At the top of the Cadillac portfolio for 1960 was the Fleetwood sedan and the two-door Eldorado, available as a hardtop or a convertible. To differentiate the coupe and convertible, they were called Eldorado Seville and Eldorado Biarritz, respectively, the two occupying the summit of Wreath and Crest offerings with the Fleetwood sedan, save for the Fleetwood 75 limousine and the astonishingly expensive Eldorado Brougham. Only 1,285 Eldorado Biarritz would be produced that year, marking it as one of the rarer Cadillacs of the era. This 1960 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible is finished in black, rolls on wide whitewall tires with chrome wire wheels, and is powered by a Tri-Power 390 CI V-8 and an automatic transmission. Typical of form, the Cadillac is equipped with power steering, power brakes, power windows, power locks, cruise control, a heater and defroster, and factory air conditioning. The black interior features a front bench seat and the unique leather inserts surrounded by leather bolsters. Plush carpeting runs throughout, and the previous Cadillac LaSalle Club award winner is rounded out with a hard parade boot cover and a grille badge attesting to its award-winning status. Introduced for the 1953 model year as a super exclusive, limited-edition model, the Eldorado was largely a hand-built factory custom that was not expected to sustain production in subsequent years. Costing nearly $8,000, just 532 were sold. Cadillac knew if it used standard bodies and relied less on hand production the costs would go down and sales would go up. So, for 1954, it reintroduced the Eldorado priced at just under $6,000 and found 2,150 buyers. A two-pronged situation caused Cadillac to introduce a hardtop coupe version of the Eldorado for 1956: one, the division knew it could cater to clients living in areas that were unfriendly to convertibles; and two, Lincoln was launching the all-new Continental division with chatter of a highly-exclusive, two-door hardtop. Not wanting to lose customers who wanted Cadillac’s best but couldn’t entertain a convertible, the Seville hardtop coupe was added to the Eldorado line and the convertible became the Eldorado Biarritz. The plan worked beautifully, with 2,150 Biarritz sold and a stunning 3,900 Sevilles finding homes, for a grand total of 6,050 Eldorados sold in total, each costing in the neighborhood of $7,000 and thus kicking off Eldorado fever.
