“There are eight million stories in the naked city,” the narrator solemnly intoned at the end of the famous 1948 film noir and the 1958-63 television series. There aren’t that many stories at a typical car show, but one wonders what stories this decrepit 1955 Cadillac Eldorado could tell – particularly the one about how it ended up in this condition.
Much like meeting a former Hollywood sex symbol after her fourth divorce and fifth facelift, seeing a 1955 Eldorado in this state brings a twinge of sadness. How did such a dazzling car end up like this? This isn’t, after all, a 1955 Ford Mainline sedan. It’s unlikely that young boys longed for the day that dad drove home in a Mainline, or adults counted the days until they could park one in their driveway.
In 1955 Cadillac was the Standard of the World, and the Eldorado convertible was the most desirable Cadillac. Millions of middle- and working-class Americans dreamed of the day that they could afford any Cadillac, let alone a glamorous Eldorado.
The 1955 Eldorado was the third edition of the luxury convertible that debuted for 1953. The 1953 Eldorado was the first car, along with that year’s Oldsmobile Fiesta, to feature Harley Earl’s beloved wraparound windshield. It also featured custom body work – a “dipped” beltline was the most noticeable feature – which helped drive the sticker price to the then-astronomical sum of $7,750, or almost twice the price of a Series 62 convertible. Only 532 first-year Eldorados were sold.
The 1954 Eldorado’s all-new body was otherwise unchanged from that of the standard Series 62 convertible. The price was cut substantially from the lofty 1953 level, which spurred sales to 2,150.
For 1955, the Eldorado again featured distinctive sheet metal to distinguish it from other Cadillacs, although this time it was in the form of unique rear quarter panels and tail fins. Under the hood was a 331 cubic inch V-8 equipped with dual, four-barrel carburetors. With those dual quads, the Eldorado V-8 pumped out 270 horses, or 20 more than the V-8s of lesser Cadillacs.
Making their debut on the 1955 Eldorado were the famous “Sabre-Spoke” wheels. The fender skirts featured on other Cadillacs were eliminated, to better show off the handsome new wheels.
The Cadillac V and crest were proudly displayed on the Eldorado’s hood. Buyers wanted to be sure that everyone knew they were driving a Cadillac.
The wraparound windshield, shared with more plebian Cadillacs since 1954, is long gone from this Eldorado. The Autronic Eye automatic headlight dimmer unit is still perched proudly on top of the dash.
All of that style wasn’t cheap. While the list price of the 1955 Eldorado was below that of the inaugural model, it was still high for the times – over $6,000. The buyer of this Eldorado probably paid that price, as demand for all Cadillacs exceeded the supply in the mid-1950s. A booming economy pushed production to 3,950 for the model year.
Who took delivery of this dreamboat when it was brand new? Was it a top-level executive seeking something sportier than a Sixty Special? A wealthy housewife who wanted to “one up” all of those Series 62 convertibles at the country club? A brash, young entrepreneur who was ready to show the world that he had made it?
Movie images: IMCDb
What would the owner have thought if, peering into a crystal ball, he or she had caught a glimpse of the Eldorado almost 60 years later? Perhaps the owner wouldn’t have cared. During the 1950s, no car maker had more success in selling the car as a fashion accessory than GM did, and, in tandem with that effort, no car maker did a better job of promoting the “newest is best” mindset among the public.
Fashion, as we all know, is quite fickle. In a survey of 1956 Cadillac owners, Popular Mechanics noted that almost 2/3s of the respondents had traded in a 1954 or 1955 Cadillac on their 1956 model. Given that mindset, a 1955 Eldorado was, by the fall of 1956, probably looking a little like yesterday’s newspaper to its owner.
Was this Eldorado traded in for a 1957 edition? Or one of those slinky 1957 Imperial convertibles that threw the GM design staff into a tizzy? Or did the owner wait until the 1958 model year and trade it for something really different – a Mercedes 220S convertible, or a four-seat Thunderbird? The challenge presented by the 1957 Imperial was easily surmounted by GM, but the Mercedes and Thunderbird represented trends that would play a part in GM’s downfall in the 21st century, and Cadillac’s fall from grace long before that.
How did this particular Eldorado end up on a trailer at the spring Carlisle Collector Car Swap Meet and Corral? Most likely, it eventually became just another used car, a tired vehicle sold to someone who needed transportation. The prominent fins and wraparound windshield, once the height of style, looked old-fashioned by the mid-1960s. By 1966, potential buyers may have been a little embarrassed at the thought of driving such an obviously old car. This car, once a source of pride, may have become a source of embarrassment.
Fashion is not only fickle, but sometimes cruel. If this Cadillac could talk, it would probably tell us that story, based on firsthand experience.
Note: Text and photos originally published on 6/25/2013. To access the original post and its commentary, the link is HERE.
Deare Greg, your essay is heartfelt for those who knew these cars when they were new and all the rage. I hope that this Caddy finds a loving owner, with plenty of dough, to bring it back to being “The Standard of the World.” This is a fun car to drive on a day when a convertible is to be enjoyed. Good luck, Eldorado! Maybe the new owner will also enjoy the Wonderbar Radio along with the Electronic Eye. AND PICK UPSOME HOT BABES – albeit all over seventy years of age and arthritic!
Hopefully it will end up in a photo like the last one. Deep pockets and patience would be greatly rewarded.
I had two contacts with ’55 ElDorados in my youth, back in the mid 1970’s. I used to run around Lake Merritt as part of my fitness routine, and there was a brown Eldo parked at the curb in front of an apartment building. It was in very good shape, and must have been someone’s daily car. It was parked at different spots during the week. I was already a Cadillac fan and it did catch my eye.
I had found a second Eldo for sale at a used car lot in Alameda, near the Honda shop that I frequented. This was a few years earlier, as I was still in high school. It was parked in the back row, a white exterior with a bright red leather interior. It had a Continental kit with Sabre Spokes all around. The dual carb and air cleaner set up was under the hood, and I’m sure that it was a runner. Overall in pretty good shape except for a sizeable dent behind the driver’s door. The price was written in white shoe polish on the windshield, 199.00! I was quite tempted but I’d started riding motorcycles and was intent on working my way up from a Honda 160 to a Harley Big Twin. If I would have bought it, would I have held onto it until today? I doubt it, I probably would have kept it for a year or two. I guess that I still had the Caddy convertible bug, because I did buy my ’64 Cadillac convertible a couple of years after I graduated. That was a fun car.
Older model Cadillacs were still held in high esteem in Oakland, but the idea was to find a clean late model, usually around five years old. However there were many clean Caddys from the ’50’s roaming the streets during this time.
A well-written article.
I agree that there’s probably a story or two to tell about this car. I do doubt that it was considered “just an old car” at any point, or for very long, as if that were the case, it’d probably not have survived the 58 years it had when Greg first encountered it. I think, particularly back when this car still had some driving life in it, someone must have considered it somewhat special to avoid it just being crushed in the late 1960s or in the 1970s. What’s more likely is that someone (or some succession of owners) kept it with the idea that it was special enough to be saved. Although that never happened, and the Cadillac stayed outside, decaying from the top down and bottom up.
Fortunately, it made it Carlisle.
I do wonder what has become of it in the dozen years since the author encountered it.