1966 SO body tag

[Wbostoen]

Hi all,

Today I went to check out a '66 eldorado, I took my Roy Schneider's 'cadillacs of the sixties' book to determine the options on the car. To my surprise, the body tag of the car showed "TR 000-B" and "PAINT 00-1".

There is no such thing as a color code 00 or trim option 000 according to the book, anybody know what is going on with this body tag?

The style and body number are filled in and seem right. Also the car seems legit for the rest (frame, papers and door tag show the same VIN)

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

Your car has several SO, special order features. The interior is SO with bucket seats. The paint is SO with a standard white top. You will have to figure out what those SO features are as they are not listed anywhere. Let us know.
 HTH, Bob

[Chuck Swanson]

Yes, legit as I have a '65 Eldorado with code 0 trim and B for buckets   Chuck

[Wbostoen]

OK,

So in the meantime I have bought the car and had it delivered to my home.

When I got the car by the end of september I requested the build sheet from Allied Vaughn to make sure everything checks out. And it does 
Altough the car has a lot of options, it is not fully loaded. It has no power trunk lock, controlled diff, heated seats or headreast. Apart from these items, all options are present (but not all are working yet). The main thing that cought my attention were the 000's on the body tag, so thanks Bob and Chuck for pointing me in the right direction.
The car came complete with history and pictures of the first owner, who owned it from 1966 until 2016 when she passed.


About the SO Exterior:
The car indeed seems to have a special color, it is a non-metallic red with a (very) minimal hint of orange, when it's in bright sunlight. At first I thought it was a typical 'resale red' paintjob, because it looks too bright for a colour that would be available in the 60's. But i'm starting to believe this could be the original factory color, because of two reasons: firstly, the paint looks exactly like in the 1966 dealer pickup picture and secondly the car has been repainted by the original owner. I cannot imagine that the original owner would first pick (and pay) for a special color red, and later decide to repaint a different shade of red. Off course, these pictures are faded, copied and then again scanned, so the color reference is only minimal. Also, the non-scanned pictures are taken with my iPhone, which is a little heavy on the saturation. The color in real life looks a lot like in the dealer pickup picture. (Could it be 1959 seminole red? Never seen that color in real-life)

Anyway, the car has been well taken care of, it has no rust whatsoever. A few blemishes on the chrome bumpers here and there but these will all be fixed off course. Also no kickdown switch and some fumbling has been done to the carb/vaccuum lines, but there needs to be something to work on right? 

SO interior:
I still have to take some decent pictures of the interior, so I will post these later.

For now, i'm trying to contact her relatives to get some info on the special options and stories on the car.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Rare double SO.

Prior to 1966, the last year for a non-metallic red was 1959 Seminole so that selection would make sense for someone looking for regular bright red in a Cadillac.     

[Tom Hall 7485]

It would be impossible to identify the color with certainty using color images posted to the Internet.

To my eye, there is more than a trace of orange in that red. I would nominate 1954 Aztec Red as a possibility. Also, Vincennes Red, a wheel color of the early 1940s.

Contrary to what appeared in a recent Self-Starter, special request colors were not limited to the previous few years. There is also the possibility that the color of your car is not a Cadillac color. (Yes, I know that statement runs counter to popular belief, but the dealership where I worked in the 1970s was able to get non-Cadillac colors by special request. It was a sensitive matter. I confirmed this fact with a man who had supervised one of the front fender and hood painting booths at Clark Avenue around 1981. However, the practices of 1966 model year I can't be sure of. )

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Internet images cannot be relied upon for making fine distinctions between two near-identical colors. Further complicating matters is whether the car had been repainted. Paint inside decklid would be the best place to look for original paint color assuming the car had not been color changed.

It's always been my understanding that any color could be special ordered on any year car. I was told by a GM dealership service manager that two gallons of paint would be supplied with any car ordered with non-standard paint. I also read that the factory would no longer accept SO trim orders beginning in the 1984 model year.

[signart]

The original color should be fairly easy to identify. It is doubtful that every inch of surface was repainted on that car. You will find it eventually.
Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS! on a great find and a great car.

[okccadman]

Beautiful Eldorado.  I recently acquired a white 66 Eldo.

[wrefakis]

had one aztech red so interior white bench aztech dash and carpets

[2011DTS]

It would be interesting if in the paper work you recieved with the car if the original bill of sale was included. If the original owner traded in her prior Cadillac that might give you an idea of what year color she chose to paint her new Eldorado. If she traded in a 1959 Barritz then she may have wanted the same color and therefore that would add to Eric's theory that it may been ordered painted Seminole Red. But what ever the color congratulations on a very nice car with interesting providence, which is sometimes the most interesting feature of a car.

[Wbostoen]

It would be interesting if in the paper work you recieved with the car if the original bill of sale was included. If the original owner traded in her prior Cadillac that might give you an idea of what year color she chose to paint her new Eldorado.

Great idea, I just checked the original bill of sale but there is no trade in vehicle or budget mentioned. Today I got hold of contact info of some direct family so I will try to get a color name from them.

The original color should be fairly easy to identify. It is doubtful that every inch of surface was repainted on that car.

I have been overthinking the respray way too much  at first I was comparing the paint under the hood but there is a lot of dirt and grime which makes it look darker. The door sills inside however are also not resprayed (the transition from old-to-new paint is visible) and the old paint is a little dull but apart from the gloss it is the same color. So now I know it's original, I just need to figure out what's is called  thanks for the tip.