On Route 17 South in Lodi, New Jersey, is a gentleman’s club called Satin Dolls. No, I’ve never been in, but it’s quite famous as the filming location of the fictional ‘Bada Bing’ club, owned by Tony Soprano’s consigliere in the HBO series, The Sopranos. I look at this long, low, gleaming 1968 Cadillac Eldorado, resplendent in its original Topaz Gold Firemist and black vinyl roof, with its concealed headlights and whitewall tires, and somehow it just takes me there. It’s the kind of ride a real cool cat would drive. And now you can too, with bidding at about $20,100 here on eBay, and about two days left on the clock.
This 8th generation Eldorado shared a platform with two more commonly seen, but no less appreciated, GM products: Oldsmobile’s Toronado and Buick’s Riviera. Like its siblings, our subject car is indeed front-wheel drive, which in consideration of what’s under the hood — a Cadillac 472 series 375hp 7.7L V8 — must make for quite a handful at full throttle off a red light. As would be expected from a babied, two-owner car that has traveled just over 84,000 miles in 54 years, the engine bay is tidy and clean. Various decals appear in place and that air cleaner cover in gold is just the tops!
The angular and crisp exterior lines were penned by Bill Mitchell, the vice president of GM’s styling and color division. As lovely as the exterior is though, have a look at this Caddy on the inside. The black leather appears to have hardly any wear and the seller says there are no rips, stains, or marks anywhere — he claims it’s all original, right down to the rubber floor mats. Pics of the trunk show the same condition: spotless with all original spare tires and jack.
One of Barn Finds’ prolific commenters, Alphasud, recently posted about the importance of records vis-a-vis sales price attainment. Our Eldorado does not disappoint on that front. The seller explains when he bought the car six years ago, he received a folder with the original bill of sale from the dealer (September 1967) and a slew of service records, including a new transmission from Cadillac sometime in the 1990s. The current owner has since done the following maintenance: new tires, new brakes, front and rear shocks, full AC Delco tune-up, and a new alternator, among other things. Presumably, those receipts have been added to the folder for the new owner. But rather than show you a picture of a stack of paper, let me give you a last look at the 18+ foot long, 4600lb. golden splendor of a what a Cadillac was on the eve of entering the era of Watergate, excessive emissions controls, disco, and bell-bottom pants. Just pretend the signs in the background say, Bada Bing!
The 60’s was the pinnacle of GM design and engineering. This was also when Cadillac was a exclusive brand and ownership put you in the same class as Rolls and Bentley. Cadillac lost that in the 70’s unfortunately and the public went elsewhere for exclusivity. This is another beautiful example and one that I would be proud to own and be seen in.
She’s a beauty. BTW, Rivs weren’t FWD until 79.
Yes, and the FWD Toronado debuted a year earlier, on the platform, in 1966.
Maybe it was because GM wanted to make sure they worked out all the bugs of the new FWD system before putting it in the marque brand.
Buick wanted to be more than your grandfather’s Buick, becoming a little more performance orientated, hence, sticking with RWD on the Riv.
All three of that platform era are sharp cars.
Easily one of the the nicest, most original one I have seen in years. There are lots of ’67-’70 Eldos out there with needs, but they can be very expensive to put right. Some interior and trim parts are made of unobtanium, and even the better substitutes stand out to expert collectors. I have seen some like this get $40-50K. Some, marketed through major dealers or auctions have recently got $70K+.
Complete documentation and service history always adds value to cars like this. When people buy a classic, they buy it’s story too. When the story is incomplete or missing, there may be doubt about the car’s true identity, or originality.
On some cars, the original documentation , and service history can have a massive effect on value. Back in 2007, I decided to buy a Ferrari (bucket list).
I was in no hurry, and had friends in the Ferrari sales/service business. As I conducted my search, I was surprised how many otherwise nice-looking Ferraris turned out to need major work upon inspection. Interestingly, some of the worst had “service records” documenting major engine-out work that experts determined had never been done. It was to the point where documents from certain garages (mainly in Europe) were widely known to be forgeries.
Others were from garages that had dubious reputations among experts I trust.
I was very keen on a particular Testa that looked great. It needed a few things, but the price seemed fair. My friends urged me not to buy it due to its service history with a certain garage. I didn’t buy it, but someone else did. I saw it at my friends garage about 8 months later. Apart. The last place that worked on it had changed the clutch improperly, ruining the transmission. There was also engine damage related to other errors and short-cuts. The bill to just get it back on the road was $60K. It would have been even more to make it “perfect”.
Old Corvettes are another area where original documentation can massively effect value. On the older models, the VIN does not decode to prove engine and transmission etc. The GM record for some years are also unavailable or incomplete in this regard. A Corvette with the original high HP engine, 4-spd, and rare options may be worth 2 or 3 times a base model (or clone). Some very rare models like “big-tank” mid years can be worth way more. The difference in value has spawned many fakes. To support the fakes, phoney documentation , trim-tags, VIN plates etc are widely available. People have been known to even artificially age phoney build sheets by leaving them in the weather, and cooking them in the oven. Some of the fake cars and documentation have been convincing enough to mislead established classic dealers and major auction houses. The fakes are typically revealed several years/owners later, and Everyone gets sued. If you read Sports Car Market, you will find interesting stories about fakes almost monthly in the Legal Files column.
My advise to anyone buying a “collector” car is to have a genuine expert examine it thoroughly. Frankly, there are a number of commenters here on BF that are clearly able to spot fakes on a regular basis.
It is important to remember that phoney documentation,VIN, trim-tags, etc are also often used to disguise stolen cars, or misrepresent cars that were destroyed and written off.
My point is that when buying a classic, don’t take anything for granted. Right now, the market is strong, so there is incentive for fraudsters and criminals to cash-in. The hot market, and online sales often contribute to buyers not verifying cars before they buy.
Like it’s siblings? The Riviera was not front-wheel drive in this era. Oy vey.
I wouldn’t bring this up but since the author brought up The Sopranos (Tony’s consigliere’s name was Silvio Dante) and I’m originally from the Chicago area the first thing I thought of was the body capacity of this trunk. Probably 3-4?
Otherwise it’s a beautiful land yacht that was impeccably kept.
And: The same year Riviera was still rear wheel drive.
It depends on how diligent both you and your…newly retired colleagues are about always bringing the cannoli. Or were, as the case may be.
And those goombahs at the factory always overestimate the “body capacity”, it’s more a “this is how many live, skinny kids can climb in themselves to sneak into the drive-in movies” number.
It’s definitely more “The Many Saints of Newark” era than the original series.
These days I wonder how much longer Tony can keep paying those cash tolls for the Turnpike…he certainly has his reasons not to want there to be a record in the EZPass computer system…
Sammy Davis had a factory sunroof 70 model of this car, with factory 8 track on the transmission hump, with Cadillac engraved on the tape door, I like the 69s and 70s for the headrests and the ignition on the Column
My sister had a ’68 Toronado when I was in high school, and I thought it was the most incredible car I’d ever driven. It was at the top of my bucket list until I had a chance to buy a ’72 Eldorado. That car was amazing and gorgeous inside and out. Never sorry I bought it even though it was chock full of 70’s malaise features.
The 71-72 Toronado looks more like a son than a cousin. Most beautiful styled car ever.
Ours was a blue over blue over blue ’68 model. That was a very large vehicle but my mom loved it. Once we moved to Florida in late 1969, it’s days were numbered and a 1970 DeVille convertible appeared after awhile.