Talk about burying the lede: if it wasn’t mentioned in the title of the ad, you’d hardly be able to tell what makes this ’78 Eldorado special enough to merit a $3,500 asking price in this condition. Though it’s only been photographed from the front 3/4, we can just see the outline of the pickup bed—yes, it’s a pickup, and one with a T-top roof at that! Described in the ad as a “Mirage,” and claimed to be one of 21 built, this funky Caddy can be seen here on craigslist out of the Phoenix area (archived ad). Let’s check it out and get the whole story!
The title of this post isn’t just one of my usual dumb puns; while there was a custom El Camino-style Cadillac in the ’70s called the Mirage, this ain’t one. Mirages were all De Ville-based—the seller has even googled the Mirage and helpfully included a picture of one in the ad without apparently realizing that it’s a completely different model than this car. No, what we have here is a Roadster Convertible, built in North Miami by Continental Coachbuilders Ltd. The rather confusingly named Roadster Convertible is distinguished by its T-tops; a pickup without the open-air feature was also available as the Roadster Sportsmobile, so clearly there was some confusion in Miami about what a “roadster” is. Information on this site indicates that there may have been 25 built, likely all in 1978. There was allegedly some 24-karat gold trim on these, which is nowhere in evidence on this car, and the teak-finished bed included an under-floor storage compartment for the roof panels. I imagine that the bed in this example is pretty shot and that’s why it’s been carefully left out of the photos.
What can’t be avoided is the fact that this car has been sitting outside in Arizona for many years, so there’s plenty of scorched paint and dust. The 425-cubic inch V8 is said to have been running when the car was parked, but will now need a thorough reconditioning along with everything else. A shot of the dash shows a little over 23,000 miles on the odometer, but it’s a five-digit counter that could easily have rolled over.
Just like the rear of the exterior, the interior is left to the imagination, but suffice it to say this is being billed as a candidate for a full restoration. The ’70s saw a bit of a renaissance for coachbuilt Cadillacs, with a plethora of interesting styles available to capitalize on the laid-back hedonism of the era, and there’s nothing quite like a gold-plated, T-top Cadillac disco pickup to capture that spirit. Would you take on the restoration of this custom Caddy?
That is an odd Arizona plate.
Can somebody shed light on if it is a truck plate or something else?
0156-NS
Looks like OT56-NS to me. I can’t remember what the non-commercial plates of that era came on – maybe pickups?
The didn’t use Os on license plates.
Sorry – meant 0.
What’s “odd” about it? I remember those older red background with white lettering plates when I lived in Arizona (for 32 years). It’s a basic non-commercial plate.
Arizona had the red plate from 1975 to 1995
Actually they had them from 1980 to 1997.
http://www.azplates.com/pass1956-05.htm
When we moved here in ’78, we got the ’73 plates for our vehicles.
You tricked us. I did think that 76 was the last year for drop tops.
What a misleading ad. Claiming it as Mirage? And no pics of the bed. The seller should be taken away in cuffs for that one.
that certainly is a mirage as the 6 pictures are of 2 different vehicles. the grey one and the brown one. if the seller is trying to show us what a true Mirage looks like then the ad text has to describe that effort.
poor ad. sad vehicle. pass
Sad , It’s a dead car
Technically, it is a truck after the conversion. But come on, no pictures of the back?
mechainically bring it up to snuff, drive it. I’d be in for about $700.00
I don’t know which reason made the owner a total moron. Leaving this “collectible;” out in the desert for over a decade, or the lack of information and photos in his ad. Either way, I’m not buying.
What does “burying the lede” mean? Thanks.
I wondering the same thing. By the way, it isn’t a convertible………not sure why this is featured as a “convertible”?? It’s a (pick up) El Camino conversion (as the Craigslist ad clearly states but doesn’t picture well) with a t-top conversion. You’d think the seller would have pics of what makes this special (other than T-tops)…….the bed in back (the “money” shot as they say)!
“Burying the lede” = burying the most important detail of something among other information. The “Convertible” reference is what the builder called the car, apparently in reference to the T-tops!
Actually the builder calls it a “Roadster Sportsmobile” and further states, “the roadster convertible with removable see through T-top that stores neatly in the luggage compartment beneath the rich teakwood rear deck. Remove the T-top and you have a convertible.” Despite the builder and Barn Finds calling it a convertible, not sure I’d adopt “convertible” in describing this car! The seller doesn’t state it’s a convertible and clearly states, “1978 Cadillac Eldorado Mirage (pick-up) El Camino” so I’m not sure how he’s “burying the lede”?? The only error I see is him saying it’s a “Mirage” which is based on the DeVille, not El Dorado.
I’ve never seen that spelling before now.
Technically it does convert from a solid roof to an open roof, so it is a convertible of some sort.
Media term.
Wonder what happened to the original turbine wheels they put on it as part of the conversion?
Without intending to start an online riot, I have a question: For those folks writing up these descriptions, would it be too difficult to contact the owners for additional pictures and information so that the write-ups could be more complete and informative?
It would save a lot of the sniping that goes on here about the owners’ intelligence, dishonest approach or other derogatory comments about the car itself. Maybe the owner just doesn’t understand what’s required to help sell the car. Maybe we can help. That is the point of BF, right? But then, maybe a lot of the respondents on BF just like to crab about anything thy can get their teeth on. Seems like it sometimes.
On a number of occasions where the CL ads shown here are lacking, I’ve contacted the owners for more pics and clarifications and, in 9 out of 10 cases they’ve replied positively. And in two cases I’ve bought cars from them.
Just a thought.
I’d be happy if they’d just stop advocating and enabling abusing craigslist by posting links to scrapper sites and grossly non-compliant ads. (there are rules. It’s rude to help people ignore and violate them)
That’s had a fairly big hit from the ugly stick, has it not?
This car/truck was for sale previously in NW Arizona for $1,500 prior to this seller’s purchase of the car. This car was built by Continental Coach Builders out of North Miami Beach. Considering it is a coach built car they were actually fairly well built.
Here is a flyer for the car when they were new.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/autohistorian/6932151520/
Nice find on that original sale. And the link. Thanks.
It was also for sale on ebay Aug 2016.
Here is a photo of the back end.
They said it was car # 17 of 25.
I owned # 15 for a while.
Excellent find—thanks for sharing!
Very interesting – nice find. I’m pretty sure this car came from the sale of the huge classic car junkyard along Highway 95 north of Kingman on the way to Vegas that closed up a year or two ago. It looks like it’s been sitting in the San Tan Valley location for a lot longer than a year!
Yes it is the same car from the JY sale on the way to Kingman.
Yuck. And even more tainted by the proximity to that Maserati Biturbo.
Saw this atrocity yesterday.
I remember that conversion kit in the car magazines back in the ’70s.
heres what I can’t figure out a arizona car !so whats with all the rust? I thought dragging cars -trucks out of there and california and nevada you were rust free so much for that I guess! this thing is a money pit and good luck finding the front wheel drive parts a customer of ours scrapped a caddy of this vintage because he got stonewalled trying to buy cv joints for it and other stuff this car was rust free and clean,
Remember this car ended up in Arizona. Who knows where it’s been or started ownership life over the last 40 years. I guess you could say it started life in Florida as that’s where it was built.
As far as parts I don’t why you or your customer had a problem finding parts new, rebuilt or used. There are Eldorado parts cars everywhere for the cost of scrap metal and vintage Cadillac’s enjoy a great supply chain for new or rebuilt parts including Eldorado front axle shafts.
One of these cars has actually sold at auction for over $25K + juice. Unfortunately the parts and labor to get this car into the condition needed to sell for over $25K would cost you well over $50K!
This car is rear wheel drive so no worries on CVs etc.
@Todd. it’s an Eldorado. Front Wheel Drive.
Yep – you’re right. I used to pull rear disc calipers off the 76-78s back in the day and I thought they reverted to a solid rear axle by then. Obviously not. Getting old sucks. Now I remember that the 79-85 cars that I used as donors later were fwd too!
Why
The 1975-1978 Eldos were about the ugliest Cadillacs ever made, far beyond cars like the Cimarron and Catera, which were just dull and stupid, as well as the 1980 Seville, which was loved by some and hated by others. The ’71 Eldorado was fairly graceful and coherent, with smooth lines and relatively restrained chrome. But, by 1975, they had added giant Chrome caps on the “forefins” and hideous trapizoidal opera windows that looked like something even J. C. Whitney would have rejected. The “truck” conversion is probably close to useless (imagine hauling a load of lumber uphill on a wet day with FWD), but it’s surprisingly smooth. But nothing could distract the eyes from the grotesqueness of the donor car.