Preservation Award Winner: 1977 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
“Cadillac for 1977: The next generation of the luxury car.” Cadillac celebrated its 75th Anniversary by rolling the dice, holding its breath, and introducing a new downsized “Standard of the (Changing) World” luxury car. Maybe the proper corporate terminology should be “rightsizing,” because let’s face it, by the mid-70’s full-sized American cars had grown way too big (about 224 inches long on average) and way too thirsty. The OPEC oil embargo of 1973 caused rising gas prices, gas rationing, and long lines at filling stations (I remember even/odd rationing based on the last number of your license plate). Suddenly, consumers had to think twice about fuel economy and city/highway mpg estimates. Detroit had no choice but to go back to the drawing board and create slimmer, trimmer, lighter, more fuel-efficient cars. 1977 marked the first year of the Fleetwood Brougham and here’s a remarkable Preservation Award winning time capsule for your consideration. It is currently residing in the Encinitas, California area and is for sale here on craigslist for $17,500. Another shout out to our pal Pat L. for sending this fine Caddy to Barn Finds to feature.
Browsing the photos, it’s obvious that this 45-year-old Cadillac has been coddled, pampered, and protected. It is all original, unrestored, and comes with records and receipts since it was new including the window sticker. The Sovereign Gold paint presents well as does the white vinyl top, chrome, stainless, and glass. It’s also sporting the optional wire wheel covers which are a classy touch. The seller states that the Cadillac had been stored under a cover in a garage for many years before he purchased it and it’s obvious. It looks nearly showroom new.
Cadillac designers may have performed some necessary trimming (the Fleetwood Brougham rode on a 121.5″ wheelbase that was 11.5″ shorter and 900 pounds lighter than the 1976), but not at the expense of interior room or expanded trunk storage capacity. The new Fleetwood Brougham continued the Cadillac tradition of bathing its drivers and passengers in comfort and convenience. In addition to leather, seven shades of Florentine velour was offered and the gold exterior theme is continued inside in a Light Yellow-Gold Florentine cloth with seats that look cushiony and comfortable.
The dash, seats, carpeting, and everything visible from the photos (included rear foot rests) shows an inviting, luxurious interior in excellent condition. These Caddy’s came loaded, and this one also came from the factory with an AM/FM Stereo Radio with an 8-track tape player. How 70’s is that? The seller says the only thing that is not functioning properly on the Fleetwood is the windshield washer switch.
1977 Cadillacs were powered by the all-new 7.0 litre, 425 cubic inch V8 that generated 180 horsepower at 4,000 rpm when new.This time capsule has just over 54,500 original miles on the clock and has been driven approximately 1,500 miles over the past 18 months. The seller says the Fleetwood Brougham “starts, runs, shifts, and drives like new” and is selling the Caddy to free up space in his garage. The slimmer, trimmer 1977 Cadillac was a gamble for GM, but consumers voted with their wallets and purses and liked this new direction for The Standard of the World. As a division, Cadillac sold a total of 335,785 units in 1977, about a nine percent increase over 1976.
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Comments
I get it that it’s a big car, but someone may want to see what it looks like.
I have this car in a Naples yellow
They should have kept them like this, classy and reliable
Not only do they not show the car, they don’t even tell you if it’s a 2 or 4 door.
The 1977-1979 Cadillac de villes and fleetwoods are considered by some people to be the best all around Cadillacs of their time. Just the right amount of weight, better handling, and of course a close to 50% increase in fuel economy. Many people reported getting 17-20 mpg on the highway. Wow, that’s a huge jump from 12 mpg from the previous models. For their time, Cadillac proved they could rise to the challenge of efficiency AND keep luxury at its finest.They weren’t in the Rolls Royce class anymore, but they did a fantastic job with what they had.
Beautiful. Plenty of room in the trunk for 4 sets of clubs. ⛳️
I have never owned a Caddy, but I thought they did the right thing with this model. A good friend of mine bought one like this and he loved it, and I have to admit that it felt good riding in this one.
I had a 77 Brougham d’Elegance and it had different taillights. Full length, not halved.
All 1977 DeVilles and Fleetwoods had the half tail lamp lenses. 1978-1979 were full-length. Perhaps yours had been replaced prior to your ownership due damage?
I had a 78 Sedan DeVille that I bought used for a song in 1999… Beautiful car, great ride, not bad on gas and I could drive it for days because it was so comfortable…In fact I wish I had a couch that was that comfortable… If I had deeper pockets, I’d be already planning my trip to pick this one up
This Caddy was 900lbs lighter than the model it replaced.
This seems like a good thing now, and the trimmed down Caddy still looks like it could lose a pound or two, but at the time people felt vaguely cheated by this weight loss — like they were getting less car for more money: “They don’t build them like they used to”.
Actually a nice looking car – except for the ugly 74-77 without rain channels – and from 89 onwards with the plastic bumpers. Just much too big for most of the world’s infrastructures (roads).
The Fleety is also a full 6 cm longer than the best car in the world, the real Mercedes 600. And have the same weight.
And the 600 is THE representative car. (The plastillac was about 12k new and the 600 80k. Hand built to customer request.) To compete against the real standard of the world luxury cars they’re built too cheap. So they will never come close to the real 600, or real Bentley and Rolls Royce. The standard of the world for luxury cars. (And not the junk that VW and BMW sell) But here is a cheap occasion to own something far but looking $$$.
Those rain channels made an annoying wind noise which dissuaded me from buying one of the later ones.
I love these cars but that color killed it for me.
I didn’t think any Caddy’s from the ’70s & newer came with cloth interiors.
Cloth was always standard w/leather optional (about 90% of the time–there were exceptions for Eldorado models).
425 cubic inches-the small engine. My parents had a 72 (?) de Ville and I remember them talking about the new models being a lot more expensive and having the small engine. This was before the SUV and we used it for towing a boat and a camper and a 3 week road trip out west to Yellowstone and all the must see locations along the way. A friend of ours just bought a new full size truck (Silverado) with a 2.7 liter four cylinder with a turbo. Makes me feel old that I remember when 425 cubes shocked my parents
Back when luxury meant comfortable, pillow-top seats. Today, a luxury car has the same hard bucket seats as the cheapest entry level model of the cheapest brand out there.
Not to mention the lack of colors inside – & ridiculously low profile tires that can’t absorb bad road bumps & potholes. Some cars in the old days had 78 & ever 80 series profile tires!
I remember rock hard seats in a very old Audi 100 LS, tho.