When the ’57 Eldorado Brougham was unveiled, it was not just any other Cadillac. To use modern terminology, it was aimed at the 1 percenters — the super rich and uber successful.
Need some perspective? You could buy a new Plymouth that year for about $1,500. A Series 62 Cadillac, the division’s bread and butter model, started at $4,713. But the Eldorado Brougham? It was an other-worldly $13,074. This was roughly the cost of a new Rolls-Royce back then. Its only domestic competition, the ’57 Continental Mk II was a mere $9,966.
Even at those prices, it is rumored that GM lost thousands of dollars on each one it built, but when you’re the “Standard of the World,” I guess you can throw away a few bucks every now and again.
Each Eldorado Brougham was hand-built. The body itself, designed by Ed Glowacke, was one of a kind. It was America’s first completely pillarless hardtop with suicide doors. The front doors lacked wing windows. The roof was stainless steel and it came with four headlights and unique trim (including ribbed lower rear quarter beauty panels, full rocker sills, and a rectangularly sculptured side body cover. The tail, naturally, has tall fins.
Hand-Built — All 5,315 Lbs Of It
The amount of technology and luxury crammed into it was staggering for 1957: Air suspension, electronic seat position sensors, power windows, a dual four-barrel 365 V8, automatic trunk opener, cruise Control, a high-pressure cooling system, polarized sun visors and a Signal Seeking twin-speaker radio with an electric antenna, a dual heating system, and a whole lot more.
Where the Brougham really got wild was its silver magnetic glove box drink tumblers (what could possibly go wrong?), cigarette and tissue dispensers, and a notebook with a comb and mirror. For the ladies was an Arpege atomizer with Lanvin perfume.
To us at StreetMuscleMag, that makes it the perfect basis for a jaw-dropping hot rod. So when we happened upon this car at the Scoggin Dickey Performance Center booth at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, we had to get the full scoop. According to Keith Wilson of SDPC, this example was built by Rutterz Rodz in Bristol, Tennessee, for Doyle and Karen Thomas. Scoggin Dickey was consulted about the powertrain, according to Keith Wilson, the Outside Sales Manager/Trade Shows, for SDPC.
Speaking of which, under the forward tilting hood was a Chevrolet LT4 with a 4L80 transmission. Why not a six- , eight- or 10-speed? Packaging. Those transmissions take up more real estate and would require cutting the tunnel on this car. The four-speed auto is more than capable of taking whatever the 650-horsepower/650 lb-ft crate engine can take.
The color fits with the ’50s theme, but is a modern 2025/2026 Cadillac CT5-V hue called Lakeshore Metallic sourced from BASF. In fact, the car does not look all that different from a factory build, and that was probably the point. It looks stock, but is far from it. The big difference in appearance is the roof was painted body color.
A custom Roadster Shop frame is equipped with a modern air ride suspension and C6 Corvette Z06 brakes. The wheels are reminiscent of the originals, but are a 20-inch billet design from EVOD Industries and feature machined whitewall detailing.
Even the interior mimics the classic original, but was updated with hand-crafted upholstery by Ricky Howard of Built By Ricky.
The car won the 2026 Goodguys Custom Rod of the Year award and the Triple Crown of Rodding Street Cruiser of the Year title.
Cadillac sold 400 Eldorado Broughams to the rich and famous in 1957 and 304 more in ‘58. The model soldiered on as an exclusive model until 1960 before fading off into the sunset.
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