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Pics of Dad's '57 Eldorado

Started by salguod, April 20, 2013, 10:44:16 AM

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salguod

Here are some pictures taken this weekend of my Dad's '57 Eldorado taken this weekend.  We were hoping to get the car to his home this weekend, but it has more issues than we hoped.  I don't think it will take a lot to get it going, the big thing is brakes.  I'm sure once we get it drive-able and he drives it a bit this summer, he'll discover more.

The car has been in the family since 1959 when Grandpa bought it from a gentleman who got a new Cadillac every 2 years.  Mom and Dad dated in the car.  As long as I can remember, the car has been in operable. About 20 years ago, Grandpa had a cosmetic restoration of sorts done, primarily body work.  The interior is still original and fair, a good cleaning will improve things a bunch.  The chrome ranges for good to poor, the taillight bezels being the worst.  The rear bumper was redone with the bodywork.

The engine and transmission are all original, never been rebuilt, only maintained (well, sort of anyway  ;D).  Car has 91K on it.  The car has been stored for 14 years in the same spot and only started occasionally.  Dad and I are going to have fun this summer getting her back on the road.
salguod
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Dad's Toy) - Elysian Green, inside and out
1960 Thunderbird Convertible (My Toy) -  Raven Black, Red leather
1996 BMW 318ti (My Daily Driver/Toy) - Boston Green, Dove Gray leather
www.salguod.net

salguod

I meant to post the data plate info from the firewall:

Style No: 57-6267SX
Body No: FW 1043
Trim No: 17   Y
Paint No: 96
Top: 1  Acc: EH

Car is the base engine, most Eldorados we've seen have the dual carbs.  How common is the base engine?
salguod
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Dad's Toy) - Elysian Green, inside and out
1960 Thunderbird Convertible (My Toy) -  Raven Black, Red leather
1996 BMW 318ti (My Daily Driver/Toy) - Boston Green, Dove Gray leather
www.salguod.net

Bill Caddyshack

#2
Doug, love the idea that your Mom and Dad dated in this car! What a priceless piece of family history!! I can imagine them driving along with the top down and really loving the adventure.

Ask your Dad and Mom if they thought about naming you Barry for Biarritz?

As far as the engine, it is my understanding that the engines were all the same except for the carbs. Mixed reviews about the 2 quads. Have heard stories about tuning problems and that the carbs were not progressive linkage.  You must have had a manifold swap somewhere along the line, or maybe it was specially ordered with a single carb.

Do you have a gold painted air cleaner and valve covers? Maybe you could post some engine pics?

I am restoring a '58 Eldorado Biarritz like yours except mine came with three two barrels. I may be able to offer some help if you need. I would suggest getting it up on a lift and having a look. Particularly check the rubber brake hoses. These cars only had one master cylinder and one ruptured line = no brakes!

Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621

That's truly a remarkable story.

A Cadillac Motorcar is a Possession for which there is no Acceptable Substitute

C.R. Patton II



I look forward to meeting and seeing the Cadillac at our Grand National in Boston this summer.
All good men own a Cadillac but great gentlemen drive a LaSalle. That is the consequence of success.

salguod

Here are a couple engine shots.  The air cleaner is off, but it's gold like the valve covers.

I doubt that it was changed from the duals to the single, in fact Dad would likely remember and he doesn't.  The engine has never been out of the car or had any major work done on it.  It did have some transmission work at some point, but we're not sure what and that was 15+ years ago too.  It hasn't had 500 miles put on it in the past 15 or 20 years.
salguod
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Dad's Toy) - Elysian Green, inside and out
1960 Thunderbird Convertible (My Toy) -  Raven Black, Red leather
1996 BMW 318ti (My Daily Driver/Toy) - Boston Green, Dove Gray leather
www.salguod.net

chris cunliffe

All 57 Eldorado's were single carb but could be ordered with the dual carbs as a no cost option.
1957 Eldorado Seville #967

Louis Smith

You surely have a magnificent rare example of a '57 Eldorado.  Just asking.............Why was it stored for 14 years and started occasionally?  I can understand if it was less then presentable, but looking as great as it does, I would have taken it out frequently for weekend drives.

Bill Caddyshack

Quote from: chris cunliffe on April 20, 2013, 05:34:07 PM
All 57 Eldorado's were single carb but could be ordered with the dual carbs as a no cost option.

Oops, I stand corrected. Further research says the engine unit number for a factory fitted single carb would be 76K1 (air conditioning), or 76X1 (without).

Dual Quad cars  7QK1 (with air conditioning), 7QX1 (without)

salguod

Quote from: Louis Smith on April 20, 2013, 06:23:32 PM
You surely have a magnificent rare example of a '57 Eldorado.  Just asking.............Why was it stored for 14 years and started occasionally?  I can understand if it was less then presentable, but looking as great as it does, I would have taken it out frequently for weekend drives.

It wasn't our preference and it's a bit of a long story.

It's been stored and undriveable as long as I can remember.  Grandpa finally refreshed the car with the intention of giving it to my uncle back in 1996-1997.  My uncle wasn't able to take it, however, and Grandpa loaned it to the ACD museum instead where it got little to no use.  He ended up putting it in the Aurburn auction in, I believe, 1998.  It didn't make reserve (thankfully!) and he passed shortly after.  My Dad bought it from the estate and had it towed back to Ohio probably in 1999 and put in storage.  It hadn't been driven much since it had been completed and had a few issues and it's a tight fit in his home garage, so off to storage it went.

Dad also has a '56 T'bird that was marginally roadworthy at the time which he was in the process of sorting out and between that and the rest of life, the Caddy went on the back burner.  Each year we'd talk about getting it out, but it was 3 cars back in the storage unit, he didn't quite know what was wrong, I didn't have much time to help, etc., etc.  Bottom line - time got away from us and here we are.

This year, we both determined not to let another year go by with it unused, neglected and unseen by anyone, so here we are.  We both wish it had been different, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.  Hopefully it won't take but a few weeks to sort the major issues and we can start taking it on short trips to slowly see what else may be wrong.  With any luck, by the end of the summer she'll be well sorted and ready for almost anything.
salguod
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Dad's Toy) - Elysian Green, inside and out
1960 Thunderbird Convertible (My Toy) -  Raven Black, Red leather
1996 BMW 318ti (My Daily Driver/Toy) - Boston Green, Dove Gray leather
www.salguod.net

Louis Smith

#10
Quote from: salguod on April 20, 2013, 11:31:40 PM
It wasn't our preference and it's a bit of a long story.

It's been stored and undriveable as long as I can remember.  Grandpa finally refreshed the car with the intention of giving it to my uncle back in 1996-1997.  My uncle wasn't able to take it, however, and Grandpa loaned it to the ACD museum instead where it got little to no use.  He ended up putting it in the Aurburn auction in, I believe, 1998.  It didn't make reserve (thankfully!) and he passed shortly after.  My Dad bought it from the estate and had it towed back to Ohio probably in 1999 and put in storage.  It hadn't been driven much since it had been completed and had a few issues and it's a tight fit in his home garage, so off to storage it went.

Dad also has a '56 T'bird that was marginally roadworthy at the time which he was in the process of sorting out and between that and the rest of life, the Caddy went on the back burner.  Each year we'd talk about getting it out, but it was 3 cars back in the storage unit, he didn't quite know what was wrong, I didn't have much time to help, etc., etc.  Bottom line - time got away from us and here we are.

This year, we both determined not to let another year go by with it unused, neglected and unseen by anyone, so here we are.  We both wish it had been different, but hindsight is 20/20 and all that.  Hopefully it won't take but a few weeks to sort the major issues and we can start taking it on short trips to slowly see what else may be wrong.  With any luck, by the end of the summer she'll be well sorted and ready for almost anything.

Thanks for the reply.  Classics of this type, always have interesting stories behind them, especially those that have been in a family for decades.  Thankfully, this one was not left outside to just rust away.

salguod

Well, prior to the work that was done, it was outside under a tarp in Grandpa's backyard.  :-[  Thankfully it wasn't long, a few years max.  It's mostly been garaged, the current storage place is climate controlled as well.
salguod
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Dad's Toy) - Elysian Green, inside and out
1960 Thunderbird Convertible (My Toy) -  Raven Black, Red leather
1996 BMW 318ti (My Daily Driver/Toy) - Boston Green, Dove Gray leather
www.salguod.net

INTMD8

Beautiful car!  I really like these in green. Thanks for sharing the pictures and story behind it.

Dan LeBlanc

That's a lovely car just as it sits.  I can't imagine the anticioation of getting her on the road again.
Dan LeBlanc
1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car

52Cadillac

Man O Man. I'd be sleeping with that baby. Beautiful color.
Please consider bringing her to the Grand National in Boston this year, as suggested by C.R.
We'd love to see her up close.
Mike
SemperFiFund.org
(Helping combat injured Marines)

salguod

Right now we're hoping just to get across town, Boston is a bit much.  ;D Dad's planning on making some of the local NW Ohio events this summer however.
salguod
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Dad's Toy) - Elysian Green, inside and out
1960 Thunderbird Convertible (My Toy) -  Raven Black, Red leather
1996 BMW 318ti (My Daily Driver/Toy) - Boston Green, Dove Gray leather
www.salguod.net