Special Order No. 2048
The Motorama Eldorado Brougham
Cadillac faced a tough act to follow with its 1955 Eldorado
Brougham dream car, one of the stars of that year's traveling
General Motors Motorama. Such was the public's reaction to the
Brougham, with its center-opening doors, pillarless hardtop
construction, quad headlamps, and brushed roofline, that it was
approved for production as a new halo car for Cadillac. However, it
would not be ready until 1957. To keep the public's appetite for
the new model alive, a second Eldorado Brougham dream car was
produced, this time for the 1956 Motorama, "The Highway of
Tomorrow."
Known to its creators as experimental model number XP-48, the Town
Car aped the original Eldorado Brougham show car of 1955 but
featured hand-laid fiberglass bodywork in the traditional formal
configuration of an open driver's compartment with sliding division
window twixt chauffeur and passengers. Typical of the superb work
of the GM fabricators, it was magnificently finished to a
remarkable level of detail, with the roof of the passenger
compartment covered in black leather, and the interior within
trimmed in black and beige leather with gold-plated hardware,
mouton carpeting, and polarized sun visors. Air conditioning, still
largely a costly novelty to most of the American public in 1956,
was included, as was an intercom for communicating with the driver,
a radio, and a clock. Passengers could also enjoy all the touches
of the Eisenhower-era good life, with gold-plated vanity trays, a
thermos bottle, six beverage tumblers, and a cigar humidor at their
disposal.
The lines of the Town Car were drawn by a 19-year-old Robert
Cumberford, under the supervision of Herb Cadeau and Cadeau's boss,
the great Harley Earl, and were similar to the eventual production
Eldorado Brougham, whose design had by this time been set in stone.
Nonetheless, the design still managed to incorporate a few
innovations, namely a crease in the rear of the roofline mimicking
the bow of a convertible top; this feature was later incorporated
into Cadillac's Series Seventy-Five limousines and eventually into
the rooflines of other models. Since much of the hardware was
unique to the car, many pieces of it individually hand-made cast
bronze, unique touches were found throughout, including delicate
handles with tiny electrical microswitches to unlatch the
doors.
General Motors exhibited the Town Car on the 1956 Motorama circuit
- the most widely attended of that era's shows, with 2.3 million
visitors to exhibitions in five cities - accompanied by a model in
Christian Dior couture. Appropriately, in December they then
shipped it across the Atlantic to France, for an appearance at the
Paris Salon.
Warhoops and Restoration
In these days before corporate heritage collections, dream cars
were creatures of the moment, considered to have lived out their
lives the moment that something new was built to replace them. They
usually lingered for one or two years in storage before the order
finally came to destroy them. Four of the cars were sent during the
1958 recession to Harry Warholak, Sr.'s Warhoops Used Auto & Truck
Parts in Warren, Michigan. Having established his yard in the first
place to supply parts to keep older cars running - rather than
simply to amass scrap metal - Warholak was an appreciator of the
unusual and innovative automobiles that came his way.
For most of that era, the dream cars hidden away at Warhoops were
among Detroit's favorite urban legends. Joe Bortz of Illinois, a
pioneer of collecting and restoring automakers' show cars of the
1950s, finally succeeded where others had failed in contacting the
Warholak family and actually acquiring the cars - both of the 1955
LaSalle IIs, the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne, and the Eldorado Brougham
Town Car - in 1989. The LaSalle IIs and Biscayne had been partially
dismantled at GM's behest; the Cadillac had escaped that fate, Mr.
Warholak having hidden it away, first in a trailer and then under a
tarpaulin, because, his son later told the New York Times, "he
hoped to fix up the Town Car for use in my sister's wedding."
Indeed, it remained mostly intact, down to the original cocktail
accoutrements.
Mr. Bortz sold the Eldorado Brougham Town Car on in the early 1990s
to Roy Warshawsky, owner of J.C. Whitney and a major collector of
important American automobiles. Mr. Warshawsky intended to restore
the car to its original condition in the hands of the noted Fran
Roxas, who set to work replacing all of the structural woodwork in
the body and roof, as well as having new rear bumperettes produced
to duplicate the damaged originals.
Unfortunately, Mr. Warshawsky's ill health saw the project
interrupted, and in the fall of 1996 the car was acquired
mid-restoration by Dick Baruk of Michigan, a prominent collector of
postwar Cadillacs in general and Eldorado Broughams in particular.
Mr. Baruk quietly completed the car's restoration to its original
beauty, even managing to find correct 15-inch "sabre" wheels, as
were originally mounted, with their special hubcaps reproduced, and
having all of the rear compartment hardware gold-plated as in 1956.
This was one of the first automobiles with narrow-stripe whitewall
tires, now fitted today as when new.
Cadillac based the Town Car upon a highly modified stock frame and,
contrary to rumor, had originally fitted it with a drivetrain - a
standard Series 62 engine and Hydra-Matic transmission. However,
this was strictly a show car, never intended to actually turn a
wheel on a public road, and the drivetrain appears mainly to have
been fitted to weigh down the front end and ensure a proper stance;
no attempt was made to make the car actually functional. It had no
ignition system, and the fuel tank was a prop; this was just as
well, as aside from the parking brake, there were no brakes,
either. (GM exhibited remarkable cost-consciousness; even the Town
Car's thermos bottle was a mockup.)
The original V8 and transmission had long ago been donated to a
Detroit-area high school. At the end of Mr. Baruk's ownership, a
1956 Cadillac was acquired to donate its original drivetrain, with
the engine dressed up with gold-plated valve covers and dual
four-barrel carburetors. This time, all was properly installed with
the necessary accoutrements to put the car into working order;
while not fully engineered for the road, the Town Car would be able
to drive on and off show fields under its own power.
The Town Car was then purchased in 2006 by prolific Texas
collector, John O'Quinn. It remained in the vast O'Quinn fleet
until 2012, then was acquired by the current owner, a dedicated
enthusiast of postwar Cadillacs who has owned and enjoyed many
significant automobiles, all restored and maintained to the very
highest standards. In current ownership it was displayed at the
Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in 2013, winning Best in Class,
and also appeared in the May 2013 issue of Car and Driver, in a
feature that saw it photographed in its restored glory back at its
former home at Warhoops.
One of just a handful of surviving GM Motorama show cars from the
Harley Earl era, the Eldorado Brougham Town Car is also a truly
unique variant of Cadillac's beautifully appointed ultra-luxury
sedan; as the original 1955 show car that preceded it has long
since been lost, this is the earliest surviving Eldorado Brougham.
It is a genuine piece of history, preserved through fascinating
circumstances, and now superbly restored to present to a new
generation who will admire it well into the future.
Addendum & Administrative Notes
Internet bidding is not available for this lot. Please contact
[email protected] for more information.
