The Cadillac That's Worth Over 50 Times Its Original Cost Now
Cadillacs have always been the name of the game when it comes to expensive American luxury cars. When you need to tow a dressage horse trailer and compete in a drag race, a brand-new Cadillac Escalade ESV-V is well over $150,000 with all the options. The supercharged 668 horsepower CT5-V is a hair under six figures when optioned out. The Cadillacs of today are fast, comfortable, and come with a price tag to match.
At the same time, even the most extravagant Cadillacs pale in comparison to the Caddys from over 60 years ago. If you really wanted to make an impression in 1959, you bought a Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. Words like "subtle" and "restrained" were not in Cadillac's vocabulary in the late-1950s.
Featuring enough fins to make a marine biologist upset, the Eldorado Biarritz convertible was excessive even by 1950s standards and had an MSRP of over $7400, according to NADA Guides. Adjusted for inflation, that's just over $75,000. That's just a drop in the bucket compared to what a 1959 Eldorado is worth now.
A Classy Caddy
NADA Guides lists the resale value of a pristine 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz at a hefty $205,000. That's over 27 times the original MSRP when Dwight Eisenhower was president. However, a nicely restored Eldorado just went for $410,000 on Bring a Trailer back in July. For those keeping score at home, that's over 50 times the original MSRP of $7400. That Eldorado was finished in Seminole Red and came with factory air conditioning, power steering, and air suspension the pinnacle of premium in the 1950s.
In 2020, a Hampton Green '59 Biarritz went for $229,600 at a Sotheby's auction. According to the auction listing, General Motors only built 1,320 Biarritz convertibles in 1959. It's unknown how many examples exist today, but that number will only get smaller.
On the off chance that you have a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz sitting in a garage somewhere, you may be sitting on a car worth its weight in gold. If you're looking to buy the car that is the purest embodiment of 1950s excess, start bidding now, because prices are only going up.