1977-1990 Cadillac Convertibles (by coach companies)

[slimwhitman]

I have been trying to do some research on a subject that seems to have had very little written on it.  That's the Coach-built convertibles of the late Seventies and Eighties.  They made convertibles out of a ton of different cars, including: Camaro/Firebird, Ciera, CRX, Lincolns, Cadillacs, Celicas, Mustangs, Preludes, Tornados, Century, Celebrity, TBird, 300ZX and the list goes on.  These cars were sent to the coach builder as a new car by a private owner or by a new-car dealership to sell on their lot with full warranty.
 
You seem to have a huge resource at your disposal of Cadillac information.  I was hoping you could help me out a bit.  In the Cadillac realm, these are the converters I have found info on and the Cadillacs they converted: 
76-79 Seville Sedan     Milan Coachbuilders(77,78,79)    Coach Design Group(San Remo)(78)
80-85 Seville Sedan     Carelli Autoworks(83)     Global Coach(81,83)       American Custom Coach(82)
77-84 DeVille Coupe     Hess & Eisenhardt(LeCabriolet)(79,80,81)         American Custom Coach (Paris)(77,78,79)
85-93 DeVille Coupe     Car Craft (was H&E)86,88,89
79-85 Eldorado(factory conv for Eldorado for 84 by ASC)  Coach Builders Lmtd(82)        Armbruster/Stageway(80,82)     Hess&Eisenhardt(80,81,84)     Coach Design Group(San Remo)(79,80)     Global Coach(Alpine)(79,80,81)   American Custom Coach(79,80,81)        National Coach Eng.(82) Chicago Coachworks(83)
86-91 Eldorado          Straman(87,88)
92-02 Eldorado          Coach Builders(95-02)
The date in parentheses behind the coach company is the year that I have seen a photo or brochure for that car.
 
Here is some of the info that would be nice to know, if you have it:
Name of conversion:
Company that did the conversion:
Years in operation:
Built for private owners or dealerships (or both):
Price of conversion:
Number of cars converted (or best guess):
Other info: (like quality of the design/craftsmanship, from notchback or fastback car, targa or full conv, etc)
 
Please look over the list and let me know if you know of more years or coach companies that did conversions.  Thanks for any help you can give me.  Please forward this to anyone else that can help me in my research.  Also, if you know of resources that might be helpful with any of the many different coach convertibles from '77 to '90, that would also be very helpful.   Any photos or scans of any car/brochure would also be welcome.  I can be emailed at kcdesoto1 @ hotmail (dot) com.

[Eric S. Maypother #15104]

Hi Slim,
A good resource that may give you some info is a book called "80 Years Cadillac & LaSalle, it has Caddys from 1903-1983, mine is boxed away but I think it was by Walter P. McGrail and has a gold cover, a lot of stock Cadillacs as well as Hearses and other customs, you may find 1 on eBay or amazon.com, I got mine from Classic Motors books many moons ago, I think it's out of print now. You may even find brochures for some of the custom convertibles on eBay.
Eric

[Wm Link]

Name of conversion: San Remo
Company that did the conversion: Coach Design Group, Chattsworth Ca
Years in operation: 1977, 1978, 1979...Fire
Built for private owners or dealerships (or both): Both
Price of conversion: 77 Eldorado 'Majorica' , price/production unknown, 77-9 San Remo Coupe', $27,500, convert, $46k, Ultima, $48k, 1979 San Remo Eldorado, price/ production unknown. Fire ended it all in 1979
Number of cars converted (or best guess): Majorica, unknown, San Remo Coupe' < 30?, convertible 100? Ultima 10?
Other info: design/craftsmanship was one of the best! San Remo used new OEM panels to extend the doors and rear 1/4's as if Cadillac had done it themselves!   

[ForwardLook]

the American stuff is fine,but it is a pity that they didn't just cut the roofs of all that Jap crap and rather cut them into little pieces.