The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham (reference
here) was regarded as General Motors' response to Ford's 1956
Continental Mark II.
The Mark II was priced $9,695 and the Brougham $13,074 -- extremely expensive at the time. Both were mounted on 126 inch (3200 mm) wheelbases. Neither sold well. Only 3,005 1956-57 Mark IIs were built and sales of 1957-58 Broughams were even worse, at 704. Clearly, both cars lost the carmakers' money.
I wrote about Mark II's styling
here and
here.
The Mark II was intended to evoke the original, classic 1940-48 Lincoln Continental, whereas the Brougham's design was not tied to the past. Therefore, it conformed to GM's mid-1950s styling traits and Cadillac iconography.
Images below are via Mecum Auctions.
Gallery
Quad headlights were not legal in every US state until 1958, but the Brougham featured them anyway.
The sloped bumper guard theme appeared on Cadillacs as early as 1952, was revived for 1954, and continued though the '57 model year.
The fake side air vent is a variation of a Cadillac theme going back to 1950.
The shape of the top, including the backlight window and C-pillar evoke GM's original, 1949 hardtop coupes.
No Cadillac iconography on the car's rear.
Tail fin design is similar to that of non-Brougham '57 Eldorados, but not other '57 Cadillacs models.
Overall, the design is fairly restrained for its time.
Rear side doors are hinged on the C-pillar, and the B-pillar takes the form of a short, slanted, chromed post by the front seat side. It carries an attachment point for the door handles.
Cockpit.
Nothing on the front of that car looks quite straight. The camera, bad bodywork? Looked it up in Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete"Designed in-house, Cadillac contracted with Pininfarina of Turin, Italy for the manufacture of the low-volume model. The Eldorado Broughams were among the first Cadillacs to be hand-built in Italy; concept cars were also hand built as needed. Cadillac chassis were sent by boat to the port of Savona, Italy where they were then delivered to the factory in Turin at Grugliasco, mated with the body and sent back to Detroit by boat."
Figures. Probably a lot of pounds of lead in there too.