Latest News
2026 Chevrolet Tahoe ReviewCool Car Find: 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
This 1957 Eldorado Biarritz is a statement-making Cadillac still able to inspire awe after all these years.
Breezy Biarritz
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz – carsforsale.com | Shop Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz on Carsforsale.com
There is a certain needle car designers thread when they create a true classic. The trick is for the car to be at once timeless and perfectly of its time. The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz is one such car. Like many of Harley Earl’s GM designs from that decade, the ‘57 Eldorado is bold and brassy, bedecked in chrome, bulging in all the right places, with fins like a symphonic conductor’s final flourishing crescendo. It uses the design language of the 1950s while still speaking to us, fluently, seductively, today.
Our Cool Car Find, a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz in red, is an elegant and beautifully kept example. A piece of automotive art worthy of its hefty $119,000 price tag.
Big Yet Balanced
Production of the ’57 Cadillac Eldorado was principally split between the two-door hardtop Seville and the two-door Biarritz convertible (along with a handful of rare specially ordered four-door hardtops). All were based on the Series 62’s C-body architecture and featured a 129.5-inch wheelbase. The top-end Eldorado Brougham, which debuted with the 1957 model year, was a hand-built affair like the competing Continental. Based on the smaller Series 70 architecture, the ultra-luxury Brougham was priced at over $13,000 dollars, double that of the Seville and Eldorado.
Like many two-door luxury convertibles at the time, the Eldorado Biarritz was a big car, a full 222 inches in length. And yet part of the charm of the ’57 is its unexpected proportionality, aided by its large wrap-around windshield. An ornate egg-crate grill with protruding dagmars aka bumperettes are flanked by expressive headlamps. Long curvaceous body panels draw the eye toward the rear of the car with its pair of fins and huge rear decklid. The car sits on aluminum and steel “Sabre” wheels.
Under the Hood and Features
The Eldorado Biarritz was powered by a 365 cu-in (6.0L) OHV (over-head valve) V8 making 325 horsepower breathing through two four-barrel carburetors, complete with “bat wing” air cleaner, and sending power to a four-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. Typical of V8s of this vintage, fuel economy for the Eldorado Biarritz was a laughable 8.8 mpg.
As Cadillac’s mid-level offering, the Biarritz carried many luxury features including air-conditioning, power windows, power seats, power convertible top, and a power self-latching trunk. Power steering and power brakes were also standard equipment. Cadillac also offered their “Autotronic Eye” automatic headlights, those cars thus equipped are easily identified by the odd-looking pod resting on the far-left portion of the dashboard.
The 1958 Eldorado saw visual updates like the switch to quad headlights, a new front end that redesigned the grille, shrinking and repositioning the dagmars, and a new back end that altered the exhaust and taillights.
Our Cool Car Find
1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz – carsforsale.com | Shop Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz on Carsforsale.com
Just 1,800 1957 Eldorado Biarritz were built, making our example here a rare one. It is all the rarer for its unimpeachable condition and its jaw-dropping red paint job and red-and-white interior. Note the three-piece parade boot, aka the convertible cover, is original and in excellent shape. The seller notes that this car has updated heating, AC, and engine cooling.
The $119,000 price tag might seem high, but for a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz in this condition, it is below the average. Its styling and history, however, are decidedly not.
