DOOMED!

The 1957 Eldorado Brougham, the most prestigious Cadillac since the V16 models of 17 years earlier, was GM's answer to the Continental II from Ford. The design had started life as a dream car at the 1954 and 1955 Motorama exhibitions, its pillarless styling and knife-edge fins almost restrained for this gaudy period in American design. Quad headlights, a stainless-steel roof and narrow-band whitewall tyres were industry firsts, but the Brougham was more than just a styling exercise: under the skin was an advanced - and notoriously unreliable - air suspension system with self-levelling valves and a small, engine-driven compressor. Powered by Cadillac's big 6.3-litre V8, the Brougham was marketed as a super-exclusive model for the super-rich and featured an amazing list of standard features that were unmatched at the time. Power steering, power brakes and automatic transmission were becoming the norm on cars of this class, but the Brougham also featured toys such as an automatic headlamp dipper, cruise control, electric door locks, memory seats and an electric boot-lid opener. There were magnetised drinks tumblers in the glovebox - if you fancied a stiff one on the way to the golf club - cigarette and tissue dispensers and even a special cosmetics set that included lipstick, powder puff, a mirror and comb and an Arpege atomiser with Lanvin perfume. Buyers could choose between 44 trim combinations as well as Karakul and lambskin carpeting.

Cadillac couldn't sell the Brougham for anything like what it cost to build - not surprising, really - and after two years of losses the model was dropped.