1950s Is a 1959 Flat Top SDV a Fleetwood?

[jwwseville60]

Im confused.
When a data tag says FW, does that mean it was built at Fleetwood?
And why does it say body by Fisher at the bottom?
Thanks

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I always thought that Fleetwood did the Upholstery and Fisher did the bodies in most of these "Late-model" cars.   Probably with exception of the more specialised vehicles.

Bruce.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Bodies were built by Fisher; final assembly was done at Clark St (Ave?).  Fleetwood Body of Fleetwood, PA was acquired by Fisher in 1925 and in 1931, the original plant was closed and operations were transferred to Detroit. By the 1950s, the "Fleetwood" name was more symbolic than meaningful as the distinction between Fisher & Fleetwood became blurred.   

[Lexi]

Bodies were built by Fisher; final assembly was done at Clark St (Ave?).  Fleetwood Body of Fleetwood, PA was acquired by Fisher in 1925 and in 1931, the original plant was closed and operations were transferred to Detroit. By the 1950s, the "Fleetwood" name was more symbolic than meaningful as the distinction between Fisher & Fleetwood became blurred.   

Yes, thanks for pointing this out. The term "Fleetwood" has meant different things over the years as the name continued to evolve. It was more symbolic in the '50s like you said, as it seemed to be more a form of "bragging rights" when seen on some Cadillacs, at least to me. I think GM wanted to imply that the car was "hand built" by Fleetwood, but how much of that is true and to what extent did specific models receive? That is open for debate. At least Professional car historians Tom McPherson & Walter McCall did report on the special treatment "Fleetwood" Series 75s were subject to in the mid 1950s, in their 2009 work Cadillac Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five Limousines 1937-1987. Corvette had their "Fuel Injected" badging on some early cars-while Cadillac had "Fleetwood" on some of theirs. Power vs oppulent luxury. Take your pick. Different kinds of bragging rights. Clay/Lexi

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

In a way, the Series 75 and Fleetwood Limousines were the final vestiges of the "carriage trade" where the bodies were hand built at the rate of around six per day until April 1, 1984 when production of in-house LWB cars came to an end.

I found that at least until 1960, Series 75 body tags were stamped "Body by Fleetwood" and by 1965, the stamping was changed to "Body by Fisher" despite both years being built at the same plant. I couldn't find any Series 75 body plates from 1961-1964 to say when the change occurred. Maybe someone here knows.

[Lexi]

Yes, McPherson and McCall also report that figure of 6 per day in their Fleetwood book. It does seem that the Series 75s were the final vestiges of the "carriage trade", as you so aptly put it. While doing some recent work on my 1956 Series 75 I found more components made of wood than I had previously reported, in a much earlier thread. These components were part of the auxilliary rear seats. Based on what I saw these were probably more examples of some of the hand produced work done by Cadillac craftsmen and artisans, which were described in that Fleetwood book. Saw some more wood work also, but trying to remember where. Memory not as good as it once was. Clay/Lexi

[bctexas]

As a matter of fact, all of the 1959 GM full size body shells shared the same architecture to save on tooling costs and time.  You will find the same flat-top available on the other 1959 GM cars.  The story of how this came to be is quite interesting:

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-fabulous-59s-inside-chevy-stylings-wildest-year/

The styling of the '59 GM cars was the result of peeking over a fence!

Happy Motoring!

[Big Fins]

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-fabulous-59s-inside-chevy-stylings-wildest-year/

The styling of the '59 GM cars was the result of peeking over a fence!

Perverts!