Parked In 1971: 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
Hidden away in this garage since 1971 is a car that has generated more than its fair share of interest since it has emerged into the light of day. It is an extremely solid, one-owner 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. The giant Cadillac is located in Hopedale, Massachusetts, and is listed in a No Reserve auction here on eBay. How much interest has it generated? So far, there have been 55 bids submitted, and this has pushed the price along to $22,600. In addition, there are also 165 individuals who are watching the listing. That’s pretty impressive.
The Cadillacs of this era were a testament to Harley Earl’s design skills at their most flamboyant. If you were driving a Cadillac, then everything had to be the biggest and the best, and that included the rear fins. The fins and rear styling on the Eldorado probably hit their peak in 1959, but the 1960 model was still a pretty stunning looking car. This one is finished in Champagne and looks like it is fairly free of major rust issues. The owner says that the floors and frame are solid, while the rockers and quarter panels look to be quite good. The paint has deteriorated and there is some surface corrosion to address, but it all looks to be quite encouraging.
Every aspect of the Cadillac is original, and some items have survived better than others. The original Beige power top is looking pretty tatty and is beyond restoration. The original tinted glass looks to be in good order, while all of the external trim and chrome is also present. Some items, such as the hubcaps, appear to be in very nice condition. However, items such as the bumpers will need restoration. Still, when you are talking about such an impressive and relatively rare car, that all makes it worth the effort involved.
There really is no way of sugar-coating this. The interior of the Cadillac is going to have to be completely dismantled and restored if justice is going to be done to this car. Many aspects of the interior trim have deteriorated quite badly, and given the fact that this was such a luxurious car when new, performing anything less than a proper restoration would feel wrong. Still, once restored, the new owner will certainly be transported in plenty of style and comfort, circa 1960. There weren’t many items that were optional extras on a 1960 Biarritz. In this case, you receive air conditioning, power windows, power locks, a 6-way power seat, remote trunk release, factory radio, cruise control, and in this case, an automatic headlight dimmer. As I said, you would want for nothing.
Tipping the scales at 5,060lbs, and just on 19′ long, the Biarritz is a giant of a car. A giant of a car needs a giant of an engine, and that’s what you get here. This is a 390ci V8 Tri-Power engine, pumping out a healthy 345hp. This power is fed to the rear wheels via a 4-speed Hydramatic transmission. Ride comfort is taken care of by Air Ride suspension, while the Cadillac also features power steering and power brakes as standard. Given the fact that this car has been immobile since 1971, it should be no surprise to learn that it currently doesn’t run or drive. The owner doesn’t indicate whether the engine turns freely, but he does say that the car has only covered 60,000 genuine miles. Given the fact that it only saw around 11-years of active duty, this is a claim that I find to be quite plausible. The car is said to roll freely, and it does have one small surprise up its sleeve. Considering the fact that it has been sitting for so long, it would be fair to expect that the Air Ride wouldn’t work, but it seems to be holding air just fine. To me, that is one thing that I probably wouldn’t have expected after 48-years of inactivity.
When it rolled off the production line in 1960, the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible was the most expensive passenger car ever produced by General Motors. At $7,400, it cost nearly three times the price of an average car in America in 1960, and naturally, this meant that it was not a car that sold in large numbers. However, for such an expensive car, the fact that Cadillac was able to sell 1,285 examples was a testament to the regard in which these were held as the ultimate expression of success. Today, these still command impressive prices, and nicely restored or spotless original examples can easily fetch 6-figure sums. This one has a way to go to reach those lofty heights, but on the evidence in the listing, there appears to be no reason why this couldn’t happen. As a restoration project, it’s a big one…but it’s a big one that is worth the effort.
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Comments
Absolutely stunning vehicle. And i’d love to see my CTS-4 parked next to this thing just for comparison sake, but unfortunately I don’t have the space or quite frankly the funds to bring this beauty back to proper standards. But this is the one i’d want if I did!
You can’t appreciate how big these are until you get right up next to one. Mid ’80s we had a customer bring in a ’58 convertible. Even with the shark like rear design it was just a little over 18 feet. We had a pretty large shop but had to rearrange everything just to get a place to put it. The car had twin 4 barrels on the engine. Don’t remember if that was factory or not but it made an impressive engine compartment.
bob, this isn’t big enough for me. Give me a hearse of the same year and I am happy. The limos are a little small for my liking too.
Coincidentally, as a teen for several summers I worked at a funeral home that had a 1960 Cadillac hearse. It was the backup and mostly used for death calls. I loved to drive it as it would “float like a butterfly,” but would scare me to death on an old, narrow bridge going to the beach if another car was coming. It was incredibly wide! A wonderful driving experience, well except for the reason for the trip.
58 Eldo did not have dual quads, it had tri-power. The 57 was the last year with dual quads. And speaking of a 58 Eldo, the one in the garage next to this one, is also on eBay.
Back in the ’80s, I bought a 1960 4-door hardtop for $400. It was white with black leather and a pretty good runner. It was in pretty good shape with decent paint and chrome. I took it on a 1,000 mile road trip with no issues other than the fact it consumed fuel like there was no tomorrow. Didn’t keep it long and I was able to get what I paid for it. I enjoyed it while I had it and looked good driving it!
Was your 4door hard top a slope top or a flat top?
In 1984, I bought a 1960 Cadillac four-door flat top for $500. It was white with cloth interior. It didn’t look too bad but it did not run very well. Therefore, I did not keep mine very long either. I sold it for $500 to a collector that same year, who as of 1989, still had it.
I’m pretty sure it was a flat top, Marshall, though it was a long time ago so I’m not positive. It was a good-looking car and got a lot of looks wherever I went. Too hard on fuel and too big for city driving, though. I didn’t want people to think I was a pimp, either.
Ford Guy,
Yes, they do drink copious amounts of fuel, especially if you have a heavy foot. I had a 59 Eldo Biarritz with the 3X2 carbs, and I don’t think I ever attained a 2 digit fuel consumption average!
I have friends in England who have 2 big American cars; hers is a 55 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 special, and his is a 1964 Lincoln Continental 4-door convertible with the 430 V8. Both get horrendous mileage, and with fuel hovering at around 3 times what we typical spend in the USA, it can often cost $100 to $200 in fuel to attend a car show in one of the cars. [And from what I’ve heard, brand name motor oil easily costs $8 to $10 per liter!]
I bought Adlai Stevenson’s `60 Cadillac convertible from a basement garage in 1977. I got it running and had my `57 Plymouth plates on it while trying to get the lost title worked out. It got towed by the City of Chicago, and I was unable to get it back, just my plates…
It was in better condition than the above one.
Year later I was thumbing through a book and I found a photo of JFK, Stevenson & Mayor Daley sitting in one…
Chicago has long been NOTORIOUS for towing nice cars that owners never get back. Usually what happens is, the crew from the tow lot dismantle the car & sell the parts, splitting the $$ amongst themselves. They’ve been caught & filmed doing it, but being Chicago, no one loses their job, goes to court, or does time for what basically amounts to Grand Theft Auto. A wink and a shoulder pat go along way when you know whose palm to grease………
There has to be an interesting story on this car as it’s 1958? garagemate looks to have been stored almost as long.
Great Elvis era car. To do the proper restoration, you better have Elvis kind of money… These are great pieces of auto art, but my oh my, can you imagine driving this in highway traffic at rush hour?
I thought GM got rid of the troublesome Air Ride well before 1960, but here it is on this car. Learn something every day…
Gm had a habit of putting the troublesome systems only on the most expensive cars they sold.
Look at all the crappy engines they put in the Cadillac’s starting in 1982.
Nice car, but it would take way deeper pockets, and a much deeper garage than I have just to store it, let alone restore it!
Make that starting in 1981, which was the only year they had that trouble prone “L62 8-6-4” engine. I still remember the TV commercials promoting it.
Marshall, I don’t include the 1981 because the 364 was a very good engine.
Most of the V8-6-4 systems were disabled the same year they were made.
If you find a 1981 with that engine today, it will have no mechanical problem most likely. You can’t say that about the aluminum 4.1L.
368 and that engine was made through 1984 in limousines without any issues on V4-6-8, they fixed the system by late 1981, it was really dropped in the regular cars because even with all the complexity, it couldn’t meet CAFE standards.
1960 is the last year, there was also an air ride option on Buick and Oldsmobile cars, but their system was different, GM also had air ride on its buses since the late 30’s.
Lincoln also tried offering an air ride option in 1958-1959, but it was way more unreliable than the GM system.
Not to mention GMC Motorhomes. Those were like riding on a cloud.
Back window glass? Plastic.
I think it was `65 before Cadillac went to glass back windows in cvt. tops.
I live just North of Boston and if I hadn’t had things to do today, I would have drove out to Hopedale just to take a peek at this Caddy. It would have been worth the gas for me.
Same weight (5,100 lbs) as the new Porsche Taycan electric.
About the same time to “refill” them both, and travel distance comp too-but I’ll bet more folks would appreciate the Caddie!
I drove to Oakley, Utah yesterday to go to a car show. They had lots of cool stuff and some great custom jobs. One of my favorites was a 1959 Cadillac, pink 4 door sedan with a matching pink camp trailer behind it. The was some parts of the car that needed work but it was just cool. There were lots of 30’s Fords and lots of pickups. Also a pair of 1967 Chevy Malibu coupes, both built by the same guy who was there and loved talking about them. One was his wife’s car and one belonged to his son who died in military action about 20 years ago.
An expensive and impressive car, for sure…but not quite the most expensive GM car ever produced by GM at the time.
The 1957-8 Eldorado Brougham was even MORE expensive…over $13,000!
The Brougham was the price of a Biarritz and a Seville combined.
Need deep pockets to restore this one, but what a beauty it will be when done!
Fantastic find. The 2109 Chicago Auto Show had a red 59 Eldorado Biarritz convertible at the Cadillac display. It was truly perfect in every way with every option. They even took the time to orient the valve stems/hubcaps at all four corners.
I prefer this 60 with the champagne/beige and sharp fins…seems a bit more understated while still making a statement. Kind of like driving a top line Bentley sedan instead of a RR ghost.
Just gorgeous.
My modification would be a leopard print canvas top.(kidding)
Hope the new owner can deliver the full resto this baby deserves.
Over three days are left in the auction and the bidding has topped 31 grand.
Go over brakes. Get engine running. Detail it. Drive it. Otherwise it is a $125,000 restoration and then an illegal driving a $500 Honda plows into. Oh and has no insurance.
But hopefully you would if you just spent $125,000 restoring a car….
The Honda will just bounce off it.
I’m calling bull$hit @ $31k & 92 bids by bots!
It’s worth approximately $7k USD.
Bob
WHAT!? Bot bids!? If I remember right, computerized bidding was what caused the Black Monday stock market crash in 1987.
Re: the Caddy, I would patina that paint if it is THEE original paint. But that top and that carpet has got to go!
bob,please find me every one you can like this for 7k and i will pay you 30k usd .you dont even have a clue.
Miguel, I believe you and I are cut from the same cloth, although, 19′ long is acceptable for me on a car. But, like you, the bigger the better.
J_Paul I was hoping someone would catch that fopah. First thing I thought of when I read the article was , no, Cadillac had a $13,000 car back in ’57 and ’58.
I drove a 1963 Eureka for my only car for a couple of years, so these people saying this car is big is a laugh.
I think everybody should learn how to drive and manipulate a car of this size so then they can get into a small car and whip it around with confidence.
A friend of mine has a 1960 Cadillac he says is an Eldorado because it has the hub caps and the tri power, but it is a 4 door. I am going to try to get it off of him.
There is such a thing, just few people know it.
Not an Eldorado, could be a Fleetwood, can’t tell from this photo.
And its not an Eldorado Brougham either, that has a totally different roof line and windshield, well its pretty much a totally different car, though it still looks like a 1959-1960 Cadillac.
Looks nice! But what’s this? Somebody leeched all 4 eyeballs off of this!
Marshall, I am sure he has them.
It is most likely a Fleetwood. I think the Fleetwood is on the lower front fender. Besides the obvious data tag info. Does it have a series of chrome bars on the back of the rear fender and does the seams in the headliner run from the front to the rear rather than side to side
Miguel,
Since it’s beginning in the mid 1950s, The Eldorado special 2X4 or 3X2 carb setups have been available on all Cadillacs as an extra cost option. I had a 1955 Fleetwood sedan with the Eldo engine from new.
Plus, many Cadillac dealerships would buy all the parts from GM and add the Eldo engine to the DeVill or series 62 cars to increase the selling price when new. In doing this, they would preserve the motor number, as it was the same as on the VIN tag.
What I see in that picture is a nice Sedan DeVille 4-door hardtop, without the Eldorado side trim, and the wheel covers appear to be correct for the car.
It’s 100% NOT an Eldorado unless the firewall body data plate has a blank spot without stamped numbers for the body STYLE*, and the body number space would also be blank or have a VERY low number, like a 1 or a 2. This is how the Fisher Body Co handled special one-off car requests from upper GM management, special show cars, or from a very important buyer.
* As in your example, because GM and Cadillac never offered a body style of a 4-door hardtop Eldorado, there would be no style number to stamp in that location.
Keep in mind those twin side stainless steel trim lines would not fit from the 2-door Eldorado, and would have to be created for the 4-door car. Only the trim lines from the front fender would fit. I don’t see those trim pieces in the photo you provided.
Bill, I was going by what the owner told me. At the time I was overwhelmed with the cars I was looking at. It didn’t register with me it was a four door.
He has another car which is a 1958 formal limo that he says was used by the government in the capital when Kennedy visited in 1962. He told me the car was used to transport Kennedy during that trip.
I did some research and found nothing to back up his claim. As a matter of fact I saw pictures from that trip showing Kennedy in his own car so I doubt the Secret Service wold have allowed Kennedy to ride in that car to go anywhere.
I am going to offer to buy a group of his cars as he is getting quite up in age and has fought cancer 3 times already and these beautiful cars should be out in the light and not hidden away.
As for a limo used by a sitting President while visiting another country; It just didn’t happen during JFK’s time. I happen to know quite a bit about the Presidential & White House vehicles, having owned a couple of them [Ike’s Chryslers]. Ditto for the British Crown vehicles & ambassadorial limousines here in the USA, I still own one of the Royal limousines.
As ironic as it may seem, the first ARMORED Presidential Parade limousine, specially built for official use, was the one JFK died in.
From JFK’s time and forward, ALL foreign visits where a sitting US President rode in a vehicle, it was [as far as I can tell] always in the official limo or other armored White House cars.
Pres. Carter was known to dislike limousines, and he used armored Lincoln Sedans, most were a golden bronze color, not black.
If JFK came to Mexico, it would have been in either the 1961 Lincoln H & E car he was shot in, the 1950 Lincoln “Bubble-top” parade car, or one of 3 1961 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 armored limousines from the White House fleet garage located on 7th St. NW, in Washington DC.
If you want to see what the 60 Brougham looks like, go here https://notoriousluxury.com/2013/11/23/1959-1960-cadillac-eldorado-brougham/
The roofline on this pictured above does not appear to match. The Brougham looks to have a roof line more like a 1961 Fleetwood 60.
Bill, I found a picture from that same trip with Kennedy where he was getting out of the Lincoln in front of a church in Mexico, so that also leads me to believe he would have used his own car in the parade instead of being in the ’58 Limo.
ACZ, I know what the roof line looks like. I knew a guy that had one. It was a beautiful car when he was done with it.
Eldorados were either Coupes (Seville) or convertible (Biarritz). There was also the limited production Eldorado Brougham (4 door hardtop) which this car isn’t. My guess is that it’s a Fleetwood 60 Special but it could also be a Series 62 Sedan or Sedan deVille with missing side moldings + 60 Special/Eldorado wheel covers. Whatever it is, it’s ain’t no Eldorado.
Looks like a Sedan Deville with Eldorado caps. Tri-power was an option in 1960. Those hubcaps are worth a couple thousand alone.
“Faux pas”
I have a 60 Cadillac that I bought in 1986. This car drives better than any car I have ever owned. It is not a convertible. Would love to park this one beside mine.
@Miguel
Send us photos please
This is the only picture I have. He lives in Sonora and is really weird about anybody taking pictures of his cars or letting anybody know he even has them.
I can’t say I blame him on account of all the drug cartel violence.
Yes, that is exactly why. It is pretty hot in Sonora right now and especially in his town. Almost nobody knows he has the cars where he has them.
I wish I could post pictures of them as they are amazing.
I too drove a vintage hearse (mine was a 1968) as a daily driver many years ago. Even delivered pizza in it. “Pizza to die for” lol!
Steve, watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIsmMOii7XE
This was one of Paul’s cars. It was a beautiful 1968 Superior combination. He let me use it to take a trip with my girlfriend to San Francisco. I blew 3 tires on that trip. That was fun. Would you believe I took it down that famous curved street Lombard street? I didn’t get stuck, lucky for me.
For this show, he rented this car and bought a clapped out 1967 straight hearse. They were supposed to roll over and blow up the 1967, but they said they painted them both black and couldn’t tell them apart. The blew up the wrong car which is a shame because the car was a nice with with a white and black leather checkered seat.
When Alan went to Universal Studios to get the car they gave him back the 1967 which barely ran.
The way he told the story was that they painted the whole car black, including the windshield.
He got in it to drive it out, but he couldn’t see out the windshield. He just drove around until he came head to head with something. It happened to be a tram filled with tourists. That must have been an exciting day for them. It was a new attraction.
They escorted him off the property pretty quickly after that.
It was a shame to see such a nice car destroyed by the studio needlessly.
I would absolutely love this car. But too many obligations, an impending cross country move, not enough space, so on. Y’all know the excuses & reasons. Besides, I still don’t have an ebay account.
That last reason is kind of frustrating. I am not good with computers & I found a rear bumper on ebay I need to finish up the 1970 Belair I am restoring. I have absolutely no clue how to buy it without an ebay account. Any ideas?
Stevieg,
It’s very easy to set up an ebay account, and either link it to a paypal account [the best way, and paypal is equally easy to set up first], or to your credit card.
If you want to buy something and need to contact the seller by non-ebay methods, this can be done, but when you contact the seller you must disguise your email address. For example, here on Barn Finds my name is also my email address without the space, “at” AOL. That sentence evades the ebay ‘bots, and the seller typically figures it out, and contacts me.
A picture of the belair. Getting it ready for paint.
You’re right, Fordguy1972. I can’t spell . Had a brain fart. Thanks for the correction
Steve, I have the wagon version of that but it is a 1969 and a Brookwood.
Why do my pictures always go sideways? Ugh!
This car does not have cruise control BTW…….
@Miguel
I love these car chase segments. The hearse starts out as a 1968. Then becomes a 1967 for most of the chase. Then goes back to being a 1968 just before it crashes, at which point it turns into a 1966. And back to a 1968 for the final scene.
Where did you get a 1966? They didn’t have a 1966 on hand that day.
Edit, I did see that 1966 for a split second. It looks like the spliced that in there for whatever reason.
I had never seen that before.
Miguel, I love that footage you posted the link to. That ’68 was a beauty! Too bad the studio screwed that up so bad lol. Superior made a neat coach back then.
I wish I had met Paul. Talked to him many times on the phone. He & I had some transactions that were handled by mail & transport companies. I kept saying I would get to California & meet him. Bob Hedges told me Paul was I’ll & I should do it while I could. I didn’t realize how close to the end it was for him. Struck me as a great guy. I am very envious of you for having known him as the friend he was to you.
I do cherish that friendship I had with him.
I have so many great stories about the things we did with the coaches.
I have a love for all the professional cars and I hope to rebuild my collection very soon.
Let’s see if one of the Barn Find listed sellers get’s it….my money’s on PC…….
Holy cow… it’s been sitting since I was a freshman in high school and didn’t even have a driver’s license. Now I’m early retired (about to turn 63) and that Caddy has been sitting in the same place the. Whole. Time.
Yow.
What a car!!! To rich for my blood though!!!
a shame that Garage was so moistry.. everything is badly corroded….
Miguel…One of my college cars was a ’48 Caddy hearse. Big flat head V8, 3 on the tree, and big enough for big parties after football games. Huge vehicle! Old enough to where parts were a problem but lots of fun.
Could the twin 4 barrels on the ’58 Biarritz been a transition car. Air cleaner and hoses were all GM.
WOW, what a beast those ’48s are.
Today they would be beautiful to look at but I am not sure about driving one.
The oldest hearse I drove was a 1949 Henney Packard Landau that was black with purple mohair interior. This was back in 1985 and it only had like 23,000 miles on it.
That was a beast with no power steering but it did have hydraulic lift windows which seemed odd for a coach.
I have set up a site that shows Mexican cars I have found over the past months. (Please excuse my crude coding skills) The cars are not for sale. I just list them to show the condition and compare the prices with their US counterparts. You won’t believe the cars on that list.
If you want to see that please send me an email at [email protected] and I will let you know where it is.
This is not meant to step on anybody toes here. None of the cars on this page are for sale.
Ok, so can anybody tell me how to correctly pronounce Biarritz? I’ve always said “Bee-AR-itz” but I think that’s incorrect.
What?! No comments about the one in the next bay?
Several-William Shields for one, and another RE: it’s listing on eBay..
Wow! Ended:Sep 12, 2019 , 9:06AM
Winning bid:US $42,000.00
[ 134 bids ]
Not the most expensive GM car, even in 1960. A ’60 Eldorado Brougham was $13,075. But yeah up there for sure.