For those of you with a family that absolutely must travel in style, look no further! This custom coach built 1956 Cadillac station wagon is at your beck and call. Constructed by Hess and Eisenhardt as Broadmoor Hotel cruisers, these custom built Caddies are quite rare. Only six were built in 1955 and another two in 1956. We featured another one last year and it looks like the seller has had a few so we are guessing that most of them have survived. This exclusive and unique machine has 5 days remaining and bidding has already risen to $45,525 with the reserve not met! Find it here on ebay out of Perris, California.
Of the two Broadmoor wagons built in 1956, this one appears to either be a survivor, or a very old restoration. The interior has a very original appearance, as there is some evidence of aging. Within this massive interior lies a four rows of seating and some very cool Plexiglas roof panels. Can you imagine getting picked up in this beautiful Cadillac to be taken to your hotel? You could push me over with a feather if that happened. With 4 rows of seating, you could easily take your family, and a friend’s family to the next big car event. Clearly having been stored for some time, there is a layer of dust within the interior, otherwise this interior is in nice condition.
The styling on these Hess and Eisenhardt Caddies is wonderful. There is custom badging, as well as a dual exhaust that is fed through the bumpers. Thankfully this one is complete and in fair condition with only a few condition concerns. Looking over the paint reveals a very old paint job that has become thin and worn on the hood, and has some mild chipping concerns on the roof. Although most of the paint is present, it has taken on a matte finish. Overall the body work appears straight, but the passenger rear quarter has a few minor waves in it, and there is strong wave or dent at the edge of the door opening. At car events, this damage may go unnoticed as it is not immediately apparent. This massive wagon is a driver, so all of the mechanicals are in order. With an awesome history, I only wish I could have lived in a time where I could have been motored up to the Broadmoor Hotel in this beautiful Cadillac. What do you think this rare Cadillac will sell for?
good looking 56 Caddie wagon!
Must be on a hearse chassis………good looking car. I rode in one of these when we stayed at the Broadmoor back in the 1970’s.
Hess and Eisenhardt was a Cincinnati company that specialized in building hearses from Fleetwood limos.
Also known for armor protected vehicles, they shipped many of these luxury “tanks” to the Middle East.
Terry; Actually, Cadillac supplied special commercial chassis with everything from the dash & firewall forward, fully operational drive train, suspension/steering, etc. This was a much longer wheelbase than the Fleetwood 75 limo. GM Also supplied Buick, Pontiac & Oldsmobile commercial chassis. Packard did the same with Henney, the builder of Packard hearses & ambulances.
automotive porn
Really! We really made some cars back in the day……..
My father loved ’50s Caddies, and owned them back in the ’50s & ’60s. They were the family car and he never owned anything later than ’56, even into the late ’60s.
As a mechanic he could pick them up cheap when owners were tired of them or when they bought a new one, and fix what was wrong with them. Then the family had a large comfortable car that we couldn’t afford any other way.
I have never seen one of these. It’s a beautiful ’50s tribute to American style and craftsmanship. No surprise it’s bid up to a good dollar.
And made right here in Cincinnati, Ohio! Thanks H&E for the awesome cars you built over the years!
Very interesting car! And a great shot of the little kid holding the hose. Also, glad to see the Broadmoor license plate frame still on her. I wonder if they used a chase car to haul the luggage? I guess no rack because of the Plexiglas roof. Trickie Dickie, do you recall how the luggage was transported? Thanks, Mike.
I do remember our ride from the train station to the Broadmoor was not full. I think there were two others besides us three. Everyone’s bags were just placed on the back two rows of seats. These Cadillacs were used for more than just transport to the hotel. We took several excursions out to see the spectacular Rocky Mountain scenery. We even attended a wonderful dude ranch nearby, rode horses and had a wonderful sunset BBQ dinner. The Cad was kind of at our disposal all day as I remember. No extra charge for the use of this car, was just one of the many perks of the hotel. The driver was part of the staff.
Another hotel and car story. For many years the beautiful Awahnee Hotel in Yosemite also had a fleet of Cadillac Touring sedans, and actually much longer than these Broadmoor Cadillacs. I live only 90 miles from Yosemite, and back then very near the main highway to Yosemite. I don’t remember the model years of the Cads but had to be from the late 1930’s. I am guessing those cars could carry from eight to twelve people. Every day we saw them going up and down Highway 41, to and from the valley. They were all dark green with brown leather interiors, full canvas roll-back roofs. They were powered by the standard Cadillac flathead V-8, and very slow, underpowered. A few years back I read an article that said someone had found a few of these old Cads, restored them and were now in service in Glacier National Park. I never had a ride in one of those, but we all still visit the spectacular Awahnee several times a year to have lunch or dinner. Probably one of the most dramatic and breath taking dining rooms anywhere. Its fun to spot newcomers to the room as they enter. They aways just stop and look around, so surprised. Floor to ceiling windows with views of many of the falls also helps.
I know the owner. I Sold the nicer one. He has 4 of 6 the 55s made. thise are in a Pkg deal. with 2 parts cars. Anyway .They used Studebaker Wagons for the luggage . So on 57 . studebaker came out with the name Broadmoor. and painted to look like thes Caddys .
Interesting car. Hemmings featured a 59 Broadmoor Skyview on its newsletter today. It’s going to be auctioned off at Amelia Island This weekend. They are predicting a price of between $175,000 & $250,000 for theirs, but it does appear to be in much better shape.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/?p=802751
ecto 1
in my estimation the ’56 looks much nicer than the ’59. however as i am not bidding on either my estimation may not count for much!
I have the same reaction to this one as I did for the ’59 featured in Hemmings today – cool ride, but too bad they couldn’t have painted it a color other than “Ambulance Red” – at least they avoided “Limo (and Hearse) Black”. Cadillac had a nice metallic moss green color – it would have looked less “service car” like in another color.
There is a guy about an hour from me that has 2 but there isn’t much left of them.Bruce.
Glacier and Yellowstone have ’37 – ’39 White tour buses, with the pull back canvas roof, Ford Motor Company retrieved a dozen or so from various places, and put the bodies on a modern Ford truck chassis and drivetrain, and they are used to drive people around both parks. No longer underpowered, and all the modern improvements like automatic transmissions, good brakes, etc. etc. I suppose they are ‘resto-rods” but in the original White configuration they would not be very useful.
I noticed one of the rarest Cadillac parts is in that dashboard: The Radio delete panel!
Whats with the blocks under the lower a arms
“Of the two Broadmoor wagons built in 1956…”
This one is red with a white roof. The other one was shown by “related finds” and was featured on BF two years ago. This one was solid red. What are the chances of that happening? Or did I miss something here?
Cool old rig did not meet the reserve. Bid to $62,600.00. With 51 bids.
Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, CO, I presume. It was, and maybe still is, the only 4-star accommodations between Chicago and California. When we lived in that city, we always took out of town visitors there for Sunday Brunch — and kids loved to feed the ducks.
Absolutely love this!! One thing is for sure you definitely won’t meet another one on the road!! Reminds me of an Aircraft Carrier (quite possible that you could land an Aeroplane on the Roof!) & it’ll probably handle like a boat as well or is that a misconception?
Hess and Eisenhardt was a top of the line conversion company. They were the top of the line ambulance builder before the government stepped in and not allow
the car companies chassis to be used anymore. At one time they used Cadilliac,Pontiac,Buick,Chevrolet and a few mopar’s too. They all road much
better than the commercial chassis they use today. You could handle one patient easily and maybe two even though they had hooks in the roof to hold two more stretchers but it took a lot to hang one and the upper patients better be small and if you did that there was not room to assist the patient. They made ambulances back then with 42,48 and 54 inch head room. During their time there wasn’t much an ambulance crew back then other than transport and administer oxygen. I was in the business from 1964 to the middle of the 70’s and we charged $12.00 plus $2.50 for oxygen but a first class ambulance cost $12 to $14,000 and now they are about $100.000 those were the days.