Back in the golden days of the U.S. automotive industry, Cadillac used to mean something. Take, for example, the Eldorado from the 1960 model year because few cars from that era have the same level of visual drama.
The Eldorado also had a pretty interesting engine in the guise of a small-block V8 with 390 cubic inches of displacement. That’s 6.4 liters and 325 horsepower, if you were wondering, and Cadillac was much obliged to extract 345 horsepower from the Tri-Power version of the eight-pot lump.
Despite these hearty numbers, the fourth-gen Eldorado in every single one of its body styles and variants wasn’t going anywhere fast. It’s a proper cruise from a time when cruising was a thing, a very heavy piece of metal that wasn’t helped by the rear-axle ratio and four-speed transmission either.
By modern standards, especially modern luxury cars with performance to match the creature comforts and features, it’s fair to say the Eldorado is an old man’s car. However, this particular example of the breed strays from the preconceived notion following a lot of modifications such as the LS3.
Rated at 430 ponies when introduced in the Corvette for the 2008 model year, the small-block motor in this Caddy has been dialed to 563 horsepower and 514 pound-feet (697 Nm) of torque at 3,800 rpm according to Roadster Shop’s dyno. Supercharged for good measure and pretty loud as well, thanks to a pair of Borla mufflers, the engine is complemented by a Fast Track 1959-1964 Cadillac chassis with C6 Corvette bits and bobs.
Fox fixed-valve coilovers, 10-gauge steel fully-boxed frame rails, a Strange Engineering Ford 9.0-inch housing with 31-spline axles, and a parallel four-bar suspension out back also need to be mentioned. Still a work in progress at the present moment, the one-off build also features blue-painted valve covers with the Cadillac script on them and very modern yet retro gauges.
The finishing touch? That would be the 18-inch polished wheels from EVOD Industries, which are seemingly inspired by the Eldorado Brougham.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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