1970 Cadillac Eldorado Is a Low-Mile Survivor; the First Owner Had It 51 Years

The Eldorado lasted a dozen generations and half a century in the Cadillac lineup. It set the bar to heights we will probably never see surpassed. As the horsepower wars were drawing to a close, automakers turned their attention to other qualities. If the sixties is the decade of the muscle car, the seventies is the age of the personal luxury automobile.

Nothing and no one could spell ‘luxury’ better, bigger, bolder than Cadillac in seventies America – and that’s exactly what the General Motors division did. In 1970, the 8.2-litre powerplant debuted. Coincidence or not, that same year, all other GM branches released a cubic-inch monster (Chevrolet had its signature 454 V8, while Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick each offered a 455-cube motor – three different versions, unrelated to one another).

Cadillac, however, was playing in a field of its own, with Lincoln and Imperial as its opponents following from a big distance behind. The most expensive division in the treasury of the biggest carmaker on the planet at the time wasn’t following the trend with abominable horsepower numbers. Instead, it offered effortless front-wheel drive opulence in the Eldorado while observing the two-door, six-passenger rule.

That’s not to say the Eldorado was a muscle car through and through – it was as far away from the concept as a station wagon from a sportscar. And yet, with 550 lb-ft and 400 hp (405 PS, 746 Nm), the front-wheel drive Eldorado could move its 2.2-ton heft about as if it was a gym regular. Of the 238,744 Cadillacs assembled for the union-strike-stricken 1970 model year, 23,842 were posh Eldorados.

After the Toronado pioneered the front-wheel-drive platform in 1966, Cadillac introduced it a year later. For 1960s America, that was a mutiny of considerable proportions, but Cadillac had enough momentum to break through the prejudices and stereotypes of the day. Gearheads from certain climates quickly discovered an unexpected benefit of having the driving wheels pull the car instead of pushing.

Wintertime (with snow, black ice, and all that splendor) wasn’t a forte for the average rear-wheel-driven Detroit product. But the Toronado, with all the bulk of the engine and transmission pushing down hard on the front wheels, plowed through snow with little effort; the detail didn’t go unnoticed by a certain Bob Hallstrom when, back in high school, he found himself as the most popular figure in his group of friends after the first snowfall of the season.

The teen drove a 1966 Toronado while his buddies bragged with Camaros, Mustangs, Chevelles – you get the picture. Bob’s ride didn’t get stuck in the snow, and he immediately embraced the mechanical paradigm. Decades later, he saw an ad on a specialized website while searching for a car to satisfy his gearhead hobby. The vehicle in question was enticing, but there was a problem: it only had one photo.

It only had one owner, too, and very low miles, so Bob decided it was worth taking a look at. But with the vehicle in New Jersey, it wasn’t as simple as jumping in the car and driving over to the seller over the evening. Bob called his son, who happened to be close to the car's location and asked him to help with an in-person inspection.

By all accounts and purposes, the car was better in reality than on the website, so Bob Hallstrom became its second custodian. With around 18,400 miles on the clock, the Eldorado is not only fresh and strong but also a victorious survivor who has never seen rain.

The first owner pampered it for over half a century, and it shows. Nothing on this Cadillac can be held against it, except that it makes time stand still, with the clock on the dash not appearing to be working. Maybe that’s the secret to keeping one superb automobile in impeccable condition – don’t let it know time is ticking away.

The car's condition isn’t just a subjective opinion of this author. Still, the reason for three prizes won at car meets, where the Caddy scored high enough to take first place. It’s not all just show, and no go – Lou Costabile, the vlogger who made the video attached below – can attest to the mighty 550-lb-ft acceleration.

Were it not for the very hard-to-find tires (made to order by a company specialized in reproducing period-correct rubbers for 1970s Cadillacs), I’ll bet Bob Hallstrom would leave parallel marks and smoke the front wheels without remorse, despite the 10-mpg (24 liters/100 km) average the big 500-cube engine scores.