Here’s another one that slipped by me in the great custom kitschmobile era: the Damen Road Star, obviously Cadillac Edorado based, and priced at a nifty $55k, or $175k in today’s money.
Here’s the full description:
Whether any more than the prototype was ever made I cannot say. In any case there was a lot of exclusivity in being a Damen Road Star owner.
Update: here’s the side view, thanks to commenter Ralph L.
Too obviously Cadillac Eldorado based. The builder did not put much effort into it.
And add the front grille borrowed from some Dodge Magnum or Mirada.
That was my first thought too.
I see a little 1981 Imperial in the front end too. Just turn the grille bars 90° and leave the headlights open.
Not that obviously, they wiped away everything “Cadillac” like they were trying to make it into a copy of an Olds Toronado.
The website for Bridge of Weir leather (a real company) shows an Aston Martin DBS and a Citroën DS, among other interesting cars, but no Damen. Go figure.
http://www.bowleather.com/Heritage/Our-Heritage.aspx
They were probably a little irked to see their name misspelled in the ad. Next time Damen will have to go with Coronainthian leather and Lcuas electronics.
I recall a Chrysler full-line brochure from circa 1984 where “Chrysler” was misspelt.
The only advantage to this thing is that it’s a convertible. I don’t think this generation of Eldorado had a convertible version until later on in the decade. For those who really wanted an Eldorado convertible and willing to pay the price.
Wow, $55K was a lot of money then! eBay has a brochure with an artist’s drawing and basically the same specs—-though it lists wire wheels, with no mention that the top is *not* power operated: https://www.ebay.com/itm/402755480461?hash=item5dc618eb8d:g:otUAAOSwTA1gTAc2
Vegas. Nothing more need really be said. If Elvis were still alive when these were being built, you can bet he’d have at least one of them.
Nothing says “cost be Damened” like repurposed Ford truck lamps. Lol
I was trying to place those tail lights, too—but I don’t think they’re Ford truck lamps. Or are they? What year?
I can’t quite place the tail lights either — the closest I can think of is from an International Scout, but those don’t look like an exact match either.
Regardless, the original Cadillac ones looked better.
First glance I thought they were Ford truck/van too, but on closer look you have it correct they are Scout II. So at least they are keeping their GM all GM with genuine Guide lighting.
Yeah, here’s the thing, though: when they rotated those taillights 90° from their intended orientation, they wrecked their safety performance and legal compliance, because the light distribution requirements are much wider than they are tall. The stop and tail light beams have intensity requirements out to 45° left and right, but only 15° up and down. There’s some possibility the stop and tail light patterns from these lamps are more or less circular, and might be okeh, but no chance for the reversing lamp (45° left and right, 10° up and 5° down).
But by turning them sideways they did improve the performance since the lens over the STT bulb is now wider than it is taller. /s
Seriously, the STT function is a fairly round pattern on those lenses.
One wonders why they didn’t employ rear lamps from a GM A/G body wagon, which were designed to be operated horizontally.
As DS stated, you would end up with two tall, narrow slits of light from the reverse lamps on the sideways Scout units.
@TA I’m sure the reason that they used the Scout II tailights is that they could be mounted by cutting a hole in the bumper and sticking them in. The A body lights are designed to me mounted from the back behind a finished hole. So they would have taken a lot more work to implement. Hopefully the original purchaser will get rid of it before rust starts to work its way out from under the lip on the taillight.
Regarding the back up lights it doesn’t matter because:
“Damen, for the man who is always moving forward”
“The Damen owner is a man who never looks back.”
International Scout is correct.
I shot from the hip, I’ll be Damened, apparently not.
Without looking, I was thinking early Bronco, ’66 pick-up type.
Which on second thought, anyway it wouldn’t make sense for them to have chosen a 15 year-old lamp.
Toronavanti.
The 1980 Damen Road Star: Right, Yes, They’re Laughing With You!
Those gaping stares? That’s admiration and envy, my friend!
Those rear bumper lights. Fancy!
Those little oval rear side marker lights from K-Mart. (those can’t be factory Cadillac) More fancy!
The weird pointy grille. Oh so fancy.
Manual-top. Yet more fanciness!
So much fancy in one, ahem, elegant package.
I suppose the gold wheels were stylish enough for the time. (Even Paul N. had gold wheels on his Benz) 😛
Was this designed for cow-flipping?
I can’t tell for sure if the wheelbase was shortened or the cowl moved back, but even if they weren’t, there’s a lot more new sheet metal here than first meets the eye. Too bad no profile or interior photos.
I’m going to estimate that 99% of possible buyers of convertibles in that upper price range, would insist on a power folding convertible top, that requires only the effort to latch or unlatch the top at the header, and the finger strength required to push a button to make it open and close.
I agree, but didn’t the Mercedes-Benz R107 have a manual top?
http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/cadillac/25642-custom-collector-car-for-sale-cadillac-eldorado-convertible-roadstar.html
Whoa! No wonder there isn’t a side view in the original brochure:
This from another ad for the same car
http://topclassiccarsforsale.com/cadillac/10390-custom-collector-car-for-sale-one-off-cadillac-ultimate-boulevard-cruiser.html
If the MSRPs on the NADA site is correct, in 1979 you could’ve used the same $55,000 to buy three Eldorados, and still have had enough left over to purchase a four-door Olds Ninety-Eight Regency. And even then you’d have $1,572 left over for options.
As for me, I probably would’ve gone for a Mercedes-Benz 450SL ($31,589) and a 280E ($22,943), and invested the remaining $468 in Microsoft stock. 😉
What are those door handles from?
My best guess – and lacking any closeup photos, it’s a guess – is that they’re from an AMC product of the same era.
I’d rather have the Chrysler Imperial Lamborghini Edition.