Michigan junkyard owner defied General Motors' orders to crush one-off Cadillac and now it's sold for nearly $500k

This Michigan junkyard owner took a chance by defying General Motors’ orders to crush a one-off Cadillac and it paid off in dividends by selling for nearly $500,000 at auction.

Before this car was destroyed, the owner at the scrapyard decided it was a keeper and spared it.

Seventy years later, this Eldorado Brougham Town Car sold for some seriously big bucks at an auction.

Hindsight may be 20/20, but that’s not the number that’s got our attention.

This one-off Cadillac was spared from destruction

This story began way back in the 1950s, when GM shipped the Eldorado Brougham Town Car, two 1955 LaSalle IIs, and a 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne to Warhoops Used Auto & Truck Parts in Warren, Michigan.

Owner Harry Warholak Sr. was a big car fan, and he’d set up his business to keep parts of old cars rather than to scrap them entirely.

Once he laid eyes on the Eldorado Brougham, he decided he wasn’t going to do anything to it.

Hiding it away in a trailer, he planned to use it in his daughter’s wedding.

It would be the only one of the four cars to remain intact.

In 1989, collector Joe Bortz purchased all four cars from the family, before going on to sell the Brougham to Roy Warshawsky in the early 1990s.

Warshawky was the owner of J.C. Whitney, a retailer of aftermarket automotive parts.

He sent it off to the restorer Fran Roxas, who replaced the structural woodwork in the body and the roof.

It would go on to be sold again in 1996 to Eldorado Brougham enthusiast Dick Baruk, before being changing hands to John O’Quinn 10 years later.

This car has had more owners than the Bugatti Veyron with a star-studded history.

After six years with O’Quinn, it joined a collection and had a run of success with an exhibition at the 2013 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance where it won Best in Class.

Fast forward a decade, and the car is now up on auction, still looking like the epitome of class.

What makes this Eldorado Brougham so special?

Sure, the car looks stunning and like something that Bruce Wayne would be driven around in – but what is it about this one-off Cadillac that makes it so distinctive?

This car was created for General Motor’s 1956 Motorama, designed by Robert Cumberford.

Based upon the 1955 Eldorado Brougham concept, this version had a few more tricks up its sleeve.

The front features an open chauffeur’s compartment, separated from the back by a glass partition.

In the back, it’s the height of luxury, with black and beige leather upholstery, gold-finished hardware, and even air conditioning.

So it’s a classic car with the modern amenities we’ve come to expect from our vehicles.

How much did this Eldorado Brougham sell for at auction?

Listed for auction at RM Sotheby’s, the car ended up selling for $494,500, just shy of half a million dollars.

We can only imagine the type of person who would have the dough to spend on this kind of car.

But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a classic car make a mint at auction.

This Ferrari 250 GTO sold for $38 million at auction, while a 1976 Ford Escort fetched a record price after spending almost 50 years with the same family.