Joeychgo
September 12th, 2005, 05:48 AM
Eldorado Broughams a loss leader for Caddy
September 12, 2005 BY DAN JEDLICKA Auto Reporter
Cadillac lost an estimated $10,000 on each of the 704 flashy 1957-58 Cadillac Eldorado Broughams it built, although it was the most elaborate, costly U.S. car at a shocking $13,074.
The limited-production Eldorado Brougham cost too much to build to be profitable. It partially was produced to show that General Motors' Cadillac could outdo its main rival, Ford Motor's Lincoln, in the Cadillac-dominated luxury market. The Eldorado Brougham also was a great "image car'' that lured buyers of conventional Cadillacs to showrooms.
Ford Motor had the most exclusive top luxury car with its low-volume 1956-57 Continental Mark II, which had been the highest-priced U.S. auto at $9,695-$9,966. The Mark II drew 1,769 buyers, but Ford lost an estimated $1,000 on each one because the Mark II also cost a lot to make. Unlike the Eldorado Brougham, it was too cleanly styled for the mid-1950s, when auto flamboyance trumped good taste.
When the Eldorado Brougham arrived for 1957, sales of the Mark II slumped to 444 cars, compared to 1,325 sold in 1956. And that was the end of the Mark II.
General Motors' vast resources enabled it to continue building an Eldorado Brougham for 1959 and 1960 -- even after it proved its point with the 1957-58 model. That lavish car had everything from a breathtaking body with a brushed stainless steel roof and center-opening doors to an air suspension and powerful V8. The glove compartment even had a matched set of magnetized silver tumblers and Arpege cologne in a special atomizer.
The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham also was extremely expensive at $13,075, but looked far more subdued than the over-the-top 1957-58 version. That was largely because Cadillac farmed out the 1959-60 model to Italy's Pinin Farina (later called "Pininfarina'') firm, which was known for cleanly styled Ferrari bodies.
The second-generation Eldorado Brougham shared the 130-inch wheelbase and parts with regular Cadillacs, and thus had to bear a strong resemblance to mass-produced Cadillacs. Pinin Farina assembled the car with stock Cadillac parts in Turin, Italy, after giving it distinctive styling changes.
Those changes included replacement of the 1959 Cadillac's outlandish tailfins with moderate ones. It was the only 1959 Cadillac one could buy without towering tailfins.
The 1959 Eldorado Brougham also had a new crisp "formal'' roofline, a more moderately shaped windshield and a cleaner grille without a horizontal divider bar. There was more conservative use of chrome and Pinin Farina replaced the 1959 Cadillac's "bullet taillights'' with one-piece units.
In fact, the 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham looked much like the more conservatively styled and more elegant Cadillacs of the early 1960s.
The 1960 Eldorado Brougham was virtually identical to the 1959 model. But it no longer wore small Pinin Farina front fender badges, and its hubcaps had a slightly different style. Cloissone emblems were put on the rear of the back fenders and the body sides got a low creaseline.
Both 1959 and 1960 versions of the car had exclusive narrow-band whitewall tires.
The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham got the same air suspension of the 1957-58 model, but the Pinin Farina version had sheet metal body parts that weren't interchangeable with other Cadillacs. As with other top Italian design firms, Pinin Farina used lots of body filler for a smoother appearance, but that made the car more subject to rust and extremely difficult to repair if in a collision.
Only 99 of the 1959 Eldorado Broughams were built, and just 101 found buyers in 1960. That largely was because the car looked almost the same as other Cadillacs to most buyers and cost as much as the more distinctive 1957-58 model.
The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham also drove like other 1959-60 Cadillacs, although its air suspension provided a better ride. However, that suspension always had been troublesome and often was replaced with a conventional coil-spring Cadillac suspension.
Cadillac dropped the Eldorado Brougham after 1960 because the car no longer could survive as a big money loser. Cadillac had achieved all the image building it wanted with the 1957-58 Eldorado Brougham, anyway. The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham is rarer than the 1957-58 model and is valued at $35,100 in top shape. But the earlier, flashier model is valued at $39,100, although accessories such as its magnetized tumblers can cost $8,000 or more -- if you can even find them for sale.
September 12, 2005 BY DAN JEDLICKA Auto Reporter
Cadillac lost an estimated $10,000 on each of the 704 flashy 1957-58 Cadillac Eldorado Broughams it built, although it was the most elaborate, costly U.S. car at a shocking $13,074.
The limited-production Eldorado Brougham cost too much to build to be profitable. It partially was produced to show that General Motors' Cadillac could outdo its main rival, Ford Motor's Lincoln, in the Cadillac-dominated luxury market. The Eldorado Brougham also was a great "image car'' that lured buyers of conventional Cadillacs to showrooms.
Ford Motor had the most exclusive top luxury car with its low-volume 1956-57 Continental Mark II, which had been the highest-priced U.S. auto at $9,695-$9,966. The Mark II drew 1,769 buyers, but Ford lost an estimated $1,000 on each one because the Mark II also cost a lot to make. Unlike the Eldorado Brougham, it was too cleanly styled for the mid-1950s, when auto flamboyance trumped good taste.
When the Eldorado Brougham arrived for 1957, sales of the Mark II slumped to 444 cars, compared to 1,325 sold in 1956. And that was the end of the Mark II.
General Motors' vast resources enabled it to continue building an Eldorado Brougham for 1959 and 1960 -- even after it proved its point with the 1957-58 model. That lavish car had everything from a breathtaking body with a brushed stainless steel roof and center-opening doors to an air suspension and powerful V8. The glove compartment even had a matched set of magnetized silver tumblers and Arpege cologne in a special atomizer.
The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham also was extremely expensive at $13,075, but looked far more subdued than the over-the-top 1957-58 version. That was largely because Cadillac farmed out the 1959-60 model to Italy's Pinin Farina (later called "Pininfarina'') firm, which was known for cleanly styled Ferrari bodies.
The second-generation Eldorado Brougham shared the 130-inch wheelbase and parts with regular Cadillacs, and thus had to bear a strong resemblance to mass-produced Cadillacs. Pinin Farina assembled the car with stock Cadillac parts in Turin, Italy, after giving it distinctive styling changes.
Those changes included replacement of the 1959 Cadillac's outlandish tailfins with moderate ones. It was the only 1959 Cadillac one could buy without towering tailfins.
The 1959 Eldorado Brougham also had a new crisp "formal'' roofline, a more moderately shaped windshield and a cleaner grille without a horizontal divider bar. There was more conservative use of chrome and Pinin Farina replaced the 1959 Cadillac's "bullet taillights'' with one-piece units.
In fact, the 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham looked much like the more conservatively styled and more elegant Cadillacs of the early 1960s.
The 1960 Eldorado Brougham was virtually identical to the 1959 model. But it no longer wore small Pinin Farina front fender badges, and its hubcaps had a slightly different style. Cloissone emblems were put on the rear of the back fenders and the body sides got a low creaseline.
Both 1959 and 1960 versions of the car had exclusive narrow-band whitewall tires.
The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham got the same air suspension of the 1957-58 model, but the Pinin Farina version had sheet metal body parts that weren't interchangeable with other Cadillacs. As with other top Italian design firms, Pinin Farina used lots of body filler for a smoother appearance, but that made the car more subject to rust and extremely difficult to repair if in a collision.
Only 99 of the 1959 Eldorado Broughams were built, and just 101 found buyers in 1960. That largely was because the car looked almost the same as other Cadillacs to most buyers and cost as much as the more distinctive 1957-58 model.
The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham also drove like other 1959-60 Cadillacs, although its air suspension provided a better ride. However, that suspension always had been troublesome and often was replaced with a conventional coil-spring Cadillac suspension.
Cadillac dropped the Eldorado Brougham after 1960 because the car no longer could survive as a big money loser. Cadillac had achieved all the image building it wanted with the 1957-58 Eldorado Brougham, anyway. The 1959-60 Eldorado Brougham is rarer than the 1957-58 model and is valued at $35,100 in top shape. But the earlier, flashier model is valued at $39,100, although accessories such as its magnetized tumblers can cost $8,000 or more -- if you can even find them for sale.