73 Eldorado coupe

[Thule]

hi all.

i recently bougth this old Eldo, 73 hardtop coupe, 500cid, red w/ white vinyl. red interior. its a california car, imported to iceland in late 06.

the car is unrestored, and orginal, it has had a repaint somtime in its life, long time ago i would guess, i would not be surprised if the odo is actual miles, the interior is a little damaged after the sun,

it truly drives grate, its quiet and smooth. and the interior is way quieter than expected, no windnoises at all from the windows,
it tracks and brakes arrow straigth, does not leak anything, and truly surprised me, i would trust this car to drive anywhere,

i plan to fix up the interior, and give it a proper paintjob, but with care though, i kinda respect how orginal it is, and dont want to change that, i want to redo the door panels, get a new dash top and steering wheel, and spent some time on the orginal leather upholstery

best regards
ivar

[Caddyjack]

Looks great, Ivar!

[TJ Hopland]

Paint looks decent in the pictures.  What's with the rear bumper?  Is it just the angle of the photo or is it a little low and sticking out a bit?   Does Iceland require you to modify and or maintain the safety stuff on imported cars?   Just thinking maybe it had to do with the impact bumpers being repaired?  Maybe they were not able to find the original or correct 'shocks'?

[Davidinhartford]

Congratulations on your purchase!    The car looks great!   That is an excellent color combination.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Hello Ivar:

You have a beautiful car there and I love that color!  Maybe I'm just a bit prejudiced
since I am the original owner of a '73 in "Dynasty Red" -- only mine has a full black vinyl
top.  My car is still all original, never repainted and has a beautiful red interior.  I always
babied her even though she has 48,000 miles and was driven here in Pittsburgh in the
winter snow.  She was my daily driver for about 5 years until I was given a company
car (I went into sales and that was a part of the deal).

Seriously, if you have any issues or questions about the car as you continue to work on it,
please feel to contact me and I'll be glad to help.  My e-mail address is in the book.

Good Luck!

Mike

[Thule]

thank you all so kindly.  that is such a nice offer mike, thank you.  i am sure this will come in handy

i am really glad to find an active forum for those cars. all the caddy forums i've found so far is all about the new cars. as glad i am to see cadillac get a new start. i must admit that they are not the caddys i am interested in

yes i must say the colour is growing on me.  i was not sure about it at first. i told my wife i bought santa's old car. but after i've owned it for a week and  walked around it in the car park since, i've started to really like it.

about the bumper i am not sure honestly. it is missing the plastic peaces that should be behind it. those plastic are also missing in front and are one of the top priority things to purchase i.m.o

i am looking for a few things in it, that i was goin to ask you guys about.  i badly need a new steering wheel. also i am looking for a few plastic rivets (clips) that hold the metal panel above the passenger door window, and hold the upper part of the saftey belt. also it is missing the center caps w/cadillac logos  from the hub caps along with few little pieces like that

about the paint,  its not that bad actually, it seems to me they have bin fighting the california sun, the hood is almost down to the primer.

i belive the car has 54k miles. and i have driven it 1k of that in the week i've owned it, with gas prices at $10 for the gallon that was not cheap

here is a videoclip. it shows me driving it on the road from reykjavík to the old us army base that was in keflavík from wwII to a few years ago. i was doing 60mph in a heavy wind. i turned the radio off, and the blower to low.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201241206466140&set=vb.1650856857&type=2&theater

here are some random pics i've taken. since i just got the car those count as before pics




found some oem uncut GM keys and had the cutted


found a 79 rotting in a car park, i used to live there few years ago and it stood there as well then



my little girl calls it her car. and has bin with me almost every mile i've driven it maybe its the icecream?









i look forward to reading through the forum and check out your cars

best regards
ívar
reykjavík-iceland

[TJ Hopland]

In the earlier photos I did not even notice the plastic fillers were missing.  Now I look back and can see it.  You should shoot photos for used car salesmen, you seem to know just the correct angle to shoot at.

The body fillers are available.  The replacements are not quite a perfect fit but a person that is good with body work can make em look and fit pretty good.  Several people sell them but we generally think that there is only one manufacturer so other than price it does not seem to matter where you get them.

Steering wheels are difficult to find in good condition and if you do find one you will likely have to pay.   Some of the colors in that era had a huge issue with the horn pad fading at a different rate than everything else.  They all were very prone to cracking and the inlay coming out.    In my experience you would be lucky to find a 'driver quality' wheel for $100 USD or less.  Most would be in the $150+ range these days.  Driver quality would be a few small cracks, minor scuffs and scratches, and the inlay still in tact.  A show quality or NOS could easily be $500.  71-72-73 were the same style.  74-75-76 was very similar but had a raised round section in the center of the horn pad.  71-76 other than the slight cosmetic difference are a direct swap.   77-78 is a rectangular bar rather than the 3 spoke design.  Seem to be more prone to cracking than other years.  79-90 was the 'frown' design for models without air bags which got common in the later 80's.  Many from that era were leather wrapped.  I can tell you based on my recent experience that they will swap onto a 73.  You need to swap the 'bell' portion off the old wheel to the new one so it covers the column correctly but other than that it was a direct bolt on.   There are slight differences so you would not be able to swap the bell the other direction but lucky for me it works fine the way I wanted to go.   Other GM wheels will bolt up but because of the telescoping option you would likely loose that feature and may not look quite right where it meets the column.   I bought a late 70's Pontiac wheel for $50.   It was the correct color and almost identical style but not telescope.  It did bolt up but just looked terrible where it met the column.  I tried modifying the plastic to allow the Cadillac bell to fit but that made it even worse.   I even tried to see if I could strip the plastic off the whole center section and fit the Cadillac horn pad but besides being different 'dish' the plastic was darn near impossible to remove.  Lesson learned.   Oldsmobile had a telescope option in that era and looking at photos I am betting it was a Cadillac wheel with an Olds logo on it but those too were rare.   There is a person or two in the USA that can re cast the plastic.  Its not a cheap process but its apparently good quality. 

[Caddyjack]

i have driven it 1k of that in the week i've owned it, with gas prices at $10 for the gallon that was not cheap

Holy crud! And I was whining about $4 a gallon for premium here in Philadelphia. Yikes!

[Thule]

thanks for the good answer TJ hopland. hehe i am a car salesman. does it show

i am surprised they dont make those steering wheels, they seem to be messed up in most of the cars i see

hehe. man the gas prices here, but i am used to it :/

[Thule]

this old caprice has bin in the neighbourhood.  i would guess it is around the same year as my eldorado

[Gene Beaird]

Ivar, I'm thinking that Caprice is a '74 or '75 model, but would have to see the front to be sure.  It's almost as nice as your Eldo!   

That reminds me of the car I took to my senior prom!  It was a 73 Convertible, though, but was red with a white top, like yours.  Yes, it was an awesomely-quiet riding car, even a convertible, even with the top down.  I'm sure your daughter will really enjoy getting 'her car' when she's old enough to drive.

[Thule]

thank you. yes i must admit that i expected it to rattle and squeek all day long, as many old cars do on the roads over here. but it just goes around in silence and dignity

the caprice is a 74. 400sbc 2bbl, from the delaware plant. it was imported new to iceland, so i am not surprised its assembled around there. we ship cars from norfolk virginia over here.  so getting west coast car like mine is quite the job to do if i remember correctly  the distance from reykjavík to NY is about the same as NY to L.A

the caprice is completely stock, unrestored and i think it still on the oem paintjob. but its really rusty. its bin there for many years, the owner seems to be using it a.t.m though,

[Thule]

[Thule]

worked a little on the car yesterday.

the interior of the car was covered in some dark sticky grease. made the panel all dark and almost black in some places.

this was alot of work.. hours of scrubbing   but in the end they came out brilliantly!




i also spent hours on the paint, its still old and worn, but after polishing and polishing and then waxing and the whole thing  all over agen, its getting quite nice

[Caddyjack]

You love your Cadillac, Ivar, and it shows. Thanks for the photos. I am an Eldorado owner (1976) and fan, myself.

[Thule]

thank you.

yes i must admit, i adore the car

the purchase of it was such a surprise, and what i am truly happy about is how solid and good the car turned out to be. much better then i thought.

[Thule]

chicks dig it

[Thule]

did the bumpers with autosol, alot of rubbing, but worth it'

[Thule]

took the car out to the countryside to the winter storage,  had to drive over a range of active volcanos,   (sounds cool, but over here you are always on a damn volcano hehe)

there where few other caddys there,  this white brougham.  and when my car was taken inside they parked it next to a 73 toronado. funny to see them together







my wife followed on the family car..