It is no secret that the 1970’s were not a great time for American cars. While there were some decent gems sprinkled here and there, most cars suffered from what President Jimmy Carter aptly described as “malaise.” An exception though was the luxury cars of the era, especially the ever-growing Cadillacs. These big cars needed big engines, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to picture these personal luxury coupes as something more useful….like a pickup truck.

Over at Hooniverse, they’ve stumbled across an old advertisement for the “Eldorado Roadster Sportsmobile”, which is essentially a Cadillac El Camino. Funny how that worked out, eh?

With removable T-tops, a teakwood rear deck, and 24 karat gold-plated emblems, the Eldorado Roadster Sportsmobile was a luxury car with utility ability. From the front-quarter view, you can’t even tell this is anything more than a classic land barge with Cadillac emblems. But the expensive teakwood deck really opens up a lot of usable space…if you’re willing to sacrifice the rear seats.

Of course all of this luxury doesn’t come cheap. The asking price was $25,900 back in 1977, which is about $10,000 more than the average MSRP for one of these back in the late 70’s. There is precious little info on these Caddy El Caminos, which likely means there weren’t many takers. But it wouldn’t be a bad conversion to do nowadays considering you can pick up one of these classic Cadillacs for a song and a dance.

Does it get any more luxurious or useful than a Cadillac El Camino? We think not.