Interior restorations of any prestige classic can be expensive, and some potential buyers find the prospect so overwhelming that they will pass up the opportunity to park an otherwise excellent car in their driveway. However, that is not an issue with this 1968 Cadillac Eldorado. Its exterior is impressive, but its new interior is its crowning glory. It seems I am not alone in that sentiment, with the Caddy attracting frantic action since the seller listed it here on eBay in Lyons, Illinois. Bidding has scorched to $10,205 in a No Reserve auction, with time remaining for interested parties to join the action.
Cadillac introduced the Eighth Generation Eldorado in 1967, with the new model marking a radical departure from its predecessor. It was still a large, luxurious vehicle offering class-leading comfort and a huge V8 under the hood. However, adopting the Oldsmobile Toronado’s Unitized Power Package drivetrain configuration meant that the ponies fed to the front wheels. This Eldorado makes a striking first impression in Spectre Blue Firemist with a contrasting White vinyl top. The seller describes the paint as having a nice shine and the panels as straight. It is hard to argue with that assessment, although it is unclear whether it has received any restoration or repairs. The vinyl looks remarkably good for its age, and there is no evidence of rust. The headlight doors operate, although they admit that one requires assistance. The trim sparkles as impressively as the paint, and the tinted glass is spotless.
This Cadillac’s highlight could be its interior. The owner recently treated the seats to new Tuxedo covers, which show no signs of wear. There is an imperfection in the passenger door trim and some deterioration in a few faux woodgrain pieces, which are the only items worth criticizing. The carpet is in good order, and the headliner is excellent. Eldorados from this era are prone to cracking dash pads, but this one has avoided that issue. The interior isn’t loaded with luxury by modern standards, but the winning bidder will undoubtedly enjoy the air conditioning, power windows, tilt wheel, and AM/FM radio.
The 1968 model year brought a significant change under the hood of the Eldorado. The 429ci V8 that powered 1967 examples made way for the larger 472 that sends 375hp and 525 ft/lbs of torque to the front wheels via a three-speed automatic transmission. That is a lot of “urge” to hand to the wheels that also provide the steering, but power steering limited the kick-back on a car that offered surprising straight-line performance. Most buyers were less concerned about a potential ¼-mile ET than the Eldorado’s ability to cruise quietly and effortlessly on the open road. This car achieves that goal and would also be a pleasure to drive in heavy commuter traffic. The seller indicates this Caddy recently received a new starter but confirms the brakes are soft. It is unclear why this is the case, but the embedded video in their listing supports the claim the Eldorado runs and drives well. This classic should be ready to tackle whatever the winning bidder throws at it once the brake issue has been investigated.
Some classics leave potential buyers questioning their desirability, but this 1968 Cadillac Eldorado removes all doubts. It has received sixty-one bids, confirming that plenty of people are willing and able to give it a new home. The No Reserve factor means it is only days away from achieving that goal. It will be fascinating to know whether we have readers willing to join the bidding war. I won’t blame them if they do.
I love this Eldorado. Great styling, interesting engineering, lots of power and luxury.
By comparison, why on earth would this site feature a Pinto wagon? I guess people forget what a POS those Pintos were. Flammability was actually their best feature.
Rex, I owned two of those so-called “POS” cars. They were actually not as bad as people made them out to be. In fact, it has been shown in research that the actual fire problem was no worse than other competitors of the time.
To be fair, Ford did skimp on the small alteration it would have taken to prevent the issue, but overall, these were great little cars!
Different strokes for different folks. The Eldo is sure nice but I’d hate to have to feed it. Whereas, the Pinto I could picture owning as I’m a musician, and a little conversation piece like that would help me haul around my gear for not much money. Living in the rust belt as I do, we don’t see pintos anymore, anywhere, so their uniqueness is kind of special. And I have owned one back in the day, and I remain unscathed from fire. I, for one, am happy that Barn Finds shows the range of vehicles they do.
Variety IS the spice of life. To ITCH his own. 😉 But the PIN TO always got under my skin as unworthy of wearing Ford name. Similarly the radically downsized 77 ElDoOhNo made me want to puke. 🤮. On to VERSAILLES and the GREAT AMERICAN LAND YACHT! 👍
Just an FYI: Pinto wagons weren’t subject to the same design flaw that caused the flammability issue in pinto coupes and runabouts.
The Ford Pinto had some design issues, to be certain. The rear-end collision causing gas tank puncture and fire was the worst. However, the Pinto wagons did not suffer from this. I personally crash-tested a wagon. That is to say, a young man driving a Pontiac crash-tested it for me. There was no explosion, no fireball.
Aside from that, the Pinto wagon was a great little hauler. Mine had a 4-speed manual transmission and the venerable 2.3L four-cylinder engine. After the first one was damaged, I sold it and bought another. The engine was bad in the second wagon and was promptly replaced with an engine from a Mustang. The new four-cylinder engine had factory headers and an additional 30 horsepower. With that engine, my humble little wagon ate BMW 320’s for lunch!
You lost me with front wheel drive.
Great looking car, but a hard no.
And yet it and its corporate cousin the Oldsmobile Toronado are considered some of the greatest cars of their respective divisions. I had a 67 Toronado, functionally the same car. The handling and everyday driving were terrific. I drove it from one end of the continent to the other.
Love these and the Tornado, with the huge hp engines, but why did they always have hubcaps, could not make rims for FWD?
Because they had specially styled wheels that looked great without rims.
I believe the offset degrees where greater than normal to handle the power up front. Hence no after market Rims. One off customs are $$$
And with new hounds tooth interior nice. If you liked this style it lived on with the Toronado styling from 71-78. It always confused me why they didn’t model the 71-78 Eldorado off the 67-70. Either way imo the 67’ Eldorado is tied for the #1 slot as the sharpest car ever with a few other cars then followed by the 73’ Grand Prix tied with cars like 73-77 Monte Carlo but the GP interior wins hands down.
I agree. The ’67-’68 Eldos are gorgeous. To me, a big part of that was the hideaway headlights, which were later dropped in a cost-cutting move, that spoiled the original design. While I generally prefer convertibles (I have a ’71 Eldo rag), I could make an exception for one like this.
If this car was closer to me, I would likely consider bidding…..It is a nice one, and they don’t usually go cheap. Maybe the winter weather may discourage some bidders? The ones I have seen for sale within a few hours drive of me have all needed more work than they would be worth.
Beautiful car! I had a 1969 Eldorado in black with a maroon leather interior and power everything. I don’t like the interior of the featured car. The seats look “cheap” to me.
It could be a stretched version of a ’69 Camaro hounds tooth interior!🙄 Ok, seems to me I’ve seen this before.
Do I like it? Naaaaaaw.
Keep in mind, it is in Illinois and is carrying a Michigan tag. Look underneath before you fall in love.
ACZ… right.
Michigan plate, Ohio title; but in Illinois!?
Seller in IL may have family or friends in MI, not that far apart geographically. I noticed that too, but didn’t really think much of it.
This series is the best-looking of the Eldos in my opinion, though I always had concerns about those tiny taillights. From the shots shared, it looks like ’68 addressed that safety deficiency with additional lighting built into the rear bumper…which I knew happened by ’69, just didn’t know until now they addressed it in ’68.
I do wish there was at least one nicely-detailed shot of the driver’s armrest panel, just to verify whether Cadillac still employed what they dubbed “EMERG” in the power-window system that year. I know they did in ’67 and not in ’69, but I’m not sure about ’68. Most people don’t know at all what that does, but it was probably the best convenience feature power windows would ever have.
Also, regarding the brakes, not being much of an Eldo expert, I have to wonder what the brake setup is about. I know the Eldo was the first Caddy to offer front discs, in ’67; but they were optional extras that year, most cars built then being fitted with the standard-issue drums all around. I also know that ’68 was the first year the other Caddy models were offered front discs (again as an extra-cost option). Were discs still optional for Eldo that year, or did they become standard-issue? That can make the difference in diagnosing the brake issue, which may be from a weakened wheel cylinder or master cylinder. The dual-hydraulic setup does help to make things safer, but brake issues do need to be addressed immediately; and knowing what setup one has in this car is critical to effect proper repairs.
That’s one hell of a upper radiator hose!
For a car that sold fairly well, not many of these come up for sale; the ones I see frequently are the 1971-78 models which admittedly are also more abundant. While this car had to be a joy on the open road, the torque steer caused by that 472 might be something to think about. But because they’re scarcer than the next-gen Eldo, this is something worth collecting if you have the garage space.
They sold well, I don’t think dealers ever had to worry about them not moving but they didn’t make many, just under 18,000 for 1967, 24,000 for 1968, and about 22,000 for 1969 and 70. They started to sell more after 1970. The torque steer was never an issue with these, they are very well behaved cars. They were light on their feet but not in a jumpy way.
I say buy it and turn it into a Verbo rental unit … plenty of room for the family.
New Ebay profile and no reviews. Watch out.
With 21 photos posted (and an offer to send more and a driving video) along with an adequate description of the vehicle, I doubt it’s a scammer. The guy put some effort into the listing, scammers are lazy SOBs.
I really like the old Eldorados and Toronados they were nice driving cars. Why on earth would he do the seats over in that horrible looking fabric ? Even if it was factory correct I would have done leather or something other than that !
I agree. It looks like a cheap JC Whitney seat cover.
Is any other subscriber getting messages popping up to subscribe? Have as asked hit subscribe button and confirm button. Message says successfully subscribed. But still get requests to subscribe. Have sent messages asking for help with no response, Hopefully someone will see this and remedy the problem. THANK YOU.
I’m guessing you have cookies disabled?
Mmmm…..cookies.
I had a 69 Eldo the same color but with a navy blue top. The upholstery on this offering is awful! Mine had cloth upholstery but with a tastefully done, fine pinstripe.I highly doubt that gaudy houndstooth was ever an option. As far as the “soft” brake pedal goes, I did a complete brake overhaul on mine ( complete meaning every component either replaced or rebuilt). These systems are that way, with a slightly soft touch. The only complaint I had with those brakes were that they were inadequate. 11 inch disc’s on 2 1/2 ton car? Totally inadequate! The standard drum brakes were even worse. How a car manufacturer could consciously install such poor brakes on any car, let alone such a high end one us beyond me!
Amazing cars to drive. A black over white 67 lurks in my collection. My friends used to say if the devil came to earth he would drive it. I guess it does have that look in black with no vinyl top and the hideaways without the big parking lights. Mine unfortunately has engine issues from long term storage 429s head gaskets tend to rust and leak while stationary and yup mine is stuck. I learned that on my 65 hearse which I have fixed. I won’t touch the Eldorado until I can do it and put it right back together. There are lots of unique items on 429 67 Eldorado engines and you do not want to loose anything while the engine is out. Parts cars are nonexistent. These were orphaned early as dozens rolled through the wrecking yard I worked in during the 80s with little to no regard. Few are left today. I haven’t seen one in the wild for years, junk or otherwise. The front drive is easy to work with and rarely needs anything. Engine removal is not bad except for all the accessories which mine has, I. E. cruise, level air, ac and so on. Slated for this year…we will see how it goes as there may be a rather nice parts car up for picking later this summer. Not crazy about the color on this one as I detest white vinyl or convertible tops.