If you’ve never driven a big heavy Cadillac like this one, you are missing out on a wonderful experience. The front end seems to float and you glide over bumps like you are riding on a cloud. This particular car is an Eldorado convertible is from 1960 and can be found here on eBay with a current bid of nearly $35,000. Now located in Memphis, Tennessee, the car is said to have spent most of its life in South Texas and New Mexico. Let’s take a look at this classic and see what you think.
Here is a great shot of the interior that only a convertible can provide. This would be a really fun car to cruise around in on a nice sunny day with the top down. The dash, door panels, and upholstery look like they are in great shape. The black and white color combination goes well with the white exterior and white top. Speaking of the top, the seller says the power top and power windows all work.
Before the large-displacement engines of the 60s and 70s, Cadillac used a relatively small 390 cubic inch V8 in this car. It is backed by a 4-speed hydra-matic transmission. Both the engine and the transmission have been completely rebuilt, which is a huge plus! The seller says the car has been very well preserved and runs and drives nicely.
Here is a great shot of the fins from 1960. While slightly lower than their peak in 1959, they are still a very distinct styling feature.
This thing is one foot longer than my car port. You can’t help but be impressed by the size but it is one of the better designed cars of the era. Drove one of these a few years ago and it felt like being in a tractor inner tube in a swimming pool. Pretty car.
After descending from the hills of Pennsyltucky and getting a good paying union job at a Firestone tire plant, my first substantial purchase was a used 1960 Sedan deVille. It was just fine for cruising up the PA Turnpike when I would go to visit my girlfriend in Harrisburg but totally inadequate in the chicanes when I went “racing” with 2 of my co-workers, one of whom drove an MGA and the other a TR4. Just a fair warning.
You could probably fit the MGA AND the TR4 in the trunk of this beauty.
This is a Cadillac Series 62, Not an Eldorado.
Correct, not an Eldorado, still, a beautiful car.
The darker blue on the engine is the correct color, lighter blue not so much
@Dadillac. Was there some funny business going on in the back seat resulting in you being referred to as “Dadillac”?
Ikey, that made me laugh out loud!
My grandfather had one. He had a construction company from the end of WW2 to the 80s. Up into the early 60s…a lot of car dealerships had a unspoken “gentleman’s agreement”
that they wouldn’t sell a luxury car like a Cadillac to a black man. My grandfather apparently had a good year in 1960 and decided to treat himself…”agreement” be-danged.
He had his bookkeeper (a white lady)
go buy the car. Quick title transfer and boom…done. Red…white interior…fully optioned.(according to my dad …himself a Buick man) Hope to make room for one like this soon.
I’ve got a photo of my 5 year old self standing by my grandfather’s silver & black version of this. Your memory fills me with profound sadness for then and for now.
One of the biggest cars I ever painted, my left shoulder hurts just thinking about it.
I’d be suspicious of the quality of the engine rebuild when they didn’t even bother to use the correct color of paint.
Yeah, ’cause it won’t run right with the wrong paint, by golly!
“Still a very distinct styling feature” = understatement of the year
I’ve always had a spot in my heart for these big Cadillacs. My dad had a 60 fleetwood, which to this day he says was his favorite. I was too young to remember that one, but my favorite one that he owned was a 66 fleetwood. The 60s were great years for Cadillac!
All I can say is WOW!
Back in the 90s, my landlord had horses with a barn. In that barn was a white 59 Cadillac convertible under a tarp. It was off the road since the late 80s and she was holding on to it hoping the value would go up. I wonder if she still has it?
OK; others realized too that this is a Series 62 cvt., and NOT an Eldorado. One option this has I hardly ever see on `60 models are the color-keyed wheelcovers. If anything, I see the plain standard brushed finish ones but not these! A nice solid Caddy I wish I owned.
30-ish years ago I had a ’59 Series 75 limousine, and I can say from experience the driving dynamics of these cars is in a different universe from modern cars, and not in a good way. You need to recalibrate your ideas about cornering speeds, braking distance, steering precision, and general controllable-ness. I found it most useful to drive as if I was piloting an old truck, albeit with a softer ride.
But they sure have a ton of style. Or a few tons.
What a beautiful machine. A great time for American vehicles, they’ve never looked this good after the 60’s.