1966 Cadillac Eldorado
Oozing down the road… ah if only this was pink
By Shahzad Sheikh
You know something is big when you are trying to photograph it and suddenly realise that whilst the sun may just be setting on the bonnet, it’s already set on the boot! In fact it’s nearly six metres long and over two wide, but admittedly when it comes to old Cadillacs, that’s probably on the conservative side.
The car you see in these pictures is Kerem Turkmen’s 1966 Cadillac Eldorado. The long-running name plate sat on two-door luxury models, mostly convertibles, but sometimes also offered in hardtop or coupe guises, between 1953 and 2002.
‘El Dorado’ is Spanish for ‘the golden one’ and according to legend was originally given to a Indian chieftain in South America. Apparently his people would sprinkle his body with gold dust on special occasions and he would then wash it off by diving into a lake – hmm… wonder if that’s what gold prospectors ended up fishing out of rivers a few hundred years later!
With a name inspired by mythical place of fabulous riches, the Eldorado was clearly aimed at the fabulously wealthy, and this was certainly represented by the magnificence of the pre-1980s cars which were the epitome of glamour and extravagance during the American heydays.
By 1965 it had become the Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado to align it with the luxury marque’s flagship trim. Compared to the previous edition the tailfins were all but gone and sharper creases replaced the previously rounded styling. There were vertical tail lamp clusters, and headlights were stacked too, serving up a wider grille.
For this 66 model the radiator was revised with parking lamps inset into the sides and there was slightly less chrome. It offered variable ratio steering for the first time and ‘heated’ front seats, and the ride and handling was said to be improved – which I read to mean more floaty and wallowy, with occasional cornering possibly being tabled for consideration by the chassis!
So what powered this two-ton land yacht? A 429 V8 – that’s 7.0-litres to you and me – driving the rear wheels through a three-speed GM Turbo Hydramatic. In fact that this was the last rear-wheel drive Eldorado, they were front-drive from 1967-onwards, initially based on the Oldsmobile Toronado chassis.
The 429 produced 308bhp at 4400rpm and a very lusty 447lb ft of torque at just 2800rpm and performance is not too bad at all with a 0-100kph time of 9.7 seconds and a top speed of 187kph. On the other hand it was a gas-guzzler, slurping fuel at a rate of 29l/100km – nearly three times what today’s luxury cars claim.
But none of that matters, because cars like these aren’t about performance, they’re about cruzin and oozing down the street, waving to the girls, feeling out of sight, spending all my… Oh, that’s a song isn’t it?
By the way, Kerem is selling this astonishingly original example of the breed that he picked up from the States two years ago – he and his father are fans of classic Americana and have several more in their collection back in Turkey. If you’re interested it’s up for AED185,000 and you can contact him on keremturkmen@yahoo.com.
What’s your favourite old Caddy? Let us know below
What a beauty! I’d love to own one someday!