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Cadillac sold the Eldorado for 50 model years, and by the end the Touring Coupe was a car most people had stopped noticing. This one-owner 2000 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe is live on Hagerty Marketplace in Crystal Lake, Illinois, with about 43,800 miles on the odometer, no reserve, and a high bid of $2,700 as of Monday morning, Nov. 9. The auction is set to end Thursday, Nov. 12, at 2:25 p.m. ET.
A nameplate that started as a show car
The Eldorado name was picked in an internal competition for a 1952 concept car that marked Cadillac's golden anniversary. It then went on a limited-edition 1953 convertible, of which 532 were built, and for 1967 the Eldorado switched to front-wheel drive and became a hardtop coupe. By the time this car was built, the front-drive Eldorado was one of the last survivors of the personal luxury coupe, a class that Truth About Cars notes the market had largely walked away from by the late 1980s. The Eldorado outlived Lincoln's Mark VIII by roughly four years.
What the Touring Coupe added
The Eldorado was redesigned for 1992 and launched with a 4.9-liter V8 because the Northstar was not ready. The 4.6-liter Northstar V8 arrived for 1993. The Eldorado Touring Coupe, or ETC, was the performance version, and the listing says it was rated at 300 horsepower in this form and paired with a four-speed automatic. Per the listing, the ETC also carried Continuously Variable Road Sensing Suspension, StabiliTrak stability control and speed-sensitive MagnaSteer. Consumer Guide's review of the 2002 model also put the ETC's Northstar at 300 hp.
That recipe is similar to what Buick's last Riviera was chasing: a front-drive, GM-engineered luxury coupe with a performance option, aimed at a buyer who was rapidly disappearing.
Why the Eldorado disappeared
The sales numbers were the problem. Consumer Guide reported that Eldorado sales fell 13 percent in 2000 and that orders were down 16.7 percent through the third quarter of 2001, with slow sales leading to big discounts. Only 7,105 Eldorados were built for 2002, including 1,596 Collector Series cars in red or white, the same colors as the 1953 original. Production ended April 22, 2002, at the Lansing Craft Centre in Michigan, which was then retooled to build the Chevrolet SSR. Cadillac planned no direct replacement, and the same review noted that Escalade sales rose more than 50 percent that year, a good picture of where Cadillac buyers were headed.
This Eldorado Touring Coupe
The seller says they bought this car new in December 1999. It is finished in Polo Green over Neutral Shale leather, and the window sticker included with the sale lists a total MSRP of $45,842, with a power sunroof, garage door opener and seven-spoke chrome-over-cast-aluminum wheels among the options. Other equipment includes heated eight-way power front seats with memory, Zebrano wood trim, dual-zone automatic climate control and a Bose stereo with cassette and CD players.
The listing includes a clean CARFAX report and a clean Wisconsin title in the seller's name. The CARFAX service history shows an oil change and a new battery in February 2023, fuel line and fuel filter work in August 2021, and brake line repairs in September 2019. The sale also includes the Heritage of Ownership medallion, manufacturer's literature and multiple keys.
The seller does not hide the flaws. The listing discloses paint chips and scratches, pitting on the wheels, wear on the driver's seat and underside corrosion. In the comments the seller said an independent inspection report on the underside rust is included with the photos, along with a cold-start and short drive video. Bidding has reached 17 bids from a starting point of $100, and as of Monday morning the high bid was $2,700, against that $45,842 sticker price when new.
The bottom line
An Eldorado Touring Coupe will not make anyone's list of hero cars, but it was the last big, serious attempt by Cadillac at a two-door luxury coupe with a performance streak, and one-owner examples with a window sticker and records are not common. Others in this niche that have gone through Motorious recently include the low-mile 1991 Cadillac Allanté, the 26,400-mile 1999 Buick Century Limited and the 38-years-owned 1978 Lincoln Town Car. The seller's listing is on Hagerty Marketplace.
