The Cadillac Eldorado is a luxury car manufactured and marketed by Cadillac from 1952 until 2002 over twelve generations.
Cadillac began using the nameplates “Eldorado Seville”, after the city in southern Spain, and “Eldorado Biarritz” after the luxury seaside resort in southern France, to distinguish between the hardtop and convertible models (respectively) while both were offered, from 1956 through 1960 inclusively. The “Seville” name was dropped when the hardtop was initially discontinued (1961), but the Biarritz name continued through 1964. Beginning in 1965, the Eldorado became the ‘Fleetwood Eldorado’. ‘Biarritz’ returned as an up level trim package for the Eldorado for 1976 until 1991.
The 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz had a style and personality unto itself. To say that the fins, or indeed the vehicle itself, was ‘large’ is perhaps an understatement. The modern V8 engine pushed all two-and-a-half tons of the Eldorado to speeds of up to 120mph. The year 1959 saw the appearance of gas-filled shock absorbers, and cruise control, for the first time on a production Cadillac. The production model of this vehicle sold for a whopping $7401, a small fortune at the time. This model is seen as the quintessential ‘big fin’ convertible, with chrome and leather everywhere. Its high price tag led to low sales, and as a result, the car is extremely collectible.
