The ninth generation Cadillac Eldorado from 1971 - 78 is one of my all-time favorites, especially the convertible models. I would love to have one, but I the asking prices for these cars have escalated quite a bit over the years. Always on the lookout for a bargain, I was headed to Walmart on this day and was quite surprised to find one for sale not just locally, but a few miles from my house. Naturally, I had to stop to have a look.

This is a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible. According to the owner of the garage in the background, the car belongs to one of his customers. The asking price was $6,500 OBO for the 28k mile car, which is more than likely 128k miles. The car was driven to the shop and runs very well, but has a few issues that need to be addressed.

The 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible was anticipated to be and marketed as, "The Last Convertible." In those days, the federal government was seriously looking into enacting rollover safety standards that would effectively put an end to the convertible as it was known at the time.

Thankfully, that never happened. Even so, the publicity generated by the "Last Convertible" marketing for 1976 resulted in 14,000 being produced, a full 156% increase over the numbers for 1975. In fact, more Eldorado convertibles were produced for 1976 than in any other year.

The "Last Convertible" marketing also put the 1976 Eldorado convertible in the same category as other automotive "investments." Many of these cars were purchased new and then put away in climate-controlled storage for, in some cases, several decades. When these ultra-low mileage museum quality cars, (some with single digit odometer readings and graded #1), emerge from their long naps, they bring big money at collector car auctions. Cars with normal wear and tear and appropriate mileage, (#2 or #3 grade), still go for $15k or more.

This car, however, was not one of those. The $6,500 asking price gives the potential buyer an indication of what to expect.

While the car looked decent from a distance, the truth began to appear as I moved in for a closer look. I noticed a few body gap issues like the one seen in the photo above where the hood, left front fender, and left door meet.

Rust bubbling in the paint was also present, as were a few broken lenses.

The most obvious problems were with the convertible top.

Two large holes were present in the horizontal surface of the top.

Even though my camera decided to focus on the bushes in the background, the separation between the top fabric and frame is quite evident and easily seen in the photos above and below.

Actually, "separation" may be an understatement in this case.

The visible daylight seen in the photos above illustrate how the top fabric had completely broken away from the frame on both sides of the car.

The rust on the forward top frame rail was bad enough to have eaten holes in the fabric. In other words, a completely new convertible top is needed, along with work on the frame mechanism.

The interior of the car also made me scratch my head. I'm not familiar with this alligator pattern. If it was a factory option, I can't find a reference to it anywhere. My guess is that someone had a custom interior installed.

I suspect a custom interior because the alligator pattern was also present on the door panels and dash as seen in the photo above.

If I only had the resources and facilities . . .