Junkyard Find: 1985 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

by Murilee Martin

Published: June 13th, 2014

junkyard find 1985 cadillac eldorado biarritz

The Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz was made for the 1976 through 1991 model years, but the real Biarritz existed only through 1985. Today’s Junkyard Find is a final-year example of the proper, stainless-steel-roof-equipped Biarritz.

This car is best-known as the Ace Rothstein‘s exploding Cadillac in the opening sequence of the film Casino.

The Eldorado Biarritz was a very expensive machine in its day. How much? $35,500 in 1985, which is close to 80 grand in inflation-adjusted 2014 dollars. For that kind of cash, Ace Rothstein could have had, say, a new BMW 735i ($36,680), a Mercedes-Benz 300CD ($33,750), or even a Porsche 911 Cabriolet ($36,450). But hey, check out that stainless-steel roof panel!

In my role as Chief Justice of the 24 Hours of LeMons Supreme Court, I hectored teams about the need for an Eldorado Biarritz race car until one team finally put together the “Ace Rothstein Special” ’84, complete with the appropriate suits.

Now that’s a race car!

This one is pretty well used up, but you can still see flashes of the casino-manager-grade luxury here and there.

The chain-based front-wheel-drive system developed for the original Toronado back in 1966 was still being used in 1985.

Opera lights, landau roof, and all.

The car that dreams are made of.

#1980s #1985 #1985CadillacEldorado #Biarritz #Cadillac #CadillacEldorado #CadillacEldoradoBiarritz #Denver #DownOnTheJunkyard #Eldorado #Junkyard #JunkyardFind

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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NoGoYo on Jun 16, 2014

I've always liked the Riviera more, especially in T-Type trim with the funky FWD offset version of the Grand National wheels and in all black just like a GN.

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Flashbackwoody on Sep 09, 2014

as for me personally I need to find this particular salvage yard as I need some of the Biarritz only door chrome that I see is in good condition who knows what yard this was taken in? anyone ?

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Recent Comments

Amy I owned this exact car from 16 until 19 (1990 to 1993) I miss this car immensely and am on the search to own it again, although it looks like my search may be in vane. It was affectionatly dubbed, " The Dragon Wagon," and hauled many a teenager around the city of Charlotte, NC. For me, it was dependable and trustworthy. I was able to do much of the maintenance myself until I was struck by lightning and a month later the battery exploded. My parents did have the entire electrical system redone and he was back to new. I hope to find one in the near future and make it my every day driver. I'm a dreamer.
Jeff Overall I prefer the 59 GM cars to the 58s because of less chrome but I have a new appreciation of the 58 Cadillac Eldorados after reading this series. I use to not like the 58 Eldorados but I now don't mind them. Overall I prefer the 55-57s GMs over most of the 58-60s GMs. For the most part I like the 61 GMs. Chryslers I like the 57 and 58s. Fords I liked the 55 thru 57s but the 58s and 59s not as much with the exception of Mercury which I for the most part like all those. As the 60s progressed the tail fins started to go away and the amount of chrome was reduced. More understated.
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