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Well, I stumbled on something kind'a cool this weekend.
While perusing some sites regarding collectible Cadillacs, I came across a site listing their opinion of the top-10 most desirable models. In the mid-70's, I worked with my dad building Cadillac conversions and built Cadillac station wagons from the Fleetwood Brougham chassis (Castilion Estate Wagon) and pick-up trucks from the Coupe de Ville chassis (Mirage). These cars were only sold new, through Cadillac dealers. Here's the top-10 list of most collectible Cadillacs (I've added their description under the listing). I don't know how these are ranked as far as desirability is concerned, as they appear to be in order of production year.
Best of All Time List:
1930 V16
1937 Cadillac Sixteen Custom Phaeton 5859
1940 Series 62
1946 Fleetwood Series 75
1953 Eldorado Convertible
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham
1959 de Ville Series
1965 Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham
1975-76 Cadillac Mirage*
1976 Eldorado Fleetwood Convertible
*Equipped with an 8.2 liter V8 engine, the Mirage earned a spot on the Top 10 Best Cadillacs of All Time List. Other features included a hidden, locking storage area w/spare tire, and even a “golf-bag” door on some vehicles!
We only built these cars for two years. 1977 was the year that GM started downsizing their cars and we really couldn't afford the retooling costs, so we closed the doors. I'm very proud of our effort and there's a huge following of fans & collectors these days. I occasionally get contacted by some who are seeking information or in the process of restoration. Our first (prototype) was a '74 model and was purchased by Evel Knievel, who later bought a '76 model to add to his "fleet". I know the '74 is in his museum (not sure about the '76). They could be seen in his movie "Viva Knievel". Many others bought these cars, Dean Martin, Wayne Newton, Sammy Davis Jr, etc. ..... a long list. I personally delivered one to Gene Autry at his house. He, his wife (Ina Mae) and I sat on the patio in his back yard b/s'ing for an hour or more. We also built a Stutz Convertible that is now in the Peterson Museum in L.A. We built an Eldorado pick-up prototype that was sold when we closed the business, but I lost track of it. The last time I was able to track it down, a private owner had it in Dallas (or Houston maybe?).
Here are a few pics including one of our (tri-fold) dealer brochures.
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Here's a pic of a Mirage that the owner takes to car shows.
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This is the first Mirage ever built ('74 prototype) and this is a pic of the car in Evel's museum.
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This is a pic of the Eldorado pick-up (prototype) which was last known to be in Texas. We never went into production with this car and this is the only one we ever built. These aren't the best pics, but they're the only one's I have.
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When I worked in Beverly Hills, I saw Sammy Davis Jr. driving his Castilian on Sunset Blvd. almost every day. His was all black and I remember still adding the finishing touches to it as it was being driven out of the shop by a couple casino employees who were in a rush to get back to Las Vergas. The casino was going to present it as a gift to Sammy that very night. This pic is Dean Martin's '76 Castilian Estate Wagon. Notice the lic. plate. (the estate sold it a few years back, not sure who bought it)
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I spent every spare hour as a kid growing up, accompanying him to the shop to build race cars, including for NASCAR. I couldn't tell you how many nights I spent sleeping on a pile of race tires while he worked. Anyway, the above article brought back some fond memories of old times. Dad moved on to building stretch limousines (Lincolns and Cadillacs) as well as Camaro, Firebird, Toyota and Datsun convertibles. A true workaholic, he was still at it until the day he died. I sure miss him.
Well, I stumbled on something kind'a cool this weekend.
Ha! The Mirage is the pick-up. People would see it from the front quarter, yet not realize it had a pick-up bed. They’d think it was a coupe, hence the name Mirage. The year after we ended production, Mitsubishi contacted us to ask permission to use the name. We told them we had no copyright on the name, so they used it for the Mitsubishi Mirage starting in 1988.
If you were in the car design business, you’d realize the difference between a wagon and a hearse. The hearse has a large, squared off back section with a huge, side-opening door. They normally had landau bars on the pillar posts. Station Wagons were still common in those days, so the difference was obvious during that era. To you young whipper-snappers accustomed to mini-vans and SUV’s, it probably would look like a hearse. [emoji1787]
The rear seats also folded down to make a large cargo area and there was an area of the rear floor that opened to expose a secure storage area, including jack and spare tire.
There were competitors making similar wagons, but they simply cut the rear off of GM wagons from a salvage yard and welded it on. The roof lines, window shapes/lines didn’t match and really looked like crap to anybody who knew what they were looking at. Ours were all hand made parts and the body lines flowed like a custom designed unit, instead of a Frankenstein unit cobbled together with existing, non-matching parts.
There were also competitors making the Caddie trucks with El Camino type beds. Again, ill-fitting to the trained eye. Our “trucks” were also hand-made with no salvaged parts. We were the only builder authorized to be sold through Cadillac dealers and were fully warranted by the dealer.
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