Unmistakably Cadillac

“It Gives a Man a New Outlook…” promised General Motors about the view through the windshield of a 1957 Cadillac. That’s because, if you could pony up the $7,286 base price of an Eldorado (which was the same whether you purchased a convertible or hardtop, and is equivalent to over $67,000 today), plus more for your desired options, you had certainly made your place in the world. The expansive hood and finned fender-top ornaments were your visual confirmation of that status. Outside, the distinctive shark-like tailfins, massive cast-aluminum rear bumpers, and the rest of the quasi-custom coachwork made certain other drivers knew it, too.

It’s no secret that the Great Depression had been hard on the market for luxury cars. Unfettered ostentation was badly out of style in the 1930s and ’40s, and the traditional