Hay Geoff Look At This

[madcaddyman]

Kinda cool I think.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1977-1978-CADILLAC-ELDORADO-COWBOY-SPORT-DUDE-RANCH-PICKUP-TRUCK-PHOTO-BUY-NOW-/160780066096?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256f3d1d30

Rene

[Geoff]

   Ueah, I bid on an Eldorado Mirage on eBay a few years ago, it was on several times before it sold.  More than I was willing to spend.  The one I bid on had a huge set of steer horns on the hood.  I am imagine is a picture of it out there on the internet somewhere.
Geoff

[Tailfin Joe]

Who built these cars ? how many are around ?

[Geoff]

Ahhh, well Joe this was covered in quite a bit of detail here many months ago.  Of the Cadillacs that were built as pickups (as opposed to Flower Cars), Caribou Motors built the Caribou, and Traditional Coachworks built the Mirage.  From what I have read Caribou started converting Cadillac coupes into pickups in about 1955, Caribou Motors suffered a fire in 1985 and never re-opened. Traditional Coachworks built the Mirage for a 3 year period in the mid-70s and built a total of about 678 Mirage pickups.  Most Caribous and Mirages were built from Coupe DeVilles but you do see some Eldo conversions every once in a while also, there was and Eldo version for auction on eBay that ended today, 6/1/12.   Rather than go through it all again here is one post about Caribous and Mirages I made last July -----
   
Re: '73 Caribou
« Reply #35 on: July 31, 2011, 09:10:02 AM »
   Quote from: Otto Skorzeny on July 31, 2011, 08:36:10 AM
Through what years and models where the two "legit" conversions done?

From the Cadillac Database of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club ---
CLC member, Tim Pawl, who is also curator of the CLC's Museum and Research Center, owns a 1974 Caribou, several years ago he contacted company that produced them; their records were supposedly lost in a flood. The person he talked to remembered that about 90-94 were produced in 1974, and perhaps as many as 275-300 total over the period from 1972-1976. Tim says also that another version of the Caribou was produced circa 1980-84. Over the past few years, Tim recalls that a dozen or so of the 1972-1976 versions have shown up on eBay and elsewhere. There was an article about the cars in Motor Trend Magazine circa May or September, 1975. These are very rare cars; their cost, when new, was supposedly $ 20,000 over the base $11,000 Coupe DeVille price or approx. $30,000. Typical ones today [2003-2004] have been going for $12,000 to $20,000.

The Mirage was built by Traditional Coachworks, they also built station wagons ---
http://www.facereplace.com/mirage/History%20of%20the%20Cadillac%20Mirage.htm

These were not the only "legitimate" builders of Cadillac "El Caminos" but they probably built more of them than the others.

Geoff
P.S.  If you want to see a bunch of Caribous (including Evel Knievel's Caribou), and Mirages try this site ---
http://www.flickriver.com/groups/1339241@N20/pool/interesting/

[Tailfin Joe]

 How I missed this information , I don't know, any way how well were the coversions done?, were some years better than others?,thanks for all the great pics, and info. now how do I fit one in the garage.

[Geoff]

How well were they done?  Mmmm, pretty good but that is in the eye of the beholder, they weren't made to last but that is no different than what GM did.  There are lots of things I would have done differently, at least on the Caribou, the tailgate especially.  As far as I know all 3 years of the Mirage were basically the same, but never having owned one or spent much time around one I am not that familiar with them.  Caribou Motors built a few Caribous every year for many years and I am sure they changed and evolved over time.
 Fit one in the garage?  If you can fit a Coupe deVille --- Caribous and Mirages are all the same length as the Coupe deVille they were derived from (or the occasional Eldorado as the case might be), length didn't change.

Geoff