People who gain wealth in life are met with a plethora of open doors, but today I want to talk about the door that opens leading to custom cars. There is a long and storied history of creating custom cars for discerning clients, often based on luxury cars. Nothing but the best for those “money-no-object” people. Coming out of this custom craze, you have shooting brakes, legitimate land yachts, limousines, and weird pickup-car things–known to our friends down under as a “ute.” According to the seller’s description, there were only a handful made under the direction of Cadillac. You can find this utilitarian personal luxury pickup here on eBay.
I wasn’t able to find much information on the coachbuilder. This site led me to another coachbuilt Cadillac ute but mentions that Caribou, the company that supposedly built this feature car, was located in Rosemeade, CA, rather than Chatsworth. Regardless, the construction looks decent. It seems relatively simple. They don’t include any images of the frame but based on side angles of the car, it doesn’t look like they elongated the vehicle at all. Avoiding a stretched bed keeps the conversion simple, and it looks like they basically just took the trunk lid off and took the back seats out. Of course, this is oversimplified and the excellent craftsmanship is evident in the functional tailgate and the rear window/bulkhead area.
On the inside, there’s very little changed. The Eldorado was always intended to be a “personal luxury coupe.” Less about being driven to one’s destination and more about the act of driving oneself. This ute conversion takes that idea to an extreme and eliminates the back seat. Other than that, though, you’ll still find the comfortable, power-adjustable leather seats, air conditioning, power steering, and power windows. It’s a Cadillac, power everything is a must. No word on if the dog is included, but I’d be inclined to guess you would need to supply your own. I suggest a good farm dog. Or a horse. It’s a pickup truck, after all.
There are no images included under the hood, but I’d be willing to hazard a guess that it’s the original powerplant. A Cadillac 429 V-8 engine powers the front wheels through a TH425 automatic transmission, similar to the setup in the new-for-1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. Actually, it’s the same setup but with a Cadillac engine instead of an Olds engine. It’s got plenty of getup-and-go for any of your hauling needs, and the front wheel drive means you’ll never get stuck in the snow. If you’re mulling over buying that new GMC Sierra or Ford F-150, may I suggest you instead consider this 1968 Eldorado? You’d certainly be the only Eldorado in the local farm supply store parking lot.
Has a funeral/flower car vibe to me.
…or a pimp/contractor vibe…
Were it not for the bed rails, mirrors, and inborn curse of front-wheel drive this might be the perfect ute. I like the styling better than a normal Eldo’s.
Judging by the mirrors and the mounting holes in the center of the bed, this rig did some heavy 5th wheel towing.
The lines of this car don’t quite agree, you can easily tell it’s had some “work-arounds”. There was a company some years ago who did mid-60s ute conversions of the Coupe DeVille, and those looked absolutely top-notch, like they came out of the Cadillac factory.
I researched this, and it was used to haul cheeseburgers to Graceland.
no interior shots,engine shots, belly shots, and no price or seller info! how do you sell a car like this? its a beautiful car!!
I wonder if this isn’t the same pickup I saw in Sunburst, MT in 1969. That one was owned by a geophysicist. Sunburst was “oil country” in the ’60’s and ’70’s.
Why it was there, I don’t know as those wells were quite shallow. The back-end had drill cores in it, and as I understood were quite heavy.
Looked at eBay, the one I saw had the same coloring, but the tailgate had Cadillac in script (pressed into the steel) and this one does not.
So were there 2?
I’m an El Camino kind of guy. I’d be all over this if it wasn’t for the red accents. It would cost too much to make it less gauche.
Betting if it’s a 1968 it’s equipped with the first year 472 CI V8
Pimpmobile Deluxe – Way to Gaudy of a ride and what a waste of money .
gee……FWD and a rear bed…….sounds like the engineers at Ford stole that idea for the new MAVERICK !!
Work truck?
Item location:
Bellevue, Washington
If Super Fly ran a delivery service, this would be in the fleet, I love pimp mobiles, it the Ute thing ain’t for me
Ugly dog. The puppy doesn’t do anything for me either.
It was a different time when this vehicle was built. Simply someone built a personal car out of a personal luxury car. Enjoy it for what it is. No one does this today. Can you imagine cutting up an SUV? Who would notice?
Every time a Cadillac pickup comes across the board someone has to say it looks like a flower car. Not all Cadillac pickups are flower cars!!!!! Flower cars are flower cars. This is a custom Cadillac pickup.
Cadillac used the 429 ci engine from 1964 through 1967. They switched to a 472 V-8 in 1968, which is what this car would have.
Besides no interior, underbody, or engine photos, the seller also doesn’t provide a profile photo of the car.
I need this…
If I had the money I would totally buy this and drive it to the grocery store. My ’72 Eldorado was a fantastic ride. Excellent craftsmanship on this one, as well.
Very cool,although I’d still rather have a straight up Eldorado, and if I’m not mistaken, 1968 ushered in the 472,which was much better than the 429,absolutely love late 60s,and very early 70s Eldorado’s.