It’s amazing what important relics have gone missing throughout history. The city of Atlantis, Jesse James’ treasure and a 1961 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertible concept car. While Indiana Jones hasn’t found any of the former, HAMBer Nadeem K. did uncover the Caddy.
Originally, Nadeem was looking for a 1961 Cadillac four window flat top. After checking out an ad on Craigslist he found something much more interesting. He went to see this Caddy in person and as soon as he saw it he thought to himself, “I was gonna buy this unique car.”
This 1961 Cadillac Eldorado convertible was a prototype for the 1962 Eldorado. The seller told Nadeem that the car was owned by professional golfer Walter Hagen. The only connection he has found to this is a Traverse City Golf and Country Club pencil and two golf balls in the trunk. He contacted GM for some information, they sent him pictures and he learned the car was shown at the 1962 Chicago Auto Show.
The car had a mere original 38,000 miles on it. After Nadeem brought it home it took an oil change and a battery replacement to bring it back to life. Despite sitting for 30 years, the car ran like it had just left the show room. The car is mostly original, though the grill, the rear badge and it’s paint job were changed over the years.
Surprisingly for a car that has spent the last 30 years sitting in storage the interior was in great shape. The seats were perfect with not a tear in sight. After a cleaning and applying some new lacquer to the wood trim it looks as good as new.
The interior contains a few one-off options that were never seen on any other Caddy. These include a center console with a floor shifter, a two spoke steering wheel, leather bucket seats and custom door panels.
The interior in 1961 and today.
Kadeem’s plans are to make this car show worthy and uncover its full history. This may be a challenge but it is one he is willing to undertake. If anyone knows anything about this Cadillac concept, we would like to know. What do you think about old Caddys like this one?