'75 eldorado or not?

[J]

 I knew this was the place to have this ad picked apart. my father likes my eldorado so he was possibly looking for one for himself so he sent this ad to me to take a peek at  but it doesn't seem to look right to me am I correct?    i don't think they even made a barritz this year did they?  and the front grill looks different  thanks,J essie

http://detroit.craigslist.org/cto/1205546758.html

[Chris Conklin]

I'm assuming you can see it in person. It doesn't appear to be too bad on the eyes for only $3K OBO, probably worth that considering the laundry list of fixes. And giving the seller the benefit of the doubt, the uninitiated will call any Caddy convertible a Biarritz. But you can find some excellent cars of this vintage out there near $10K that need no work.

[RobW]

That's got 77-78 taillights and grille and hood letters, molding, and not sure what you call those black/chrome end caps above the bumper ends. So either someone updated the look or it was hit and has a 77-78 nose and they added the rear lights to finish off the look.

[Dave Shepherd]

76 was the last full size Eldo and the last conv. from the factory.  This was not a Biarritz, just get the vin and that will tell you for sure what year it is.

[Misfit]

Wrong answer Dave. 1978 was the last year for the full sized Eldorado. The full line was offered.

See page #235 of the book, 3rd Edition, Standard Catalog of Cadillac. 1903-2005

MisFit

[Davidinhartford]

That is a 1975 Eldorado convertible.  Someone replaced the front bumper, grille and front fender ends from a 1978 Eldorado.  The hood and rear bumper as well.     The give-away is the rear side marker lamps.   There are none.   You lose them when you use the 77-78 bumper ends.    A real 77-78 would have the rear side markers that have the word ELDORADO spelled out across them on the rear quarters.    

You can tell it is a 75 by the front seat.   No fold down twin armrests.   The 76s had the twin fold down armrests.  The early 75s used a 50-50 split bench with no fold down armrest.  They used a stupid detachable floating armrest that most people lost.  So by the seat we know this is a 1975 model.  

The 78 mods don't worry me.   It is all the mechanical work it needs.

Oh yeah.  Not a Biarritz either.   There were no Biarritzs in 75.

[Misfit]

The site doesn't like my reply. I'll try to correct myself later.

MisFit

[Ted in Olympia WA]

I have seen a few 78 that have been converted to converts and I makes me think that this may be one of those, but the rear quarters are 75/76. 

I have seen a 76 that had the 77/78 rear bumper and all four tail lights;  I thought this was a very nice look.  They also used 73 side marker lights in the quarters.

It would be a ton of work to put on all that extra trim on a 75.

If you were looking for original this is not the one to get.

The first Biarritzs was in 1976 and these did not have the pillow top seats like the 77/78.  Also the trim was different in 76 a bit.  I have never been able to find out if they ever made a Biaritz convert in 1976 but I don't think they did.

TED

[Davidinhartford]

I have seen a few 78 that have been converted to converts and I makes me think that this may be one of those.

Some were converted, but those would have the correct 77-78 rear quarters.  This has the 75-76 rear quarters.   That's the give-away.

It is easy to replace the rear bumper with a 77-78 and delete the horizontal lamps, but not many go to the trouble to weld in the correct 77-78 rear side markers when "updating" an older convertible to look like a newer 77-78.

I've only seen one or two done correctly.

[Ted in Olympia WA]

You caught me modifying my post to correct this about the 78, I can't get away with anything.

It would be hard to do the 77/78 side markers and I assume this is why the one I saw did the 1973, and this looked nice.  I also like the a four tail lights idea.

You can convert just the ends to 77/78 you have to replace the whole bumper with the 77/78 bumper complete.  The mount for the bumper ends were bolted a bit different.

TED

[Dave Shepherd]

Wrong answer Dave. 1978 was the last year for the full sized Eldorado. The full line was offered.

See page #235 of the book, 3rd Edition, Standard Catalog of Cadillac. 1903-2005

MisFit

You are correct, the engine was downsized to 425 from the 500, my mistake.

[J]

after looking at the car the vin says its a '76 the motor is a 425 and the owner claims no modification has been done to his knowledge and he knows the original owner  seems intresting (suspecious)  but actully it is in good shape no seen rust etc.. and real nice interior.

[Ted in Olympia WA]

I bet what happen is that someone made a convert out of a 1978.  Not by cutting off the top but by using a 75/76 body on a 78 frame.  Why else would it have a 425 engine?

This car is just weird; a collection of junk yard parts.

A fun convert but that is all it is.

TED