One of the great mysteries of modern celebrity is why someone who has enough scratch for a gold-plated Cadillac Escalade can’t scare up a few more bucks to hire a driver when it comes time to descend into Hollywood and drink enough to raise the eyebrows of W.C. Fields and Winston Churchill. Up-and-coming celebrities who want to avoid the future embarrassment of smashing their new Bentley Arnage through the window of the Fatburger at Vermont and Hollywood Blvd. at 3:47 a.m. are so advised to take a good long look at this 1956 Cadillac Eldorado, which RM Auctions will offer at its Amelia Island auction in March.
Officially known from 1956 General Motors documents as the Eldorado Brougham Town Car, this opulent styling exercise was the dream car of the 1956 GM Autorama. Crowds marveled at the futuristic fiberglass design and luxurious features of tomorrow. A wowed public imagined themselves as the dapper couple in this publicity photograph, going out on the town in this experimental Cadillac vision.
The rear compartment is decorated all in beige with leather partition doors and quarter hangers and broadcloth seatback cushions and facings. A beige carpet is on the floor. The passenger compartment of the Eldorado Brougham Town car contains such items as a radio-telephone combination, air-conditioning equipment, a women’s vanity compartment, cigar humidor and thermos bottle, and glasses. The chrome in the rear passenger compartment is of satin gold. – News from Cadillac 1956
The town car was never put into production, and the prototype stands as the sole version of this experimental dream. Not only is it grand in style, but is clearly designed for a celebrity or executive who has more important things to do than drive, or wear an ankle bracelet.
See more Cadillacs for sale on Hemmings.com. Archive photo courtesy of General Motors.