1976 Cadillac Mirage Pickup. Far more than a simple hack-job, the Mirage was created by hot rodding legend Gene Winfield, who worked at Traditional Coach Works between 1974 and 1977 Several coachbuilders tried their hand at converting the El Dorado and Coupe de Ville to a luxury pickup truck, but Traditional Coach Works maintained the stringent standards imposed by Cadillac. This company is the only professional coachbuilder to make alterations to a Cadillac car to create a luxury truck model. It’s the one that created the examples that were made available through select Caddy dealerships. The agreement became the equivalent of a seal of approval by Cadillac dealerships, but not from the company of manufacture. The designer who created the Mirage was Gene Winfield who joined Traditional Coach Works in 1974 and remained with the company until 1977. These were the only three years that the Mirage was produced by Traditional Coach Works. Winfield achieved numerous accolades for his coachbuilding skills. He was named Car Craft Magazine’s 2008 builder of the year. His cars are original, considered works of art, and quite rare. Winfield was hired by James Kribbs, manager of Wilshire Cadillac in the 1970s. James Patrick was an associate in the business who first approached Kribbs with his ideas for creating a luxury truck. Patrick presented three drawings to Kribbs to show the possibilities associated with converting a Cadillac to a truck. Kribbs liked the idea and he founded the Traditional Coachworks company to bring the concept to reality. The first example of the Mirage completed in 1976 was snapped up by the legendary Evel Knievel who purchased the converted Caddy and ordered a second one to feature in a film. What makes the Mirage such a valuable classic these days? According to Alt-Driver, the Mirage is an extremely rare classic vehicle. You can’t classify it as a car, or as a truck because it’s both. The site elevates the Mirage to the status of a unicorn in its rarity. They’re sticking with the widely accepted production number of just 204 examples ever built in the US. They reveal that GM did enter a phase of experimentation with the 1976 Coupe de Villes to add a pickup truck bed to a cut and widened car. This disputes the theory that GM didn’t endorse the Mirage built by Traditional Coach Works, but they did manage to keep it on the down-low. The Mirage was offered exclusively from Cadillac Dealers and the conversion was the work of a third-party coachbuilder. It was never a factory production model. The design of the Mirage was unique and although some cars were similar in aesthetics. Only 60 of the vehicles were made each year according to Winfield, which brings the production numbers to just 120 over two years. He offered no guess about how many were made the final production year at Traditional Coach Works, or if the other 100 or so models were built by other conversion specialists. The power plant was an 8.2-liter 500 cubic inch engine that generated 200 horsepower with 400 lb-ft of torque. The flying buttresses behind the cab gave it an additional feature that distinguished the Traditional Coach Works editions from the others. The camshaft was custom ground and the compression was elevated to 0.05:1 with Diamond Racing projects forged pistons. The Turbo Hydramatic transmission that was fortified with heavy-duty components. The tranny was modified by Jack Merkel Performance Engines of New York. The braking system was a Hydratech hydro-boost conversion. When’s the last time you saw a Gene Winfield design that didn’t bear an outlandish price tag? With just 200 or so made, it’s very unlikely that you’ll park next to another one at the next classic car show. Source: moneyinc.com
