Convert a ’74 Caddy into a 4×4? Why Not?

“It’s important when you’re cutting a floor out of a car to make sure there are no wires or fluid lines in the way.”

That’s sound but obscure advice, right on track for the gentlemen over at Dirt Every Day, who recently undertook the inspired project of converting the classic 1974 Cadillac Eldorado to an off road beast.

Because, why not? And anyway, chopping up the massive land yacht, while also sporting Hawaiian shirts and planning a road trip out to Palm Springs is more than likely something we’ve all imagined.

But even better, to convert their machine, they Frankesteined it with a ’76 Eldorado, adding an engine to the trunk, creating a 1,000 Cubic Inch power plant, built of two engines, into their insane creation.

Watching them chop the cars was a little like watching mad doctors dissect metal dinosaurs. It really was enjoyable. And the 20 or so minutes transformation we got to see was of course edited down from many, many hours of tedious wrenching.

But these guys are dedicated. Once they got the tires – the Maxis Trepadores, they made sure to run the original hubcaps. On gas mileage, they estimated maybe eight miles per gallon. Not too bad, really.

But also, the passenger has the gears to do the shifting in the rear engine. Now that’s pure quality. Then of course, bombing across a dry lake bed is essential.

“How’s this thing carve, Dave?”

“Carves like a knife!”

Of course it does. These guys have made possibly the finest of all possible rigs.