The Eldorado was Cadillac’s personal luxury car for decades. Its redesign in 1971 made it the longest and heaviest ever, and it would retain its girth through 1978, even though other GM cars had already been rightsized for better fuel economy (aka downsized). Convertibles were on their way out and, by 1976, only the Cadillac Eldorado drop-top remained in the GM arsenal. The seller has a 1974 edition, which seems nice enough, but the details and photos could be better. Located in Dallas, Texas, this behemoth ragtop is available here on eBay, where the current unmet reserve bid is $3,458.
Cadillac treated the Eldorado to a facelift in 1974, which included bigger rear bumpers similar to the proportions the ones in the front received the year before. The cars were propelled by GM’s largest passenger vehicle engine, a 500 cubic inch V8, which no doubt gulped gasoline faster than you could blink. Sales of the convertible were on the decline and amounted to 7,600 copies in ’74. Cadillac’s Eldorado drop-top was the last man standing in 1976, and fanfare boosted sales to 14,000 copies before the curtain fell.
No history of this car is provided beyond its 82,000 miles. We assume it runs well, but the description sounds more like dealer-speak than a private seller, as is advertised. These cars were as fancy as you could get in 1974, though the detuning process in Detroit in that era had taken most of the bite out of the big 500 CI V8.
At first glance, the paint appears to be chocolate brown, but if you lighten the photos a bit, it has a blackberry kind of hue to it. There are no signs of rust or body damage, though we’re only given exterior glances of about half of the vehicle. The black leather interior looks quite inviting and without flaws. We assume the pop-up top is black and in sound shape, but we don’t get to see it either. If you like fancy land yachts, they don’t come any larger than life than these ninth-generation Eldorados.
Texas plates, needs the long horn antlers on the hood😂. All kidding aside, nice Caddi.
Buyer beware.
The seller previously listed this car for sale in January, it ran with a no reserve auction that ended with a high bid of $2,800, but the sale was never completed. The pictures are the same, but the description has been rewritten, this time leaving out many flaws originally mentioned.
Steve R
When an ad has only a few blurry photos, contains no service history, and only claims that the car “runs”…… I have come to expect the worst.
Over the years I have owned a bunch of these (currently have a ’71), and inspected many others.
The photos too limited, and poor to even guess the body and bumper filler panels. There are no dash photos, except one fuzzy close-up of a cheap after-market radio, so I assume the dash and steering wheel are probably cracked. There is no parade boot shown, so it is likely missing, and no shots of the top up, so it may not work, and is also likely bad. The tires are likely aged out.
No engine photos. It probably needs a timing chain (and water-pump while you are there), carb rebuild, and full tune-up. The AC likely does not work…if it is even complete. It will also typically need complete brakes, shocks and air-suspension rebuild. At that mileage, tie-rods, ball-joints, and front axles are usually due for replacement.
There were lots of 9th gen Eldo convertibles built, and they are readily available almost everywhere. Show-quality Eldos can be pricey, but decent drivers are quite affordable. If you buy a cheap one with needs, you can quickly be upside down. Buying a car like this on e-bay, without an in-person inspection is not just risky…It is a guaranteed mistake.
And, seller has 1 feedback – as a buyer. Not sure why so many buyers (26 bids so far) can be this gullible.
I watched Steve McQueen/The Getaway last night….scene with a 72 ($) El Dorado convertible with 5 guys with ten gallon hats… Nice find.
1974 Cadillac Eldorado: Measures approximately 224 inches (18.6 feet).
2026 Ford F-150: Ranges from 231.7 inches to nearly 244 inches
I hope someone gives it a new home. Even though I agree with Cam W. above… he seems to mean that buying sight unseen is a bad idea for this or any car …
If it is not rusty and you don’t want the old fashioned motor and trans … and did I say not rusty (hahaha) then a person who wanted a resto-mod ‘keeper’ could have a really cool ride. I have no accurate knowledge of what kind of dough that would take, my guess? Car + $25,000. Then have a nicer riding Cadillac than a new one?
Uh oh, here comes that old fantasy I’ve had again. You know,
the one where I’m enjoying a car like this one with a really nice young lady. Angel, your thoughts?
@PRA4NSW: You are correct when it comes down to the gullibility of some buyers that believe what they see in a picture.
Sure, I understand that our gullible buyer is thinking only with his/her emotions here. They see
a somewhat shiny Eldorado ragtop and they dream of how nice this car could be with “Just a little work” only to have that dream be dashed when either they or their mechanic begin seriously working on the car and hit a wall when they see floors with holes as big as basketballs
or systems that don’t work as
advertised. Been there, did that
and almost lost my ass on ragged out ’72 Pontiac Granville
convertible that ran okay but needed everything else. Thankfully for me, my FIL to be was a mechanic. And when he inspected that car, reality came
round and gave me a bust in the jaw really quick. And worst of all,
the man trying to screw me over was one that I had trusted implicitly before he tried to pull a
fast one on me. He wanted $1K
in 1982 money to close the deal but after the “test drive”, we told him to go stuff himself and we never saw him or that ragged out
POS of a car ever again. Point is
folks, nothing these days is as it appears to be. So watch yourselves when it comes to buying a vintage vehicle. Hope that helps some of our younger
friends out there too. Just saying…
Ken, So many if us can relate to that story. Thankfully, you had someone who could look at it before you handed over any cash. A lot of times, that isn’t the case, and we learn the hard way.
Speaking of Eldorado convertibles looking good but being bad, I remember one of the auto reality shows – maybe Gas Monkey – bought a beautiful looking red Eldorado droptop and when they started to dig into it, they found that it was a body filled, rusted out mess.
Yeah, and you’d think Richard Rollins would’ve known to look at
the damned thing first BEFORE he
bought it! Bet they had to make a
2 parter out of that rusty ragtop for his show Gas Monkey Garage.
Sometimes, I think they stretched the truth a bit as some of their builds were pretty sketchy to say the least. But like millions of other motor heads out there, I’d tune in every Monday night at 9:00 just to see what sort of mechanical highjinks they got themselves into. I also watched
Desert Valley Car Kings every Wednesday night too. Even though I had to often wipe the drool from my chin while looking at all those cool old rides lying
around. Would love to see some of your Australian car shows someday just too see how you guys do it. Like the fellow who built a 500 HP 351 and stuffed it
into a ute. Saw that one in YouTube 15 years ago. Thought
your government outlawed stuff
like that. I do like your Ford Popular and prefect models a lot.
I can see one now sporting a beefed up 300 Ford 6 mated to a
C-6 auto tranny and a Ford 9 inch
rear out back. The only one I’ve
seen in the flesh was a ’48 Angela with a rip snortin 454 Rat
motor and a 4-speed tranny mated to it. That was 56 years ago at the first ever Street Rod Nationals in Peoria Illinois in 1970. Spent a great 2 days there
before going to Muskateen Iowa
to play a large package show that
Sunday night. I was 16 then and
was having the time of my young
life back then and still recall all the fun I had on that first tour. Who says you don’t remember your teen age years? Certainly not me folks!
Sold on 2/10/2026 for a high bid of $5,600, there were 30 bids and 21 bidders.
Steve R