Memories lead Lee’s Summit man to rare 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville

Doug Redman’s leisurely road to owning a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville is born from memories of his younger days.

Twenty-one years ago, when Redman married his wife, Marsha, he informed her he was a bit nostalgic about a 1958 Impala he owned when he was younger.

“It was an old car that I kept pristine,” said Redman, a resident of Lee’s Summit. “Over time, I ended up selling the car.”

But Redman remembered all the great times associated with the car. By mid-2000, the pull was so strong that Redman went searching for a car that reminded him of the ’58 Impala.

One day in 2005, he was flipping through a car magazine at a QuikTrip when he stumbled upon a ’59 Coupe DeVille.

“Wow,” Redman said to himself, “that looks just like my ’58 Impala on the front end. So I called the guy up. He lived in Lincoln, Nebraska.”

When Redman bought the car in 2005, he knew he had a classic that he could show off.

“I told my wife, ‘We can go to car shows and cruise nights,’” Redman said.

Her response, he said, was great in a sort of a sarcastic way.

“We got this car and we went to our first cruise night and met such fantastic people,” Redman said.

They were both hooked. Redman started looking for parts for his Coupe DeVille. He went on eBay. He found a couple of parts at McVey’s Cadillac in Merriam. He became friends with the owner.

“He invited me to a meeting of the Cadillac Club of Kansas City. I attended this meeting and got involved in the whole thing,” Redman said. “As time went on, I decided to upgrade to a more elite model, which was an Eldorado.”

By 2008, Redman and his wife were fully immersed in the Cadillac Club of Kansas City. His wife started planning events and driving tours.

“The Cadillac and LaSalle Club Grand Nationals were being held in Des Moines in 2008,” Redman said. “We went and at the awards event, my wife said, ‘We can do this in Kansas City.’ She got really involved, and in 2010 it was here.”

For the 2010 show, Redman had his 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville. He had sold his ’59 Coupe Deville and bought the Cadillac in 2009 from a collector in Fresno, Calif., and had it trucked to Kansas City.

“I cleaned it up for our grand national in 2010, touched up and painted some areas,” Redman said. “The car only had 78,000 miles on it.”

Only 855 Eldorado Sevilles were built. Redman said he has No. 301, which was made on Nov. 20, 1957.

“Interestingly enough, that was the year Cadillac Motor Division about went belly up,” Redman said. “There was a horrible recession that started in 1957 and in 1958, Cadillac was the last thing on people’s minds, so the production was way down.”

The sticker price for a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville was $7,500. A fully restored one now ranges from $62,000 on the low end to $80,000 on the high end.

“I’ve seen the same model, a total frame off restoration that someone in New York wants $175,000,” Redman said. “They are so rare.”

Redman had his car completely redone in 2012.

“I decided to pull the motor because it was burning oil,” he said. “I rebuilt the motor and pulled everything out from underneath the hood. A friend of mine said we should redo the whole car. The car has been redone from front to rear to the bottom.”

Redman enjoys taking the Cadillac Eldorado Seville to car shows. It recently was in the Cable-Dahmer Buick GMC Cadillac showroom in Independence for people to look at.

“I take it to as many car shows as possible,” Redman said. “I drive the car as much as I can with weather permitting. I enjoy the feel, the reaction from the general public because you just don’t see this type of car often.”

This story was originally published May 30, 2015 at 12:34 AM with the headline "Memories lead Lee’s Summit man to rare 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville."