June 26, 2021: 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible . . .
Read MoreMy urge to drive an old car again has steadily become more intense in the last few years. I find myself browsing the cars-for-sale websites a lot more often to see what's out there. During one of my recent searches, I found this 1974 Cadillac Eldorado convertible for sale at Donohoo Auto Sales in Pelham, Alabama. Since the car looked quite nice in the pics, and the $14,990 asking price seemed more than reasonable, I made the 4-hour drive to check the car out.
First and foremost, the top worked perfectly, (I had to try that out first, naturally). On the road, the car performed wonderfully ! It accelerated, braked, and handled the way it should. The ride was Cadillac smooth. This car did a great job of reviving a lot of Cadillac convertible memories from my past.
One of the biggest items in the plus column for me was the fact that the frame and floors were immaculate. I saw no rust of any kind under the car.The list of stuff that worked properly was very long, much more crowded than I expected. The power windows (all four switches and the window lock), power door locks (both switches), both manual remotes for the door mirrors, both power seats, windshield wipers (washer is inop), lights & signals, fuel gauge, radio and power antenna, and the power trunk pull-down all worked properly. The fender-mounted indicators for the lights and signals worked. Even the annoying door buzzer still worked ! The climate control functioned correctly, but the a/c was not charged. There was evidence of a previous R134A conversion.
A number of small issues were present in addition to the a/c not being charged. The windshield washer pump and cruise control were not working. The top looked great and had very few imperfections. But it felt quite old. The car did stumble on me one time during my road test, but immediately recovered and didn't do it again. The upper radiator hose has the old-style large GM logo on it. The inside rear-view mirror was laying in the back seat. The power door locks worked, but both plungers didn't seem to be connected to anything. The remote trunk release button in the glove compartment didn't work. The heater control valve looked like it was beginning to seep. The fan clutch seemed a little looser than it should be. The RF outer CV boot was torn. And the RF lower ball joint had a little bit of play. Even though that's a long list, there is nothing here that I would call a catastrophe.
What bothered me, though, was the fact that after my road test, I shut the car off to look it over some more and could hear coolant boiling. There were no leaks of any kind. But I shouldn't be hearing coolant boil after shutting the engine off, no matter how hot outside it is, (and it was today). This is a sign of an overheat in progress. The issue could be something simple like the loose fan clutch, or a thermostat problem. But it could also be something much more intense, like a cylinder head issue.The asking price of the car was $14,990. Their offer for my 2005 BMW Z4 was $7,000, which seemed to be in line with some of the online guides. My out the door price would have been around $8,200.
I thought about it for a week and realized that even though I fell in love with the car and all of the wonderful memories it revived, this wouldn't be the right decision.
No worries. There will be others . . .