What a difference a year could make in Detroit back in the day. This well-preserved 1979 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz is the first year of the 10th-Generation Eldorado that ran through model year 1985. And this downsized Caddy went on a major crash diet from the year before by losing 1,150 pounds, over a foot from the wheelbase, and 20 inches of length from the body. But despite the downsizing, the new Eldorado boasted “more legroom, headroom, and more usable trunk space than ’78.” This beautiful, highly-optioned survivor checks a lot of boxes for me: a one-owner family, documented low mileage, and selling at No Reserve. It’s located in Spokane, Washington and is listed for sale here on eBay. As of this writing, 31 bids had pushed the price up to $10,900.
It’s hard to find fault with the current condition of this Eldorado’s exterior. In previous years, Cadillac had named its white paints Aspen White, or Alpine White, or Cotillion White, but for 1979, it’s just White (Code 11-C), and it looks shiny and presentable. Borrowing from styling cues of the past, the top-of-the-line Biarritz features a cabriolet roof with a brushed stainless roof section. This one was also ordered with Cadillac’s power Astroroof. I’m not spotting any rust or dents and dings, and the chrome, glass, lenses, trim, and wire wheels and tires all look great on this Eldorado.
“Inside Eldorado, luxury abounds.” That’s how Cadillac’s sales literature described the new level of luxury in the new Eldorado. And it is opulent. I love the white pillow-style leather interior, and the contrasting red carpet, instrument panel (with the simulated burl walnut) and steering wheel. First Class 70’s Luxury.
The seller shares that the top of the driver’s door panel has a few small cracks, but other than that, the interior is in great condition for a 44-year-old car. These luxury coupes came fully loaded and this one even has what Cadillac described as the “New AM/FM Electronically Tuned Stereo Radio with 8-Track Tape Player.”
The Eldorado’s engine bay is also clean and tidy and houses a 5.7-Liter, 350-cubic inch V8 with electronic fuel injection that produced a factory-rated 170 horsepower. It’s mated to a Turbo Hydra-Matic three-speed automatic transmission and has only 54,486 actual miles on the odometer. The downsized 1979 Cadillac Eldorado still had a long hood, short deck, and egg crate grille (plus loads of luxury and comfort) like the 1978 Eldorado, and proved to be popular with the buying public as 67,436 units were sold. This is certainly one of the nicest survivors out there and with its known history, low mileage, and selling at No Reserve, I envy the second family that will put this Eldorado Biarritz in their garage.
First thing I’d do if I owned it is take the junk nothing but driveability and cold start problems FI system off and put a speadbore 4 bbl intake and a tuned Qjet on the olds 350 under this hood.Used to do some conversions on these and Sevilles in the day.Nice car otherwise.Stainless roof is cool.Goodfellas car. Glwts.
sold! $11,000.
To the happy new owner no doubt. Good.
Sounds like you’ll be busy chasing vacuum malfunctions with the transmission the rest of your life. As long as the motor isn’t dripping oil / valve covers sealed, the original system is actually highly reliable. It’s all about the suction, baby.
Cold start injector was very problematic. I’ll take a tuned q-jet any day over this poor FI system.
This car has the Oldsmobile 5.7(350) same as my Dad’s 79’ Riviera. That’s a huge plus.
My Dad bought my mom a ’73 Pontiac LeMans (the long nose). Had this engine. Mom was afraid of the car. You really couldn’t see where the nose ended. And it had crazy power. Like driving a cigarette boat.10 mpg. Dad learned not to buy toys for himself to gift to mom. I borrowed it a few times and parking it wasn’t something you did without practice. I felt like a gangster. This Barritz is that on steroids LoL!
From back when a luxury car actually looked nice, rode nice, and had a comfortable, spacious interior. Notice the soft, pillow-top seats, unlike the hard bucket seats everything from the cheapest Kia to the most expensive Cadillac comes with today.
Thid is the best model 1979 Eldorado; I recall driving these. Biarritz Eldorado and Sevilles were the sharpest and most luxurious of the line. For 1980 it went to the horrible 8-6-4 engine and after that a smaller, weaker V8. This car is a solid investment. Would like brake and suspension upgrades as well as
Bert, the 8-6-4 engine came in 1981, not 1980. I know, I had an ’81Coupe that a previous owner had the cylinder management system disabled, keeping it running on all 8 all of the time
Thanks for the correction..The 864 was 1981 only!
Each Lazyboy chair in these old cars costing 2mpg each. I think that’s what happened. I worked on an eldorado and Seville electrical problems. Those electric seat controls in the doors have a harness. Where it comes through the dash out to the door. It was bundled with a fiber tube that delivers illumination. That breaks over time, you lose that illumination on those controls, it’s a sign the wires also may be frayed internally from opening and closing the driver’s door frequently. I didn’t know this of course. I chased electrical problems for a year on one of the cars. I was the 4th guy put on the job. Previous technicians added jumper wires, upgraded alternator and etc so also had to figure out the problems they introduced under timeline pressure to solve the problems. That light tube was the clue. All along it was the pinched harness to armrest controls. It affected the current to fuel injection CDI and everything else. It’s not an easy job, at all. But knowing about these cars with way too much wire, you can have a better time of it. That experience turned me off to any cars with too many gadgets and buttons I must admit.
Ah, yes. I prefer the cloth but this is a winner, as ClassicP says, with the Ransom Oldsmobile engine.
sold!!!!
The pressure to purchase so many track suits and skipper hats to wear with this car would be too much.
Not to mention fedoras and Cuban cigars, and the tommy gun holster under the seat.
Really, a metal plate? Why would they put a metal plate under the driver’s seat may I ask.
Must have watched the movie Casino. But was for real, as reported here- “Former executive with the Stardust Hotel & Casino, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s Cadillac Eldorado after an attempt was made on his life by bombing his car on October 4, 1982. Mr. Rosenthal, who formerly ran the Stardust for the now defunct Argent Corporation, miraculously survived the explosion according to knowledgeable sources due to a steel plate that had been factory installed in that model only. The plate deflected the initial blast and knocked Mr. Rosenthal clear of the second blast receiving only minor injuries. Portions of the car were spread over a 100 yard area.”
You might notice this car only lacking either fuzzy dice or a Cosa Nostra country club sticker. It was a joke because it looks like only a gangster would drive it. The kind of gangster making it easy for his enemies to find him.
you’re kill’n me Smalls!
Sigh….
😉
The ‘plate’ referring to is the adjustable driver’s seat. There’s a control panel on the armrest that is honestly irresistible to play with. It’s a Lazyboy with a lot of range of adjustments. Riding on it’s own tracks and mounting plate. If the seat ever has internal problems, and requires disassembly, 2 guys are getting a hernia pulling it to repair it. I think we ended up removing the backrest hoping to fix it partially in place, then pulled the whole thing. It turned out to be pinched wires in the door harness and worn out contacts in the door handle. One of those ‘it isn’t just one nagging issue’ mystery chases.
I had an 83 with Turing Edition, simply beautiful car. Put a smile on my face every time I drove it.
As Freudian slips go, that’s pretty good, Enzio. I get what you meant. They are very beautiful cars.
Great car! That’s the one to own with the Olds 350.
I worked for a Cadillac dealership in Salt Lake City in 1981. I dealt with a lot of these 79s and by far my favorite car. It was just a stunning ride absolutely a blast to drive every version of Cadillac that year was really nice. Then they started making changes in things just got worse than they bring out the Cimarron and the the weird tail Seville and just didn’t like it after that. But this car was stunning $11,000 is a great deal for this one.
What is very interesting about this year, from a historian’s perspective, is the reception this model got in its debut year. The stated output is accurate; it also happens to be the highest number of Eldos sold in any one year to that time, well beyond the ’78’s sales numbers…doubly amazing considering the dramatic redesign, and the fact that, usually, the first year of a new generation does not outsell the last year of the preceding generation.
That said, it still didn’t equal sales of the Mark V (then in its third year of production and virtually unchanged since its debut) that year.
This example looks very nice for its age. Personally, though, I think the contemporary Riv wore that body style slightly better.
My favorite Eldorado body-style. A lot of folks admired this vehicle’s styling. When the Eldorado was redesigned/resized for ’86 those were as not well received as Cadillac would have liked. Dealers were ‘brokering’ the previous body-style and the used inventory thus keeping used Eldorado prices high. This remained mostly the case until the stunning redesign of the Eldorado and Seville for the 1992 model year.
Our humble GM hardware plant made a number of the parts for those new vehicles. We had begun pilot part tryouts for the upcoming ’92 models in late-1990.
My friends dad had a1979 canery yellow eldorado biarritz. It was the must beautiful car in America. It road like a dream.