Stay up to speed with stories written by drivers, for drivers.
Get automotive news, DIY tips, market trends, in-depth car profiles, and more right in your email inbox.
I love Cadillacs. Especially Eldorados. That, of course, has been well established. But believe it or not, I prefer the Eldorado Seville to the Eldorado Biarritz convertible. I’d rank both as gaudy and unquestionably luxurious, but there’s just something about those solid-roof Eldorados, produced from 1956-60, before the front-wheel-drive Eldorado personal luxury coupe replaced both the Seville and Biarritz in 1967.
Thomas Klockau
But I’m getting way ahead of myself—we’re talking about ’57s today, aren’t we? I’ve covered them before, but a brief summary may be in order. The very first Eldorado was a GM Motorama “dream car,” which was put into limited production in 1953. Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower rode in one on the day of his presidential inauguration. A rare, essentially custom-built car, only 532 were produced that first year.
With its cut-down doors and then-novel wraparound windshield, the inaugural Eldorado was very expensive to build. So for 1954, it returned as essentially an extra-gilded ’54 Series 62 convertible. While certainly swank and pretty, GM designer Dave Holls once said that it was basically just a Series 62 with “a little extra garbage on it.” Though I admit I like them!
Perhaps realizing the top Cadillac should really be more exclusive than simply adding a sumptuous interior and extra stainless-steel trim on the quarter panels, the ’55 got its own unique rear styling when you compare it to all the other 1955 Cadillacs, with much bigger fins. It was a design hit, and the ’56s were much the same, except for the Seville two-door hardtop appearing for the first time alongside the convertible.
Before we get to the Eldorado, all 1957 Cadillacs were totally restyled, with bigger fins on all models. The Fleetwood Sixty Special was especially swank. But the Eldorados stood out even more.
Both the Eldorado Biarritz and Eldorado Seville sported a totally unique rear clip with huge, pointy shark fins standing proudly above curvy quarter panels. It was a distinctly unique and attractive look, and if you were around to witness a new ’57 Eldorado drive by, likely you never forgot about it.
Cadillac Motor Division
As the ’57 Cadillac brochure told prospective customers, “The Eldorado Seville is a showcase for Cadillac’s styling artistry and engineering genius. The graceful and trim lines envision a whole new era of motor car design.
“This attention to detail is equally evident in its luxurious interiors, beautifully designed and impeccably tailored with imported Cape buffalo-grain leathers in black and white, Sabre Blue, Elysian Green or Kiowa Red and white, and in four elegant fabric and leather combinations.”
Thomas Klockau
I first became aware of the 1957 Eldorados and their marvelous fins way back in 1989. My parents, John and Judy, were—and are!—fabulous people, and took us way up to St. Ignace, Michigan, that year for vacation, and to the excellent St. Ignace car show. A 1948 Tucker was there, among other fantastic cars, and the 9-year-old me was smitten.
Thomas Klockau
My parents’ friend, Glen Lewis, lived up there, and his day job was working on the Mackinac Bridge. He was a great guy and fellow car lover. I remember crossing that imposing bridge in his orange and white 1970s VW van—a great experience I’ll never forget.
Cadillac Motor Division
Anyway, it was an amazing show, and there is a picture in a family photo album somewhere of me and my brother Andy, standing in front of a monumentally gorgeous, deep green 1948 Tucker, both of us holding our red, white, and blue Bomb Pops. Great show, great memories.
So what does all of that have to do with the 1957 Cadillac Eldorado? Well, there was a vendor selling neat scale-model classic cars. My dad, bless his heart, said he’d buy one for me. I picked a red Eldorado Biarritz in 1/43 scale by Solido. It was the first time I’d seen a ’57 Eldo in any shape or form and I instantly loved it.
It stuck in my head, but it was many, many years before I saw a 1957 Eldorado Biarritz or Seville in person. I think the first Biarritz I saw was at Iowa’s Des Moines Concours d’Elegance in 2017.
And I saw another one, gorgeous in black with red leather, at the 2018 Des Moines Concours! But before I spotted either one of those fantastic convertibles, I saw this gorgeous blue Seville, today’s featured classic.
It was at a West of the Lake Region of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club show at Heritage Cadillac in Lombard, Illinois, in June of 2016. It was really amazing! In Bahama Blue with an Alpine White top and an awesome cloth and leather interior in Sable Blue, I was smitten. And happy to finally share it with all you fine folks today. Best of all, it’s a Cadillac.