Fantasy Fulfilled: ’57 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
The Eldorado Brougham was one man’s dream intended to play upon the fantasies of the American car-buying public. We are referring to GM’s styling boss, Harley J. Earl. To Earl, glitzy sold cars. Many of Earl’s designs had a lot more to do with playing to an audience than anything else. This was Cadillac’s response to the elegant Continental Mark 2. The Ford and GM cars had different philosophies: the Continetal, a formal 2-door and the Eldorado, a pillarless 4-door. The one thing they have in common is the astoundingly high price of $14,000 and the limited production. Like the Continental, profit was not the goal for the Eldorado Brougham. Today’s featured car is probably the best available if you are a fan of original cars. This one has 35,000 miles and is wearing mostly original paint and all of the original leather interior. Mechanically, it is in great shape. The complicated air suspension is present and in working order. Most have been replaced with conventional springs so this is a good thing. We really love the styling of the ’57. The stainless roof is brilliant and the tail fins are delicate almost knife-like. The roofline is amazing. We believe it is one of the most beautiful American cars of the era. They only built 400 4-doors making them very rare. This one won’t be inexpensive. Hagetry has #1 cars at over $150,000. This one has originality going for it and that might trump perfection. Click here for the listing.