Written by Barbara Toombs

Coming to the 2021 Scottsdale Auction with No Reserve: This may LOOK like a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, but under the hood is the spirit of 2021.

Cadillac – the very name is synonymous worldwide with American luxury and status. When the up-and-coming conglomerate General Motors purchased the company in 1909, seven years after its founding, Cadillac was officially named as GM’s most prestigious division. Over the next few decades, Cadillac set impressive milestones in the auto industry, including the first passenger car with a fully enclosed cabin and the first mass-produced automatic transmission, known as the Hydra-Matic.

Pre-World War II Cadillacs were known as well-built, powerful luxury cars aimed at an upper-class market. Postwar, the company innovated many of the styling features that came to be synonymous with the late 1940s and 1950s American automobile, including tailfins and extensive use of chrome.

One top-of-the-line specialty vehicle introduced in 1953 by General Motors to promote the ideas of then design chief Harley Earl was the Eldorado – a contraction of two Spanish words that translate as “the gilded (or golden) one.” It was an apt name for a car chosen in an internal competition for a 1952 concept vehicle celebrating the company’s golden anniversary and subsequently adopted for a limited-edition convertible for model year 1953.

The most expensive of Cadillac’s offerings, only 532 examples of the 1953 Eldorado were created, a unique integration of the elements from the 1952 concept car and “Dagmars,” the bumper bullets from GM’s 1951 show car, the LeSabre. The ’53 Eldorado also led the way with two design firsts that were favorites of Harley Earl: a stylish beltline and a wraparound windshield.

Of those original 1953 Eldorados, just under 200 are believed to have survived. Heading to the 2021 Scottsdale Auction with No Reserve in March is one of those, and it’s a very special example indeed – but not just for its rarity and place in automotive history.

This Aztec Red 1953 Cadillac Eldorado Custom Convertible belongs to a longtime Barrett-Jackson customer who, when he decided to become a collector, had one main goal in mind: to experience many different cars as possible. “I keep about eight to 10 cars in my garage,” he said. “But I didn’t get into this hobby to accumulate 10 cars and stop. It’s all about the experience.”

The consignor has owned this ’53 Caddy for some time, but he faced somewhat of a conundrum. It wasn’t a matching-numbers car. “It wasn’t the correct engine by any means,” he said. “It wasn’t even the correct year.” Convinced he’d not be able to find the correct engine for the Eldorado, he started thinking, “What if we could upgrade the mechanicals to current technology and put this car back out on the road with today’s drivability? With components that would allow you to go into any GM dealer anywhere and get your car serviced?”

Ah – a Resto-Mod, you say. Not exactly. “You will not walk up to this car and be able to tell anything is different from the original,” says the consignor. That’s where the disguise element – and the talents of builder Noah Stevens and fabricator Curtis Harlan from Mile High Classics in Denver, Colorado – comes into play.

Lift the hood and you’ll see an engine similar to the original 1953 engine painted in Cadillac blue – but in reality it’s a new Chevrolet Performance LS3 6.2-liter, 430-horsepower, fuel-injected crate engine with an Edelbrock Pro-Flo 4 EFI system. Through the use of an adapter kit, original Cadillac valve covers were installed on the heads over the injectors. Sitting above it all is what looks to be the original Cadillac air cleaner – but actually is an OPG steel reproduction with a modern filter element instead of the oil bath system used in 1953.

“It looks like the engine belongs in there,” says Stevens. “If someone just saw it, they’d think that’s what came in the car. We also put a Hydro-Boost brake system in the car, so it’s got four-wheel disc brakes and a brake booster that runs off the power steering pump. We’ve basically hidden it all inside the frame rail, so that when you look under the hood, you don’t see any of it. This isn’t your typical Resto-Mod; the car retains a lot of its originality.”

Also cleverly disguised or adapted to the original components are a number of other modern elements, including the radiator, overdrive automatic transmission with a mechanical speedometer output adapter to retain use of the original speedometer, stainless-steel exhaust system with MagnaFlow Performance mufflers, gas tank with an in-tank fuel pump, 9-inch Ford rear axle, TruTrac differential with 3.73 gear ratio and a digital shift indicator installed inside the original shift indicator viewer.

“My goal with this build was to be respectful to the original car,” says the consignor. “Not overtly modernizing it, but significantly improving performance and mechanical reliability. I didn’t want this Eldorado to end up sitting in someone’s collection because they’re not comfortable driving it or are intimidated by the 1953 mechanicals. Sitting in the driver’s seat, the new owner of this car will experience the ride, feel and look of an ’53 Cadillac Eldorado – the only difference is that it’s going to perform a lot better than the original one.”

Come the Scottsdale Auction, one lucky bidder will be able to take home a nearly 70-year-old Cadillac Eldorado with the spirit of 2021 under the hood and easily drive it many miles down the highway into the future.

For up-to-date information on this vehicle, click HERE. For a look at all the vehicles on the Select Preview of the 2021 Scottsdale Auction (with more being added daily), click HERE.