Everything’s bigger in… Australia? Eight-wheeled 1977 Cadillac Eldorado heads to auction
Daniel Strohl Feb 5th, 2014 at 4pm |
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Photos courtesy Shannon’s.
Despite the Texas license plates on it, this eight-wheeled epitome of exuberant excess was neither created nor currently resides in the Everything Is Bigger state. Rather, this much-modified 1977 Cadillac Eldorado hails from Down Under, where it will cross the auction block later this month.
According to the Shannon’s auction description for the Cadillac,
chassis number 6L47S7Q306322, a Brisbane-based American car enthusiast exported the bone-stock 180hp 425-cu.in. V-8-powered coupe from Texas to Australia in the 1980s and immediately began to convert it into an eight-wheeler using Holden One Tonner ute tandem axles, at the same time leaving the Cadillac front-wheel driven (with all four front wheels steering) and left-hand drive. The stretched body panels to cover the stretched chassis were reportedly done in sheetmetal rather than fiberglass.
In 1999, the Cadillac then went to a Melbourne-based owner who apparently felt that an eight-wheeled Seventies Cadillac required even more to stand out from the crowd. In the lengthened section between the back glass and the full-size trunk lid he added a two-person hot tub, while under the lengthened hood in the empty space between radiator and engine he added a propane grill (“We put a grill behind your grille so you can grill while you chill”) that cantilevers out for barbies at the car show. An in-dash television, CCTV camera mounted in the right front fender, whiskey bar in the trunk, strobe lighting, train horns, and six exhaust pipes round out the modifications.
Another reason the car still wears its Texas plates is because the modifications rendered it unlicenseable in Australia.
The so-called “spa car” recently appeared for sale privately in Australia for $80,000 AUS (about $71,500 in U.S. dollars), but the Shannon’s pre-auction estimate ranges from $24,000 to $32,000 AUS (about $21,500 to $28,500 in U.S. dollars).
The Shannon’s Melbourne auction takes place February 17 in Cheltenham, Victoria. For more information, visit
Shannons.com.au.
UPDATE (18.February 2014): The Cadillac sold for $39,000 AUS, or about $35,000 in U.S. dollars.
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