Rare Rides Icons: The Cadillac Eldorado, Distinctly Luxurious (Part XI)
The product people at Cadillac made a crucial decision early in the Fifties with regard to the positioning of the second generation Eldorado: It would be less expensive, and less special. The unique content of the exclusive limited-run 1953 Eldorado meant it had a stratospheric price that put it out of reach for the vast majority of consumers. The subsequent 1954 Eldorado appeared with a more reasonable price, and was a fancy trim package atop the new Series 62 convertible. Sales skyrocketed, and the trajectory for the remainder of the second generation was set!
With its $7,750 ($89,460 adj.) price tag in 1953, the 1954’s ask of $5,738 ($65,496 adj.) seemed a complete bargain. Customers perceived the same sort of exclusivity of the 1953 car, and a design that didn’t look too far removed from the prior generation. Cadillac was on top of the luxury world in the Fifties, and Eldorado sales jumped from 532 cars in 1953 to 2,150 in 1954.
In 1954 Cadillac sold 96,680 vehicles, of which 77,345 were some variation of the Series 62 model (including Eldorado). The remaining fraction of sales were made up of the long wheelbase Sixty Special, and the Fleetwood Seventy-Five limousine. The second most popular body style of the Series 62 was the four-door Sedan, which sold 33,845 examples domestically.
Buyers chose the two-door most often, and the base Coupe (17,460) sold slightly more often than the more expensive Coupe DeVille that managed 17,170 sales that year. The Series 62 Convertible Coupe was about three times more popular than the Eldorado, and sold 6,310 examples in 1954. However, considering the pricing difference between Series 62’s standard models and the Eldorado, it was clear customers placed a lot of value in a trim package and script badging.
The basic Series 62 Coupe started out at $3,836 ($43,786 adj.), while the Sedan asked $3,931 ($44,870 adj.) and Coupe DeVille was $4,260 ($48,625 adj.). A small price premium was asked for the Convertible Coupe at $4,402 ($50,246 adj.). The optimistic Eldorado customer of 1954 paid just over 30 percent more for their convertible with aluminum side panels.
Given the excellent results achieved with the 1954 model year, Cadillac’s designers and accountants saw fit to bless the Eldorado with unique rear end styling in 1955. The Eldorado now stood out amongst all other Cadillac models with bold, pointy rear fins while the rest of the brand portfolio wore smaller soft fins carried over from 1954. Sacrificed were the aluminum panels, which ended as a one-off in the second generation.
Perhaps owing to the unique styling, the Eldorado saw a price increase for the second year of its second generation, to $6,290 ($72,335 adj.). Customers were utterly unfazed by the price increase. By the end of the year, Eldorado’s sales nearly doubled to 3,950 examples.
1955 proved another year of expansion for Cadillac sales as the US exited the Recession of 1953 that lasted from July 1953 through May of 1954. The brand’s sales improved over 31 percent, to 140,777 in total. Of that figure, Series 62 models maintained their large share at 118,586 cars.
In 1955 the most popular Series 62 was again the Coupe. Customers opted for the Coupe DeVille much more often than the standard Coupe, as DeVille shifted 33,300 examples while Coupe managed only 27,879. The Sedan sold 44,904 examples. The Convertible Coupe lost some ground on Eldorado as it gained traction, with sales of 8,150 in 1955.
Though the Eldorado made a big jump in price in 1955, most of the Series 62 lineup was only somewhat more expensive than the prior year. The Coupe started at $3,880 ($44,620 adj.), while the Sedan asked $3,975 ($45,712 adj.), and Coupe DeVille’s price increased to $4,303 ($49,484 adj.). Original pricing information for the Convertible Coupe is not available.
For its third and final second generation year in 1956 Cadillac expanded Eldorado to include a coupe, for customers who didn’t especially feel the convertible lifestyle. The new Eldorado Seville hardtop was joined by a new name attached to the convertible, Biarritz. Seville was a cost effective way to broaden Eldorado’s appeal.
Prices increased notably for Eldorado in 1956, as both variants started above what the convertible asked in 1955: $6,500 ($74,471 adj.). It was an unusual pricing choice, as any hardtop coupe from Cadillac would cost much less than the convertible variant. Sales proved that Cadillac again made the right decision, as at the close of the year sales increased 34.8 percent to 6,100 examples.
Another shocker revealed itself in the breakdown of those sales, when the hardtop Seville sold 3,900 copies compared to 2,150 for the Biarritz. One wonders if that surprised Cadillac execs: A less flashy car that was more clearly a price gouge had better sales. Overall, the brand’s sales climbed again in 1956 to a new high water mark of about 150,000 (exact figure unclear).
Series 62 models had their best year ever, as the lineup accounted for almost 87 percent of the brand’s total sales. The Sixty Special and Fleetwood Seventy-Five were looking dated at the time, and had fallen from favor with the large car customer. Both would receive a substantial rework for 1957.
The most popular Series 62 was the more expensive Sedan DeVille, which sold 41,732 examples to the regular Sedan’s 26,222. Sales were nearly evenly split between the Coupe (26,649) and Coupe DeVille (25,086) in 1956. Sales of the Convertible Coupe held steady at 8,300, and proved its customer wanted that specific model and would not be deterred by two Eldorado options.
The most affordable Series 62 was again the standard Coupe at $4,145 ($47,489 adj.), While the Sedan asked $4,240 ($48,578 adj.), and Sedan DeVille was notably more costly at $4,697 ($53,814 adj.). The Coupe DeVille was priced lower than its sedan sibling, at $4,568 ($52,336 adj.). Finally, the gulf between the Convertible Coupe and Eldorado widened in 1956 when it cost only $4,710 ($53,963 adj.).
The following year would see the Eldorado expand further into a range, with all-new styling that embraced the Fifties. There were four total body styles, two of which were exceedingly expensive and very rare. We’ll get into the third generation next time!
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
[Images: General Motors/Cadillac]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
More by Corey Lewis
Comments
Join the conversation
I blame Eisenhower. And his VP, whoever that was.
The fact that the 'price gouging' less opulent but more expensive model sold more is not surprising. Among that generation, driving 'the most expensive' Cadillac was important, regardless of what it included.