3k: The Best Worst Driver's Car: 1995 Cadillac Eldorado
The Cadillac Eldorado was sold for a remarkable 50 years as a 2-door luxury coupe and was only discontinued in 2002 because GM started to refocus the Cadillac brand on nonsense like Nürburgring lap times and chasing BMW/Mercedes in the sport-luxury rat race. Sure, the newer Cadillac STS is faster, sportier and meaner, but it lacks the one-finger “was that a speedbump?” ride/handling that made Cadillac a legend. Instead of running ad campaigns that said “Hey, you’re not on the damn Nürburgring, who cares about your lap time” Cadillac turned away from wealthy elderly luxury drivers (who oddly enough ran to the warm wallpaper paste embrace of Lexus) and baited the mid-life crisis seekers and speed demons. Find this 1995 Cadillac Eldorado for sale in Glen Cove, NY for $3,500 buy-it-now from the original owner’s son via eBay.
Truth be told, if you are shopping for a sub $5k E30, Neon ACR or something manual transmission and trackability, you can stop reading this. Autocrossing an Eldorado would be the equivalent of running Kim Kardashian at a track-and-field event, specifically the hurdles at 40 weeks pregnant. However, if most of your driving is going to be sitting in traffic, driving to & from work…well…a $3,500 Eldorado starts to sound like a good idea. Imagine being seated in plush leather seats, warmed by a pizza oven caliber heating system and an A/C with capacity to cool a cruise ship — that is what you can get for 1/10th of the original 1995 MSRP.
The Eldorado will be slow off the line due to its front-drive setup, but once going the 275 horsepower 4.6 liter fuel injected 32-valve V8 will be more than adequate to keep up with modern traffic. Buy this 1995 Eldorado and it is like getting a 2013 Lexus ES350 for $3500. Horrible, but not bad at all.
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Also consider a same vintage Fleetwood with 5.7 liter LT1.
Mommy was not so lucky driver: 3 collisions during ownership!
One at the grocery store parking lot, another at the church parking lot and the last one at the DMV while looking for a parking place to renew her license!! 🙂
Brad tells me the battery isn't hooked up, which is why the decklid is ajar. The last photo shows the instrument cluster fired up. Either the battery isn't hooked up and there really is a ghost in the machine, or the wedge switch that controls the deck close motor is busted. Common problem, cheap fix.
At 1/2 the money of the Mercedes 600SL, this is a pretty nice ride. But you have to keep an eye on the motor. Early Gen1 Northstars were notorious for leaks. At least it isn't an HT4100. Those were just plain bad.
~ when this first dropped at my inbox i admit i ignored it. the miles are good but the accident history nullifies that. in about '97 i bought a contemporary convertible conversion [similar to; farm5.static.flickr.com/4091/4996733118_508e98dc18.jpg] in partnership with a dirt-bag ex-partner. the cowl-shake over slight road imperfections was a total non-Cadillac like experience. can't recall if it had been hacked by ASC or Hess and Eisenhardt, but the ride was horrible.
I have been looking at these for a while now , as for some reason being poor and forcibly retired at 34 (since I was 24) by a azz pain condition (not literarly a pian in the ass but pancreatitus) I have wanted a big comfy cruizer. The crazy in me says wait a few more years and get a used cts-v and thats what I have been diong.