Break out the accordion and grab your favorite Frankie Yankovic tape, we’re headed to the Polka party in this ’73 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. Frankie will approve, after all, it’s his Caddy! That’s right, all the way from Cleveland, Ohio is this ’73 Cadillac Eldorado convertible that was at one time owned by the Polka King Frankie Yankovic. I’ll admit it, I didn’t know who he was until the seller mentioned Frankie’s famous, “In Heaven There is No Beer” number; OK, now I got it. This Eldo is available, here on craigslist for $8,000.
Right out of the gate, the celebrity ownership of any car is suspect as far as valuations go. Sure, it can have a positive impact but “celebrity” is a pretty broad term and I’m not certain that the Polka King qualifies, no disrespect intended of course. You can read a bit of Frankie’s bio here on Wikipedia. Anyway, Frankie bought this Cadillac new in late ’72 and kept it for twelve years, even moving it to Las Vegas in 1980. Somehow, the car found its way back to Cleveland and the seller purchased it about three years ago. From an intrinsic rareness perspective, a ’73 Eldorado is a fairly common car as there were about 51K produced though the convertible version weighs in at 9K units.
This Cadillac’s exterior is in fair condition, not terrible but not great. The convertible top is shredded, and the white vinyl trim along the tops of the doors has seen better days. There are various bumps, surface rust, and contusions, but mostly all minor in nature. And as is often the case with this era Cadillac, the front bumper fillers have disintegrated. The chrome header panel is an interesting touch, it’s the sort of thing one frequently encounters right along with a set of steer horns affixed to the hood. Good to know is that the seller has the missing hood ornament. There is no mention made as to the obviously mismatched trunk-lid, a replacement for one reason or another perhaps? The seller claims that the underside and floors are solid though two of the floor pans have been replaced. Actually, being a northeastern Ohio car, and knowing that it spent at least the first eight years of its life in that challenging climate, I’d expect a lot worse!
Under the enormous hood of this Eldorado is a 235 net HP, 500 CI V8 engine connected to a Turbo-Hydramatic 425 FWD transaxle. The seller adds, “I took the car right to the mechanic because I wanted it to run perfectly before I restored it. I spent about $3,000 fixing this car mechanically, including brake work, a complete tune-up, valve covers, battery, new power top motor for the convertible top, hoses, and belts“. Whether it currently runs perfectly is not disclosed.
The seller apparently got the message about photographing the inside of the car after the box of whatever has been placed in the backseat – happens every time…The seller suggests either dying or replacing the upholstery, it’s hard to tell from the included image what it will really need but it is scruffy looking. He does mention that he has replaced the carpet and has a new passenger-side door panel that is available and included in the sale. No word if there is an 8-track player present; I hope so, how else is the new owner going to be able to listen to “Too Fat Polka” or “Who Stole the Keeshka“.
There you have it; I feel certain that this Eldorado will have a certain special appeal to someone because of its provenance – clearly, it has with the current owner; now all that’s needed is to have lightning strike twice. Having studied this listing closely, I can’t get images of Lawrence Welk or Dan Aykroyd as Vic Frohmeyer in “Christmas With the Kranks” out of my head. It could be worse, of course, those images will pass but I’m going to have a heck of a time turning off “In Heaven There is No Beer“, unfortunately, it’s on an indefinite playback loop. So, what do you think, is there enhanced value here, or is this just another ’73 Eldo drop top?
Has anyone told Weird Al that Frankie’s Eldo is up for grabs!?!?
Surprisingly there is no relation.
Very surprisingly, though they were friends. Al’s dad got him an accordion because he appreciated Frankie, hence the later friendship of the two musicians..
Well, well, well,
Some of you will think this is rusty,
And some of you will think that it’s not,
Well, some of you’ll think this car is special
Something nobody else has got,
It’ll cause you to spend all your money.
It’ll laugh and call you old Santa Claus.
Well, I’m telling you,
You’ll be broke when you are through
Because, well well, just because.
RIP Frankie Yankovic!
She’s to fat for me!
I hate to admit it,but I get the last posts.
My dad would play his record many times.He (my Dad)
was from Cedar Rapids,Iowa,& owned & played an accordian.
Cedar Rapids, home of the Leo Greco Polka Band!!! And the Leo Greco Show on WMT radio!!
I like the ’57 next to it. That looks to be in great shape.
I would take this, but what is that going on with padded vinyl on the doors and quarter panel. Can anyone say Pimp Mobile?
Another Superfly clone.
Run, don’t walk from Euclid Car Company. Take it from me, typical used car dealer in the rust belt. If they say ” little rust”, take it to the crusher. Divide their price on any “classic” car by three. Means this car is worth about 2,500/3,000. PPI on any car they list, daily driver or classic. Here in Cuyahoga County, we call them Extra Crusty Cars. Growing up, any mention of Frankie would be followed by a Parma and perogies reference. People in other parts of the US might not get how respected Yankovic was here, but grandpa would call him “the pope of polka” RIP Frank Yankovic.
Remember “The Ghoul” on channel 61? I think he moved here to Pittsburgh. I invite everyone to slither over to YouTube and listen to David Allen Coe’s excellent “The Night Frankie Yankovic Came To Town”.
I do! Back when there was only 3,5,8,43, and 61. Man I’m getting old.
$8000 for a beat up, not rare scissor top car?
No thanks.
The car looks like Cleveland.
Ouch!!
I love Cleveland! I used to live in Ashtabula.
Stan and Yosh Shmenge just placed a bid. And they brought cabbage rolls and coffee.
Finding Frankie’s accordion in the trunk would seal the deal.
Owned one of these in pretty darn good shape. A 67k mile clean Florida car that only needed light paint restoration (ie, buffout and repair of light rocker rust) and some basic engine work (top end: lifters, decarboning, carb overhaul, convert to HDMI, A/C compressor), it only brought about $12k and that included the factory hard-shell parade cover.
This one’s not seen much love, and is going to need so-much-more…IMHO it’s worth about $1500-$2000. Frankie who?
When I was a kid, my parents neighborhood was very close to Die Deutsche Zentrale, German Central. It was a huge piece of property that had an auditorium amongst other buildings. I remember going to the back of the property by bike through the woods, rattling the chain link fence, and a few moments later, a small herd of German Shepherds would be on their way to greet us like the opening sequence of Hogans Heroes. Anyways, every weekend, sitting in the yard they would have massive polka shows there. I can only guess that Frankie was there with his band on many occasions, and if I had to guess, this car was in the lot. German Central is still there and fully operational.
This car cries out for the right personalized license plate. Suggestions?
Frankie’s Caddy is now listed on Ebay for $5,999.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/294207975252?hash=item4480296f54:g:hdoAAOSwL4pgc8K6
my ex tells a story about that car showing up in their driveway in Moon Twp, PA…the kids all got blankets and pillows and slept in the yard cuz it was polkas, whiskey and cigars all night long, lol. I got her dad’s Cordovox….it doesn’t smell of those things now, lol….