Junkyard Find: 1999 Cadillac Eldorado ETC

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

Cadillac built the tenth and final generation of the Eldorado for the 1992 through 2002 model years, and one of the trim levels had a maddeningly irritating acronym that could have come only from a large organization with many, many 14-hour airless meetings under soporifically humming fluorescent conference-room lights: ETC!

Yeah, luxury, performance, et cetera. Cadillac buyers edged away, embarrassed for GM, when they spotted these badges in the showroom.

ETC stood for “Eldorado Touring Coupe,” but nobody cared. 1999 was the first model year for the Escalade, and rappers did a fine job of lowering the average age of Cadillac buyers while erasing memories of the ETC.

The Northstar V8 was the sophisticated DOHC unit that German-car-envying Cadillac salesmen had been wishing for since the 1970s.

“As captivating now as ever. Drive the dream.”

“America’s favorite V8 luxury coupe … is now America’s only V8 luxury coupe.”

[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars]





Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Corollaman Corollaman on Jun 25, 2016

    Man, that thing is in much better shape than mine,it does not seem to belong in there

  • Speedlaw Speedlaw on Jun 29, 2016

    etc is what you say when the rest of the story is meaningless, boring, or clearly known to the audience. It isn't what I'd write on the back of a supposed status symbol luxury ride. What were they thinking...

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