Last updated on September 14, 2022
Today’s car, from the outside appearance, is a 1971 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe but, from the underside it is a 1980 Corvette. I saw this car at Net Cruze Cars and Coffee located at Ladera Center’s located at 5245 W Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90045. They meet on the 2nd and 4th Saturday from 9am-noon.
This car is owned and is the brainchild of Hiram Bond. Hiram was a little sheepish to tell me that the bought two really nice cars to build this creation. A really nice 1980 Corvette and a nice running and driving 1971 Cadillac Eldorado. He then married the two together. Then it took 3 shops and 7 years to complete this incredible creation.
They took the body off the Corvette and discarded it, except the doors and T-tops. This was their starting point. They had to deconstruct the Cadillac. Then every piece of the Cadillac sheet metal had to be modified to fit the Corvette chassis. The addition of a tubular steel frame with mounting points was created to form the skeleton to mount the modified Cadillac sheet metal panels. The modifications were the whole body had to be narrowed by 8 inches. The front and rear fenders were shortened from top to bottom and front to rear. Getting the wheel wells and rear fender skirts to match is masterful. The 12 inch cowl skillfully brings the Hood and windshield together with the appearance of a longer hood. The workmanship to make every piece of the modified sheet metal seamless required a year of block sanding to make the Black finish on this car flawless.
The original Red interior is finished in leather. The Goodyear Vogue tires are mounted on a set of vintage Appliance Wire Wheels to give the car that 1970s custom look. The car is powered by a 190hp, 305 cu in, 5 liter, V8 with a Rochester 4bbl carburetor. Transferring that power to the rear wheels through a 3-speed (TH-350) Turbo Hydra-Matic Automatic transmission with 3.07:1 as the final gear ratio. Helping slow this baby down are power assisted vented disc brakes in all four corners. The Corvette’s fully independent suspension has been upgraded to an air suspension system.
The original MSRP for 1971 Eldorado coupe was $7,383.00 There were 27,368 1971 Eldorado produced of which 20,568 were coupes. The original 1980 Corvette MSRP was $13,140.24. There were 40,614 1980 Corvettes built with 3,221 built with the 305 ci in engine (California Specification). The top speed was 122 mph (theoretical) with a 85 mph speedometer. The 0-60 time was 9.3 seconds. This is a magnificently finished car that will draw a crowd of car enthusiast at any car show or Cars and Coffee event. Thanks for riding along. Frank
