Something that started quite innocently, has turned into a major addiction. Back in September 1992, I bought a 1972 Coupe de Ville from a Florida used car dealer. I thought that now, that I owned a Cadillac, I would be satisfied (and so did most of my friends).
However, in the summer of 1993, I reasoned a nice convertible would be very useful. So I purchased a 1966 DeVille convertible from a California used car dealer. My wife made me promise then that this would be the last Cadillac. I replied: it will be the last one (for the time being). And yes, for a while I did not buy another car.
By the summer of 1995 I had read a lot about a magnificent engine, available in contemporary Cadillacs, called the Northstar System. And hey, I cannot help it that those Cadillac catalogues are so appealing. So on a Saturday in September 1995, I took the plane to Miami, Florida and started browsing around. By Monday morning 10 AM, I had bought a 1994 Seville STS (with the Northstar engine) from a Fort Lauderdale Cadillac dealership.This would definitely be my last Cadillac...
One evening in March 1996, I was driving along a road about 5 miles from my home, when all of sudden I saw a small car dealership that was new in the region. While driving by, I looked into workshop, and there seemed to be something like a 1975 or 1976 Eldorado parked inside. I did not have the time then to stop, but the next Saturday, I was talking to manager. And yes, the Eldorado was for sale. After some bargaining, the car was mine.
Now you probably all know that Cadillac made the most outrageous fins of the automobile history in 1959. I already had one record breaker (the 1975 Eldo has the largest displacement production engine ever built), but a second record breaker (the highest fins ever) would be a nice addition to my collection. That is how my quest for a 1959 Cadillac began. In July of 1997 I found a very nice Coupe de Ville at the Saint Louis Car Museum in Missouri. After an appraisal, some price negotiation and shipping arrangements, the 1959 arrived in Belgium early September 1997.
The Cadillacs of the seventies are among my favorites. Particularly the ultra-luxurious Fleetwood Broughams have always been high on my want-list. The epitome of Fleetwood luxury is of course the 1974-1976 Fleetwood Talisman. Unfortunately, these cars are hard to find if you want one in excellent condition. I had known about 1976 Fleetwood Brougham d'Elegance for sale in Houston, Texas for quite some time. It belonged to a Cadillac Mailing List member and he was looking to give a good home. This is the car comes the closest to a Talisman. The d'Elegance option makes it all the more exclusive. In January 1998 I struck a deal with the seller and by early March it was safely tucked away in my garage. This car truely is "the last of the big ones". With its 500 cubic inch engine and its 233.4" overall length, it makes the label dinosaur all the more appropriate. By 1977 the Fleetwood Brougham had shrunk by over a foot...
In March 1998 a friend of mine showed me his Persian Ivory 1967 DeVille Convertible. I fell in love immediately with the car's color and body lines. My friend was more fond of the 1966 styling, so we made a deal. We swapped cars: my Cascade green 1966 DeVille Convertible now resides with my friend and I own the 1967.
A friend of mine who lives in the UK has a gorgeous 1969 Cadillac DeVille Convertible. What makes the car especially attractive is its color combination. The body is Wisteria, a 1969-only color, which is a lavender kind of pink. I am not very fond of the harsh pink found on some 1950s Cadillacs, but this color is particularly subtle. My friend's car interior is white leather, with black carpets and a black dash. I had asked him a couple of times if he would want to sell me the car, but he declined for obvious reasons. In October of 1999 I noticed an advertisement in a Belgo-Dutch old car magazine. The car being advertised was a 1969 Cadillac Eldorado. Its exterior color was pinkish, so it could well be that it was Wisteria. After I had contacted the seller, my wife and I drove to place in Holland, about 150 miles from where we live. A quick investigation of body plate confirmed that this car had the correct Wisteria paint, with a white vinyl top, white leather interior and black carpets and dash. Since the car was of the same vintage as my wife and I (1969) we decided we simply had to buy it. That same afternoon I drove the Eldorado home.
Cadillac has always been the leader in building American land yachts. A long rear wheel drive, body-on-frame car, equipped with a potent V8, automatic transmission with the selector at the steering wheel and a full width front seat is the archetype of such an automobile. Add to that white wall tires, chromed bumpers, a stand-up hood ornament, and more interior space than in an average sized family home dining room and you may think I am talking about a long gone gas guzzling dinosaur built during the 1960s or 1970s. Well you are wrong. Up till 1996 Cadillac built such a car: the Fleetwood and the Fleetwood Brougham. When Cadillac discontinued the model for 1997, I thought it was a real shame. For many years I had wanted to lay my hands on a pristine examplar, and in November of 1999 this was finally realized. A low-mileage 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was bought in Tampa, Florida. This is how the story of my car collection ends (for the time being, that is).
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 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham |
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Last edited on December 14th 1999 by Rik Gruwez
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and De Ville are registered trade marks of General Motors Corporation .
