There’s been all sorts of interesting stuff on the auction block lately, but surely the car above has the Seventies lovers in the audience all shook up.
General Motors never made a regular-production Cadillac station wagon, but when you’re the King you can get anything you want. The guys at Daily Turismo suggest that ASC built it using the roof and windows from a 1970 Buick Estate Wagon and their photographic evidence is convincing.
The daddy-Caddy has sold for $29K and $34K at its last two auctions. Given that a new build of a Seventies Cadillac wagon would cost close to that, it has to be considered a bargain. The Elvis connection is basically free. To find out how these cars drive, feel free — no, feel encouraged! — to read my review of a similar car. Thank you very much.
That’s a hunka hunka burnin’ wagon.
I dunno….that’s all I got.
Do y’all remember when factory tinted windows came in that colour?
The last one I remember seeing like that was a 1977 Ventura in an Edmonton showroom.
I remember the 1990s gold tinted windows from Japan. Mostly on Nissans and Toyotas. In fact, my current car and my last car both have gold tint. I’ve always wondered why it was so limited in scope and completely died out so quickly.
That gold tint looks GREAT on the QX4.
It looks like Mecum has edited the original listing that described it as an Eldo, and now lists it as an American Sunroof Corp modified DeVille sedan. Cool car, it’ll be interesting to see what the price is when the gavel hits the block.
Vince @DailyTurismo
What did Elvis play on the 8-track while he was driving it? As suggested by KB, this comes to mind:
My hands are shaky and my knees are weak
I can’t seem to stand on my own two feet
Who do you thank when you have such luck?
I’m in love
I’m all shook up
Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!
I love this car so much I died on a toilet.
I like it although I’d never pay anything for one .
Talk about wretched excess & the family truckster .
-Nate
Awww c’mon, Nate; you could put your Metropolitan in the back and take it for a ride!
My mother had a 72 Sedan De Ville (same year as the car above) that was metallic turquoise with matching interior and a white vinyl top. Comfortable car but at 8 mpgs it was thirsty.
I remember seeing one of these for sale in Santa Rosa , New Mexico a few years back . That one was based on a later seventies Sixty Special using the boxier rear end , and had a moonroof , vinyl top and leather interior in a similar color as this one .Also recall seeing another Caddy wagon with a heavy , Shaft’s Big Score type front end .
All with custom bodywork. The Buick estate wagons that donated their rear ends were practically the same car, but if you read Jack’s Talisman review, the Buicks weren’t good enough – because they weren’t Cadillacs.
500 cubic inches of Cadillac power AND the ability to carry a 4×8 sheet of plywood in the back? Sign me up.
Agree. I’m not really seeing a downside here.
No the 72 Cadillac had a 472 cu inch.
The No-B-Pillar look is the automotive equivalent to seamed stockings on Sophia Loren, from the same era.
Pure. Station. Wagon. P0rn.
+ 1,000 ! .
I SO love big old American cars as long as I don’t have to drive or _feed_ them .
This is why I gave my Cadillac Hearse to my big brother ~ he loves it and drives the wheels off it , I get to ride shot gun and love every minute .
Pillarless anything American looks good to me .
-Nate
(who loves his tiny cars too)
Oh hell yes. If I had big piles of stupid money, I’d be all over this, then throw in the Elvis connection….
Help me out here, is a third mortgage a bad idea?
I’m surprised it does not have the clamshell tailgate with wraparound rear windows which made the 71-76 GM full sized wagons quite unique. Though the only drawback was it was quite difficult to get a 4×8 sheet inside them.
That may not be a Vista Cruiser, but it looks like it could still literally cruuiissseee the vistas…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6yczfL9n3M
I see it as “Hearse lite”
Was there an Olds 98 wagon ?
Not sure about earlier models, but I’m fairly sure the final RWD 98 was available as a wagon. The Custom Cruiser was a 98, right?
The Custom Cruiser wagon during the clamshell era was more 88 than 98 in its interior fitments. Most of them had vinyl seats. The doors and greenhouse were similar to the 88 post sedan. At that time all 98’s were hardtops. During the box wagon era (starting in ’77), GM started offering cushier wagon interiors. For a time, Buick offered the Estate Wagon as either a LeSabre or an Electra.
Yeah, I thought the box wagons were the first Custom Cruisers. I thought wrong.
EcoBoost 1 cyl repower!
I don’t know if Demolition Derbys are still popular but back in the 1980’s GM Wagons and Caddies dominated them .
Sad to think of it now but watching them bash the other cars to smithereens was impressive and always very entertaining .
-Nate
Yes they did! The most sought-after demo cars are the 1973-76 5mph bumper cars. You drill a hole in the bumper shocks to drain out the fluid, then weld them solid, thus making a stock battering ram on each end.
I ran a 1973 Pontiac wagon in a demo derby about 20 years ago (first and last time). I was then unaware of all of the tricks-of-the-trade back then (such as the bumper shock trick discussed above, or tubing all of the tires, or welding the differential spider gears to achieve a solid rear axle, etc) so it didn’t do too well.
From what I have been told by demo drivers, the 1975 Caprice/Impala 2-door is one of the best GM cars for this purpose, but they are getting much harder to find.
Second best are the full-size Mopar cars with the leaf-springed rear end. Final secret demo derby trick revealed here: place cuts in the top of the frame just behind the rear axle such that it causes the rear end to bend upward when hit. On the Mopar cars, you would see the entire trunk bent upward so far that it blocked any visibility out the rear window, with the leaf springs still holding on!
If you can find an old Caddy ambulance or hearse, isn’t that the same thing?
No.
The Cadillac ambulances and hearses were built on a Cadillac commercial chassis which was not used for any other production vehicles. My 1969 M+M ambulance had a 156″ wheelbase, whereas the Caddy wagon above had a 127″ wheelbase and was built on the standard sedan/wagon frame.
Besides having a longer wheelbase, don’t they also have a larger (side opening only) rear door and taller roof to accomidate a stretcher or casket; along with a strengthened load floor?
Yes and no ~
Co$t is always an issue so many were converted from Fleetwood chassis .
Many were designed and built as ” Combination Rigs ” for smaller Townships who’d use the Ambulance as a hearse too .
As far as Chrysler wagons , they made them in different chassis , the Sattelites were smaller & sportier , my old ’69 Chrysler wagon 8 passenger was a BEAST .
For the economy minded , the Darts were also sold in wagon format , this was the “A’ body Mopar (I think) .
-Nate
Holly Moley, my grandpa had one of these (Buick evidently)! Same color, it was like riding in cargo ship for a 7 year old. Rode in the back with the dog and the back window rolled down. My other grandad had a 1973 Dodge Station Wagon, it was like an extended Charger. Not sure which one was bigger, but you were rollin’ like the king in both of em.
There was a similar vintage Cadillac estate for sale on Ebay a couple of years ago – it was purportedly the vehicle which hauled around the Jackson 5 way back then. It did have a TV fitted by the conversion company, between the front seats.