Nice original cars are very hard to come by. They were built to be driven over 100,000 miles, not to be tucked away in a climate controlled garage, protected from the elements, as well as, wear and tear. Every once in a while we come across a very nice car like this 1976 Cadillac Eldorado, which is a two-owner car that has spent that last 20 years indoors as part of a private collection. With just under 14,000 original miles, this Eldorado is about as nice as they come.
We have combed over the body on the Eldorado in search of any type of body work or rust, and we’ve found nothing. It looks to have mostly original paint and possibly some new paint, but anything that might have been repainted was stripped to bare metal before any type of paint was applied. We used our paint gauge on the vehicle and we haven’t been able to find anything over factory paint thickness on any of the panels. All of the chrome and trim on the car are in superior original condition for their age. We can’t say that we’ve seen anything nicer on an original car. We took some up-close photos of the chrome which are worth checking out.
The interior on the car is in remarkable condition as well, with leather that is still soft and supple and has never been resprayed or dyed. All the panels are crack free and show almost no visible signs of use or wear and tear. All the buttons, knobs and switches are also virtually wear-free and are truly representative of a low mile car. Most convertibles have some type of sun damage or shrinking but this car looks to have been preserved better that most 5-year old late model convertibles. The carpets are free from fading, stains and overuse. The window motors(a weak point on these cars) fly up and down without the typically "slow motion" action, as does the top.
The car starts and idles just as an Eldorado should – almost silently, despite having 500 CI of Detroit power under the massive hood. Even compared to new cars, a low mileage Eldorado is going to be about the smoothest driving car on the planet, and there is enough room in the back seat for all 5 of your girlfriends. Finding an Eldorado this nice is not an everyday occurance but in fact a very rare one – don’t miss the oportunity to own a beautifully preserved example of the last of the big Caddy convertibles.
