I have a strange fascination with the 1992-up Cadillac Eldorado. Yeah, it’s a huge front-wheel-driver. Yes, the Northstar V8 can be a finicky bitch of a motor…I have first-hand knowledge of that. But, it was a handsome, if conservative shape, the interior was the best parts of old Caddy without being nauseating, and when that engine worked, it would MOVE. I have never owned an Eldorado, but an Army buddy of mine did. His 1992 was his baby, a car he bought as a teenager after making some good money one summer. He treated it like it was gold. I treated it like a muscle car when I drove it, though I never beat on the car. Okay, maybe a late-night speed run between the Austin airport and Fort Hood was uncalled for, but I respected the car for what it is.

The Eldorado was meant for older Cadillac buyers who wanted a coupe. So what the hell was Warren Mosler thinking when he took a look at an Eldo and thought, “I could jam a second engine in the trunk!” It might sound like a punchline, but it happened, and in late 1999, the Mosler TwinStar was born, not out of necessity, but out of one man’s vision to jam something where it didn’t belong. He used a 275hp 4.6 Northstar up front, but out back he used the 300hp unit from an ETC. They operated independently other than the shifter and accelerator, and because there was gearing differences in the two transaxles, they shifted at different times. Car and Driver tested the build car in July 2000 and noticed that the odd shifting actually made the car smoother instead of being awkward.

With 9.1L of engine and 575hp pushing a nearly 4,800lb car, the TwinStar wasn’t going to be the fastest thing running. During Car and Driver’s testing, it would hit 0-60 in about five seconds and would trap the quarter in the low-13 second range, though Mosler’s guys swore that it had 12.7’s in it somewhere. The speeds were certainly an improvement over a stock Eldo’s 15-second quarter time, but what wasn’t an improvement was the appearance of the car. To make sure the second engine fit, the rear of the car from the rear pillar back was stretched out, intake scoops were added, the wheels were shifted farther to the corners and the trunk lid was vented for cooling. What was a handsome coupe before now looked aggressive from the front, but from the rear things were just not lining up right. Cadillac was having enough of a time moving normal Eldorados, but an ugly Eldorado with a 10mpg fuel habit, regardless of how powerful, just didn’t make sense.