Here's a Tour of the Most Expensive Cadillac From 1977

this is a 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Burris back in the 1970s the premier luxury car brand in the world aside from rolls-royce and Bentley was not Lexus or BMW or Mercedes Benz it was Cadillac and this was the premier Cadillac the top-of-the-line model the best Cadillac you could buy 40 years ago it's also one of the most delightfully bizarre quirky weird cars I've ever reviewed and today I'm gonna give you a tour of it I've borrowed this Eldorado from Morrie's Heritage Car Connection here in Minneapolis think of them as an exotic and vintage rental car company where you can rent cars just like this one instead of a normal boring Malibu from enterprise before I go any further I have to show you around this thing and show you all of its quirks and features because from the perspective of someone living in 2017 this car is just insane and then as usual I'm gonna drive it and then I'm gonna give it a dug score I'm gonna start with the most impressive cork of this car namely its size excuse me while I take a trip all the way to the back this car is 225 inches in length which means it is the same length as a Chevy Suburban it is two and a half feet longer than a Ford Explorer it weighs in at 4900 pounds you're thinking well that's ridiculous that a two-door car would have such an enormous size but something you may not have realized open this up and this thing can seat six passengers so if you wanted to you could use it like a Ford Explorer so you're thinking car this big this long this heavy must have something gigantic under the hood and you're right this car does have a huge engine fact it has a seven liter v8 which followed up on the previous models 8.2 liter v8 now as you know General Motors has used a 7 liter v8 recently the Corvette zo6 where it made over 500 horsepower this car hampered by emissions regulations makes only 180 horsepower which is not all that much from 7 liters I'm going to start this with this giant door that is so massive and so heavy thanks to all this leather and glass that you wouldn't be able to lift it if it wasn't attached to the car now the most interesting thing about this door is this exterior mounted thermometer mounted at the base of the outside mirror and as the Cadillac logo on it and the idea is that you're sitting in the driver's seat you glance over and it tells you what temperature it is outside amazingly it even works and maybe even more amazingly this isn't the only piece of exterior equipment on this car that provides you with data the other exterior feature that provides you with information in this car far more bizarre than that thermometer these things there's one on each fender if you've ever seen one of these on our own car and you didn't know what it does well here's what it does when you put on your turn signal this thing lights up just show you in the driver's seat that your turn signal is on when you put on your headlights a different lightning here lights up to show you that your headlights are on and when you put on your brights a third light at completely different color lights up to show you that your brights are on it's actually kind of ingenious but at the same time I'm never saying like this before bond back to the giant door it is so heavy and it opens so wide so that people can get into the back that it has to have a handle on it not just any handle a finally finished would handle that is hinge so that when you go to open it you can just pull in and scotts yourself in the luxury of the Cadillac assuming that you are strong enough to actually close the door this corner also has another interesting door handle situation namely if you want to get out and you're sitting in the front seat obviously you just pull the door handle you open the door you get out but this car's door is so big there also has a rear door handle for the rear passengers if they want to get out so there's two separate handles on this door that unlatch it so that people inside can get out now once you climb inside this car you are confronted with maybe the best thing about the entire El Dorado the pillowy seats and I don't just mean there's sort of pillowy I mean this car has pillows mounted on top of the seats two on each seat bottom and back front and rear eight total pillows in this car which is more than I have on my bed now I mentioned earlier that this car could seat six people and it can there are two bench seats in this car three people in the back three people in the front now that weird think about the front setup is that the seats are power in the front and they're split even though a middle person is supposed to go here so theoretically the driver could put their seat all the way forward the pastor could put their seat all the way back and the person you stuck in the middle seat would sort of be half on one seat and half on the other in this weird angle configuration it's very strange but so is this car now maybe the strangest thing about this car is all of its controls which are really bizarre for example the climate control in a normal car anybody can adjust the climate control it's right in the middle you want a colder on this side hotter whatever not in this car in this car the climate control is on the left of the steering wheel which means it's only the purview of the driver the passenger can ask nicely and the driver can decide what to accommodate the passengers climate change request next up let's talk about the control for the mirrors now in your car there's probably a little switch over on the driver's door panel and you move a little thing in that adjust where the mirror is and that's true in this car also except that little switch on the door panel only adjust the drivers mirror if you want to adjust the passenger mirror there is an unlabeled switch right above the defogger behind the steering wheel and you move that around and that adjusts the passenger mirror now this is purely mechanical these things you adjust them you when the car is off because when you adjust it they're probably a little cable inside that actually moves the mirror where you're pulling it next up let's talk about how to control the windshield wipers and I've seen a lot of weird controls and a lot of cars but this windshield wiper control might just take the cake now in your car it's probably little stock that comes out of the steering column you push it the windshield wipers go on it's easy in this car there's a little l-shaped track to the left of the steering wheel and there's a little switch inside it you move the switch along the little L to activate the windshield wipers and how do you not love the interior turn signal indicators in this car in addition to those little things on the hood that let you know when your turn signal is on the little indicators in the gauge cluster in this car are also kind of cool they're not dinky little arrows like in modern cars instead they're just giant green triangles pointing in the direction you're gonna turn I love them another interesting control in this car you want to turn on the headlights that's easy just turn a little dial located on the left of the steering column that's how it is still in normal cars today you want to turn the brights in this car well that's easy too just push a little button with your left foot located in the foot well I'm told this is actually pretty common for older cars like this but I've never seen it before and I can't imagine why they thought that was a better idea than placing it virtually anywhere else another interesting thing about this car this car can seat six but of course it would be most comfortable for for cattle knows that and that's why they fitted it with four ashtrays one for each individual who can sit in the car personal ashtrays are the seventies now moving on from the interior controls you look at the rest of this carnage us ounce of normal 70s car how quirky could it possibly be well you're in for a treat I'll start with the horn boy that's obnoxious but it fits with the character of the car wouldn't you say now let me go along to the back you'll notice that there is no fuel door on the driver's side of this car and there's no fuel door on the passenger side of this car that's because the fuel door is hidden back here underneath the license plate now this was actually pretty common in 70s cars putting the fuel door underneath the license plate what was less common was the trunk opening and closing situation now opening the trunk was a little bit quirky you moved to sign here little Cadillac crest so that you could get verification of how cool you were every time you jumped into the trunk and you put your key in you turned it and then the trunk popped right open but that wasn't the craziest thing about the trunk situation the most interesting thing about the trunk came when it was time to close it you took the trunk you shut it most of the way and then the trunk does the rest now a lot of cars today have Auto soft closing doors that does exactly that but this was 40 years ago and that was pretty cool at the time and we're not even close to being done with all the weird exterior corks of this car now front lighting tail lights those are all pretty normal what wasn't quite so normal is back here on the vinyl top this little light mounted behind the window why is it there for decoration and when you turn the headlights that light goes on I don't really know why to illuminate the side of the car so that other people know we are driving an older Otto speaking of unusual lighting this car has something called cornering lights which is a little strange a few modern cars have this today but in case you haven't seen it it is worth noting when you drive it along you put on your turn signal and you're gonna make a turn the car knows that so it also turns on a little light like the headlights on the side of the car to illuminate the left or right depending on which turn signal you put on that way your path is a little brighter as you make your turn some other things I like about the exterior of this car the car on both front and back it ends and then after that Cadillac tacked on some other stuff in some sort of strange material and then after that Cadillac tacked on some chrome after the car ends on both sides there's about a foot more car only Cadillac in the 70s did that kind of stuff and in that same vein I mentioned that this car is 224 inches long but check this out the wheelbase that's the distance from the center of the front wheel to the center of the back wheel that's only 124 inches that means that this car has eight and a half feet of car outside the axles you'll never see that again in any car ever except maybe the Lincoln that competed with this at the time another thing I like about this car is the Cadillac wreath and crest hood ornament now apparently at the time this cars being sold there was a problem with hood ornament theft people stole them and then they mounted them on their wall like trophies so Cadillac made this one impossible to steal check this out and then finally we have to discuss the rear reflector which actually says Eldorado on it and another nice lettering in fact it's even raised up on the reflector as if it could be a reflector from any other car since it's like a foot long okay so that's all the weird quirks and the cool features of the 1977 Cadillac Eldorado Moritz now before I drive this Chevy Suburbans sized coupe on the road a little history lesson yes this car really did exist in a time when Cadillac was the world standard for luxury cars young people today don't really realize it but BMW at one point made crappy little cars like this and Mercedes made crappy little cars like this when this car came out in 1977 Lexus wouldn't even exist for another 13 years at the time what people wanted was opulent comfortable luxury cruisers like this then came the fuel crisis emissions regulations fuel economy rules higher gas prices and cadillac couldn't get away with makin a chevy suburban sized two-door car that got nine point four miles per gallon overnight the Eldorado became obsolete and European and Japanese luxury cars swooped in for the kill anyway time to drive this thing and don't forget to click the link below to go to auto komm / oversteer where I've gotten more of my thoughts on driving this 40-year old luxury barge and I've got a list of cars that don't quite recapture their former glory sort of like the later Eldorado models anyway time to get on the road alright so I got it back this thing up huh I have literally no idea what is going on at any point nor do I the mirrors are so small this car is 20 feet long seriously 20 feet long and the mirrors have got to be there like this here goes we're driving this thing God it's just massive it's incredible that you're controlling all of this I feel like I'm I feel like I'm driving a condominium well first off the Cadillac logo out in the front I mean you just got this giant Cadillac hood ornament out there it's just huge and it's 1012 feet in front of you it is incredible just how much vehicle I'm piloting and the really incredible part is I actually can't see anything behind me but I know it goes on for just as long back there I can't believe I mean people driving this thing around must have just been the most ostentatious annoying bastards of the 1970s people say cars feel like a boat I mean it's just stupidest thing if anybody says that about a modern car they're just being an idiot they're using cliches for the sake of you this car feels like a boat this car I first stopped you can move the steering wheel about 12 inches before the turning process begins and I say the turning process because it doesn't really start to turn it just sort of starts to waft in the general direction that you're turning the wheel starts to and then if you do it some more it continues and I mean it's connected to the wheels but but the only vaguely now there's no sense of urgency in this car which is kind of nice the seats are just tremendously pillowy soft plush comfortable it is just a wonderful seating experience I love it of course they don't have a headrest that they hadn't totally that technology yet they decided to put the seats are like pillows it literally pillows on top of them but the headrest wasn't in it so I can just kind of stick my head back course if I get hit from behind I need to do one of those and then I break my neck or something I'm not about to sit here and say I don't like this car people who have them are crazy but you got to admit if it captures a certain time in America and Cadillac in the car industry that's kind of cool and if I had an 80 car garage this would be one and I would drive it a couple times a year and I would just think it's the coolest thing in the world and and in it would be fun to have and in the 70s when most cars were crap and getting tiny and carbureted and crappy and and poorly constructed this thing would have felt so nice comfy and pillowy and and you were driving sort of an expression of yourself in this car as the 70 is the Chevette and all these stupid cars that were tiny and stupid and ugly in this car would have been like yeah yeah I got my caddy but it feels just tremendously just yeah this is one of those cars where you sit in the right lane people go by you and they're oh I'm commuting in my Explorer I got my kids for going to soccer practice we have to get there and you're just like yeah whatever I don't care I'm just chillin but you have to turn the wheel we just went over a bump and the whole car kind of realigns itself on the road like what this is nice it's so nice it's so comfortable it really does remind me a lot of that rate that I rolls-royce the new rolls-royce rate that I drove it feels kind of like that in the sense that it's just alright crap oh my god I didn't realize how slow would be I made it right on red that was a mistake here's a Sienna who's going by me I'm gonna catch up 50 55 we're making it yes there was absolutely no pretense of sport in this car and like the Rolls Royces there is no attempt you know a line of cars today oh we're luxury and we're sporting in wear this this car was just luxury there was no like oh no we got a sport version no by modern standards it's terrible right it's slow and the steering is awful and and the braking is bad and the use of space in the interior is laughable I mean the car that's 24 feet long if I'm my knee is hitting up against the steering column here and they didn't even have to contend with safety what was taking up so much space but the thing is it's just cool it's just cool these these seventies Eldorado's don't sell for that much but I bet one day they start to become a little bit more highly regarded it's it's an experience as cars become more technologically advanced and smaller and and more user-friendly and all it this is an experience that most people will not get to have anymore ever in any car so that's the 1977 Cadillac Eldorado burr it's one of the most opulent luxury cars you could buy 40 years ago basically the Mercedes s-class coupe of its day it's not fast it's not fun but it's majestic and supremely comfortable and from the perspective of someone 40 years later it's really really weird and quirky now it's time to give it a dug score starting with the weekend categories and styling some people hate how this car looks and some people love it I personally can see both sides and I can't justify calling it either beautiful or ugly so it gets a 5 out of 10 next up is acceleration the Eldorado does 0 to 60 and 9 point something seconds giving it a 1 out of 10 handling is truly terrible really awful with massive body roll and vagueness in the steering it's just one step shy of being actually dangerous so it earns a 2 out of 10 cool factor is very debatable and I know a lot of people think this era of Eldorado is too constrained by emissions regulations to be really cool but I think it's cool enough to get a 7 out of 10 finally importance which is basically would you put this car in a museum earlier righto models maybe more indicative of Cadillacs golden years but this car showed a different face the end of an era among giant showy American cars it easily earns a 6 out of 10 bringing its total weekend score to 21 out of 50 next for the daily categories I start with features this car had a lot of features for its time but this category judges cars by modern standards and this one is way off the mark lane departure warning no but if you want an ashtray the Eldorado's got you covered and for that reason it still eats out a 2 out of 10 next up is luxury which mainly measures comfort the Eldorado is one of the most comfortable cars that ever driven but it's hampered by poor visibility bringing its potential 9 down to an 8 out of 10 quality measures materials and reliability am told reliability is good largely on account of the fact that it's fairly simple mechanically but quality is certainly a bit dubious it earns a 5 out of 10 for practicality the trunk is enormous easily enough to earn a 5 in this category and the car seats 6 which helps its case but fuel economy is truly horrendous and then there's the matter of parking a 20 foot long car not exactly very practical so it owns a 4 out of 10 finally there's value these things aren't fast they aren't exciting to drive and they aren't rare so they probably shouldn't be worth much but they're kind of cool at least to me and their current pricing you can easily get one for under $10,000 is a good deal for such a unique automotive experience that gives it a 6 out of 10 Bree its total daily score 225 out of 50 the only time a 77 Eldorado will ever beat out a Ferrari f40 in anything anyway add it all up and the total dug score is 46 out of 100 placing it near the bottom among cars I've scored it's also tied with the 2005 Maserati Quattroporte which says everything you need to know about the 2005 Maserati Quattroporte [Music] you

Channel: Doug DeMuro

Views: 4,217,503

Rating: 4.7708917 out of 5

Keywords: cadillac eldorado, eldorado, eldorado biarritz, cadillac biarritz, 1970s cadillac, 1970s eldorado, 1977 eldorado, 1977 cadillac, doug demuro, demuro

Id: HxHfrc60k8M

Length: 18min 40sec (1120 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 22 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/degeorge_23]

I believe the corning lights are the most under appreciated features on my Golf R. I've gotten numerous comments when I pull up to a turn with someone in the car and they ask "did your car just light up that stop sign?". After driving someone else's car at night that doesn't have them, you realize the world of difference they make. I'm honestly surprised they don't come as a standard safety feature on most cars.

[u/jd13jd13]

Ah couldn't resist the dig at the Maserati, could you /u/Doug-DeMuro?

[u/[deleted]]

Aww, the 500ci motor ended in 1976. It's too bad you couldn't find one of those.

They're also longitudinal front wheel drive, which is nuts

[u/Vadara]

As a kid born in 1995 I truly do not understand how you could get only 180HP from a 7 liter engine. Like, I know, emissions crap, but IT'S SEVEN FUCKING LITERS. What were these emissions devices doing!?

[u/EatSleepJeep]

He skipped over the indicator lights over the rear glass that are visible in the rearview mirror.

Also, Doug has crawled into trunks before, so why not this cavernous example?

[u/CaliGirl16]

I'm still impatiently tapping my foot for that E39 M5 review you promised us weeks ago, Doug!

However, that land barge is pretty nice.

[u/GenericDudeBro]

Doug, I normally agree with you on most comments, but how DARE you badmouth that glorious horn!! A land yacht deserves nothing less than that fantastic belching war cry.

I mean, seriously, it's amazing.

[u/Komcor]

Did you wear that shirt on purpose or was that coincidental?

[u/spotdishotdish]

The BMW E21 finally gets mentioned in a video and Doug calls it crappy.

Then again mine came with the "premium" 2 speaker sound system and no AC