1953 Eldorado . Factory sport custom.
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Introduction. For many years I have been obsessed with 50s Eldorados. Living in Australia there was probably only 3 or 4 ever brought here in the 50s. My first car at age 19 was a 57 Sedan Deville for $3500. This was back in 1985. When I asked the seller how he could possibly sell such a beautiful car he took me to his other garage and opened the door and there was a rough 57 Biarritz. He had found it sitting in a industrial yard in Brisbane and had paid $500. I fell madly in love. He didn’t want to sell this one though.
I did up the sedan and loved it, but knew that I had to get a 57 Biarritz which I did in 1991. I found it in Boston in Hemmings and spent 3 months driving it to LA and then shipped it home to Brisbane. Wow what a trip.
Next I had to get a 59 Biarritz. These were very expensive by this time but I found an unrestored untouched but sad original that was sitting in Winnipeg. Once again I dragged it to LA this time behind a trailer and then shipped it home. I spent 3 years restoring this car but still I knew that I had to get a 53 Eldo.
The 53 is the most sought after and the most expensive because it was the first year of Eldorado and only 532 were made. They are a true custom car as they were heavily modified in the factory from stock. Lots of lead was used. So they are a true leadsled. There were none in Australia at the time. 2003 I found one in LA on ebay. Body #433 A rust free Calif survivor but baked out from years of sun. A few days after it arrived in OZ a friend of mine found another on ebay with a buy it now price of $1500 (unbelievable) Body #412 But RUSTY.
Several years later I did a couple of trades and swaps and ended up with both 53s . The second car was very rough and rusty but nearly complete. To complete it I needed the first car to copy so it was good that I hadn’t progressed too far on the resto.
Kids and mortgages have slowed my progress but everyday I just do a little to work towards each car. Both these cars will be restored to factory specs which is laborious and expensive but this is my passion.Having the only two 53 Eldos in the country was quite an honor. It also lead to several offers to sell which I declined. This further lead to meeting 3 great mates over in Perth who are equally Cadillac obsessed as me. Subsequently between the 3 of them they have brought another 9 53 Eldos to Australia. They have fatter wallets . . . but I am better looking. Add to that another 3 have arrived in Sydney in recent years and suddenly there are over a dozen here.
So this has given me a unique opportunity to assist in the restoration of several of my favourite Cadillacs. Every couple of weeks I fly over to Perth and work 7 days a week. The time flies and it is great that someone else is paying for all the expensive bits and pieces. I am now helping restore #14. So I will try and explain how and what they did to build these cars because from a customising point of view it is very interesting.Ok, So what is different on a 53 Eldo to a standard Cadillac conv????.
Well the 53 Eldo was the first use of the Panoramic windshield. This was a Harley Earl idea. That is it wraps around like a speedboat or fighter plane windshield. It took a lot of engineering by the glass company Libby Owen Ford, who supplied GM with glass to come up with a technique to bend the glass in this shape.
On a standard convert the belt line is horizontal. The windshield is forward sloping. So what they did on the Eldo was to section away the cowl and replace the windshield frame with a solid brass and chromed wrapped windshield frame (heavy as dumb-bells) , next the beltline was cut off and they replaced it with a hip to give a bit of swoopiness. This had been used as a stying trick on several custom cars and sports cars. For some years prior it had been refered to as the “Darrin dip” and had been used on 39 thru 41 Packards. The Eldo was hardly a sportscar but this was the “idea” to make it look “sporty”.
Also the conv top well was covered by a steel “parade boot” cover which also cleaned up the lines dramatically. This was a fixed metal shaped panel that raised and lowered manually to hide the top mechanism beneath. (Later year Eldos also used this feature though they were subsequently made from fibreglass and had to be stored in the trunk when not in use.) The dash also was wrapped into the tops of the doors in a more flowing manner. The interiors were full leather pleated with contrasting heavy saddle waxed thread stitching. ie if you had red panels then you had white stitching and vise versa.
The first showing of the 53 Eldorado was the Inauguration of President Eisenhower in Jan 1953. It was beamed live on the equally new TV. This lead to great exposure and publicity for this very special new car. The car used was #2 It was Alpine white with a red and white interior. White was only just available as a auto paint so it must have been quite a revelation to see it. Soon after the Inauguration the GM Motorama presented the 53 Eldo as an exclusive factory built custom available for the (wealthy) public to purchase. At $7500 then it was horrendously expensive.THANKS for the history Leason Quentin. Very informative and interesting.
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
Here is me driving my mate’s car to a BBQ. A bit corny I know but a bit of fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6AUatsoEi8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM5Q_kXcbz0
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