Cadillac Eldorado Seville 1958

by

Model number: 92159BL

Review of the model:

As a keen collector of die cast model cars, in scale 1:18, one can easy spot the fine models of Cadillac. Sometimes we will find rather old models in our purchase to get as many different model years and types. This is the case in Road Legends 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville. The first year of release was 2004. When we today see new releases of makers of model cars sometimes we will be amazed how far they try to produce good quality for the sales price.
But also once a while, some just put new boxes around old releases. So it can be like a jungle out there regarding new finds!

Another way to go can be like I have done here: Buy and old release and see if you can upgrade the model to a higher standard and at the same time have some fun in the process.

There are many low budget models that could need some improvement in detailing and paint etc. I find the old Road Legends, Road Signature, Lucky Die-cast all know now from Chinese Yatming-group very suitable. That’s because they are rather cheap in price (if something goes wrong you will not be too hard on yourself) and they have a lot of potential as the dimension and scale is correct in the casting. Furthermore easy to disassemble due to Phillips screws all over. The paintwork is often very good and the chrome parts well placed and easy to handle and shine up.

If you know my collection you see I already have the 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz (Convertible) and did an extensive refit on her. But somehow nowadays Yatming seems to favorite the open convertibles over the closed coupe models and the Coupe gets harder to find! - I more like the hardtops, as I think the flowing roof lines of the cars design stands more out.

That is why I chosen to buy this old model of the 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville on EBay at a discount - with all the flaws the model may have from Road Legends.

Let’s have a closer look on the model when it just arrived in “out of the box configuration”

• Firstly the paint is very good and the Blue metallic body (Somerset Blue Poly) color suits the White (Alpine White) hardtop well.
• The glass parts on the model as windows and light lenses are typical for the price and rather in good quality. Only one headlight lens where mounted wrong, but was easy to fix by rotating it 90 degrees.
• On this model the moving die cast parts fits well particular the hood and deck lid are fine, also the doors is well closed with only minor cap between them and the body.
• When buying “used model cars” and issue can be the white wall tires (plastic inserts) becoming yellowish over time due to exposure of the sun, often seen in models displayed in glass cabinets on a sunny spot.

Before disassemble the model have a plan on what to improve and refurbish. Three mayor things on the model needed some attention:

• Engine bay and motor
• Trunk
• Interior
- And lastly; an overall detailing including chrome pen and paint.
If we start at the bottom of the car: The tires white walls where painted white again and the Turbine hubcaps needed black paint between the spokes and the center emblems painted in gold and various colors.

The front wheel wells are on the real car surrounded by a chrome trim and it was easy to make them on the model by the Molotov liquid chrome pen. The side fenders front and back need more chrome on the gills and vertical chrome bars. The most noticeable missing feature of the chrome trim is the edges of the fins. I masked the area with Tamiya masking tape and applied Liquid Chrome from Molotow.

Come with me around to the back of the Cadillac and here we find good red backlight lenses in plastic, but on the real car they are surrounded by bezels in chrome – again the chrome pen is very useful. On the deck lid a fine V-Eldorado emblem is made I silver – on the real car it is gold, therefore I painted the V gold. The lock on the deck lid was present but also need chrome. Below, the parking/reverse light was painted white on the lenses and chrome applied on the surrounding grill. The license plate only had an ordinary “1958” showroom number, but it was easy to make and print a “real 1958 Florida plate” from the internet. At last, the small vertical bars and the exhaust pipes all got chrome too.

Even the front of the model needed a “facelift”: One of the more bad features of the low-budget model cars is the “pupil eyes” of the headlights. The effect is due to the method where the lenses are attached to the die cast body by a pin and hole assemble. These black holes lead the shadow from the dark inside out on the headlight center. But can be fixing by applying a layer of chrome and white paint on the inside of the plastic lenses. This combined with a “black wash” in the holes in the grill give a tremendous effect on the model car face and now looks more realistic, and gives the model a much more expensive feel.

On front of the hood a massive chrome hood ornament is well made with a good sticker in the middle, resembling the colors in the Cadillac shield emblem. On the real car this ornament is made in gold, therefore this part was hand painted with gold enamel. Up on front of the windscreen, the two grill air intakes was painted with liquid chrome. The parking/directional lights got plastic lenses made from clear plastic sheet and were painted yellow. And at last; a new license plate was applied as on the rear end too.

And now to the main reason of the refit; the poor plastic low-budget interior! Is in my opinion, one of the worst toys like interior on a 1:18 scale model car ever!

After the model is taking apart, the red plastic interior was easy to put to pieces. I chose a dark blue metallic color from Humbrol Enamel – blue metallic leather was an option in 1958 Cadillac. Dashboard, instrument panel, seats, inner linings and rear window shelf was painted and all proper chrome parts were treated with liquid chrome. The outer ring on the steering wheel was way too thick. I made a new ring of styrene plastic from Evergreen. Submerged in boiling water - to soften the plastic – and then spooled up on a rod. The last and not least thing, is the carpet, as this model obvious came without this feature only shown on more expensive models.
Hobby felt in many colors come in packages for a fair price and now; all in all give the model a more appealing look.

Let’s open the hood to reveal the big Cadillac engine, but at first glance it looks like a hotrod with chrome parts from Chevrolet motor, due to its orange motor block and “bling bling” chrome air filter and valve covers! A real GM Cadillac motor block is blue and can have air filter cover and valve covers in gold paint. Again the paint buckets was opened. A good place to start is: paint all parts of the interior of the engine bay flat black to remove the plastic toy feeling. I added a cooling hose from the radiator to the engine block by a piece of styrene plastic. The underside of the hood lid was painted flat black to resemble sound proofing.
Now the motor and its surroundings look more realistic than before.

Not all model cars from Yatming-group have the open deck lid feature, but this one has. But before we raise our hands in the air – the trunk is empty! Not even a plastic mould in this case. Here was a new endeavor – make a custom build. Not very hard job by using cardboard floor and sides furnished with the same felt as the interior! Spare tire wheel is of cause missing, not easy to make, but a half model in carpet cover did the job for me. To adding some realism details Jack and spanner was made in styrene plastic and the icing on the cake is the small decal of the jack instructions printed from the internet. The under side of the deck lid, I also gave some black soundproofing.

So how good did the model turn out to be? Firstly it is a matter of taste and some can say the model is ruined by not being original any more. But some will say the model now look more realistic and have a higher selling price – a truly one off!

The decision is up to you. I will say the model more suits my collection now, and I will not be afraid of pulling it up in the parkway among more expensive models. After all I had a splendid time of 5 days in the garage!
 

I will give this model 2 out of 6 stars  ******

Below here are pictures of the model, historical description, old brochures, technical data and some movie clips for the real car. So please enjoy!

History:

You know you have a truly great collector car when there were only 855 made, they were luxurious AND they were REALLY expensive when they came out. At a start price of $ 7,500 in 1958. Costing nearly 50% more than a standard 62 series Cadillac and over TWO AND A HALF times the price of a Chevrolet Impala convertible of the same year.

For most people, the name Cadillac evokes images of the finned, chromed, and gadget-laden "Fabulous Fifties" models. And why not?

These Caddys were the ultimate expression of America's postwar prosperity and Detroit's high-flying ambition, four-wheeled tributes to the "jet age," new technological marvels both serious and silly, and the promised good life of ultra-modern, convenience-filled homes in safe, spacious new suburban communities.

It was a time when Cadillac ownership conferred instant status as a symbol of wealth and achievement. Elvis Presley owned a Cadillac. So did captains of industry, Hollywood moguls, even war-hero President Dwight Eisenhower!

No other luxury-car brand had this power in the public consciousness: not Lincoln, not Chrysler's Imperial, and certainly not Packard, which fast withered into oblivion after 1958. And though Lincoln and Imperial would mount occasional challenges, neither came close to eclipsing Cadillac's sales or prestige. Quite simply, in the four decades from 1950, Cadillac had no serious competition in the U.S. market.

Of course, Cadillac's success and frequent extravagances in the 1950s had detractors. For these folks, Cadillac’s were two tons of wretched excess, the epitome of the "ugly American" and Detroit's "insolent chariots."

To get at the grandeur of the Cadillac Eldorado, one should turn to poetry.

"Shadow," said he, "where can it be
This land of Eldorado?"
"Over the Mountains of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied,
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
-- Edgar Allan Poe

Eldorado -- in proper Spanish, El Dorado -- means "The Gilded One." In the lore of the ancients it was a legendary golden kingdom, a place of fabulous riches located -- or so it was believed -- high in the snowcapped mountains of what is now Colombia.

Over the years, "Eldorado" thus came to represent the best of everything: opulence, wealth, the good life. So it was also a completely logical choice as the name for a stunning new convertible that arrived as Cadillac's style leader and its ultimate prestige car for 1953.

Cadillac had startled the automotive world back in 1930 with America's first 16-cylinder motorcar. The V-16 line never made a nickel in its 11 years of production. Possibly it wasn't intended to. It was an image-builder. And with the help of these magnificent machines, Cadillac was indeed able to elbow its way past Packard to become the country's most prestigious luxury make.

The 1956 Cadillac line offered buyers a choice of Eldorado's for the first time. The convertible returned with the name Biarritz to set it apart from a new two-door hardtop companion called Seville. Both names were taken from
Historic -- and, of course, prestigious -- European cities, Seville in Spain and Biarritz in France.

The 1958 Cadillac Eldorado’s diverged in strategy. Cadillac stood more or less pat on a winning hand for the 1958. Styling changes involved minor sheet metal reshaping and ornamentation shuffling, and all models acquired the new four-headlamp system, first seen at Cadillac on the Brougham, in line with an industry trend.

Eldorado performance was substantially improved with the adoption of three two-barrel carburetors, which boosted output to 335 horsepower, 25 horsepower up on the single-four-barrel engine used elsewhere in the line.


The Eldorado Biarritz and Seville had special colors reserved just for them: Olympic White, Rajah Silver Metallic, Argyle Blue Metallic, Gleneagles Green Metallic and Desert Gold Metallic.

The Eldorado was luxury at its finest. Standard features included: Hydra-Matic automatic transmission, power windows, 6-way power front seat, power brakes, and signal seeking radio with rear speaker, leather interior, color-keyed carpeting, windshield washers and automatic heating system.

Power comes from a 365 cubic inch V8. Eldorado engines used triple two-barrel carburetors boosting the standard engine output of 310 horsepower up to 335 horsepower.

The volume Cadillac’s were heavily face lifted for 1958 in a manner typical of GM that year. Perhaps the most garish Caddys yet, they were laden with chrome and far less stylish than previous postwar models. Sales were poor, though a nationwide recession was probably more to blame than the baroque styling, which was, after all, in vogue. At 121,778 units, model year production was lower than at any time since 1954. Symbolizing the fall in fortunes was a V-8 slightly detuned in a faint nod toward fuel economy, limited to a single 310-bhp version for all models.

 A special show Eldorado introduced a "thinking" convertible top that raised itself and the side windows when a sensor detected raindrops, but this was another gimmick that came to nothing.

1958 Cadillac Notes
• Five special Eldorado Biarritz convertibles were built with completely automatic top riser mechanisms and metal tonneaus and incorporated humidity sensors which activated the top riser mechanism in case of rain. These cars had four place bucket seating and custom leather interior trims including driveshaft tunnel coverings.
• The 1958 Eldorado Brougham is a certified Milestone Car.
• James M. Roche was general manager
• Charles F. Arnold was chief engineer
• Charles Jordan was chief designer (Cadillac Studio)
• Fred H. Murray was general sales manager
• Cadillac production figures

Series 6261,053 (decreased 5,794)
Sedan de Ville23,989 (increased 181)
Coupe de Ville18,414 (decreased 5,399)
Eldorado1,671 (decreased 2,229)
Series 6012,900 (decreased 11,100)
Series 70 Eldorado Brougham304 (decreased 96)
Series 753,447 (decreased 622)

For 1958, Cadillac stood more or less pat on a winning hand. Styling changes involved minor sheet metal reshaping and ornamentation shuffling, and all models acquired the new four-headlamp system, first seen at 1957 Cadillac on the Brougham, in line with an industry trend. Eldorado performance was substantially improved with the adoption of three two-barrel carburetors, which boosted output to 335 bhp, 25 bhp up on the single-four-barrel engine used where in the line. The Seville 40 and Biarritz, which consistently bore identical price tags, raised a startling $762. The timing of such a substantial increase proved to be ill-advised in this deep recession year and sales fell by more than half.
On 62 Eldorado’s a V-shaped ornament and model identification script were mounted to the deck lid. The two luxury Cadillac’s also had ten vertical chevron slashes ahead of the open rear wheel housings and crest medallions on the flanks of tailfins. Broad, sculptured beauty panels decorated the lower rear quarters on Eldorado’s and extended around the wheel opening to stretch along the body sills.

Technical specification:

Engine
TypeV-8
Overhead valves
Block Cast iron block
Displacement 5.972 Liters Bore and stroke101.6mm x 92.1mm
Compression ratio 10.25:1
Break horsepower 335 hp @ 4800 rpmPower265 kW @ 4800 rpm
Bearings Five main bearings
Valve Lifters Hydraulic valve lifters
Carburetors Three Rochester two-barrel Model 7015801

Overview

Assembly Detroit, Michigan, United States
Designer Harley Earl
Body and chassis
Body style Series 62:
2-door hardtop
2-door convertible

Layout FR layout

Dimensions
Wheelbase: 129.5 in (3,289 mm)

Length: 223.4 in (5,674 mm)

Width: 80.0 in (2,032 mm)
 

Old brochures of the car

Videos of the real car from YouTube

If you have any question or comment your are free to contact me at: aeronautic@stofanet.dk

Dealers are welcome to get their models reviewed too.

Aeronautic  Aug. 2019

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