'76 Cadillac Wagon at Mecum

Went up to the Mecum auction in Kissimmee yesterday. Saw this '76 Cadillac Castilian wagon. It is scheduled to go across the block on Wednesday. It is a different conversion than you usually see. Instead of using the clamshell back end, it looks like it was custom built. It seems like they were going for a sleeker look but it doesn't work for me. The wide "brougham" bar they used to cover the welds makes it look even more awkward. It will be interesting to see what it gets bid up to.
I have more pictures of other wagons from the auction that I'll post in the next day or so. There were quite a few wagons there.

 

Wow I really like that one! I think its one of the best ones I've seen.

 

We've seen these before, and the rear addition is fiberglass. They tend to rust rather badly at that seam. Personally, I think the ones that use the Clamshell back are much better. They also change the rear floor pan, etc, to make it function like a real wagon. I also prefer the conversion done on the Sedan deVille, as the 4 door hardtop just looks better to me.

 

It looks ok, but the weakest link is the fact the rear door window is too upright or square. This is the real problem because they are trying integrate this obvious shape into a much sleeker look, and the factory part just sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

Here's one of those with the back open (back glass doesn't go down...)



Here's a clamshell Caddy.....

 

he had tried to sell that one for a long time at $26K, then lowered to $19.9K
anyone know what it sold for?

 

QUOTE=rrbnut;285343]he had trie to sell that one for a long time at $26K, then lowered to $19.9K
anyone know what it sold for?[/QUOTE]

$2.50 if I remember correctly.

 

Beautiful car, strange hatch. I like it.

 

Unfortunately it didn't look as good in person. There was a definite sag where the back roof was attached to the rest of the car.

 

Not uncommon, worse luck. The join is a lap seam, and it is a water trap, so they rust there. We've seen a few with serious rust where the extension meets the body. Much better are the ones that use the complete rear sheet metal, floor pan and all, from a Clam and use the clamshell gate.

 

The lines of the Clam Caddy flow so much better, and look like a GM factory job. The Castillian, though attractive, doesn't flow nearly as well.

 

While the cost of converting the Castillian version was I'm sure much less than the clamshell, by now as used vehicles, they are probably in the same ballpark. If I wanted one of these, I'd wait until a nice clamshell came along.

One caution though. As the conversion shop would be assembling the clamshell mechanism from scratch, rather than it being factory-built, I'd check out the construction and operation thoroughly.

 

The high bid on this was $12,000 which was not enough to buy it. Not sure how much more it would take but IMO that was about the right price.