Cadillac Eldorado - Discontinuation

Discontinuation

Having lost its only remaining platform mate, the Buick Riviera, after the 1998 model year, rumors of the Eldorado's demise gradually began to circulate. GM showed a lowered, customized Eldorado-based concept at the 2000 North American International Auto Show, which was called EldoRODo, to little media or public interest.

Not long after, GM announced that the Eldorado's 50th model year, 2002, would be its last. To mark the end of the historic name, a limited production run of 1,596 cars in red or white - the colors available on the original 1953 convertible - were produced in three batches of 532, signifying the Eldorado's first year of production. These last cars had exhausts that were specially tuned to imitate the note of their illustrious forerunners from a half-century earlier, and a dash-mounted plaque indicating each car's sequence in production. The last Eldorado was delivered to the Cadillac Museum, in honor of Don Massey of Don Massey Cadillac - one of the largest Cadillac dealers in the United States. The second-to-last production Eldorado was sold to Nicola Bulgari, the Italian jeweler and avid automotive aficionado. The car will reside with his collection in Rome, Italy. Production ended on April 22, 2002, with the Lansing Craft Centre retooled to build the Chevrolet SSR.