1953 Cadillac Eldo-Roadster. Zanetti Kustom # 1.


This is a 'Dream car' in every sense of the term.

Cast your mind back to the famed 'Motoramas' of the 1950s, showcasing the most spectacular prototype and production cars of the mid-20th Century. A fireworks display of chrome, fins and imagination.

The Motoramas were a platform used by General Motors in its heyday to present to the general public its ideas, plans and dreams for the future.

Led by the 'Walt Disney' of automotive creativity, Harley Earl, the Motoramas produced a string of unbelievable and unaffordbale designs known as 'Dream cars'.

Some Motorama dream cars were lost forever, some are in museums, some have sold for the millions of dollars.

Each one unique, a one-off.

Some Motorama show cars were even made in fiberglass.

Those cars were beautifully created. But were not always practical or functional. In fact many of those cars were all cosmetic 'bling' to be awed at with public response considered for future design direction. For more information and photos of these cars, recommended reference : 'The GM Motorama: Dream Cars of the Fifties', by Bruce Berghoff (available from amazon.com).

In 2006 a 'Motorama' 1950 Futurliner Parade of Progress Tour Bus, sold for $US 4.1 million.

In 2005, at Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale, AZ, another Harley Earl creation, a 1954 Oldsmobile F-88 concept car sold with a winning bid of $US 3.24 million including bidder’s fees.

In 2006 a 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special Motorama concept car sold at Barrett-Jackson for $2.8 million (+8% commission), taking it over the $US 3m mark for the buyer.

Fast forward to 2007.







An extraordinary modern day version of the Motorama Dream car is unveiled on September 8 to an audience of friends of the designer, invited Cadillac Club members, and awaiting media.

Unique Cars magazine, Australia's premier unique and classic car publication witnessed the event and wrote:

"The car is every bit extraordinary as the Cadillacs displayed as part of Earl’s mid-1950s ‘Motorama’ car shows and named – ‘Tequila Sunset’.

The genius of this car’s design and execution is that every aspect is completely believable. Quite plausibly it could have come straight off a drawing block in Harley Earl’s circa-1952 design studio. The curved beltline and door profiles with their XK Jaguar overtones blend so unobtrusively into the overall shape that you need to dig out a photograph of an original ’53 Eldorado to appreciate the quite dramatic differences."

The car started it's life as a production 1953 Cadillac Coupe.

60 years, later almost every section of the car has been cut, altered, modified, added to, removed, sectioned, welded, joined, shaved, lengthened, shortened...you name it, to become what you see here. It's been described as an "automotive work of art....", "a modern motoring masterpiece, blending the old with the new...."






CONCEPT

The concept of this vehicle was to build a 21st Century rendition of the mid-20th Century Motorama show cars, with new / modern / upgraded technology, engine, transmission, etc with the classic lines of the golden era Cadillac.

Much of the gaudiness and overdone, superfluous trim added at the time was simplified or removed to give a seemless flowing line of purity.







The vision was to achieve a guilded 'Eldorado' of yesteryear, with the reliabilty and ease of today's cars. We think that ambition has been met with this dream car. As many owners of older cars will attest, as beautiful as they look, many older cars just don't have the comfort or practicality of newer cars. Older cars do have a tendency to spit the dummy at the worst possible times (unless fully restored and everything is replaced and rebuilt as new).

With this car, start her right up, and cruise with the confidence you'll get back home. And you have enough thrust and grunt in the powerplant to shock and awe the naysayers, if that's your thing.

Having restored and owned over 15 classic Cadillacs, the owner / designer decided it was time to create the first of a number of one-off unique dream cars.

A coupe was located that was perfect for such a project, bereft of parts it barely qualified as a car, let alone a Cadillac. Yet the body was perfectly straight and rust free.

This allowed the designer and builders to start with an ideal blank canvas.

Designer : Paul Zanetti, Australian and internationally syndicated cartoonist, and well known, long-time Cadillac restorer / owner / collector.
Builders : Kustom City, Gold Coast, Australia.
Paint : House Of Kolor (custom mixed color).

Beltline
Contoured to emulate the roadster look of a 1953 Eldorado (but more so) meets an XK Jaguar. A sleek art deco period roadster design. Something plausibly indicative of the expensive luxury roadsters of the day.







Suicide Doors
Most challenging from an engineering aspect was installation of rear-hinged ‘suicide’ doors, which occurred in conjunction with complete revision of the car’s ‘belt-line’.

The doors took a massive amount of work. The front mudguards were boxed to provide a locking panel to install hinge boxes inside the rear guards. This was done in conjunction with dropping the belt-line, so the doors had to be welded to the body, finish the top of the doors off and then cut out again.

The doors are remotely operated with safety latches which automatically engage when the transmission selector is moved from ‘Park’.






Side vents
Side die-cast trim was removed and open-mouthed rear mudguard vents were added, to contribute to the futuristic atomic jet persona.






Parcel Shelf
Inspired by 1950s Corvettes, the rear parcel shelf forms a flowing art deco curve from the trunk to the rear opera seat tops, continuing to the center console






Tail lights
The Eldo-Roadster’s taillights have the appearance of stock Cadillac components, however the metal was extended and downsized 1953 Lincoln lenses were hand modified and installed.






Head lights
Extended and frenched.






Bumpers
The bumpers which came with the car were from a 1952 Cadillac as discovered during the build, as was the hood. The front bumpers just did not align so the had to be reshaped and modified to fit the revised shape of the car. Rear bumper ends were welded to the rear bar to produce one flowing unit.





Grille
Lower pan extended. outriggers moulded in. Each grille tooth modified to tubular. Five teeth extended to seven teeth, to give the appearance of a wide grin. The center bar of the grille was 'lifted' to align the side front fender bars in one smoothe seemless line.




Hood
Although similar-looking to that of the later car, the ’52 Cadillac ‘hood’ differed significantly in shape and did not sit right. So the hood panel was cut into eight pieces, added and subtracted metal where needed, and reassembled to form a panel that perfectly fitted into the available space.






Performance & Drive

Engine : New Chevrolet 350 Fast Burn, 385 hp
Fuel : Holley 750
Exhaust : Custom 2 1/2 in duals
Gearbox : Turbo 350
Diff : 1974 Camaro LSD w/ four bar and Watts linkage
Brakes : Second generation Camaro discs (front) and Camaro drums (rear)




Driving

Wheel : Original 1953 Cadillac steering wheel restored
Column : Tilt steering column
Gauges : Original instrument cluster fully restored and rechromed and centralised to meet the center console.

Entertainment ; DVD screen on front passenger side discretely hidden behind dash panel hinged doorlid. Radio / CD player control on front center console
Navigation : GPS Nav system hidden discretely behind dash panel hinged doorlid, in front of driver's wheel
Shifter : '69 Customised Camaro 'horseshoe' with handmade handle to give a 'futuristic atomic deco' feel
Air Bag Suspension : Air Ride Pro 4 x airbag






Wheels : Zenith Chrome wire wheels. 15 x 7, front and rear
Tyres : 78 Series Diamondback Wide White Walls, 15 x 235, front and rear





Interior Seats : 1964 Ford Thunderbird buckets (front) and opera seats (rear)
Upholstery : Italian leather including doors


Trunk : Italian leather / 100% Merino wool carpet








Carpet : 100% Australian Merino wool
Console : Centralised, dividing the interior. Includes subtly hidden glovebox and hide-away ignition.







Dash and upper door trim : Blonde walnut veneer.







Windscreen : Wraparound or 'panoramic'. 1958 Impala with stainless surround
Rearview mirror : Late 1950s Corvette






Body : Every panel blended, shaved and smoothed. The whole body is seemless, with joins welded, giving one flowing body mould

Engine Bay : Inner guards were shaped in character with the rest of the body and all seams welded and filed.

No filler, fiberglass or plastic was used in the workmanship on the body. It's all hand-formed and shaped steel, file finished. There were no shortcuts taken. All body work was performed to the highest standard by only the best hand-picked skilled artisans.






Signature : 3-dimensional multi-coloured shields bearing the ‘Zanetti Kustom’ emblem appear on the rear seat divider and on the wheel medallions.

Christened : 'Tequila Sunset' and launched on 8 September 2007.

This stunning dream car is 'Zanetti Kustom' Number 1, the intended first of a series of one-off kustoms.

As the first of any collectable, number one is often considered the most valuable, or most sought after.


Designer's note : This dream car could not have been achieved without the collaborative and co-operative efforts of dozens of like-minded specialists and passionate enthusiasts who all joined forces to ensure that a 2 - 3 year project was achieved in an unbelievable 4 months. Dedicated artisans worked tirelessly and enthusiastically together while management and suppliers were co-ordinated by the designer and project manager. Extra special attention and thanks must go to Steve Bowman of 'Kustom City', Gold Coast, Australia, and his team of brilliant metal sculptors. Thanks also to Owen Webb, chief of House Of Kolor (Australia), - the world's most beautiful custom auto paint - who personally offered his services to mix and supply the color. The list of contributors to this project is lengthy, so they cannot all be named here. They all know who they are and again, special thanks to all - Paul Zanetti

Special Note
This car has been built without limitation for the worldwide show circuit, specifically the United States. GPS Navigation has American mapping technology, not Australian. Accordingly chassis modication done to this car when originally in the United States has been left un-altered to accomodate the disc brakes system. Interested Australian bidders should check with their State authorities before bidding to confirm registration. Otherwise bid with the disclosure that you are bidding on a 'show' trophy trailer queen. United States bidders will not be affected and registration should be a matter of course. Please ask any questions and then confirm with your local registration authorities. Having said that, this car drives like a dream when tested on private acreage property bitumen roads.


Shipping / Transport
International : I have experience in shipping cars (importing) to Australia from the USA. The vehicle is near a coastal city port on the Australian east Coast. My shipping agent has confirmed he can export the car to any port worldwide. I will assist in transporting to the Australian East coast port. The choice of shipping method is the buyer's discretion. Example of cost to ship. Estimated price (not quote) from Australian East Coast to USA West Coast is aprox $US3,000.

Australia : Transport is by arrangement of the buyer. I will assist at this end to co-ordinate the buyer's reasonable arrangement.

* Please note : This auction is in US dollars.

Media

This customised vehicle has attracted national media coverage. The only thing close to compare this car to, is General Motor's 'Efijy' concept car which has received more publicity. That car is valued at $1.5 million, going on to win the 2007 North American Concept Car of the Year award at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Michigan. But that is a 'concept' car and this is a 'custom' car, so maybe there's no real comparison. The Efijy is a stunning car and had two years of shows and publicity before winning the highest of awards in its category. To date 'Tequila Sunset' has not been publicly shown (excepting media). Showing the car will be at the discretion of the winning bidder. Upon launch, "Tequila" was featured on national TV news bulletins and on front covers and special features of magazines and newspaper, nationally. Some samples below. 'Tequila Sunset' has also attracted international press interest, featuring in Dubai's leading car magazine and soon to feature in a major US car magazine.

For more information please email



eldo59@bigpond.com