In 1957, Cadillac’s fabulous Eldorado Brougham cost over $13,000, more than $133,000 in 2022 dollars. Thanks to entrepreneur Reuben Allender, you could buy a car like this 1957 Chevrolet El Morocco Brougham, shamelessly modified to emulate the high-rolling Caddy, for only about $800 more than a normal ’57 Chevy. Allender’s operation cranked out an estimated 16 El Moroccos in 1956 and 14 in 1957, the only year of the four-door Brougham, and this car’s seller claims only four Broughams exist today. This Orlando, Florida classic can be yours here on eBay with one click of Buy It Now and $349,999. Wheel covers sourced from none other than J.C. Whitney mark an interesting deviation from stock. Thanks to reader Russell G. for spotting this immaculately-restored specimen, and to Motor Trend for some historical details.
The interior is almost all Chevrolet. An acrylic-encased leather badge inscribed with the original buyer’s name marks a notable custom touch. Compared to pink-white-black and other bold color schemes of the era, this gray and muted blue interior shows pure class.
Buyers could order their El Morocco in a palette of Cadillac colors such as this Tahoe Blue. Limited production records leave some debate about whether fins were metal or fiberglass, though at least one restored car revealed all leaded metal. Louvered exhaust outlets and a custom lower pan replace the stock Chevrolet bumper. Nobody will mistake this El Morocco for a normal Chevy from behind!
The stock Chevrolet 283 cid (4.6L) V8 looks factory fresh, as it should fewer than 200 miles since a complete frame-off restoration. As a sharp-looking custom with all-Chevy mechanical parts, the El Morocco kept its factory warranty and could be serviced anywhere.
Chevy did a good job of making the ’55 to ’57s look like baby Cadillacs on its own, making them the obvious choice for Allender’s transformation. A Caddy-style egg crate grille in stainless steel sets off the front. Have you ever seen a limited-production, Cadillac-inspired El Morocco?
350k large for a 4 door fugazi Cadillac? Nope. I see it was just listed on another auction site, bid to $82.6k ending in no sale. So he lists it at $350k lol
JCA…..I totally agree! A BIG LOL is right! Only someone with more money than brains would put out that kind of a price for this El Morocco!!!!!
Yeah it’s only the rarest chevy ever made. But yeah it’s a fugazi , right? And you have a time machine and can go back and grab a ton of them , right? Not. Even if you did have a time machine they only made it for two years and only a handful went out 40- 50 ever made. Shoot only 4 were a convertible. But yeah you go say how he couldn’t sell it at a starting price(not even the minimum) so he went somewhere people actually know what this car. Yeah he is so bad, right? Not. Are you getting the point yet? Shoot go buy the rarest Ford and see what you will pay for a FIND ON the ROADSIDE DEAD , it’s only a few millions, lol. And do you want to know why you have such problems with this car, oh yeah, cause you can’t afford it and that must give you all types of issues. Heck if I had one, I wouldn’t keep it either. Just not my type of car, but I sure would sell it for what it us worth and not lower so people like you don’t complain, heck I probably would charge you even more than they are here, if I knew it was trying to buy it. Go buy a chevy aveo, that sounds more like the lane you should be in for getting a chevy.
JC Whitney’s copy of the ’55 Olds spinners. Every other kid’s car of the era had them.
My Dad put those JC Whitney hubcaps on our 58 DelRay. I thought that was cool even though I was 3.
Bob, these are not replicas of ’55 Olds hubcaps! They are closer to a ’56 Olds, but still not correct even for that. ’55 Olds Spinner And standard hubcaps had stainless circular stainless stripes about 1/4 inch wide with white paint between each stripe, Also about 1/4″ wide. My parents bought a ’55 in early ’56 & these hubcaps were an option for that year. I bought a ’55 Olds of my own in 1958 & it came with the Orig. ’55 spinner hubcaps I described!
It is worth whatever amount the seller accepts.
I am not the right customer for this, and if given it I would sell at 10% or less of their asking price to clear it out.
No thanks.
If BAT only gets $82K bid then this is quite a reach…
BTW he started at $399K so maybe its a moonlight madness sale?
Or a Blue Light K-mart special, eh, Arby???? Pretty pricey for what was supposed to be one of the Low Price Three, huh? Supposed to be equivalent to a Caddy? Where’s the Power Windows? Where’s the Padded Dash? Where’s the Factory Air? Etc., etc. etc. Sorry, this is another ’57 Chevy 4 DOOR Hdtp. with some body changes! Nice car, but 350,000 G’s?
No thanks!
I could go on and on about how unique and wonderful these El Moroccos are, but I wouldn’t want to bogart the comment section here…
In the mid to late 1980s I was importing used Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars from England. I was approached by a man who wanted to trade me his nice, unrestored, black El Morocco 4-door hardtop, for a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I, even up.
I had never heard about the El Morocco, and this was before the internet information age, so I decided all the so-called history of the El Morocco was B.S., and I turned him down.
Wikipedia has [in part] this to say about the 1957 versions:
For 1957, [Reuben] Allender offered a new El Morocco based on the 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten Sport Coupe, Sport Sedan, and the Bel Air convertible. He removed the Chevy grille and replaced it with an aluminum egg crate insert. The “Chevrolet” lettering was replaced with El Morocco badges on the front and rear in block letters just over the “V.” At the rear, the ’57 El Morocco sported metal Eldorado-style rear fins welded to the rear quarters in the wake of a shortage of skilled fibreglass workers. Bright side “scoop” moldings on the rear quarter panels gave the car more of a resemblance to the $13,000 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.
Allender’s cars were at their core customized Chevrolets, albeit hand-built ones. Allender used stock parts where possible; for example, the Dagmar [rear] bumper elements were reversed 1937 Dodge headlight pods, whereas the taillights were 1955 Dodge units. A Frazer horn button served as a front medallion, and “saddle” pieces on the front doors came from dash padding on a Willys. Drivetrains for all El Moroccos were strictly stock Chevrolet units. Standard was the Chevrolet small-block V8 with a four-barrel carburetor and Powerglide automatic transmission.
For the price , think you might get at least real vintage wrong hub caps!!
You guys are all too young to remember these when new. These ARE the wheelcovers that were put on El Moroccos. Reseach some original photos.
I remember in the eary 1970’s my mom telling me she saw a 57 El Morocco in Painesville, OH. I had no idea what a El Morocco was back then. Even to this day I drive down that street I wonder what is in the garages on that street.
$349K? I don’t think so, Tim. (with a nod to Al Borland)
I think 57 Chevys are gorgeous. Taken over the top, it becomes ugly. You couldn’t give me this.
Yikes !!!!!
By the time these monstrosities where built were they any cheaper then just buying the Cadillac they’re trying to look like?
Does anybody know what that silver box attached to the right (driver’s side) front inner fender is?
Vacuum reserve tank for the PB.
Thanks.
Wow, a Red Tag Special, get it QUICK before the price goes back up!
Cool car!
but
Boring! and Tedious! Description!
Every sentence! Ending with !!!!
(Me thinks he’s selling the “sizzle” rather than the “steak”.)
yawn……
Those Western Auto wheel covers need to go. Notice I said W.A. instead of J.C. Whitney because that is where I purchased an identical set for my 1958 Plymouth back in 1960. The car looks good to me, and I’d like to see a two door hard top and also a convertible El Morocco. I love the interior colors. It’s too bad Chevys didn’t come in those colors, but I guess GM didn’t want the lower priced cars to be too similar to the expensive models.
Russ, you can see the El Morocco in both the styles you mention if memory serves me in an all 1957 classic car showroom in the Bagnal Dam, Missouri area. Every car in the museum displays all makes from 1957 and there are several El Moroccos in the museum. Again, if memory serves, it was supposed to be the largest single-site display of El Moroccos in the country. It’s been too many years ago that I was there.
$349M would buy some remarkable cars, more remarkable than this. pass.
Unique and desirable as a historic piece, however from an aesthetic view IMHO it’s disastrous. Almost like one of those not-so-fortunate AMT custom variants just in 1:1 scale.
For $800 more than a standard Chev in ’57 you’d put yourself in well-appointed Pontiac or Oldsmobile territory. As for what the customer got for the $ I can clearly comprehend why so few people opted for the El Morocco
Those flipper hubcaps are off a ‘56 Olds.
Typo? I think they must have added an extra 9 on the tail end of the price stated. Remove the extra 9 and you might generate som interest.
I’ll say this…Hasn’t improved with age or knockoff J.C. Whitney hubcaps!
I do remember these and I wasn’t impressed then and that hasn’t changed. But it certainly is a interesting piece of automotive trivia. No comment on the price, we all know you can’t fix stupid.
Why?
Yeah it’s a nice looking car, I guess, but I’d much rather have a real 57 or 58 deVille rag top.
I have not seen one IRL, but have seen ads to sell them. This shows you where the market is going, as the previous ads were only 5 digits and this guy wants 6 and not even low 6.
Would it have killed them to order the Chevrolet with power windows? Giving it a more natural Cadillac look.
I like these. They are tastefully done, IMO, but I would like to see more of a Cadillac style in the front. They nailed the back and sides, and ran out if steam on the front.
Did they tack Brougham on the name? I don’t remember that…
Mercedes hubcaps :D
Yes, these tri-bar wheel covers were available on J C Whitney, Western auto, and Warshawsky catalogs and stores. For the time [late 1950s] they were quite appropriate for a vehicle like the El Morocco, and here’s why:
First, let’s consider the alternatives; They couldn’t be sold with genuine Cadillac wheel covers or Sabre Spoke wheels, as GM wouldn’t permit it. Second, the Chevy bow-tie covers were too well known. Ditto for any of the other “vehicle branded” wheel covers like the real Olds Fiesta or Dodge Lancer wheel covers. To create a wheel cover just for the tiny production levels of the El Morocco financially didn’t make sense. That leaves only one basic source of wheel covers for the El Morocco; aftermarket covers.
Going back thru some of my vintage mail-order catalogs and GM price lists gave me the likely answer as to why these covers were used. First of all, the 1957 Full size Chevy wheel cover [in a set of 4], the wholesale price was as cheap as about $12 from GM. The same Chevy set offered thru the J C Whitney catalog was $15.95.
The wheel covers used on the El Morocco, listed in the J C Whitney catalog as the “3 prop Fiesta style chrome wheel discs” were the most expensive aftermarket set available, offered in the Whitney catalog for $34.95 for a set of 4. They were more expensive than the price I found in the Cadillac GM parts book for Cadillac wheel covers. If we consider just the price, These wheel covers would have been pretty rare in the late 1950’s and the number one reason they are so hard to find today. It would have been the logical choice for someone building a limited number of customized cars in 1957.
The photo comes from a 1959 J C Whitney catalog, page 161.
“Chevy did a good job of making the ’55 to ’57s look like baby Cadillacs” Really ? I dont think anyone saw any resemblance at all . Back then everything had a different style ; a Chevy was a Chevy , and a Caddy was a Caddy
According to Hemmings, this exact car was sold in Dallas (Leake Auctions) in 2014 for $140,800, having undergone a full body-off restoration in 2010.
The pictures then are the same ones used now on evilBay.
Asking more than double that just for storing it for 8 years is simply ridiculous.
The more I look at it the less I like it. It’s a ’57 Chevy gone bad.