1967 Cadillac Eldorado for sale on BaT Auctions - ending February 22 (Lot #99,129) | Bring a Trailer White on white. Sharp!
Interesting that it has power front windows, but the back 2 are manual. Also the passenger seat has the reclining option, but no head rests. I may be mistaken but thought that Cadillac required headrests when the reclining seat was ordered.
Anyone know why GM went front wheel drive on these and Tornado? Seems like a big design/engineering cost.
I don't know the entire story, but I know that the manufacturers were trying to out-engineer each other in the 1950s, which is part of the reason we got the pushrod v8s, better head designs, limited slip differentials, and other designs that improved cars beyond the 1930s-1940s designs in the post-war era. Oldsmobile had started working on the FWD platform around then, probably experimentally as an exercise to meet what European manufacturers and Ford were doing (like Pontiac and their OHC-6 motor). In those days Bill Mitchell was I believe still around and he liked personal luxury cars and it likely was seen as a showcase of a luxurious car with new technology. Badge engineering wasn't fully embraced and while I'm sure cost was a factor, it was considered "worth it" for a prestige car to be slightly more expensive with less models made. The 1960s were kind of a wild time for cars, especially since GM had something like 50% or better of the market in the US at the time. As far as the headrests go, I know they weren't mandatory in early 1967 but became something that was required afterwards. I don't know what the rules for the reclining seats were, but you definitely didn't see headrests on standard buckets at the time on most of the cars GM made. Or the seats have been recovered and the shop left out the headrest assemblies - this is common for shops to do these days because people really like the look of them without (the shop that did my last set of buckets did this, even if I didn't like it).
To have something different? To be able to tout the advantages of FWD? The Eldo and Toro both were ahead of the their time as FWD did not become common until the mid-80s. For all the history and hype, after the first year, the first-generation Toronado did not sell all that well. In fact, as I understand it, Olds almost dropped the Toronado after a few years. The original '66 sold reasonably well for a new model with a production of about 40,000. But for the rest of the second generation ('67 through '70), production was never more than roughly half that, which led to the consideration that the model be dropped. Instead, Olds went in a totally different direction with the car. They kept the front-wheel drive but nothing else. The car went from being a personal luxury sport coupe to a living-room-on-wheels boulevard cruiser. But the transformation worked as Toronado production increased considerably over the next few years with the '73 model having a higher production number than any other year in its entire 27-year ('66 to '92) history.
Looking at the 1968 brochure, power quarter windows were STANDARD for '68 in the Eldorado. I'm thinking in the case, for '67, they just didn't get something worked out in time regarding the power window regulator, to make 1967 production. (I didn't even see a mention of power quarter windows being available in the '67 brochure....) The fact that these little quarter windows go rearward, instead of down, might have something to do with it..
Actually the Eldo brochure I have lists the power rear vents as an option, "(N) Power Rear Vent Windows ($63.15)" and "(R) Reclining Front Seat (Includes Headrests) ($84)". Agreed, they were probably deleted when the seats were recovered. Cadillac's head rests in '67 were different than the rest of the GM line, much bulkier in my opinon. In fact '68 & '69 Eldos had their own headrest design, again, different from the rest of GM.
