Concept cars have been the number one priority when it comes to manufacturer designs testing the appeal of a brand-new vehicle. Even if most of them are stuck in the limbo of being computer-generated rendered images, some of them still come to life.
For example, YouTubers Tyler Hoover of Hoovie’s Garage and David Long of Car Wizard analyze a custom 1999 Cadillac Eldorado, also known as the EldoRODo. This vehicle has quite a story. Moreover, a handful of problems have rendered it unable to drive as it should’ve.
The Car Wizard also took the car to find all the things that were wrong with it, especially since he has some expertise when it comes to problematic Northstar engines. If you’re curious to know more, let’s dive into those issues and see why Tyler decided to purchase this rare piece of General Motors history.
The Eldorado was sold after GM went bankrupt.
Tyler explained that this car started initially as a 1999 Cadillac Eldorado, but it was never sold. However, in the same year, General Motors decided to craft a unique design before handing it over to California Street Rods in Huntington Beach, California, to be built.
As soon as it was finished, the Cadillac was used as a show car that would later travel around the country. According to Tyler, the car was sold in 2009 for $60,000, right after GM had gone bankrupt, which also caused them to sell everything in their car museum.
The person who built that car, Chuck Lombardo, recently passed away, so now there’s no exact way to determine to what extent this car has actually been modified. According to Tyler, this isn’t exactly a concept car but rather something that GM built to show off.
It has been constantly chopped, channeled, and barreled, up to a point where it is four inches shorter than the stock Eldorado. The car has also been significantly lowered, along with a wide range of extra custom touches that could easily have cost more than just six figures.
It seems that the biggest problem with this car relies on the custom wheels, which are entirely flat with no gaps. However, the tires are original, with 18s at the front and 19s at the rear. According to Tyler, there’s no actual stem to put any air into them, but there might be a small hole in the center cap that might allow you to remove it and then remove the wheel, too.
It turns out that the stem is on the inside of the wheel, which also means that the wheel requires removal if you want to put air into it. Even if Hoovie doesn’t really know a lot about this vehicle, the slightest research showed that GM and California Street Rods built this one-off custom Eldorado for the 2000 Los Angeles International Auto Show.
A couple of GM executives also spoke about this custom Cadillac. According to their statements, the EldoRODo was the company’s way of celebrating the creativity of the hot rod culture in Southern California. For many years, the flair of these vehicles has expressed the personalities of the builder and driver, similar to what the Eldorado has done for its owner base for more than 50 years.
The taillights resemble the ones from the Cadillac DTS.
Tyler also points out that another striking visual enhancement is the rear fender skirts that also cover half of the rear wheels. They reach around to the rear bumper, with the functional exhaust molded right into both corners.
The taillights look like the ones from the Cadillac DTS, which were released after the Eldorado. Tyler also states that there’s no place to mount a license plate because of its lack of mounting points. However, the car’s moniker rests on a plastic mount that’s been glued in place.
According to Tyler, every single panel on this Cadillac has been touched, and the roof is lower. But this is mainly because the stock windshield has been tilted. The sides of the car are entirely smooth, especially since they have shaved door handles that need to be opened with a key fob that doesn’t work anymore.
There aren’t any side mirrors either; there is only a single camera with no display. The interior of the car is totally stocked, with only a couple of carbon fiber panels that replace where the wood had been.
The power steering pump needed replacing after 18,000 miles.
The Eldorado was sent to David Long, also known as the Car Wizard, who managed to find plenty of issues with the vehicle. According to David, the car has 18,000 miles on it, so it has no blown head gaskets or cooling issues, for that matter.
However, the power steering pump needed replacement, and he ultimately decided to service the automatic transmission. Underneath the car, David didn’t find any leaks, but there were gold blocks wedged in between the springs to get the desired ride height.
David also stated that the air suspension system is entirely functional, but there are a couple of lines that have been cut. The car also doesn’t have any mufflers, which might represent a problem when it comes to passing any inspections. Even if the car looks great, it was never meant to be driven. Instead, it was a showpiece designed by GM, and then it had to be destroyed.
The Northstar V8 engine is known as extremely unreliable.
According to the Car Wizard, the Northstar V8 engine is extremely unreliable, and that’s mostly because of all the fine threads in the engine block. This would cause the threads to pull apart, and the only way to fix this is to make an even bigger hole with coarser and larger threads.
The engine performance isn’t bad, either, but the issues that come with the old Northstar engines seem to be catastrophic, to say the least. According to Tyler, the Eldorado was meant to be destroyed, as it was issued with a specific certificate of destruction.
This also means that he can’t register the car for road use under the same VIN. The truth is that the majority of concept cars created by GM are completely destroyed or placed in museums after they’ve served their purpose. A subscriber also informed Tyler of a press release that highlighted the fact that Eldorado was a tribute to the hot rod enthusiasts of Southern California.
All this talking about designer cars raised my appetite for knowing more. I don’t know about you, but when I want to dig even deeper into a subject, my first go-to is watching a documentary. This time, we have “Great Cars: American Classics” rounding up.
Only the first season. If you want to know more, you can check it out here. You will find out more about the following cars and car manufacturers: Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Corvette, Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac GTO, Ford Thunderbird, Shelby Cobra, Ford GT40, Jeep, and, of course, SUVs! Trust me, it’s one of the best documentaries out there when it comes to this niche, so you won’t regret giving it a try!
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