Lot 533

Fort Lauderdale 2014

1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

Documented "one-of-one" factory-built car

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$185,000 - $200,000 USD | Not Sold

United States | Fort Lauderdale, Florida

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By the late 1950s, Cadillac reigned supreme over the full-sized luxury car market in North America with exciting products that featured advanced engineering and the leading-edge styling of Harley Earl. While controversial and misunderstood in its heyday, the collectors and critics of today agree that the 1959 Eldorado possesses an unmatched combination of power, presence and luxury.

The Eldorado featured the ultimate Cadillac engine for 1959, the enlarged 390 cubic inch V-8, topped by three two-barrel Rochester carburetors. This power plant produced 345 horsepower, and was mated to a three-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission as standard equipment. Both the Biarritz convertible and the companion Seville hardtops carried a lofty base price of $7,401 when new, with only 1,320 examples of the Biarritz produced.

This attractive Eldorado is documented as being a special order “one-of-one” that displayed the elegant color combination of Kensington Green with a white convertible top and white interior from the factory in the 1959 model year and documentation from the Cadillac Historical Society. Better still is the fact that this lovely car has the very desirable and quite uncommon no-cost bucket seat option that Cadillac made available for the Biarritz. It is reported that only 99 Eldorado's from 1959 had this similar feature. The retracted top is stylishly covered by a color-keyed parade boot. The Eldorado was Cadillac’s undisputed image leader for 1959; standard Eldorado equipment included a heater, fog lamps, air-assisted suspension, AM radio with a rear speaker, power windows, Autronic Eye, six-way power front seat, power door locks and whitewall tires. Further convenience is found with the power convertible top, vent windows and trunk release with assisted pull-down. These are very special cars indeed, this one is described by the vendor as "investment quality throughout."