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The CadMad shooting brake Eldorado Brougham-Nomad cross is up for auction

The CadMad custom 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham is the coolest car crossing the block at the Scottsdale Barrett-Jackson auction. All arguments to the contrary are wrong and can be redirected straight to the gallery above. This 16-year project built by Super Rides and commissioned by the late Steve Barton won the Don Ridler Memorial Award at the 2019 Detroit Autorama, which goes to the custom build that shows the best creativity, engineering and quality workmanship. All of those qualities are on full display in this Eldorado Brougham-Nomad mashup. Just so we’re all on the same page, a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was no normal Cadillac at the time. The sedanÂ’s exterior design is thanks to Pininfarina, as Cadillac had the Italian design company tweak its styling. It resulted in a much more subdued Cadillac than the rest of Caddy's giant fin-tastic designs of the decade. Only 200 were made over the course of a couple years, and they remain some of the rarest production Cadillacs to this day. The “Fawntana Rose” Cadillac standing before us is a shooting brake interpretation of that famous sedan. It has lost 18 inches in overall length, four inches in width and the rear doors have been completely eliminated. A Chevy Nomad roof was shortened by a couple inches and grafted onto the bodywork. The builders say that every last piece of sheet metal was modified for this build. Still, thereÂ’s still no mistaking it for a Cadillac. The chrome bumpers and lights were left mostly untouched, and the small fins were retained, as well. That Nomad roof was painted in Titanium Silver for contrast, the same silver thatÂ’s used on the new Ford GT. Things only improve when you open the hood. A 632-cubic-inch twin-turbo V8 built by Nelson Racing Engines (NRE) powers the shooting brake. Most of the time (on 91 octane fuel), it produces around 1,000 horsepower and 950 pound-feet of torque. Feed it 112 octane fuel and NRE claims itÂ’s capable of producing upwards of 2,500 horsepower. Yowza. A four-speed automatic transmission and strengthened Corvette transaxle somehow attempts to put the power down to the rear wheels. The seats are reflective of the amount of power this car puts down — 2012 Cadillac CTS-V buckets were used and modified with mauve-colored upholstery. All the trim was hand-painted, including the wood-grain flooring in back and is meant to “mimic the African Wenge and Tigerwood Maple.”  The time and effort that went into this built is truly astounding.

Cadillac's 4.2-liter Blackwing V8 to die with the CT6?

Cadillac's 4.2-liter twin-turbo Blackwing V8 debuted only last year, popping up in the CT6 V-Sport — now the CT6-V — with 550 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque. The engine's been stymied in every attempt to power a different Cadillac model since then. Its only two use cases have been a first and second run of the original, limited-edition super sedan and the CT6 Platinum V8 trim at a slightly detuned 500 hp and 553 lb-ft. Motor Trend cites "a highly placed source at GM" as saying that the Blackwing won't go into the coming high-performance version of the CT5-V nor in the next-gen Escalade. Left without options, there's a chance the Blackwing will die with the CT6, itself a sedan with its grille on the executioner's block just waiting for the bite of an ax that might or might not shortly fall. Cost-cutting has been tagged as the reason for this misfortune; Cadillac's sales malaise and lack of clarity as to how to turn sales around led GM to downsize the brand's allowance. The parent company chose to build the new CT5 on the Alpha platform used for the erstwhile ATS and CTS instead of the Omega platform underpinning the CT6. Along with that choice, the MT report says expense reasons nixed fitting the Blacking V8. We know the lower-tier V series CT5 will work with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 making 355 hp and 400 lb-ft. When we heard spy video of the upper-tier V series CT5 out testing, the engine sounded like the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 that would be a carryover from the last model.  The XT6, also rumored to get some V sauce, simply can't fit the V8. Instead of sitting on the Omega platform as once planned, the XT6 rides on the C1XX architecture under other GM products like the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse. The C1XX engine bay doesn't have room for a stouter V6, much less a hi-po V8. The next-gen Escalade ruled itself out due to price issues in back, not in front. MT writes that the independent rear suspension supporting GM's next-gen full-sized SUV quartet has burned through cash in development, putting engineers a few direct deposits short of the funds needed to massage Blackwing installation. Earlier this year at least one report said the twin-turbo DOHC V8 could serve the top-spec next-gen Escalade. More recent reports of a performance-heavy next-gen Escalade have predicted the 6.2-liter supercharged LT4 V8 from the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and Corvette Z06.

GM announces net 220 job increase as Trump visits Michigan

GM announced today that about 900 jobs would be added (or, importantly, retained) ahead of President Trump's arrival in Michigan, where he is expected to discuss his plan to roll back fuel economy standards. The timing of the announcement is almost certainly not coincidental, as appending it to a Trump visit gives it a higher profile and dovetails with the President's jobs agenda. It's less likely the decision itself was made for those reasons, but the free PR boost is a nice bonus. As for those 900 jobs themselves, they aren't all new jobs. The only net gain is approximately 220 jobs at the Romulus Powertrain Plant, which produces the 10-speed automatic transmission that's proliferating through the company's lineup. The 180 jobs at Flint Assembly and 500 jobs at Lansing Delta Township are retained jobs – that is to say, spots the company found for workers who would otherwise have been laid off. By the way, the Flint jobs will help with production of heavy-duty pickups, and the Lansing jobs are to produce the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. Finding jobs for manufacturing workers in the auto sector, whether new or retained, is admirable. No matter how GM couches it, the company has created or retained a total of 7,000 jobs this year, and its total reinvestment in US production is around $1 billion. But these decisions are business ones, not political ones – timing the announcements to make them seem inspired by economic policy, or the political situation, is simply smart PR. Related Video: Image Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Celebrities Government/Legal Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GMC