It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that 1992 was three solid decades ago already. That’s older than a decent percentage of Barn Finds readers I would guess and for the rest of us, we were thinner and had more hair, generally. This luxurious 1992 Cadillac Eldorado is posted here on craigslist in Wildomar, California and the seller is asking $5,500. Thanks to luxurious Pat L. for sending in this tip! Here is the original listing.
I know, this isn’t a barn find, it isn’t all dusty and dirty and filled with mouse condos and spider webs and isn’t trashed and filled with junk. But, here is a photo of it in a garage if that helps. This is a lot of car for five grand, you’d be hard-pressed to find this much quality and luxury for this amount of money.
Just to get it out of the way, Hagerty is at $5,200 for a #3 good condition car and $9,900 for a #2 excellent condition car so this could be a flipper alert. Or, just a good buy. One issue that I didn’t even notice until I read the description is that the original owner, the seller’s father who recently passed away, scraped a white fence with the driver’s side quarter panel as seen here. It’s hard to tell if it’s dented or just something that could be fixed with polishing compound?
The twelfth-generation Eldorado was made from 1992 until 2002 when Cadillac retired the model. This particular Eldorado was bought new by the seller’s father and is part of their estate. It has less than 68,000 miles on it and other than that scrape with the white fence, this thing looks outstanding. The seats look great and the seller’s son had an incredible amount of work done to make this car safe for his dad while he was still driving, until age 85.
The clean engine is Cadillac’s 4.9L V8 with around 200 horsepower. It runs great and the only other glitch is a “Service Ride Control” light that comes on because they changed the rear struts. If the scrape isn’t a lot of damage this could be a great buy. Any thoughts on this Eldorado or the Eldorado from this era in general?
Seems like a lot of car for the money and it’s a very attractive color, too. Lots to like with this one, a luxury car with all the bells and whistles along with relatively low miles has a lot of appeal. The scrapes on the side will probably buff out or at least help the car look better. Too bad it’s on the left coast as this would be a perfect first car for my niece.
It looked like the body got dented in some at where he hit the white fence. Hard to tell. The drivers seat leather and the steering wheel both are showing it’s age. The late owner’s daughter spent some money on making it safe and up to date for her dad to enjoy before his passing. I’m not familiar enough to comment on the motor and transmission. I assume that they are a good combination for reliability? I too like the exterior color. I like the body style but my wife would want a 4 door so that she could pick up our mothers. They are both in their 90’s and would not be able to get into the backseat.
Nice find.
I think the white is paint scraped off down to the primer, could be wrong though. A little touch up job might fix it.
“They are both in their 90’s and would not be able to get into the backseat.”
Which could be a blessing in disguise. ;-)
my thoughts exactly
Greg you should have started practicing getting your Mothers to sit in the back seats of your Z28s. Then the Eldorado would not be such a stretch! All kidding aside, my parents and in-laws need help to buckle up in a four door. It’s no fun getting old.
These 90’s Caddies were REAL luxury cars, not like the product GM is offering now.
This car’s saving grace is it isn’t the “Northstar” version. That engine had nothing but problems including pulling head studs and therefore blowing the gaskets, repairs costing $$$.
Ahhh the tired old trope about the awesome Northstar engine. Further proof the ignorant live on amongst us!
Because of course who would want an all aluminum 32 valve quad cam V8 that’s highly responsive 300 ft-lbs and makes a sound like avenging angels coming to the party. This 4.9 litre iron boat anchor is not in the same UNIVERSE. The Northstar’s problems were caused by ignorant owners who failed to follow the maintenance schedule for the coolant or the idiots who swithched from Dexcool to some other junk. They overheated their cars and the HG failed.
I consider myself reasonably informed with following maintenance schedules and proper fluids. But…have always been scared off by oil leaks, etc with the Northstar..which kept me from buying low mile used Eldorado’s, XLR or early 2000’s Sedan Deville.
so I suppose their tendency to pull head bolts (not studs my error) is due to the customer? Is that why the fix has been to replace the bolts with studs? Ah yes, and that is why so many of them have ended up in junkyards.
Northstar had engineering issues. Too short head bolts, for starters. Pretty heavily documented out there. But man, what a nice, smooth, willing engine.
https://www.motorverso.com/northstar-engine/
Heat. Expansion. Overheat. More expansion. Too short bolts. Stretch. Gaskets fail. Stuff happens. Myself? I cut service intervals in half and don’t experience catastrophic failures.
Fwd + V8 = ✋️😒🥴
Yea the Northstar was a swap honey for a bit…now it’s all LS and Coyote swaps
From what I’ve heard, the later 91 and 92 versions of the 4.9L engine were really pretty decent engines.
I’ve also heard all the stories of the northstar, but also heard equally valid stories that as long as you properly maintain them and warm them up before spirited driving seems to help. It’s a shame really cause when they run good it’s a pretty appealing package.
“The original owner scraped a white fence with the driver’s side quarter panel. It’s hard to tell if it’s dented or just something that could be fixed with polishing compound?”
I am amazed that the present owner didn’t attempt that before putting it up for sale, or perhaps he did and this was the result.
Especially since 30 minutes with a Magic Eraser sponge would take those marks right off – if they are what they are claimed to be, that is.
Cadillacs of the FWD era didn’t have the best motors. That being said, the 92s had improved over the 80s version of FWD power plants.
This was a super road car.
From a former Cadillac service manager.
The list of new parts on this Caddy is very impressive. I would talk the seller down to five grand because of the dent and polish it it the best I could. I would rather drive this than some tin box Korean car for the money.
I could see myself loafing along in this …..luv that exterior blue color
IMO it wasn’t a fence that did it. How could a fence scrape inside above the shoulder crease lie. Nonetheless it’s probably a 300 to 500 dollar repair. The car is worth the money if all else checks out.
it is roughest up there at that quarter window, and i cant tell if there is a dent slightly past that or just the reflection, but as said it is a minor issue in the scheme of things.
Are you sure this is a ’92? I had a ’92 and it had one exhaust “pipe”. 1993 and up had the four exhaust ports. And there are a few things different in the interior, but that could just be different options.
My ’92 was silver ( of course) with the same gray leather interior and a ridiculous “cabriolet” black top.
As Cadillacs go i was not impressed with it. Too small, too slow too everything. I felt like I was sitting on the ground.
I replaced it with a SUV.
Photo is the size difference between my ’92 Eldorado and my ’76 Coupe de Ville