15 Manliest Cars On The Road

12. 1976 Cadillac Eldorado

In the late 1960s, having a new Cadillac was a symbol of success, but not coolness.

That changed when the division made Eldorado, a very distinct model instead of a premium trim level on the parade floats.

This manly personal coupe wasn’t meek, but its sizable proportions were neat and purposeful, managing to look more sophisticated than other models and more appealing to younger male buyers.

Sadly, it was short-lived. The Detroit Way of the era led to a bloated redesign of the Eldo for 1971, introducing the pimpmobile look and causing a drought of manly cars for the automaker that has only recently been addressed.

This car stretches nearly 19 feet from end to end – close to a foot and a half longer than the year’s best-selling Oldsmobile Cutlass – and weighs over 5,000 pounds. It gets around 12 miles per gallon from its 8.2-liter V8 engine. Its $10,000+ price tag was also substantial for 1976 – inflation alone adjusts that to $40,000, and the prices of luxury automobiles have risen faster than inflation.

And although Detroit went on to build open-top versions of future vehicles over the years – including three Cadillacs, one of which using the Eldorado name – they were not iconic all-American cars like this 1976. Throughout the 1970s, tiny Japanese cars were gaining in popularity and American cars were beginning to downsize rapidly.

The 1976 Eldorado convertible was seen as something of a last hurrah for good old fashioned American automotive excess, and the market snapped up 14,000 of them.