1957 CADILLAC ELDORADO

Cadillac's completely restyled 1957 offerings borrowed heavily from the lines of the Park Avenue, a hardtop sedan "idea" car shown at the 1954 Motorama. A new X-member chassis contributed to structural rigidity as well as to a profile nearly three inches lower than before. Of course, the lack of side rails meant that the new frame afforded virtually no lateral impact protection, but Detroit wasn't particularly safety-conscious in those days.

Once more the Eldorado Biarritz and Seville had their own rear-end configuration. The work of Ron Hill, a talented 23-year-old design newcomer, it featured a sloped deck flanked by rounded fenders sprouting sharply pointed fins. Rear wheel openings were again skinless, and the lower rear fenders were liberally garnished with chrome. The hood ornament was eliminated, contributing to a smoother frontal appearance. Overall, the '57 was more readily distinguishable from other Cadillacs than any Eldorado since the original. Oddly enough, the dual four-barrel carburetion was dropped this year, and standard horsepower backed off slightly to 300 despite an increase in compression ratio. The all-out performance buff could still get the twin pots and 325 horses, but they now cost extra.

But the Biarritz and the Seville were no more than a warm-up for 1957s main event. As it had in the Thirties, Cadillac plunged into the super-luxury market with the new Eldorado Brougham, a virtually hand-built hardtop sedan on a more compact 126-inch wheelbase. Conceived largely in response to the Continental Mark II from Ford Motor Company, it came with every extra in the Cadillac accessory book -- plus a few brand-new exclusives -- but was no more successful. Price was a formidable $13,074, for which you could very nearly buy both a Biarritz and a Seville. Demand was predictably limited, and just 400 were built for the model year, all in Cadillac's own plant, by the way.

STYLE

NOTES

• The Eldorado Sedan Seville was a special order model built in limited quantities.
• The symbol "X" after Body Style Number in brackets indicates power windows optional
• without brackets indicates this feature standard.

SERIES 70 ELDORADO BROUGHAM

Announced in December, 1956 and released around March, 1957, the Eldorado Brougham was a hand-built, limited-edition four-door hardtop sedan derived from the Park Avenue and Orleans show cars of 1953-1954. Designed by Ed Glowacke, the Brougham featured America's first completely pillariess four-door body styling. The ventipanes were electrically controlled. The Brougham was further distinguished by a brushed stainless steel roof, the first appearance of quad headlights and totally unique trim. The exterior ornamentation included wide, ribbed lower rear quarter beauty panels (extending along the full rocker sills) and a rectangularly sculptured side body "cove" highlighted with five horizontal windsplits on the rear doors. Tail styling treatments followed the Eldorado theme and "suicide" type hanging was used for the rear doors. Standard equipment included all possible accessories such as

• a dual four-barrel V-8
• air-suspension
• low-profile tires with thin whitewalls
• automatic trunk lid opener
• automatic "memory" seat
• Cruise Control
• high-pressure cooling system
• polarized sun visors
• Signal-Seeking twin speaker radio
• electric antenna
• automatic-release parking brake
• electric door locks
• dual heating system
• stainless steel (with a silver finish) magnetized glove box drink tumblers
• cigarette and tissue dispensers
• lipstick (cologne was mentioned in the dealer Data Book, but was not actually offered)
• ladies' compact with powder puff, comb, and mirror
• leather notebook
• STEP atomizer with 1 oz. bottle of "Arpege" perfume extract made by Lanvin, Paris.
• automatic starter (with re-start function)
• Autronic-Eye
• drum-type electric clock
• power windows
• forged aluminum wheels
• air conditioning

Buyers of Broughams had a choice of 44 full leather interior trim combininations and could select such items as Mouton (French for lambskin) and Karakul carpeting.

ENGINES

CHASSIS

POWERTRAIN OPTIONS

CONVENIENCE ACCESSORIES

HISTORICAL NOTES

• The 1957 Eldorado Brougham was designed to compete with the Lincoln-Continental Mark II.
• The new dual quad headlamps seen on the Brougham were illegal in some states during 1957.
• The Brougham air suspension system proved unreliable and Cadillac later released a kit to convert cars to rear coil spring type suspension.
• This makes Broughams with the feature rarer and more valuable today.
• The Brougham is a certified Milestone Car.
• Series 62 sedans were short-deck models with trunks five inches shorter than 60S sedans.
• Ball joint suspension was a new technical feature adopted this year.
• Model year sales amounted to 146,841 deliveries earning Cadillac Division ninth industry ranking for two years in a row.

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