Rare Caddy Convertible: 1963 Eldorado Biarritz
I’ll always be a softy for ’63 Cadillacs. Back in 1968, my dad purchased a five-year-old creampuff ’63 Sedan DeVille from an older gentleman in town. It was Turino Turquoise with a Sandlewood leather interior and bucket seats. It was the most beautiful car dad ever owned. Although Cadillac produced over 163,000 cars in 1963, only a scant 1,825 were Eldorado Biarritz Convertibles like the one featured here. This rare Caddy is far from perfect and has a “To Do” list of what needs attention, but it does appear to be solid and straight. This ’63 Eldorado is currently in Pflugerville, Texas and is for sale here on eBay. As of this writing, 16 bids had been made with the highest bid hitting $15,401.
The seller is upfront about the engine compartment fire that occurred in 2021. Part of the hood is in primer and he shares that “affected wiring was replaced and new components installed include: Edelbrock 1906 AVS2 carburetor, air filter, plug wires, ignition coil, heater and vacuum hoses and headlights.” New paint will be required and that’s a mystery because the vehicle’s data plate shows paint code 94 which is Frost Aquamarine Metallic. I found a paint chip sample and it’s a beautiful shade of aquamarine, not the current darker blue which the seller says was on the Caddy when it was purchased back in 1998. Based on the photos, the rest of the paint, chrome, trim, and glass look good (I think period-correct whitewall tires all around would improve its appearance, though.) The seller also lists what’s currently not working on the Eldorado: the A/C, cruise control, vacuum system, most interior accessory lights, power seat controls, and horn, plus the hood is raised about 2″ at the back. Also the original AM radio and speakers have been bypassed for an AM/FM/CD radio (installed in the glove box) with two 6×9 speakers on the rear seat floor.
The interior looks okay but raises some questions as well. The seller states that the leather interior and carpet were updated in 2006. The two-toned leather seats look pretty good, and I’m no ’63 Eldorado interior expert, but based on sales materials and photos of other ’63 Eldorado convertibles I saw online, the original seats were a solid color and didn’t come in this pattern. I’m also not sure what’s up with that worn light blue carpet that’s also carried over into the kick panels. You can see several cracks in the steering wheel but on the plus side, this Eldorado came with optional factory air which Hagerty’s says adjusts the value +10%. (Cadillac bragged in their ’63 sales literature about how 50% of all Cadillacs were ordered with air conditioning.) The sellers also says the power windows work and the power convertible top goes down automatically, “but raising the top requires a little manual help, and will then finish automatically.”
Under the current two-tone hood rests the 325 horsepower, four-barrel carb 390-cubic-inch V8 that’s paired to a Hydra-Matic Drive automatic transmission. The seller says the Caddy starts, drives, and stops and that he’s driven it about 12,000 miles in 24 years. The odometer shows 36,269 which has probably rolled over. Also included in sale are two pieces of front bumper chrome, various Eldorado script letters, and the original air cleaner assembly. Even in 1963, Cadillac referred to their Eldorado Biarritz as a “limited-production vehicle of Splendor.” I wonder what the next owner will do with this rare Caddy. Keep it as a driver or bring it back to its original state? What would you do?
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Comments
Watch a great movie called Tin Men with Danny DaVito it has Cadillac’s like this through out the movie and it has Richard Drifis (?) as another Tin Man who hit DaVitos caddy with his caddy.
I love that movie, but it was Devito who hit Dreyfuss’ brand new Cadillac as he was backing out of the dealer lot. So many “great lines” in that movie – both the dialogue and the car styling.
As the movie was filmed on location in Baltimore for most of the car scenes, as a local guy with old car connections as well as an old car shop, I was a supplier of the cars used in the movie, and also kept a few running. Most of the cars were not mine, but I arranged for them to be available.
Towards the end of the Baltimore shooting, an assistant to the director approached me, explaining that Mr. Levinson had heard I had an impressive collection of rare cars not far away. She said Mr. Levinson would like to visit when they wrap up, and I said yes, no problem. They called and we set up a time, but I never heard from them again!
In top shape, the `63 Eldo cvts. are bringing over $60K, making this one a good candidate to do a full restoration. Interior-wise, I’m betting those aftermarket seat covers aren’t leather, but vinyl and they are the wrong pattern and color that caddy never used. So that, the door panels & carpet would all have to be replaced–$$. A quality repaint in the original aquamarine metallic is needed as well. NOT outfitting this Eldorado as it left the factory will cost points in Judging if a buyer is serious about it.
Will Fox,
I suspect you are correct, the entire interior needs to be replaced, and it’s not going to come cheap. Probably along the lines of $10k, and it’s going to be difficult to create the correct sew lines without the original patterns to go by.
Every time I had a customer balk at spending the extra money to replace a leather interior & go with cheaper vinyl, I would remind them when they tried to sell the car, the car’s value would be far less because of the cheap interior, and it would likely be a hard sell. I used to say that saving $5,000 by going with vinyl for $2,500, would lower the value of the car by AT LEAST $5,000.
I’m surprised this seller hasn’t approached a quality paint shop about color matching a replacement hood, most paint shops have the ability to closely match the existing paint.
Once upon a time this was something, but it ain’t anymore.
Winning bid $16,801.
normadesmond, did you mean this particular car, or this style in general. If the latter, you couldn’t be more wrong.
Somebody got a really good deal on this one.
Contrary to what the write-up says, these are period-correct whitewalls. The last year for wider whitewalls on Cadillacs was 1961. The whitewalls on the sale car need to be cleaned.
The interior and the convertible boot are totally incorrect. Both would have been a solid color. The Eldorado leather was stitched in a vertical narrow channel design.