Sold for $148,500 at the RM Auctions on Amelia Island this weekend.
The below facts are from the RM Auctions Listing:
Series 70. 335 bhp, 365 cu. in. OHV V-8 engine, four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission, coil-spring independent front suspension, live rear axle with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and four-wheel power hydraulic brakes. Wheelbase: 126 in.
For the ultimate Cadillac of the late 1950s, Harley Earl’s styling team contributed multiple new ideas, including four-door hardtop sedan bodywork with disappearing windows, rear-hinged rear doors, and a broad expanse of sparkling brushed stainless steel for the roof. Quad headlights were exclusive to the model. The engineering staff worked out a litany of power accessories that was so numerous that “power everything” wasn’t just a convenient phrase, it was a reality. The trunk lid and rear doors not only opened with the push of a button, but they also closed with one too, and the doors would lock automatically when the transmission was put in gear. A memory front seat was a first for a production car, as were the forged aluminum wheels. Naturally, there was air conditioning.
All of this high living came at a cost of $13,974, which was twice the cost of the Eldorado Biarritz Convertible. In fact, one had to look long and hard to find a production car anywhere in the world that was as expensive as an Eldorado Brougham. Cadillac reportedly lost $10,000 on every car built, which was why the original “Eldo Bro” lasted for only two years and only 704 examples were made.
The car offered here is body number 702, the third-from-last original Eldorado Brougham. It remained in the family of its original owner until 2007 and was then sold to a well-known Cadillac enthusiast in the American South, who carefully restored its mechanical components and drove it extensively. The car visited the 2009 Cadillac-LaSalle Club Grand National in Las Vegas and was actually once driven from coast to coast, across the United States.
The Eldorado Brougham still has its original interior, which is in well-maintained condition, and it still rides on its very rare original air suspension system. It is also accompanied by many of the original vanity accessories, reportedly everything except for the original atomizer, which was destroyed when it was loaned to a company to reproduce it.
This Eldorado Brougham, showing under 75,000 actual miles, is the ultimate in 1950s Cadillac luxury.
You may purchase a print in our dElegance 2015 online gallery.
