Last weekend while I was on a junkyard run, I stumbled across a '70 Fleetwood Brougham. Originally the car was trimmed identical to mine, green (repainted white) with a green brocade interior and black vinyl roof.
However, the car had zero options, save for Sentinel. Very unusual, I thought. No AC, either AM or AM/FM mono radio, standard column, not even power trunk release. You have to wonder why a car like this was purchased sans options, and why only Sentinel? This is a real factory freak.
I scored the dash and instrument cluster off the car for posterity, and also for the Sentinel components, which my car does not have.
The car has been sitting there for quite some time and very little is salvageable from it, but it is a footnote on how strangely car could and were ordered back in the day when there was real choice on the options sheet.
Mike
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From that photo, you can't really tell if it's a Fleetwood or a DeVille.
In any case, I think just about everybody has come across that rare series 62 or Calais that had just about every option available, which would actually drive the price higher than a comparable DeVille.
Maybe whoever bought it just wanted that Fleetwood nameplate to impress people...
I don't think I've ever seen one without air conditioning (you'd think it would have been standard on Fleetwoods, if not all Cadillacs, two years after the AMC Ambassador became the first car to make it standard equipment). One other thing: it looks like the Cadillac crest to the left of the speedometer is on a panel that covered up a place where an option would go; if so, what was it?
That looks like it might be a place where a slat vent would go if it had ac.
That blank is where the cruise control switch goes.
Ron
Maybe the original purchaser was a person with a dislike for the "modern frills," like air conditioning, yet someone who valued the 3 inches of additional length & wheelbase provided by the Fleetwood Series cars--but if they were that "cheap," I can't explain why they chose a "Fleetwood Brougham," when 1970 was the last model year the more basic "Fleetwood Sixty Special" model was available. This is very intriguing! ??? Just like our finger prints, no two vintage Cadillacs are exactly alike--there are always small differences!
And it looks like it has the 60-40 front seat option as well.
Bruce. >:D
Quote from: Rich S on April 21, 2009, 07:58:25 PM
but if they were that "cheap," I can't explain why they chose a "Fleetwood Brougham," when 1970 was the last model year the more basic "Fleetwood Sixty Special" model was available.
I had the same thought. You'd think that somebody who didn't want a radio or air conditioning would not want a vinyl roof either. Some people just had strange ideas about equipping a car. When I was in high school, a neighbor ordered a top-of-the-mid-sized-line 1970 Pontiac Le Mans Sport with the 350 engine, Turbo-Hydramatic, AM-FM stereo radio, vinyl roof, and rally wheels, but without power steering or power brakes. I thought it was just miserable to drive with the very small steering wheel and very heavy steering. They had never had a car with either one of those assists, but after manhandling that beast for four years, they had them on their next one.
There are oh so many possible reasons as to why such a car was ordered. I have been mulling it around for a couple of days. Maybe it was the prestige? It was the top of the line Cadillac save for the Seventy Five. I doubt it would be a livery car because AC would have been expected, even this car in Ontario, Canada.
Twin Comfort seats were standard on the Fleetwood Brougham, as was the vinyl roof. There are 2 more block out plates on the dash below the speedo on the left side. One is for the rear defogger, which my Fleetwood has, and the other I believe is for the convertible top switch.
And I remember many years ago, a customer had a '76 Calais with every available option on it. Even air bags. That stood out as a real oddball as well.
Mike
Mike is right about the convertible top switch. That position could also be used for the sunroof switch. Obviously you couldn't have both.
Ron
Air conditioning became standard on Cadillacs as of 1/1/74 production date. So it is possible that even an early production 1974 model Cadillac would lack air conditioning. (The newest Cadillac I've seen without air conditioning is a 1972 model.)
It would be interesting to know what percentage of Cadillacs were ordered without air-conditioning in 1970 and later years, but the statistics on options are not available.
I've owned Series 62 and Calais models that were equipped the way you would expect to find a Fleetwood Brougham of the same year -- power door locks, power vent windows, etc. So while you would expect a correlation between the placement of the car in the Cadillac price hierarchy and the degree of optional equipment, you often don't find it.
I note Ontario tags on the newer model car in the picture -- that probably has something to do with the fact that the original owner of the 1970 Fleetwood didn't order A/C.
Imagine what an undesirable used car that Fleetwood when it was about five years old.
Even in Canada, I'm sure a Caddy without air was a hard sell by 1975 or so.
Yes, this is Ontario, but even here Cadillacs of that vintage without AC are very rare. This is either the third or fourth 69-70 Cadillac I have seen without it. Ever. You have to realise that our summers still get very hot here, and AC is a very welcome comfort when the temps go into the 30C range. Just as much as you appreciate a heater in the dead of winter when temps can drop to the -30C range. We live in an area of extremes.
I can reason with the prestige part of it. A stripped down Fleetwood Brougham would cost as much as a reasonably equipped Calais or deVille. But if it were all about being seen, what would you want to be seen in? But that still asks the question, why the Sentinal? Was there a real use for the original owner, or was it a gadget that offered more prestige?
Mike
Great Story Mike. I have an uncle that kept buying cars with manual transmissions, no A/C or power assists through the 1970s. He finally succumbed to a 1975 Buick LeSabre with automatic transmission, pb and ps. It even had air conditioning (my grandmother was so relieved not to have to ride in the "buckboard" '70 Plymouth anymore!).
I have never seen a Cadillac after 1966 that didn't have A/C. Very odd. I'll bet it had to be ordered from the factory to get it that way either by the dealer or the customer. I like the dealer switcher-oo story. Very plausible!
When I saw the subject I was hoping to see pictures of a scantly glad young woman next to a Cadillac.
Yes it does make you wonder why people order the options on the models they do. My uncle had a 1960 Cadillac Fleetwood with everything but air and the owner spent part of the year in Florida. When I worked at a Gas Station I would see a lot of Cadillac's with Florida plates without rear window defogger, now I think it's standard no matter were their from. My friend with car lot said he would have trouble selling used Cadillac's without A/C.
I bought a 1984 Sedan Deville for parts and it had more options than 2 1985 Fleetwood Broughams I had. Same as you'd see a stripped down Caprice Classic then a fully loaded Impala.
A friend of mine has a '68 Eldorado that came radio delete...now that is very strange.
That's one term that kills me, "radio delete"
If a radio was on the options list, and it did not come with a radio, how can you say it was radio delete when it became an act to put one in there in the first place? Same with "heater delete". Many don't realise that a heater was optional at extra cost on most cars well into the 60's.
So how do you delete it if it was never there in the fiorst place?
Now I can't recall if any radio was standard equipment on any Cadillac in the late 60's or not. But a Cadillac without a radio certainly is odd.
Mike
Quote from: Mike Jones on April 29, 2009, 10:33:54 AM
Many don't realise that a heater was optional at extra cost on most cars well into the 60's.
Very true.
The original "Retail Order for a Motor Vehicle" receipt dated June 25, 1960 for my 1960 Buick LeSabre shows a $98.90 charge for the heater/defroster among other interesting add ons/options.
Car was to be delivered on or about 7/1/60. They traded in a 1949 Model 51 4dr sedan for $699.64 against a total cost of $3799.64 (Base price was $2954.)