I’ve seen plenty of ground scrapers before, but this outsized 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz looks like a minor asphalt ripple would challenge it. Regardless, there are a lot of other facets to this car to consider, so we can ignore the obvious for the moment. This one’s a top dog, Biarritz, one of only 1,285, assembled 65 years ago. Ready for retirement? Nope, not yet, but like all senior citizens, some help may be in order. Hovering in Dallas, Texas, this finned wonder is available here on eBay for a BIN price of $62,500.
When one thinks of Cadillac’s Eldorado, often thoughts of a big, front-wheel-drive coupe or convertible come to mind, but that wasn’t always the case. Starting in 1953, the Eldorado name meant an even more exalted Cadillac. Originally available as just a convertible, a hardtop later followed. By 1960, Eldorados could also be had as a four-door hardtop, referred to as a Brougham, to accompany the Seville, a two-door hardtop, and of course, the Biarritz, a convertible such as our subject. The Eldorado was in short supply across all three body styles in ’60, with just 2,400, in total, making the scene.
Our subject is finished in a hue known as Champagne, but its outward appearance is overshadowed by the distraction that is its ground-hugging stance. The seller offers, “ THE AIR RIDE SYSTEM SEEMS COMPLETE. I DOD GET THE LEFT FRONT WHEEL TO LIFT HALFWAY. I HAVE INSTALLED WOOD BLOCKS TO RAISE THE SUSPENSION FOR SHIPPING. THE AIR RIDE LIFT LEVER HAS BEEN REPLACED BY AN AFTERMARKET ONE, BUT THE ORIGINALS ARE AVAILABLE ON EBAY FOR $200.” Sheesh, if the air suspension system is complete and a $200 part is what’s needed, why wouldn’t one effect the repair? Especially on a car with a $62,500 ask? That suggests to me that the problem is something more significant – just a thought…Anyway, the exterior is in fair shape, the finish is flat and scratched, and there are some dents here and there, but this is a complete and intact specimen and doesn’t appear to be missing any trim – in particular, the complex grille shows as being unkissed. The folding top looks good, it is a replacement, but I’m getting the vibe that it doesn’t retract, specifically, per the seller, “BUT THE TOP AND HEATER AND SEAT SWITCHES NEED CLEANING …,” maybe, maybe not a problem.
Under the Montana-sized hood is a 345 gross HP, 390 CI V8 engine fed by three 2-barrel carburetors and making the rear wheel connection via a Hydramatic automatic transmission. The seller tells us, “THIS CAR IS A MATCHING NUMBER 390 TRI POWER ENGINE. SHOWS 44551 ORIGINAL MILES. I PUT NEW PLUGS AND GAS IN THE CAR. IT RUNS WELL., GOES INTO ALL GEARS, AND STOPS WITH SOME EFFORT. I WOULD CALL IT A YARD DRIVER. IT HAS A NEW BATTERY, BUT NO GENERATOR BELT.” No generator belt? Why not? It’s probably a $20-$25 item.
Inside, we find dilapidated gold leather upholstery and bare floors. The seller claims that the floors are sound, other than two small holes in the front passenger side foot well (though there is a lot of scale on the underside). But the environment is mostly complete with a non-damaged dashpad. I imagine it was quite a looker in its day, but can’t imagine what it would cost today to effect proper upholstery repair. This is an A/C equipped car, but the system probably needs attention as there’s no mention of its operational capability. The seller does state that the side windows retract.
No doubt about it, this is a rare find from an era of “bigger and more opulent is better,” a time when federal authorities had little to zero involvement in auto design. But big cars sometimes yield big problems too, and this Biarritz will provide some challenges for its next owner. The price may seem outsized, but I’ve uncovered restored examples with an ask that’s twice the tag on this one. The next owner is gonna really need to be committed to this Caddy, wouldn’t you agree?
As if the car didn’t appear low enough from the factory. How you gonna one-up Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell? You ain’t. People are the worst.
$62,500 and start fixing. Yup.
“I’ll have what he’s smok’in”
Wow, I didn’t read the ad, just looking through the photos I didn’t think it was worth the asking price, just under the hood, they could have done some easy cleanup for starters, talk about being delusional.
WOW a lot of money with it comes with A LOT of work here!
Honk if you think I’m sexy!
“Well at least my car is”
Totally agree…”The next owner is gonna really need to be committed…” to the looney bin. Esp if they pay full boat. Though it would look kool if someone added training wheels in the down doggie position.
This is nothing but a ground scraping rust bucket. Rust everywhere, including perforation in the floors, torn up interior, a top that doesn’t work, like wise the levelling suspension. The whole thing is a mess and the seller wants $62k for that? He’s on crack.
$62K and you still gotta fix it?!!!
Sorry folks, hard pass on this one! Reads like it needs EVERYTHING and more than likely does. Just replacing the air
suspension is gonna set you back a bundle even with an aftermarket setup. Ask me, I’ll tell you. Had a ’58 Biaritz 4-door
hardtop as a teenager. Nice car
but I couldn’t afford to fix the air
suspension system. Wound up selling it to Fanning Cadillac in
Bloomington and they used it as a display piece for many years.
Made enough off the sale to buy
my ’66 Cadillac Calais 4-door hardtop off my parents before my
drunken uncle could get it. Best
thing to do here would be to restomod it. Keep the 390 tri power, but ditch that God awful air spring setup and that 4-speed
automatic. Me, I’d go with a T-400 for the tranny and standard
springs for the suspension, get it
running and driving, and fix the rest as time and money permit.
And yeah, that would include new
floorpans and patch panels where needed, spankin new electrics for the top and side windows as well as a complete redo of the interior to boot. And I’d have all that stuff done locally
to save as much money as I could. Then, I’d take it out for a
spin with a nice young lady at the
wheel. Angel, are you in on this one? And enjoy the fruits of my
labor. And yeah Pat, I’ll have what
he’s smokin too!
Pricey considering this needs a full frame-off. If you can get the air-ride system to work properly, great. But 99.9% of these got converted to coil springs before 1961 even arrived. This one will need crutches just to get it off the transporter truck.
The crutches to get it OFF the transporter truck will only be required IF you can safely get it ON the transporter truck. It sounds like brakes are weak so that probably creates yet another challenge. It still looks good and could be a beautiful car for someone ready to take on the challenge.
One too many zeros in that BIN.
What a waste. Beautiful car in it’s hey day.
Looks like the car that was in the movie Second Hand Lions.
62500. Dream on Alice, you’ll get to wo nderland
I remember when I was 16 I took my driving test in my grandfather‘s Pink 1960 Cadillac sedan. Later on I put chrome side pipes along the underside of the doors, it was cool but you really had to be careful not to scrape anything.
at what appears to an original survivor car has really been messed with to point you really can’t drive it and it’s going to take a boat load of cash to do it if somebody hands this knucklehead his 62.5k they would as nuts as they are. this is 25-30k in this shape laying on the ground
In 1974 I drove a 1959 Eldorado home to Michigan for my dad in Michigan from Santa Barbara CA. It was basically a good solid used car that he bought sight unseen for $1000. The car only ran on the center carb, and the power brake booster had a hole in it and made braking very difficult. I’m thinking that’s the problem with that car in the story. He really didn’t do anything with it, and just sat in the garage. Well, he passed away in 1984 and I bought it from my Ma and started restoring it. It originally had that air suspension like the car in the story, but they had already been removed and the car sat on springs. It’s very rare to find one of these cars on air bags still. They was very troublesome. I rebuilt the engine and transmission. Would you believe that the transmission shop around the corner from me had a rebuilt transmission still on the shelf, but I wanted the original transmission rebuilt. They had the parts, and the owner of the shop came out of retirement just to do my transmission because nobody else in the shop knew how. He charged me $225. What a deal. I stripped the car down to bare metal and painted it back to its original white lacquer, new white leather for the seats, and lots of new chrome. The car got best of show and first place at almost every car show. It even got a Blue Ribbon at the concourse de elegance in Detroit. The car was too nice to drive, so I sold it. The last I heard it was in Australia.
Your dad live in utica?
The car does have a few pulses. Air conditioning and that cruise control are rare options. Still having those 3-2 barrels and the air cleaner is a good thing. Many of those cars got switched to a 4 barrel carb because people mistakenly thought that having 3 carburetors made it a gas hog. As long as you kept your foot out of it, it made no difference. Another big plus is that fiberglass boot in the trunk. It’s hard to come by an original one. If the seller cuts his asking price in half he might sell it.
Pete the seller is more a wash and sell guy – he did change the plugs to get it running – you know it’s hard to push these big boats.
What a disgusting pimp mobile. THAT´s why I never considered a Caddy, even a stock version, those and the forever not running Jags – insults to the buying public.
Most people who never considered a Cadillac never considered one because they are not in a high enough class to ever own one.
Many jealous people who tried to insult my old Cadillacs would comment
” I would never own one of those” and I would look at them and say “you are right you never will”!
Dear Cadillac Kid!
I am so happy for you being iin such a superior posittion. In 86 years of life, I have been a gear head. I have owned a 1962 Maserati 3500 GT, a 1969 Alfa Spyder, 3 Mercedese, ALL new including a 380 SEL and heavens knows what else, over 50 in total.My alltime favorite was my 1968 Glas 1700GT, a little gem of a Porsche beater.In my experience, limited as it obviously is, I have met only Caddy owners who were overbeariing Wanna-Be´s or have seen pimps riding around in them, converted to obnoxious low-riders. The only decent guy I ever saw in one was my conservative lawyer..Enjoy your ride. Sincerely, Gerry Frederic..
Thank you very much for your reply, but I am now 67 years old. I bought my first Cadillac at 16 I’ve never ever ever bought another make car in my whole life and I have never ever taken any vehicle to a garage for repair not a whole lot of people can say that. And yes, my first Cadillac turned into a Pimp-Mo-Bile. Why should “they” have all the unique vehicles? I had three batteries, two alternators and 186 lights including a crystal chandelier, crystal wall sconches and chrome air horns on the hood. A CB in the front and in the back so I could talk to my passengers and of course, lots of shag fur and dingleberries hanging down.
I liked it.
It was unique and it was mine.
Of course, the police did not have much of a sense of humor.