1976 Cadillac Mirage Pick Up

[Charles D. Barnette]

Ever heard of it? Cadillac Coupe de Villes in 1975 and 1976 apparently were transformed into upscale "El Camino" pick ups by Traditional Coach Works, LTD, of Chatsworth, California. Approximately 204 Cadillac Mirage pick ups were made, and it is my understanding that they were done to Cadillac standards with the buyer able to order one through the participating Cadillac dealer. (Also this same company customized Cadillacs into wagons as well.) Last weekend I found a 1976 Cadillac Mirage pick up which needs some major "love and care" restoration. I cannot disclose the location of it, but I will post shortly some pictures that I took on last Saturday of the vehicle. Charles D. Barnette

[Ctynes]

Here is the picture of the front of the vehicle.  Can you find it?  My next post will reveal the right side of the vehicle and the rear, if you can find them in the pictures. - Charles D. Barnette

[Ctynes]

Here are the remaining pictures.  You should be able to tell that it is a Cadillac pick-up in these pictures, use your imagination if you have to.  Charles D. Barnette

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

Charles,
Yes Cadillac did in fact authorize the modification of 75 and 76 Coupe deVilles into what was a "Mirage" option.  At the time it was a $9000.00 option to a $9000.00 car.  For whatever reason it wasn't a real fast moving option and I remember 2 of them sitting in the showroom of Lou Ehlers Cadillac in Los Angeles with no interested buyers.
In the 70's pickups did not have the mystic that we have been told they have now, so the option just petered out along with the downsizing of the product lines.
Unfortunately, looking at the pictures you have posted I would very much doubt that this is a true "Mirage" Carcass.  There seem to be too many discrepancies visible.
Post some more pictures and in particular, full side views would help.
Greg

[Charles D. Barnette]

Unfortunately the car is in a very confined area, and these pictures are the best I can do at the moment. The owner called it a 76 Cadillac "Mirage", and I had to take his word for it for now. If there are any "Mirage" owners in the club I would appreciate some pictures posted here on your vehicles. Was the "Mirage" pick up the only Cadillac pick up conversion to have the quarter rear side window? If so the pictured car certainly has that! Thanks, Charles-also the round Cadillac emblem on the rear quarter panel seems to be consistent with a 76 Cadillac "Mirage". Finally the metal post for the tailgate seems to be extremely consistant with the 76 Cadillac Mirage pick up. I therefore believe it to be a "Mirage" in this edited post. There are too many consistencies to call it anything else.

[Otto Skorzeny]

When I was a kid in a suburb of Cleveland, OH, a local real estate mogul named Clint Williams lived near me. He had a beautiful navy blue Mirage with red and white trim. These were his company colors and he became well known for that car in the Cleveland area.

[harvey b]

Hi All,Evel Kneivel had one too,here is a link to a picture.  http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:THtBtu45RIoJ:www.imcdb.org/vehicle_25683-Cadillac-Coupe-DeVille-1974.html+evel+kneivel+cadillac&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

[Davidinhartford]

I have a photo gallery of them.  Here are just a few.   For more go to: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1339241@N20/pool/

[Davidinhartford]

two more views of a "Mirage" pickup.

[Charles D. Barnette]

Since these conversions were in essence sanctioned by Cadillac, doesn't this give them a special place in Cadillac's history over non-sanctioned conversions? Charles-shouldn't their value reflect this? (Speaking of Evel Kneival owning one-I wonder how many broken bones of children can be attributed to those who tried to emulate Evel's tricks in their own backyard. My own brother tried it with his bicycle on homemade ramps to jump a ditch? Result-a broken finger when the bicycle went straight up in the air and straight down into the ditch.)

[Davidinhartford]

None of these conversions were sanctioned by Cadillac.   Not even the Mirage's.     Cadilllac has never sanctioned any conversions until the Master Coachbuilder program was developed for the limousine and Funeral industry.  And this was only done because they dropped the commercial chassis from production.    Cadillac has worked with coachbuilders when involved with cars for the White House, such as Hess and Eisenhardt.   Otherwise none of the wagon or pick up truck conversions were "approved" by Cadillac.    Many Cadillac Dealers had such custom conversions forsale on their showroom floors and/or would even order one made for you.  But the companies were responcible for any issues resulting by the conversion.     Many people assume that because the car was sold new by the dealer as converted that it was approved or sanctioned by Cadillac.     Cadillac motor company didn't object to their dealers making a profit on such conversions as long as the dealer knew that any service issues had to be sent back to the respective converter.   

The only factory sanctioned custom work was done by ASC (American Sunroof Corporation) when they created the Biarritz package for the 1976-78 Eldorados.  Also the 1984 & 85 Eldorado convertibles.   Everything else was aftermaket conversions and thus not warranteed by Cadillac.

The Mirage in my opinion was the best designed pick up truck conversion.   Retaining the factory roof line with opera windows gave the car better proportions.    Some of them had a golf bag door on the right rear quarter ahead of the rear wheel.   

[Davidinhartford]

Unfortunately the car is in a very confined area, and these pictures are the best I can do at the moment. The owner called it a 76 Cadillac "Mirage", and I had to take his word for it for now. If there are any "Mirage" owners in the club I would appreciate some pictures posted here on your vehicles. Was the "Mirage" pick up the only Cadillac pick up conversion to have the quarter rear side window? If so the pictured car certainly has that! Thanks, Charles-also the round Cadillac emblem on the rear quarter panel seems to be consistent with a 76 Cadillac "Mirage". Finally the metal post for the tailgate seems to be extremely consistant with the 76 Cadillac Mirage pick up. I therefore believe it to be a "Mirage" in this edited post. There are too many consistencies to call it anything else.

I would agree with you on this.  The Mirage was the only 75-76 Deville based pickup conversion to retain the opera windows and use the round rear side marker lamps from the 73, 68-70 Eldorados.   

[Rich S]

Another interesting bit of trivia about the Mirage conversions was that they were offered for sale in a 1975 Father's Day catalog by the Neiman-Marcus department store. The catalog depicts a Mirage in what looks like the Rosewood color from 1975, and if I recall correctly, it is shown with Cadillac Wire Wheel Covers. My copy is buried somewhere in my collection of literature, but it is quite classy looking, accompanied by what appears to be a rancher wearing his "cowboy" hat!

[76eldo]

They are very cool, and I would love to own one, but to buy a really rough one... you better own a body shop in order to be able to afford the restoration.

Brian

[35-709]

I too would love to own a Mirage one day.  The blue one pictured above in DavidinHartford's post was on Ebay Motors some time ago and went unsold for several auction go-'rounds because (in my opinion) of the owner's vastly over the top idea of what the car was worth.  Reserve was something like $40,000 at one point!  At that time the car was in North Florida and my wife and I went to look at it and while it looks pretty good in the pictures I was glad I went to look.  It did not hold up all that well under close scrutiny.  The owner at that time was the son of the original owner.  It finally stopped showing up on eBay and I do not know if he finally found a buyer or not.

Another Cadillac "El Camino" type pickup was built by American Built Cars, Inc. of San Francisco and was called the CARIBOU.

There has also been a '76 (maybe '78) Eldorado pickup on eBay Motors that went through several auction cycles and never sold (at least not on eBay).
Geoff N.

[Davidinhartford]

The blue one pictured above in DavidinHartford's post was on Ebay Motors some time ago and went unsold for several auction go-'rounds because (in my opinion) of the owner's vastly over the top idea of what the car was worth.  Reserve was something like $40,000 at one point!  At that time the car was in North Florida and my wife and I went to look at it and while it looks pretty good in the pictures I was glad I went to look.  It did not hold up all that well under close scrutiny.  The owner at that time was the son of the original owner.  It finally stopped showing up on eBay and I do not know if he finally found a buyer or not.

Geoff N.

Geoff,   I recall that the light blue one was not restored in the original color combo.    No doubt the seller is trying to recoup his restoration costs ontop of the vehicle value.

The darker red one in my photos was in perfect shape.  Yet the owner later repainted it black to use as a flower car in his funeral business.  It was his car and he can do anything he wants, but it was so nice as it was already.    These were never made to be flower cars either.   Cadillac made a long wheelbase commercial chassis for coachbuilders to make Hearse, Ambulance and flower cars.   Although Mcclain corporation did make a flower car conversion using Calais or Coupe Devilles.  But they had a chopped off looking roof, unlike the Mirages.   McClain Calais below.

[Otto Skorzeny]

How does the tailgate work on those Mirages? I don't see a handle.

[35-709]

"Geoff,   I recall that the light blue one was not restored in the original color combo.    No doubt the seller is trying to recoup his restoration costs on top of the vehicle value."

Right, it was a repaint and only a fair job, the interior color was changed to blue (originally beige I believe), the dried out vinyl interior hard parts were painted blue and it was obvious how dried out and deteriorated they were under the paint.  The work had been done by the seller's father before he passed away.  The seller was in debt and had a very elevated opinion of what this "rare and wonderful" car in such "beautiful" condition was worth and this car was going to solve all of his financial woes.  We went to see the car after the first eBay auction ended with Reserve Not Met, the ending bid was quite reasonable (not having seen the car yet) and I thought I might get the car by making an offer.  After seeing it however I was disappointed, I still made a good offer (I really wanted a Mirage) and his eyes got wide and he didn't say anything for a brief moment, then he revealed to me what his Reserve was and said he wouldn't even think about taking the offer in the low teens that I made.  So ended the day.  There were several auction reruns after that with Reserve Not Met.
Geoff N.     

[Otto Skorzeny]

What was his reserve, Geoff?

["Cadillac Kid" Greg Surfas 15364]

I lusted after one of these a few years back.  Was one of the two that the Mirage "guru' of the CLC who had just passed away had, and was in near showroom condition.  It would have been a match for my firethorn '76 Coupe, and fortunately before I parted with the 22k the man's widow decided she was not ready to sell it yet.
Beautiful vehicles, but unfortunately, most of those that show up at events are cosmetically "enhansed" wrecks. I still, from time to time lust in my mind for one of them.
Greg