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54 Mile 1980 Cadillac Eldorado

1980 Cadillac Elderado

When I see cars like this, I can’t help buy wonder why someone would buy a beautiful new luxury car, drive it home, park it in the garage and then never drive it ever again. With just 54 miles on the clock, that’s pretty much what happened with this Cadillac Eldorado. Did they get it home and realize they didn’t like it? Maybe they decided it was just too big to drive? Or maybe a major life event happened immediately after purchasing it that caused it to be parked? Sadly, in the case of this car, it’s the last reason that it is the lowest mileage example in existence. The original owner bought it, drove it a few times and then tragically passed away. His widow just couldn’t bring herself to drive or part with his car, so it was left in the garage. She’s since passed away, so her family decided to sell the car. It found its way to the current seller, who has gotten it running again.

1980 Cadillac Elderado Interior

The seller claims the family had a shop work on it, but the shop couldn’t get it running, so we can only assume that means they ended up selling it cheap. It then went to an avid house and car flipper, who sold it to the current seller. It doesn’t seem like it should have been difficult to get a car this new to run again, but I’m going to guess there was something wrong with the DEFI fuel injection system. The seller has it running now, but admits it still needs work. Without hearing it run, it’s hard to know what is even wrong with the car.

1980 Cadillac Elderado Survivor

If you have any doubts about the mileage claims, take a look at this interior! It looks brand new and is absolutely stunning. This is without a doubt my favorite part of this big coupe. The exterior looks pretty good as well, but it could use some work. I don’t doubt this car’s mileage, but I would still like to see some paperwork to prove the history, it sounds like it has passed through a lot of people since coming out of storage (which would also explain the $13,500 asking price). If you think you’d be interested in owning the lowest mileage 1980 Eldorado, you can find this one on craigslist in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

Comments

  1. Avatar Crazydave

    The only Eldo’s that would appeal to me would be the circa 1970 ones with the 500 inch V8 By ’76 even the 500 incher made about as as much HP as a modern 4 cyl does now

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  2. Avatar JW454

    Finding good bumper fillers may be a challenge. Not a bad looking car.

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  3. Avatar Charles

    Amazing that the bumper fillers rotted away on an unused car that obviously was stored inside out of the weather.

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    • Avatar JW454

      Charles,

      A friend of mine has been searching for a new old stock set of bumper fillers for a ’76 Caprice for more than ten years. They are certainly a weak link in these cars design and construction from a restoration standpoint.

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      • Avatar Charles

        Some of the Pontiac restorers make reproductions out of fiberglass. Of course one small tap, and it’s cracked.

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    • Avatar Cademan

      Doesn’t surprise me at all. Recently bought a 76 with 9500 miles on it. Indoor storage. 75% of the fillers fell off just driving over garage threshold.

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  4. Avatar Stang1968

    Why don’t the 0’s line up cleanly on the odo?

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  5. Avatar Peter L.

    Did you mean “buy” a car?

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    • Avatar Jamie Staff

      Thanks for the catch, Peter, it’s corrected now.

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  6. Avatar Jeff V.

    Had a ’79 Eldo Biarritz 350 in the early 80’s, very cool/fun car, it took monstrous abuse in my younger days then survived a relocation fm WI-FL. Def one of the most durable/reliable cars I’ve ever owned!

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  7. Avatar Dave Member

    I believe they are somewhat tough, if you have never seen the movie “The Junkman” look it up on Youtube, the car is the star, I can’t remember if i’m correct but I think they only used two or three to make the movie.

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    • Avatar Jeff V.

      Was also highlighted in the movie “Thief” w/J Caan, T Weld, J Belushi. Mine finally died right at the car lot where I was trading it in for a ’82 280ZX in FL.

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  8. Avatar Lee

    Some thing fishy –Speedo -Uneven speedo numbers –Bumper fillers Who is the real Flipper /Lee

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  9. Avatar Dave Member

    I don’t understand the bumper fillers at all! This car has to be low miles, how many who knows, but the pedals look new and the headliner tells the same story because those end up hanging after a while when a car of that era was used for any amount of time. I don’t understand these things crumbling being stored in a dark garage.

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  10. Avatar Jim L

    I smell a rat. Uneven speedometer, mirror fallen off (usually happens to cars baked in the sun) Missing hubcaps, Missing bumper trim fillers, carpet looks recently shampooed, Door sill trim doesn’t look brand new, there appears to be road build up on the door jamb and the screw that retains the speedometer bezel looks a little like it has been corroded. There are no photos of the engine or underside which would look absolutely PERFECT on a 54 mile car.
    I’m also surprised to see that all of the protective covers have been removed from the carpets and interior. Every other true low mileage car I have seen (one example was a 20 mile ZR-1) still had all the plastic covering the interior and the window sticker still on it.
    Someone needs to look this one over very carefully.

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    • Avatar grant

      All great points except perhaps the plastic coverings, if the original owner planned on driving it he would have removed them. Still too many unanswered questions though.

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  11. Avatar Dave

    Bumper fillers may have been stolen along with the hubcaps when it sat at the first shop for a while

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  12. Avatar Chris

    Along with all the other great points made by others I’d have to question the paint missing off the hood.

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    • Avatar Rob

      The missing paint on the hood looks more like a gap in the trees above the car. Blue sky reflecting instead of shadow. It does make a lighter area on the hood that looks like bad paint. I am also puzzled by the bumper filler degradation.

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  13. Avatar Waldon Herdman

    The bumper fillers i can understand because my late uncles 76 caprice has only 6000 garage kept miles and the rear bumper fillers are shot, but i dont understand the worn paint on the hood though….

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  14. Avatar Brian B

    yep hokey all along, 54 miles original seriously! So I’m going to guess that the original owner kept this car in nice condition and drove it for several years racking up 100,054 miles. Some unscrupulous person found this car sitting in a garage and found the original plates in the trunk, put them back on the car and concocted a nice yarn of it’s past history!

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  15. Avatar Steve P

    Here is my $.02

    I think that this is really 54 miles.
    The license plate was issued in 1972 and was on another car. This plate also indicates Queens County, eastern part of NYC when NY plates had county codes embedded in them. If he got a new plate it would be of the format ###-VXX. At that time license plates had 3 numbers and were nearing the end of the alphabet. The first four digit ####-AXX plates came out in Feb 1980.

    The guy bought a new Caddy and transferred the plate. I also think that this was purchased in December 1979 because of the inspection sticker ending in December 1980. I also see that by the picture this car is in outer Queens, outside of the reach of the subway.

    If this were 100.054 miles they would have to get a new old stock inspection sticker because it is doubtful that they could drive that amount in 1 year and put the car away. If you have an out of date inspection sticker you WILL be nailed in NYC.

    I am a long time Queens resident and I have countless stories of garaged cars with only 10,000 miles in 20 years. Not one, many. Houses have garages but public transit is easy and the norm.

    OK…..He bought it in Manhattan. The only Caddy dealer there was Potamkin. Given the picture I say this car was in outer Queens which is a 20 mile drive. He bought it, drove it home, which is, say, 25 miles. A few trips to church and that’s it.

    I believe it.

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    • Avatar JohnD

      @Steve P: thanks for the insight; I’d love to see underside and engine pics. If they’re clean that should remove all doubt, but what about the odometer digits not lining up? I see this all the time on (supposed?) low-mile cars for auction on eBay. Not calling anyone a liar, but is there a legit explanation?

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      • Avatar Steve P

        This can be explained by poor build quality.

        This cars inspection period was over in 12/1980. NYS inspection stickers, let alone, NOS ones, are impossible to find. So…..this car was last legal on the road then.

        The only way this could happen is if this car went overseas and was driven all those miles and then brought back in amazing condition with all license plates from way back when intact. This is not plausible.

        Or these miles were put on in less than one year and the car sat for 35 after that.

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  16. Avatar Mike

    My Grandmother and grandfather bought a1978 Cadillac coupe Deville and 6 days after they picked the car up, my Grandfather died of a massive heart attack. Grandma had a neighbor put it up in the barn on blocks, the old boy even removed the spark plugs and put oil in the top of the cylinder heads, drained the fuel tank, covered it with a large sheet of plastic and then covered it with a heavy canvass tarp, even though we had seen the car many times over the years it was a subject that nobody ever really talked about. Grandma refused to drive the car because she stood a hold 4’9″ even with pillows she could hardly reach the pedals. She always drove a Buick, she had a 75 skylark for years, that car set for 11 years until 1 day my Grandmother asked Dad and I to come up and see if we wanted the car. We went up to a little town of Stoutsville Missouri we took it off the blocks aired up all the tires loaded it up on a trailer and brought it down here to Dads shop, the interior was not real bad, but it had some barn critters living in it. We worked on it when we had time, and about a year later it was running and Dad drove it to a car auction. It had a told of 155 miles on it. The last time Grandma had been it the car was when Dad drove her and Mom to the Cemetery for his funeral, after that I parked it in the garage for her and walked away from it until we brought it home.

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  17. Avatar Dave

    I saw this car on craigslist before it hit this website. I live in the local area where this car came from and just as Steve P said you hear about these stories all the time. I saw a Buick Grand National a few years back with 250 miles that sat outside its whole life under a cover. Yes it had its needs but boy was it cool. The interior looks immaculate and new. If this car had 100,054 miles there is no way it would look like that. The headliner and seats look too good. Good luck to whoever buys the car because it surely will be one of a kind!

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  18. Avatar jaymes

    this was on ebay a couple of years ago, the fuel tank was gon, but the pictures made me think it was original. ive seen all kinds of gm fillers come apart for no reason. should have finished what they started. I remember they were wanting 10,000 for it

    Like 0
  19. Avatar Dave

    This car sold on eBay not long ago. I think it sold around the same price. Cool car!

    Like 0

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