Here's a Tour of the Most Expensive Cadillac From 1977

This is a

1977

Cadillac El Dorado Barrett In the 1970s, the world's leading luxury car brand, other than Rolls-Royce and Bentley, was not Lexus, BMW or Mercedes-Benz, it was Cadillac and this was the Cadillac main, the top of the range. models the best

cadillac

you could buy 40 years ago. It's also one of the

most

delightfully strange strange cars I've ever reviewed and today I'm going to give you a

tour

. I borrowed this Eldorado from Maury's Heritage Car Connection. Here in Minneapolis, think of them as a vintage and exotic car rental company w

here

you can rent cars like this instead of a normal, boring Malibu from Enterprise.

Before we continue, I have to show you all this and show you all its details. quirks and features because from the perspective of someone who lived in 2017 this car is crazy and then as always I will drive it and then give it an excellent rating. I'll start with the

most

impressive one. the cork of this car i.e. its size, excuse me while I take a trip to the back, this car is 225 inches long, which means it's the same length as a chevy suburban, it's two and a half feet longer than a Ford Explorer. weighs 4,900 pounds, you're thinking, well it's ridiculous for a two-door car to be that huge in size, but you might not have realized something, open this up and this thing seats six passengers, so if you wanted , you could use it like a Ford Explorer, so you're thinking that a car that big, that long, that heavy, must have something gigantic under the hood and you're right, this car has a huge engine, in fact, it has a seven-speed V8. liters that followed the The 8.2-liter V8 of the previous model now, as you know, General Motors has recently used a 7-liter V8 in the Corvette Z06, w

here

it generated over 500 horsepower.

This car, hampered by emissions regulations, makes only 180 horsepower, which isn't much compared to the 7 liters I have. I'm going to start with this giant door that is so huge and so heavy thanks to all this leather and glass that you couldn't lift it if it weren't attached to the car. Now the most interesting thing about this door is this outside thermometer mounted at the base of the outside mirror and it has the

cadillac

logo on it and the idea is that you are sitting in the driver's seat, you look and it tells you what the temperature is outside, surprisingly it even works and Perhaps even more surprising, this isn't the only piece of exterior equipment on this car that gives you data.

The other exterior feature that gives you information. This car is much stranger than that thermometer. These things, if you've ever done them, there's one on every fender. Saw one of these on an old car and didn't know what it does well. This is what it does when you turn on the turn signal. This thing lights up to show you in the driver's seat that the turn signal is on when you turn it on. In your headlights, here a different flash of lightning comes on to show you that your headlights are on and when you turn on your lights, a third light of a completely different color comes on to show you that your lights are on.

It's actually kind of clever, but at the same time. I've never seen anything like it before, but going back to the giant door, it's so heavy and opens so wide so people can come in from behind that it has to have a handle, not just any handle, a finely finished wooden handle. It's hinged so when you go to open it you can pull it out and enjoy the luxury of the Cadillac, assuming you're strong enough to close the door. This car also has another interesting door handle situation, that is, if you want to get out. and you're sitting in the front seat, obviously you just pull the door handle, open the door and get out, but the door on this car is so big that it also has a handle on the back door for the rear passengers if they want to get out. there are two separate handles on this door that open it so the people inside can get out now, once you get in this car, you are faced with what is perhaps the best thing about the entire Eldorado: the padded seats and I don't I mean they are something like that. padded, I mean this car has pillows mounted on top of the seats, two on each seat, bottom and back, front and back, eight pillows total in this car, which is more than I have in my bed.

I mentioned earlier that this car seats six people and There may be two bench seats in this car, three people in the back, three people in the front. Now the strange thing about the front setup is that the seats are power in the front and are split, even though a person in the middle is supposed to do it. go here so in theory the driver could put his seat all the way forward, the pastor could put his seat all the way back and then the person who is stuck in the middle seat would be half in one seat and half in the other in This strange angle configuration is very strange, but so is this car now.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this car is all its controls, which are really strange, for example the climate control in a normal car, anyone can adjust the climate control. It's right in the middle, whatever you want. colder on this side hotter whatever is not in this car in this car the climate control is to the left of the steering wheel which means it is the sole responsibility of the driver, the passenger can ask nicely and the driver can decide if you want to accommodate the passenger Climate Change Request Next, let's talk about controlling the mirrors now in your car.

There's probably a little switch on the driver's door panel and you move a little thing and that adjusts where the mirror is and that's true in this car too, except a little switch on the door panel just adjusts the mirror. from the driver, if you want to adjust the passenger mirror, there is an unlabeled switch right above the defroster behind the steering wheel and it moves it and adjusts the passenger mirror, now this is purely mechanical, you adjust these things when the car is off because when you adjust it there's probably a little wire inside that actually moves the mirror to where you're pulling it.

Next, let's talk about how to control your windshield wipers and I've seen a lot of strange things. controls on many cars, but this wiper control might take the cake now on your car, it's probably the little bit of stuff that comes out of the steering column, you push it, the wipers come on, it's easy on this car, there's a bit of l- shaped track to the left of the steering wheel and there's a little switch inside and you move the switch along the little l to activate the windshield wipers and how don't you love the interior turn signal indicators on this car, plus those little things on the hood that let you know when the turn signal is on, the little indicators in the gauge cluster on this car are cool too, they're not little arrows like on modern cars, they're just giant green triangles that they point in the direction you are going to turn, I love them, another interesting control in this car, you want to turn on the headlights, that's easy, just turn a small dial located to the left of the steering column, that's how it goes on normal cars Nowadays, you want to spin.

On this car's lights, well, that's easy too, just press a small button with your left foot located on the footrest. I've been told this is quite common on older cars like this, but I've never seen it before and I can do it. I can't imagine why they thought that was a better idea than putting it pretty much anywhere else. Another interesting thing about this car, this car seats six people but of course it would be more comfortable for four. Cadillac knows this and that's why they equipped it with four ashtrays one. for every individual that can sit in the car, personal ashtrays, ah, the 70s, now moving on to the interior controls, look at the rest of this car, just saying it's a normal 70s car, how peculiar could it be.

Well, you're in for a treat, I'll start with the horn guy who is unpleasant but fits the character of the car, wouldn't you say? Now, moving back, you'll notice that there is no fuel door on the driver's side of this car and there is no fuel door on the passenger side of this car, that's because the fuel door is hidden under here. of the registration. This was quite common on 70's cars, putting the fuel door under the license plate, what was less common was opening and closing the trunk. The situation now, opening the trunk was a little peculiar, you moved your little Cadillac shield to the side so you could check how cool you were every time you jumped into the trunk and put the key in, you turned it and then the trunk jumped to the right. open, but that wasn't the craziest thing about the trunk situation, the most interesting thing about the trunk came when it came time to close it, you took the trunk, closed it most of the way and then the trunk does the rest now many times.

Today's cars have soft-close automatic doors that do exactly that, but this was 40 years ago and that was cool at the time and we're not even close to being done with all the weird exterior corks on this car, now headlights, lights rear, those. They're all pretty normal what wasn't so normal is here on the vinyl top this little light mounted behind the window why is it there for decoration and when you turn on the headlights that light comes on I really don't know why It lights up the side of the car to let other people know that you are driving an Eldorado.

Speaking of unusual lighting, this car has something called cornering lights, which is a little strange. Some modern cars have this nowadays, but in case you haven't seen it. It is worth noting that when you are driving, you put on the turn signal and you are going to turn, the car knows this, so it also turns on a small light like the headlights on the side of the car to illuminate left or right, depending on which turn signal you place that way, your path is a little brighter as you turn. Some other things I like about the exterior of this car, the car both the front and the rear, finishes and then Cadillac added something. other stuff in some kind of weird material and then Cadillac added some chrome after the car ends on both sides, there's about a foot more car, only Cadillac in the 70's did that kind of thing and along the same lines I mentioned that this car is 224 inches long but check this out, the wheelbase is the distance from the center of the front wheel to the center of the rear wheel which is only 124 inches which means this car is eight feet and means of space off the axes.

I'll never see that in any car again, except maybe the Lincoln that competed with it at the time. Another thing I like about this car is the Cadillac crest and reef hood ornament. Now apparently, at the time this car was sold, there was a problem with the hood. People stole ornaments and stole them and then mounted them on the wall as trophies, so Cadillac made this one impossible to steal. Check this out and finally we have to talk about the rear reflector which actually says "El Dorado" and some pretty nice lettering, in fact it's even raised over the reflector as if it could be a reflector on any other car since it's about a foot long. long, okay, so that's all the weird quirks and interesting features of the

1977

cadillac eldorado barretts now before you drive this suburban chevy sized coupe.

On the road, a little history lesson, yes this car really existed at a time when Cadillac was the world standard for luxury cars. Young people today don't realize it, but BMW at one time made horrible little cars like this and Mercedes made horrible little cars. cars like this when this car came out in 1977, Lexus wouldn't even exist for another 13 years at that point, what people wanted were opulent and comfortable luxury cruisers like this, then came the fuel crisis, emissions regulations, fuel economy rules, higher gas prices and Cadillac couldn't. You're not going to get away with making a suburban-sized two-door Chevy car that gets 9.4 miles per gallon overnight, gold became obsolete and European and Japanese luxury cars went in for the kill.

Anyway, it's time to drive this thing and don't forget to click. link below to go to autotrader.com oversteer, where I have more ideas on how to drive this 40 year old luxury barge and I have a list of cars that don't regain their former glory like the last one. eldorado models anyway it's time to hit the road so i have to back this up huh i literally have no idea what's going on at any point nor are the mirrors that small this car is 20 feet long, in seriously 20 feet long and the mirrors have to be like this they are like this here it goes we're driving this thing god it's just huge it's amazing that you're controlling all of this I feel like I'm driving a condo okay first off the cadillac logo on the front, I mean, you justto receive this giant cadillac hood ornament, it's just huge and it's 10 or 12 feet in front of you.

It's amazing how much vehicle I'm piloting and the really amazing part is that I can't actually see anything behind me, but I know it lasts just as long back there. I can not believe it. I mean, the people who drove this thing must have been the most ostentatious annoying bastards of the 1970s. People say cars feel like a boat, I mean, it's the stupidest thing if someone says that about a car. modern, they are just being idiots, they are using clichés for your sake, this car feels like a bow, this car, first of all, you can move the steering wheel. 12 inches before it starts the spinning process and I say spinning process because it doesn't actually start spinning it just starts floating in the general direction you're spinning starts the wheel and then if you do it a little bit more It goes on and I mean it's connected to the wheels but now there's just vaguely no sense of urgency in this car which is kind.

How nice, the seats are tremendously padded, soft and comfortable, it's a wonderful sitting experience. I love it, of course, they don't have a headrest. They didn't come up with that technology, but they decided to put the seats like that. pillows, they literally have pillows on them, but the headrest wasn't there so I can just throw my head back of course if I get hit from behind I do one of those and then break my neck or something. I'm not going to sit here and say I don't like this car, the people who have them are crazy, but you have to admit it captures a certain era, uh, in America, in Cadillac, in the car industry, that's cool, and yeah If I had an 80's car garage, this would be one and I would drive it a couple times a year and think it was the coolest thing in the world and it would be fun to have in the '70s when most cars were crap and were They came back small and carbureted, horrible and poorly built, this thing would have felt so nice and comfortable and cushioned and you drove some kind of expression of yourself in this car like the '70s chevette and all these stupid cars that were small and stupid and ugly and this The car would have been like yeah, yeah, I have my caddy, but it feels tremendous, this is one of those cars where you sit in the right lane, people drive by you and say, oh, I'm traveling in my Explorer, I have my children.

We're going to a psych practice, we have to get there and you're like, yeah, whatever, I don't care, I'm just chilling, but you have to turn the wheel, oh God, we just went over a bump and the whole car. of realigning on the road like what, oh, this is nice, it's so nice, so comfortable, it really reminds me a lot of that spectrum that I have rolls royce, the new rolls-royce rate that I drove uh, it feels like that in the sense that It's just a dick, it's okay, shit, oh my god, I didn't realize how slow it would be, I did it right on red, that was a mistake, here's a sienna passing by me, I'm going to catch it 50 55 .we are doing it, yes, there was absolutely no pretension of sport in this car and, just like the Rolls-Royces, there is no attempt, you know many cars today, oh, we are luxurious and we are sporty with this one. , this car was just luxury there.

It wasn't like oh no we have a sport version no, by modern standards it's terrible right, it's slow and the steering is horrible and the braking is bad and the use of space inside is ridiculous, I mean the car It's 24 feet long, my knee is hitting the steering column here and they didn't even have to deal with safety because it took up so much space, but the thing is, it's cool, it's cool, these 70's El Dorados don't sell therefore, uh, but me. I bet one day they will start to be appreciated a little more, it's an experience as cars become more technologically advanced, smaller and easier to use, and all of that is an experience that most people won't be able to anymore. have in any car.

So that's the 1977 Cadillac El Dorado Barrett, one of the most opulent luxury cars you could buy 40 years ago, basically the Mercedes S-Class Coupe of its time. It's not fast, it's not fun, but it is majestic and extremely comfortable, and from the perspective of a 40-year-old. Years later, it's really very strange and quirky, now it's time to give it an excellent score, starting with the weekend and style categories. Some people hate the way this car looks and some people love it. I personally can see both sides and can't justify calling it out. whether beautiful or ugly, giving it a 5 out of 10.

Next up is acceleration, the Eldorado does 0-60 in nine point seconds, giving it a one out of ten. The handling is really terrible, really horrible, with enormous body roll and vagueness in the steering. it's just one step away from being truly dangerous, so it gets a factor of two out of ten. It's very debatable and I know a lot of people think this era of Eldorado is too limited by emissions regulations to be really cool, but I think it's cool enough. to get a 7 out of 10. Finally, the importance is basically: would you put this car in a museum?

Previous El Dorado models may be more indicative of Cadillac's golden years, but this car showed a different face, the end of an era among giant, flashy American cars. easily gets a 6 out of 10, bringing its total score for the weekend to 21 out of 50. Next for the daily categories I start with the features, this car had a lot of features for its time, but this category judges the cars by modern standards and this one is way off the mark lane departure warning uh no, but if you want an ashtray, the gold one has you covered and for that reason it still gets a 2 out of 10.

Next up is luxury, which measures Primarily comfort, the Dorado is one of the most comfortable cars I've ever driven, but it's hampered by poor visibility, which reduces its potential from a 9 to an 8 out of 10. Quality measures materials and reliability. I'm told the reliability is good largely due to the fact that it's quite simple mechanically, but the quality is admittedly a bit iffy, it gets a five out of ten for practicality, the boot is huge enough to get a five. in this category and the car seats six which helps in its case but the fuel economy is really horrendous and then there is the issue of parking. a 20 foot long car isn't exactly very practical which is why it gets a 4 out of 10.

Finally there is value, these things aren't fast, they aren't exciting to drive and they aren't rare so they probably shouldn't be worth it a lot. but they're great at least to me and their current price (you can easily get one for under ten grand) is a good deal for such a unique automotive experience that gives it a six out of ten, bringing its total daily score to 25 . out of 50. The only time a 77 el dorado will beat a ferrari f40 in any aspect, add it all up and the total score excavated is 46 out of 100, putting it near the bottom among the cars I have rated, it is also tied with the maserati Cuatro Porte 2005 that tells everything you need to know about the Maserati Cuatro Porter 2005