Eldorado Convertables

[Viator Trudeau]

In looking for a Eldo convt, on E Bay or Hemmings 80% of eldo convt. for sale are 1996, not many 91 thru 94.    What is the big attraction of the 96?   Is any thing wrong with the earlier models or any one with a 76 does not want it because of many problems

Viator Trudeau  #8697

[TJ Hopland]

Did you mean 1976 and 71-75?

Most of the American converts ended in the early 1970's.  Only a few models from a few makes when to 1975.  1976 Cadillac was the only one that made one and they advertised that fact hard.  Result was they sold more than twice as many as previous years, Im thinking it was in the neighborhood of 15,000.  Because of it being 'the last' many people bought them and either stored them or kept very good care of them thinking they would be worth a premium someday.   So far for the most part they dont seem to be especially more valuable than 71-75 in the same condition its just there tends to be more 76's in better condition.   

[Viator Trudeau]

Thanks T J for your reply.   Your reasoning seem correct to me.

Viator Trudeau

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

There were 14,000 Eldorado convertibles built for the 1976 model year and Cadillac signed off on the model with much ceremony and fanfare as TJ says. Speculators and collectors eagerly snapped them up and by the summer of '76, they had been exchanging hands for double the sticker price according to some accounts. To deal with the innumerable requests for the very last car off the line, the last 200 were designated Bicentennials and all received identical paint scheme of red, white and blue with a special dash plaque. Many of these were promptly mothballed along with many other 1976 regular convertibles making them fairly common on the market today. The last actual car had been retained by GM.

With the exception of 1976, no model year saw production over 9,500 from 1971-1975. The lowest production year was 1971 at 6,800. 

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I read that the only reason there were no more than the 14,000 convertibles made was that the top supplier couldn't supply any more than that number of units.

Bruce.

[TJ Hopland]

Seems like the overall production of scissors tops would have had to be greater than 14,000 some years.  If Cadillac sold 9,000 cars you would think the other GM brands all together would have sold at least that many and without the demand from the others they would have been able to keep up.  But then maybe 74-75 was such a low year they cut back their capabilities and with 76 being the last did not think it was work expanding?

Read somewhere that Chrysler considered using the same mechanism on some models in the early 70's but they just ended up scrapping the whole soft top idea.   

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

For anyone interested, production figures Walter McCall gives for FWD Eldorado Convertible are as follows:

1971   6,800

1972   7,975

1973   9,315

1974   7,600

1975   8,950

1976   14,000

I once heard a similar story to Bruce's for 14,000 in 1976: Cadillac had 15,000 top mechanisms on hand; built 14,000 cars and saved the remaining 1,000 for parts inventory. Of course they would've had no trouble selling a lot more '76 Eldo droptops had they built 'em.

Supposedly one customer even demanded right of first refusal for a copy citing himself as a direct descendant of Henry Leland. 

[TJ Hopland]

Anyone know what the numbers were for the other GM converts in that period?