The Search

By April of 2011 I was getting emails every morning from ebay telling me about new listings for '68 Eldorados.  There were a few rust buckets, but most seemed to be in reasonable condition.  There is a Cadillac shop here in Torrance called Tips Cadillac.  Mark Tippett has been working on Cadillacs for 35 years.  I talked to him about my search.  His best advice was to avoid any vehicle with rust.  Anything else could be fixed.  He also casually mentioned that the '68 was the most difficult to find parts for.  I would find out later he wasn't kidding.

Eventually I found a '68 in Sherman Oaks, about 20 miles north in the San Fernando Valley.  I made arrangements to see it on a Sunday morning.  The car drove nicely.  It looked great.  It was not in perfect condition, but I felt that it was car whose restoration I could handle.  The ebay auction was scheduled to end in less than 24 hours.

The auction ended with four bidders interested but the reserve not met so there was no sale.  The next day the seller contacted me and said he was taking bids from the four of us.  He said since I was the only one to take the time to come see the car he would give me first refusal.  At noon on Tuesday I matched the high bid and won his offline auction.

That evening I picked up the car.