1980 Eldorado - Matt Garrett

1980 Cadillac Eldorado Biarrtiz. 3X White, 6.0 Cadillac Big Block EFI Engine, Astro Roof! 17K original miles, original car, collector owned, #1 condition car. This is the real thing here. One of the 2 good years with the good engine! This was a 20 year search to find. One of the nicest loaded and most desirable eldorados in the GOOD years. I wish I could find a near 0 mile example of an 80 like I have the later years... but to date, and with 20 years to boot, this is THE car for me... It wears my 1-CAD plate.

If you follow these 79-85 Eldorados, you know that from 82-85 the HT4100 was the engine used. If you do not know how disappointing of an engine that is, just run a google search and you will find all the information you can imagine, then some. Now lets just say the HT4100 happens to be the most reliable motor ever built... of which it was one of the worst.... the problem is when you push down the pedal, an HT4100 the car literally goes no where. Now the 80 Eldorado is different. It uses a 6.0 liter engine and has a 0-60 time in about the 9 second range. Now comparing this to a new corvette or Cadillac is not fair, but in its day this car was very peppy and today it is more than adequate in power. Next to the corvette and trans am of 1979, this car was no slouch at all actually. It also has a better power to weight ratio over its larger predecessors like the 76 Eldorado with the 500 engine. And when you start comparing what looks to be the exact same car in 82-83 to a 79-80.... they are nothing of the sorts. So many people have yet to understand the differences in this generation Eldorados, and I will tell you it is major. People seem to gravitate to the last year of a body style/model. But in the case of the 79-85 Eldorado the logic is backwards due to the engine options. The first 2 years are the good ones and so many people have missed that.

Now try finding a good 80 Eldorado. You really will not with 10 year on your hands and any money you want to talk. Why? Because the cars drove so good, people drove the wheels off of them. Very few true low mile examples like this exist, and if they happen to exist... they are probably brown or gold cars and have some other setback as to why they survived. Now look for an 82-85 Eldorado coupe with low miles..... The sky is the limit for you and at very affordable prices unless its fully loaded, or a convertible. They are everywhere in pretty good shape and low miles. Why? Well MANY of the 82-85s had the engines fail in the first year or so. Many were sent in for warranty replacement. Once the customer got the car back, they were scared of it... and they should have been. They tried to sell it before it broke again. Well when the word was out on the HT4100 and its issues, the resale of these cars in the day went straight to the ground like the stock market did here in the recent recession. So instead of getting 1/4 value for their cars, they just put them away and forgot about them. Probably was passed on to the next generation that did not understand why their parents actually saved the car... and it was not by choice. Well time seems to have healed and masked a lot of the HT4100 memories, but I can tell you when I push down the pedal on an HT4100, its 1982 all over again... and it was not good. 1979 and 1980 also were less production in those years too, so that is another factor why it is so hard to find an honest 79-80.

When you see a car like this one here and never knew why it so much different than all of the other Eldorados that look JUST like it.... The above is just the tip of the iceberg. It goes even deeper than that with the transmissions, radiators, and much more. Bottom line, 1979-1980 are the years to have and 81 is ok too with the 8-6-4... and this is only as long as you did not get the diesel or V6 option that is that many cars had in 79-81! Then add the fact you have a car with 3X white, Biarritz, 17K original miles, astro roof, fully loaded..... This is a true collector car that is more of a needle in a haystack than the layman will ever see without a long history of research. This was a once in 20 year find for me... and I look daily and have been known to pay out more money for the top examples of these cars than just about anyone.

More photos and more info to come on this car.

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