At $13,500, Could This 1984 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible Have You Putting On Biarritz?

The ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Cadillac misspells Biarritz in the title, but we’ll cut the seller some slack since that model name is on loan from the French. Let’s see if you’d consider a loan to own this big beautiful beast.

I went to Hollywood last Friday night to meet some friends—masked and practicing proper distancing, of course. While sitting outside at the corner of Hollywood and Vine I caught sight of two Lamborghinis, three Rolls Royce Wraiths, a half-dozen 911s with big-ass wings, and something that looked like a pink stick figure Ferrari. I don’t know what that last thing was. I’m actually still a little in shock from having seen it.

This plethora of audacious and outlandish cars making their way through the center of Tinsel Town made me believe it would be the perfect venue for the 2013 Audi S4 we looked at on Friday. That car had been wildly customized to serve as the centerpiece of its creator’s display at the 2018 SEMA show.

Now the show’s over, both for that SEMA event and—based on the 86% No Dice vote—for the Audi’s $59,995 asking price. I guess Hollywood will just have to wait.

Hollywood—the entertainment industry, not the LA neighborhood—has long been in the business of selling glitz and glamor, fame and fortune. The reality is, much of that is just hype along with a good bit of old fashioned smoke and mirrors thrown in for good measure.

Still, if your goal is to sell the idea that you’re someone important, either in the Industry or down any other avenue, you’re going to have to make an appropriate impression. One way to do that is with an impressive car, and they don’t get much more impressive than a big old boat like this 1984 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible.

Now, a couple of things to note regarding this Eldorado. First off, despite appearing huge by today’s standards, this is not the biggest Eldorado there ever was. Both Eldorado and Biarritz nameplates go back to the 1950s, and across multiple generations of cars. Some of those were so big JPL debated giving them planet status.

This Eldo comes from the tenth generation, which represented the model’s first significant downsizing. That was a factor demanded by the advent of the ‘70s gas crisis and the rise in popularity of smaller luxury cars from makers like Mercedes and BMW.

The other thing to point out is that this is not an aftermarket convertible conversion. Not exactly, at least. The convertibles were offered by Cadillac for the ’84 and ’85 model years, and as in the case of this car, were converted for Cadillac by ASC (American Specialty Company). Others were converted by Hess & Eisenhardt. Here’s a great primer on how to tell which from which. These cars had Caddy VINs that noted they were convertibles and had full dealer support when they were new. About 5,500 cars were sold with the ditchable roof over those two model years.

The ASC converted cars came in at around 200 pounds heavier than the coupés and that taxed the 4.1-litre V8’s already tepid 135 horsepower. A three-speed automatic sits bass-akwards under the engine’s left bank and feeds those meager ponies to the front wheels through a drop-down chain drive.

This car has done a mere 48,200 miles and seems to have survived just fine. The paint is claimed to be the factory spray job, and aside from the black-painted headlamp surrounds and bumper snoods it all looks to be in fairly decent and all original shape. Wire wheel covers dress up the steel wheels and are aided in the endeavor by whitewall tires that appear to have plenty of tread left. three-window turn signals adorn the inner front fender wings a nod to earlier assumptions of luxury accouterments.

The interior looks like a very nice place to sit while you cruise about or just wait for the madam to arrive so you can settle up. You rarely see interiors in this hue of red, nor with button-tufted upholstery anymore. That was par for the course back when this Eldo was new and it all seems to have held up well physically if not quite so in style. Everything seems to be there and in usable shape.

The ad is bereft of details, but does note that the car is “very clean and runs great.” We can confirm the first of those assertions by looking at the pics. The second will require some in-person time.

If you’re going that far, you might as well be considering the car’s price tag too. That’s $13,500 and gets you a clean title along with the clean car. What do you think about that? Could this classy Caddy command that kind of cash? Or, is this a Biarritz that you think might just break the bank?

You decide!

Fayetteville, NC Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Ed Jackson for the hookup!

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