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

In our last Eldorado installment, a reworked and Fleetwood-bodied 1963 Eldorado’s exterior styling was a bit of a surprise. It stepped away from the dowdy and Chevrolet adjacent styling it carried in 1961 and 1962 and became more slab-sided and refined looking. And even though it was not an entirely new car (as claimed by GM), the styling revisions were enough to set the sixth generation car apart from its predecessor. This week we open the long, heavy doors and see what interior updates were made for ‘63.

(Note: The 1962 Eldorado is featured with a cream interior, while the red and white interior belongs to a 1963.)

On the driver’s side of the Eldorado, customers slid behind a steering wheel that received minor updates in 1963. The spokes of the wheel were flatter and more squared off, and so was the wheel’s center. The spokes were flanked by four different chrome bands around the perimeter of the steering wheel, but for ‘63 the entire wheel rim matched the interior color and was no longer two-tone. In the center of the wheel was the newly updated Cadillac wreath and crest, which replaced the larger old style crest.

Gauges were revised and repositioned this year, as the cluster took on a more modern look. The speedometer font was unchanged, but the long horizontal bar gained additional markings for each mile per hour between five- and 10-mph markings. Temperature and fuel needles which were formerly astride the speedometer were relocated to a new pod at the right.

It was the appearance of Cadillac’s first iteration of the warning light cluster that persists to this day. Temperature and fuel were joined by GEN (for the alternator), TRUNK, and OIL warning lights. This new cluster took the place formerly occupied by the radio and its controls. The radio design remained unchanged in 1963, and migrated below the new warning lights and gauge location. To the right of it all remained the large analog clock.

Given the radio moved lower, it took the real estate that belonged to the climate controls in 1962. The manual HVAC moved to the far left side of the dash, and was lightly reworked via a new faceplate to look more modern. Above the climate was the large knob that controlled the lights. It remained in the same position as in 1962.

All this content shuffling meant the gauges and dials took up more vertical space on the dashboard. And that was a good thing, as it marked the move toward modern dash layouts. Notably the “cockpit style” dashboard design returned in much the same way as 1957, but more defined. All controls were contained within a single pod area in front of the driver. 

Take note: As the dashboard grew in its verticality it absorbed more of the steering column. The wheel began to look less like it was out on a limb, just like modern cars! To the right of the large gauge pod was a redesigned glove box that increased the angle of its lid to match the new, more substantial dashboard.

Like the rest of the interior, the glove box lid was clad with wood paneling in 1963. Cadillac’s interiors caught up to the “wood means luxury” theme Lincoln initiated in 1961. Imperial joined the wood veneer fray in 1965. 

There was additional wood along the door panels too. It extended all the way to the rear seat area, and elevated the oft forgotten rear passengers’ experience. There was even wood between the seats as for the first time, when the Eldorado was optioned with a center console instead of a bench seat! 

Door panels were notably reworked in 1963, and not just due to the wood trim. The design of the doors adopted a four-section look: A padded upper area, veneer in the middle, new arm rest and switch layout, and carpet at the lower section. The pull bar to close the door was revised and took on a more Midcentury look, placed squarely within the veneer. Also within the veneer was the vent window control.

The arm rest was more defined than the prior year, and underlined with a new chrome bar. The bar flowed forward to become a new button panel at the front of the door. Buttons newly angled upward for better presentation to the driver. Ergonomics began to matter! The interior door handle was now out in the open, freed from its padded casket of 1962.

Notably absent from the 1963 Eldorado’s interior was thin ribbing. There was no fine ribbing on the dash, it was replaced with wood. There was none on the door panels, as that was replaced with wood. And finally there was none on the seats, as that was replaced with larger stitched vertical sections restrained to the center portion of the seats. 

Seat cushion shape was reworked in 1963, as they became more Sixties-square than Forties-rounded. The edges of each cushion, lower and upper, were more defined than previously. Piping around the vinyl was more squared off than in 1962. 

The seat backs themselves were divided into two separate lower and upper sections, rather than one rounded shape. Notably the (optional) center console was in place of any arm rest. That was probably a hard sell to some traditional buyers.

Rear seats accommodations were much the same as in 1962. Effort was spent on redesigned rear side panels, as the rear passengers could examine new veneers for their grain quality. There was still a large central speaker between the seats, and the only place to rest one’s head was against the vinyl of the tonneau cover. The bench seat took on a more squared shape and mimicked the design of the front seats. 

Much like the exterior, interior changes amounted to a substantial difference over the 1962 model. Dashboard revisions were especially substantive, moving the automobile toward a more modern 1968 to 1991 interior design era. What wasn’t modern was the safety, and one might notice in the photos above both cars lacked seatbelts. But those were to arrive soon.

In our next installment we’ll cover the second and final year of the sixth generation Eldorado. There were engineering changes, a styling revision, and new technology on board. All those edits were in preparation for a big lineup shift at Cadillac the following year: the era of broughamization. 

[Images: seller, seller]

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