Rare Rides Icons: The Cadillac Eldorado, Distinctly Luxurious (Part XXXII)

In our last Eldorado installment, we reviewed the styling revisions that arrived for the fifth generation Eldorado’s second and final year in 1962. Styling was smoothed, fins were made less aggressive, and the look headed toward a more familial and generalized GM appearance as distinguishing Eldorado details went by the wayside. As it turned out, this less-for-more approach did not work particularly well with regard to the appeal of the top-tier Eldorado Biarritz.

There was something to be said for the all-out chromed and finned 1959 and 1960 Cadillac designs, as they were a hit with customers. The company shifted 142,184 cars in 1960. With more streamlined styling in 1961, Cadillac’s overall sales figures fell slightly, to 138,379. 

The Sixty-Two coupe made up 16,005 of those sales, at a cost of $5,252 ($55,435 adj.) before options. The conservative four-window Sixty-Two sold only 4,700 examples at a cost of $5,080 ($53,619 adj.), while the six-window cost the same but was much more popular with 26,216 sales. The top-line Sixty-Two convertible asked $5,455 ($57,577 adj.), a reasonable sum if one considered the Eldorado’s ask. A total of 15,500 convertible Sixty-Twos came off the line in 1961, an impressive figure.

DeVille models were their own line (technically Series 6300) in 1961 and represented the Eldorado in 1961 and 1962. Cadillac sold 20,156 Coupe DeVilles at a cost of $5,892 ($62,190 adj.). The unpopular and conservative looking four-window Sedan DeVille sold only 4,847 examples at a cost of $5,498 ($58,031 adj.). Like the Sixty-Two, DeVille’s six-window option was much more popular than the four-window though it cost the same. It sold 26,415 units.

The ill-fated DeVille Town Sedan in its shorter guise sold only 3,756 examples at the same price, $5,498. Customers were likely put off by less inches of car for the same amount of money as other DeVilles. Even worse off than the Town Sedan, Eldorado (as DeVille family member) managed only 1,450 sales in 1961 at a retail ask of $6,477 ($68,364 adj.).

Sixty Special was represented by the six-window model in 1961, and was the cheapest way to get a Fleetwood badge on a Cadillac. It sold 15,500 units at a cost of $6,233 ($65,789 adj.). The other Fleetwoods were the Seventy-Five Sedan and Limousine, both very rare and expensive vehicles. The Sedan sold 699 units in 1961 at an eye-watering cost of $9,533 ($100,621 adj.). The Limousine added a partition and jump seats, and was more popular. It managed 926 sales and cost $9,748 ($102,890 adj.)

The redesigned 1962 lineup with its more upright lines and new tail lamp and rear grille designs made Cadillac more popular than any of the prior handful of years: There were 160,840 Cadillacs sold in 1962. At the base of the lineup, the Sixty-Two returned with a coupe priced at $5,025 ($52,685 adj.), and a production figure of 16,833. The six-window Sixty-Two sedan returned, and sold 16,730 examples at an ask of $5,213 ($54,656 adj.)

Four-window sedans were revised in 1962, and lost their wrap-around rear window in favor of a thicker B-pillar to match the six-window design. The Sixty-Two Town Sedan returned once more, but sold only 2,600 examples for its $5,213 asking price. Town Sedan was downgraded from DeVille to Sixty-Two status in 1962. The standard four-window Sixty-Two sold 17,314 at the same price as the Town Sedan. Of regular Sixty-Twos, the new look four-window proved more popular than the six-window that year, as that version sold 16,730 examples.

The convertible Sixty-Two proved popular once again, and in 1962 it found 16,800 customers at its price of $5,588 ($58,588 adj.). Priced slightly lower was the entry-level Coupe DeVille, which asked $5,385 ($56,459 adj.) and shifted 25,675 units that year. The Sedan DeVille was available as a four-window (27,378 sales) or a six-window (16,230 sales), and asked $5,631 ($59,039 adj.).

A reversal of sales fortunes happened for the four-window design of 1962 because its new sporty pillarless hardtop look compared favorably to the six-window. Six-window cars had a thinner B-pillar to make room for the rear side window. The design update proved how little consumers liked the wrap-around window of the prior year’s four-window cars. 

Priced the same as the Sedan DeVille was the two-year-only Park Avenue Sedan DeVille, the shortened version previously known as the Town Sedan. There were only 2,600 of these sold, making it an incredibly rare car today. Even less popular than Park Avenue was the Eldorado Biarritz. 

In its second and final outing the Eldorado asked $6,610 ($69,303 adj.). Sources report the ‘61 and ‘62 Eldorado sold the same figure, 1,450, in both years. That seems highly unlikely though, so if you’ve got a different source your author would love to see it. 

The Sixty Special gained some new real wood trim for 1962, and 13,350 examples sold at an ask of $6,366 ($66,745 adj.). It was again available only as a six-window. Fleetwood Seventy-Five cars in Sedan (696 sales) and Limousine (904 sales) guises continued with slightly-adjusted exterior styling. 

These conservative cars continued with a 1950s wrap-around windshield, and a formal looking roof at the D-pillar. Prices increased slightly in 1962, and the Sedan asked $9,722 ($101,931 adj.) while the Limousine was priced at $9,937 ($104,186 adj.). For the customer with “I don’t really care” money and a chauffeur in the early Sixties.

As evidenced by its bottom of the barrel sales figures in 1961 and 1962, customers were not eager to pay an additional 16 percent or so for an Eldorado that was nearly identical to the Sixty-Two convertible. But they were more than happy to purchase thousands and thousands of the cheaper option! Cadillac had to take action, and do something to make the Eldorado seem worth the extra coin. 

And so it was in 1963 that Eldorado took a turn from the rest of the Cadillac lineup. While styling changed across the line that year, every single model remained in its current generation except the Eldorado Biarritz. Eldorado was considered a new generation in 1963, as Cadillac’s marketing people tried to draw a clear line in the sand and say “Look, this one’s different now!” We’ll pick up with the sixth generation Eldorado next time.

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[Images: Seller, GM]