacky trim.
Who would do such a thing, I thought? After all, Elvis had been enjoying his eternal reward for a year when this generation of Eldo appeared. Note the brick to keep this contraption from rolling out on Beale. Could it have been that the owner grew up in a rural area?
Perhaps, say, Ferriday, Louisiana? A quick search of Memphis’s local paper, the Commercial Appeal, verifies that this is a “Killer” car, having once belonged to Jerry Lee Lewis.
Jerry Lee was supposed to be the next big thing after Elvis, but he proved to be too wild for anyone to handle and self destructed more times than I would care to elaborate here. Still, he outlasted all of the famous Sun Records artists, releasing albums with titles like Mean Old Man and Last Man Standing, with his last recorded album released in 2014 before passing away in 2022 at 87. He still performed in his mid 80s (he usually made an appearance at the Beale Street Music Festival), and said he wanted to die of a heart attack while playing Great Balls of Fire to a sold out crowd.
This Eldorado is one of several conversion jobs from the Not-Enough-Brougham 1970s era, and is a Paris Opera Coupe from the late 1970s and early 1980s, and built by the American Custom Coachworks in Pompano Beach, Florida. There were several of these coach built Cadillacs at the time, and CC has covered them to some extent. These were naturally built to order and customized for each buyer.
So, it should come as no surprise that his chariot has a red interior with the loose pillowy leather one would expect from the end of the Great Brougham Epoch. This, after all, is the man who allegedly set a piano on fire while in concert (although he denies having done such a thing).
No opera windows, but The Killer added a set of landau bars, which appear to be Cadillac-approved. Hey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
Out back, there are some faux tie-down straps, but there appear to be no plates. As for its current location, the car was moved to the Jerry Lee Lewis Ranch Experience in 2024.
The discerning curbside connoisseur will notice no wreath and crest on the ‘spare tire’.
But the hood ornament is still there, albeit a bit mangled, like the Killer himself.
I don’t mind the stretch and landau bars but could definitely do without the sidemounts. Get rid of those and I’d be proud to own and drive it. The trunk straps are a bit much too.
Love Jerry Lee Lewis music, and I have southern heritage, but when I see trash I call it trash. He was trash when he married his 13-year-old cousin. His taste in this Eldo is trash.
This last week I saw a ‘Barris” custom Eldorado for sale on one of the major online auctions. Jerry Lee would have loved it. i wanted to poke my eyes out after seeing it but have spent too much money in my old age to correct my vision.
YUK!
Nothing like taking a beautiful car and turning it into a total (ugly) pimp trash car.
I see we’re in agreement then. Next!
It’s the ultimate send-up of the ridiculously trashy Brougham era, so I love it!
Can I have hood irons, opera windows AND coach lamps please?
Oh, and metalflake purple with chrome side pipes and flexis…
But better make it a Stutz – the Eldo’s not tasteless enough, already…
Aside from those extra added on outside and inside luxury decorations, wonder anyone notices this Eldorado also had its engine compartment extended by one foot to create a long hood looking, reminiscent to the 1930s high end automobiles, how is it done? And interesting to know such modifications if the vehicle dynamics and drivability for daily drivers
It’s not that terribly difficult, just laborious: Additional sections are welded into the fenders and frame longitudinals, with the awful faux side mounts serving to disguise any seams in the modified fenders, and the hood looks to be new anyway, to go with the giant chrome arch grille. An Eldorado of this vintage is FWD, so the whole powertrain is between the front wheels, and it’s automatic, so there’s no clutch linkage. The steering linkage would have to be modified to account for the front wheels being farther away from the firewall.
If the steering modifications were competently executed, probably the biggest issue in driving the thing (other than the whole “preposterously bad taste” part) would be that the turning circle would be about the size of an aircraft carrier. Also, the 1983 Eldo had the 4100HT engine with 125 hp, and so the last thing it needed was more weight.
Here’s another similar conversion with some underhood shots (though unfortunately not underbody) that gives a sense of how they did the nose stretch:
https://www.classicandcollectorcars.com/vehicles/18645/1983-cadillac-eldorado-special-edition-el-ballero
I never saw an Eldorado given this treatment. I normally associate this look with the Grandeur Seville Opera Coupe which was a little more awkward since it had the short doors from the original sedan. This conversion was actually less extreme since it was all ahead of the firewall