I bought a 1961 Cadillac Eldorado GM factory custom off craigslist

Coming from the land of the GAMB it has a warped ring to it.

 

It just cries out for a set of 20's and hydraulics!

 

Un freaking believable.

 

Good score! She's in the right hands now.

 

Man, that resort you appear to be staying at doesn't mind you dragging all those old heaps up to the front door like that and working on them?

 

great find Nads!..thAT caddy looks right at home in your driveway...

 

way cool,

Can I link to the cadillac lasalle site...

 

Nads,I just have one question.Do you use a 40 pound bale of 4 leaf clovers for a pillow?Congrats on a fantastic find.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

oh YES!

 

One cool cat, obviously. These wise words match this stylish car.

 

I just photoshopped wide whites onto it & 'fixed' the rear quarter paint blister. I think you need to see how cool this car looks with wide whites..

 

great find

 

Keith it's not two tone, it has extruded aluminum panels along the rockers.

I swear to you guys, I was looking for a 1961 flattop, I love those cars and this car came up, it's totally bizarre, but it is what it is, people win the lottery too, but I've never gambled in my life, I've never bought a lottery ticket, ever.

I entered a contest in Custom Car magazine in England once and I won a welder with the slogan, "A Job Weld Done" but that wasn't gambling either.

 

Congratulations! Incredible find...

 

What an awesome find! Congrats!

 

cool car,like to see it all cleaned up,you scored!!!

 

Get the fuck outta here...

I wanna see pics of "The Cherry queen"

 

Gotta buy a scanner

 

Only Nads could go out looking for a 4 door and come back with a convertible concept car.

I love it and it is in the right hands. But remember, we all still want to see a batman-logo'd pink chopped El Camino get finished up, too!

 

Looks great sitting in the drive on your old inlaw's house...the house fits the car so well you can't sell the house now.
I'd have to find a set of caddy wires to make it as it was.

 

Nads, is it possible to trace ownership of the car, in Florida, like you can in other states? Although, I'm not sure owning a Walter Hagen car makes it more desirable than it already is.

 

It has no Florida history, its all Michigan and if someone knows how the system there works I'd like to know.

 

hey nad, i got a used honda ! 2003 accord lx seriously wanna trade, i 'd pick it up !
LOL great find man

 

I'm sure Matt or Denny Lesky (Ionia Hot Rod Shop) would know how that would work, being that they're born-and-raised Michigan guys.

I looked up Hagen and he seems like a pretty interesting guy. He was quoted saying, he "never wanted to be a millionaire, just to live like one." This Caddy would have helped him do so, I'm sure.

 

Just saw this, very cool Nads, happy for you!

 

Nads:
So far this thread sounds like a meeting of a quilting society.
OOH ! OOH ! Save it !
OH look it's sooo pretty !
You're a total WUSS if you don't do something to that car to make it yours.
Screw history.
Screw the purists.
This is the H A M B ! Not some flaky classic car forum.
Screw that "SAVE IT" shit !
You got the car cheap, now's your once in a lifetime chance to put your mark on it.
Tradition says ya gotta cut it up.
Do it and you'll be a H A M B H E R O !
Don't and you'll be a neutered pup.
Man, it's your car, DO something to it.
A pussy would let it alone.
Let some deep pocket gold chainer worry about fixing it after you.
If they wanted to have the car back to stock they should have bought it and done it.
Obviously no one cares, because you have it.
Be a man !

 

Wow, two posts in two years and you get all fired up on this one, I see your point but I just can't do it.

 

[two posts in two years]
I'm kind of the quite type.
By the way:
Great find

 

Those "ElDorado" moldings don't flow very well. Maybe cos she's showing her 'maturity'. You keeping it?

 

Congrats on the car! It looks great!

REALLY Good to see it went to a good home. Most of the CLC members are good guys overall. Don't be discouraged by the ones who aren't. That car is a great piece of Cadillac history. I have absolutely no doubt some better & closer photos are out there. You need to make some personal contact with the guys at GM heritage and get some direction on who you should contact at the archives. (The build sheet guys are a hired service and not the right guys to ask).

You'll want to also check out newspaper archives for the cities the car show toured in. They always sent photographers and over the last 5-10 years these newspaper archives have been purging the prints in a big way. Usually to small dealers who piece them out one by one. Cadillac was prestige... so I would assume more photos had been taken at the Cadillac booth than the others.

Also, GM would always set up photo shoots with executives at the shows and sent these prints out for press releases. There is an excellent chance that you might get a photo of executives in front of it as well.

Lastly, the build sheet will be interesting. They will email it over if you want it quicker. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't solve anything. I've seen a few "styling" cars from GM that had no special designation on the tags or build sheet. It doesn't mean anything other than the car started on the regular line. The real history is where it went from there.

Again, great job buying that car! You deserve it!

Josh