These days, front-wheel drive is the king of the crop. Virtually every single family sedan you see on the road, save for a few outliers, boasts a front-wheel drive layout. In simple terms, the front-engined, front-wheel drive configuration is the most popular choice for automakers due to cost. Having the transmission, drive axles, and differential all housed within a single unit, called the transaxle, makes cars cheaper and easier to produce. Not to mention, front-drive cars are typically more fuel-efficient than rear or all-wheel drive models.
However, while front-wheel drive is the most popular drivetrain today, it wasn’t always that way. If we travel back to the 1960s, almost every single car found on an American roadway took advantage of rear-wheel drive with a front-mounted engine. It wasn’t until 1966, when Oldsmobile released the Toronado, that front-wheel drive was introduced to the mass market in modern times. In 1967, the Cadillac Eldorado gained front-wheel drive and, by 1970, the Eldo became the most powerful model to ever utilize the layout.
As many of you know, powerful front-drive cars tend to have a lot of torque steer, but through some clever engineering and a little luck, the 1970 Cadillac Eldorado managed to largely escape the affliction, despite its huge power output.
The Day The Automotive World Changed
1966 oldsmobile toronado front viewBring A Trailer
On the eve of The Beatles’ release of their iconic Rubber Soul album near the end of 1965, General Motors was working on a revolutionary, world-changing release of its own. On October 14th of that year, Oldsmobile unveiled the Toronado. While it wasn’t the first-ever front-drive automobile, that honor typically belongs to the 1934 Citroën Traction Avant, it was the first post-War front-wheel drive car to hit the mass market.
Shortly after the Toronado hit the market, Cadillac jumped onto the front-drive bandwagon with the Eldorado. The fabled Caddy namesake had already been around for roughly 14 years at that point, as it had first been used to commemorate GM’s 50th, or “Golden” anniversary. Since then, the Eldo went on to become its own, standalone model, eventually ending up as a front-wheel drive, personal luxury coupe in 1967.
1967 Cadillac EldoradoCadillac
When the ’67 Eldorado debuted, it marked the introduction of the model’s eighth generation. It was radically redesigned, and resembled little of the previous, seventh-gen model. It joined the fray alongside the Oldsmobile Toronado and the Buick Riviera, the latter of which shared a body with the other two, but opted for a rear-drive layout, instead. The ’67 Eldo also marked the first time a Cadillac utilized hide-away headlights.
The 1970 Cadillac Eldorado, large, loud and fast, thanks to an 8.2-liter V8 engine producing 400 hp.Bring A Trailer
Minor stylistic changes were made to the front-drive Caddy throughout its eighth generation, the most notable of which being its loss of those hidden headlights in 1969. The most prominent change came about in 1970, when the model was granted the use of Cadillac’s gigantic 500 CID V8. Prior to the big mill, the Eldorado used a 429 CID engine followed by a 472 CID engine. You’d think that all that weight – and all that power – would cause the Eldo to handle like a massive liability. But, in reality, it managed itself quite well.
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How The ’70 Eldorado Did It
1970 Cadillac Eldorado finished in red with red interiorBring A Trailer
Now, it’s worth noting that the gigantic, heavy, 1970s-era Cadillac wasn’t handling like a Focus ST. It was still a big luxury car made of steel with a V8 under its hood, so it wasn’t setting lap records. But, thanks to the way its innards were engineered, it managed to avoid a large amount of torque steer. For those not in-the-know, torque steer occurs in some more-powerful front-wheel drive cars, caused by things like naturally uneven axle shaft lengths, making it easier for one wheel to turn than the other. Or, it can be caused by imperfect steering geometry.
1970 Cadillac Eldorado finished in red with red interiorBring A Trailer
In the Eldorado’s case, its unique drivetrain is mostly to thank for its stability under heavy throttle. In most front-drive cars, engines are mounted in a transverse orientation, which typically leads to the car needing unequal drive axles. However, in the Eldo’s case, its engine was mounted longitudinally, meaning both its axle shafts could be of equal length. This eliminates the risk of torque steer by a large amount right off the bat. However, there’s more to its torque steer-less recipe.
1970 Cadillac Eldorado finished in red with red interiorBring A Trailer
The 1970 Eldorado is very heavy. Most estimates place its curb weight at just above 4,600 lbs. For a coupe, this is an insane amount of weight, especially in the modern era. Because the vast majority of its weight was slung over the front axle, thanks to its huge V8, transmission, and drivetrain setup, the front end of the car was much heavier than the rear. Due to the huge amount of force this put onto the front axle, the car would be hard-pressed to even find the ability to torque steer, even if it wanted to, as its sheer bulk held it steady.
1970 Cadillac Eldorado finished in red with red interiorBring A Trailer
Finally, General Motors also had an active hand in eliminating what little torque steer was left over. During the Toronado’s design phase, GM engineers found a way to engineer a sophisticated torsion-bar suspension setup for the model’s front axle. The purpose was to stabilize the car’s front end under heavy acceleration or, in other words, remove – or reduce – torque steer. Because the 1967–1970 Cadillac Eldorado was closely related to the Toronado, it received the suped-up suspension, too.
The Caveat
The Cadillac Eldorado, a personal luxury coupe, hails from 1970.Bring A Trailer
While you may not run into much, if any, torque steer in a 1970 Cadillac Eldorado, you’ll have to look out for extreme levels of understeer. We mentioned that this thing is heavy, and that most of its weight is over the front axle. Front-heavy cars tend to plow through corners, rather than around them. This is called understeer, and when it occurs, the car doesn’t round corners as it should. A crash via the car’s tendency to run outside a corner is extremely likely. So, our best advice is to just not take corners too hard, should you find yourself bounding around a circuit in a ’70 Cadillac Eldorado.
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More On The Eldorado’s Mechanical Make-Up
1970 Cadillac Eldorado finished in red with red interiorBring A Trailer
The 500 cubic-inch V8 nestled underneath the ’70 Eldorado’s hood didn’t get there by accident, and it also wasn’t new. The aforementioned Cadillac 472 CID V8 was introduced in 1968, and the 500 CID mill was its successor. All Cadillac did to enlarge the mill was chuck a new, longer-stroke crankshaft into the 472 CID mill. The reason behind Caddy’s decision to fit the Eldo with such a huge engine was to give it a certain level of exclusivity, along with a huge boatload of silent, wafting power.
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Backing up the 500 CID engine was a specially made three-speed automatic transmission called the Turbo-Hydramatic TH425. It was explicitly designed for use in the Oldsmobile Toronado and the Cadillac Eldorado, and was situated beside the engine, rather than behind it. A pair of extremely robust chains connected the input shaft to the transmission’s torque converter. Interestingly, the Toronado and Eldorados that used the TH425 are regarded as extremely dependable, largely thanks to the transmission’s durability.
1970 Cadillac Eldorado
Engine Details
500 CID (8.2L) NA V8
Power
400 hp
Torque
550 lb-ft
0-60 mph
8.8 seconds
1/4 Mile Time @ mph
15.6 seconds @ 89.0 mph
Top Speed
125 mph (est)
Curb Weight
4,630 lbs
*Specs courtesy of CarFolio.com & Hagerty
Can I Buy One?
1970 Cadillac Eldorado finished in red with red interiorBring A Trailer
Of course you can, you’ll just need a reasonable chunk of change. Because it’s a classic car, you can’t exactly pop down to your nearest franchise dealer and buy a used one. You’re most likely going to have to scour the internet for auction listings, or wait until you see one on the side of the road with a “for sale” sign in the window. As it currently stands, the 1970 Cadillac Eldorado fetches an average auction price of roughly $15,675, at least according to Classic.com. Not too shabby, considering other cars from the time go for way more with the same, or even less, power at their disposal.
While it may not look all too exciting, buying a ’70 Eldorado means you’re buying one of the few front-drive cars in the world that managed to produce a huge amount of power with little to no torque steer. Not to mention, it’s also one of the most powerful front-wheel drive cars ever mass-produced.
Sources: GM Heritage, CarFolio.com, Hagerty, Classic.com.
