1953 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible                 

The 1953 Cadillac Eldorado was the FIRST Cadillac Eldorado and besides being extremely rare was a very low production automobile

SOLD

This is the dream car of every Cadillac collector and lover.  It is the Holy Grail, the piecé de résistance, reaching the top of El Capitan; well you get the drift.  This was my dream car, the one I had to have, the one I sold my incredible, fully restored 1953 Cadillac Convertible to raise the money to buy.  Once again I was left with an almost finished car when the man working on it asked for an advance and that was the last day he worked on it.  That was a number of years ago.  It has been in storage, and then the crippling auto accident was the frosting on my cake and it is for sale.

The I.D. plate off of the car is lower down on this page.  simply click on it to enlarge it, or any photograph on this page.

This car is in storage and I need to sell her, along with many others, as my future as a car restorer/collector is in doubt thanks to an auto accident in 2001.  I am disabled and not able to work on my cars any more.

Here is an abridged history of the Eldo.  I believe the car originally came form Texas, then to the Bay Area of California where I bought it.  It was in the Napa Valley.  The car had rusted floors, no trunk floors and some lower end rust.  We decided to sacrificed a rust free Coupe de Ville.  Both bodies were stripped in a dunk tank, the coupe became the lower end and the Eldo was retained where ever possible.  The lower end of the doors were rusted, so he used the coupe doors and spliced on the top end of the Eldorado doors.  This was how it was done at the factory when they first made the car fifty years ago.  You can see what he did in a few of the photographs of the right door.  The welds are at the spot stage and need to be finished in yet.  The left door is not finished yet.  I have the original left door to finish the left door conversion.  It is sitting on the coupe frame for support.  The original floors were badly rusted, we used the floor and sills from the coupe, and that worked fine.  The wells for the top rams, rear seat bracket all need to be installed yet, but they are in the car.  There is a company that sprays on metal in a MIG process that I have heard about.  I have never used them but their web page link is in the next paragraph.

I am selling the car as is.  I am talking with a master welder to finish the doors as I know this has been a concern to potential buyers.  He looked at the frame and estimated 6 hours total to repair the frame.  At this point it would be nuts not to paint the frame, do the brakes, front end, kit is purchased and included, stuff the drive line, gas tank and make it a runner, then drop the body back down.  I will do the doors, you can finish the frame.  Or we can talk.  I have a man who will finish up the frame if you like, as described above.  The doors need finishing and the convertible boot needs that new treatment where they spray on metal as it has a line of rust on it.    http://www.rustbusters.com/  The engine has the crank and seven pistons installed.  The engine was balanced when the machine work was done.

Major areas still needing work:

Rebuild original frame using coupe frame that is under car body now, then brakes (I have the original power brake booster), stuff engine, gas line and tank, etcetera.
Finish chrome
Rear 1/4 windows have rust, my chrome shop has 1/4 windows from coupe and will use those to make new frames.
Run new hydraulic lines for power seat and windows, window and seat rams are already purchased
Radio, clock, gauges, etcetera all need rebuilding
There is the obvious of body work, paint, drive line stuffed, etcetera.
Interior:  I have the door panels, seat frames were wasted.  Coupe front seat is identical but needs to be cut done 4".  I planned on using the new generation of structural foam for the back seat.  I have used this in the past and it works just fine.

I made a deal with the body man, who I knew, that I would give him a Chevrolet Corvette for doing the bodywork and getting the car to first block stage.  The Corvette was in my corral driving him, and my son, crazy.  He does have an immense amount of work into the car and he had the car to this stage, a marked improvement from its original condition, so I let him have the Corvette.  That was the last day he worked on the car.  That was probably at least three, if not four years ago.  Now I am incapable of working on my cars, so . . .

$36,000.00 as is   I have around $45,000 invested in the cat so far.  I have not even touched this car in probably over three to four years.  This price is as is.  If something is in process, you will receive in process, be given the name of the shop that has it, for example the rear 1/4 windows are at a shop in Denver that specializes in fabrication.  They are waiting for a go ahead as I told them to stop as the car was going into storage.  Yes, they still have them.  I think this is a very reasonable price for a 1953 Eldorado, but if you do not, let me know and make an offer, worse case is I will say no.

E-mail me with questions or offers at: steven(at)medcomgroup.com

                                  
        Trim                         Drive shaft, rebuilt with new U-Joints and balanced

                                   
                                        I.D. Plate

While these may not be the prettiest pictures of a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado and its related parts, they fairly accurately represent the condition of the car.

The following pictures is the remaining 1953 Coupe de Ville parts car for the Eldo.  The car has most of its original parts as well.  There are a lot of parts.  This car has the front seat I planned on using.  It would need to be cut down as the Eldorado had a lowered front seat.


The original convertible frame
 


This is a used windshield I bought for the Eldo.  These windshields are brutally expensive and impossible to find.

 

E-mail me with questions or offers at:  steven(at)medcomgroup.com

My office telephone is 1-970-587-0963 extension 11.

Thank you for looking.