1960s Cadillac Special Orders: Non-Standard Color And Trim Options By “Special Request”

– Posted on October 2, 2025

After encountering a 1963 Cadillac Series 62 convertible with a beautiful special order turquoise-and-white leather interior, I was curious to learn more about Cadillac interior and color special orders in the 1960s. Here’s what I gleaned from the Cadillac dealer data books about how ’60s customers could “create trim combinations according to their personal preference and expression of individuality.”

Cadillac by Special Request

In its ’60s heyday, Cadillac offered an array of exterior and interior color and upholstery choices that’s difficult to fathom in a modern automotive environment dominated by silver, white, gray, and black. In 1964, for example, Cadillac offered 16 standard exterior color choices, most of them Cadillac exclusives, plus five “Firemist” colors. (The most popular choice by far, you may be sad to learn, was still white.) There were also 124 regular trim/upholstery choices in five different styles in 1964, with 150 combinations in eight styles for 1965.

Left front 3q view of a turquoise 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville two-door hardtop with wide whitewall tires — 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in Alpine Turquoise, which was a regular option in 1965 / LaSalle Classic Cars

Nevertheless, there were still people who weren’t satisfied with the standard options or who wanted extra distinction and exclusivity. The factory was happy to accommodate “special request” orders — at least to a point, and naturally for an additional charge — to enhance the “aura of Cadillac custom quality” that was part of the brand’s mystique.

Front seats of a 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with leather upholstery — The Alpine Turquoise car’s turquoise leather was a special order that cost the original buyer $236.50 / LaSalle Classic Cars

The main reason for the extra charge, as the data book explained, was not that upholstery cost more in one color than another (although of course leather cost more than cloth or vinyl), but that variations from the regular color and trim selections required special handling. “No matter how seemingly minor, any deviation from a standard trim combination makes necessary the removal of the entire order from regular production for individual handling,” the data book cautioned. It advised explaining to customers:

Primarily, the extra cost is incurred by the necessity of hand cutting the material singly instead of in multiple sets of four or more at once. … Thus, the efficiency of modern production methods, which utilize time and material to the best advantage, is disrupted with the resulting higher charge for special handling.

From what I could find, the extra charges were usually not huge, and were certainly less than a buyer would have paid taking the car to a custom shop after delivery. For some customers, the bigger penalty was the extra time involved: The average time required for a special order was about six weeks, and it might take even longer if there were questions about the order — perhaps too long for customers who waltzed into a Cadillac showroom looking for immediate gratification. (There were a lot of middle-class Cadillac customers in those days, but there were also a fair number of affluent buyers who paid cash for their cars and traded in every year or two.)

Sample 1964 Cadillac car order form showing the code "SR J 23" and color codes 43, 40, and 50 — Sample special request (SR) order form for a 1964 Coupe de Ville with blue and white leather upholstery and a white steering wheel

So, if a customer was willing to wait a bit and pay a bit more to get exactly what they wanted, what could — and couldn’t — they get on a special order basis?

Paint Colors

The first question for many car buyers is what color they want. For ’60s Cadillac buyers, the second question was whether they were interested in any of the new high-luster paints Cadillac now offered: metallic “Fire-Frost” colors, offered only in 1963, and similarly shiny but nonmetallic “Firemist” paint from 1964 on. These paints, which used extra-large pigment flakes for an almost iridescent sheen, were a no-cost option on the Eldorado convertible and available at extra cost for other models.

Left side of an aquamarine 1964 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with the top down — 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado in Firemist Aquamarine, a no-cost option on the Eldorado in 1964 / Classic Cars of Sarasota

The original dealer invoice of the Peacock Firemist 1965 De Ville convertible shown below indicates that its Firemist paint was coded as a $134.40 SR (special request) option, but Firemist paint didn’t actually require a special order — it was a regular factory option.

High-angle front 3q view of a blue 1965 Cadillac convertible de Ville with the top down — 1965 Cadillac De Ville convertible in Peacock Firemist, a $134.40 option on a De Ville in 1964 / Bring a Trailer

If none of the regular color choices suited you, you could request other paint colors on a special order basis. A common scenario was a customer who really wanted a discontinued color from a previous model year, but you could theoretically request any nonstandard color. The normal charge for special paint in early 1965 was $134.30, although the data book warned that the cost would be higher for metallic paint, with prices “furnished upon request.”

Showroom photo of a purple 1964 Cadillac Sedan de Ville four-door hardtop — 1964 Cadillac Four-Window Sedan de Ville in a special order color the seller identified as “Iris Purple” / Streetside Classics

That might sound like a hefty price for a different color paint, but the data book explained:

The procurement of special colors requires extra time for mixing, by a qualified chemist who must take time out from his regular duties, to formulate the single special color order.

Cadillac policy on two-tone paint jobs varied from year to year. In some years, two-tone combinations were a regular factory option, often at no extra cost; in other model years, Cadillac said two-tone paint was not available because that year’s body design “does not permit a separation of color between the upper structure and lower panels.”

Black vinyl roof on a gold 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville two-door hardtop — 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in Sierra Gold with a black vinyl roof — the latter was $91.25 on this model / Hollywood Motors

One of the reasons for the growing popularity of padded vinyl roofs was that they offered a way to create two-tone effects even when two-tone paint wasn’t available. However, in the ’60s, the range of top colors available was more limited than in the ’70s: There were typically only four or five options, including black and white. A padded vinyl roof was normally a regular factory option, not a special order.

Styling Nomenclature

Some of what I’m going to say below will make more sense if I show you how Cadillac defined the different parts of the upholstery. I’ve added color to this data book illustration to make it easier to distinguish: turquoise segments are the inserts, dark gray segments are the bolsters, light gray segments are the cushion faces, the light turquoise section is the center armrest; and the dark turquoise areas are the seaming laces.

This is a generic illustration, reused year after year, so it doesn’t look exactly like any particular year’s actual upholstery choices. In this era, the bolsters actually extended over parts of the seat cushion — at least in a strip through the center of the cushion and sometimes also along the sides and leading edge. The cushion faces and center armrest were usually color-matched to the bolsters, although they were often vinyl even if the bolsters were leather. This 1965 Coupe de Ville has black cloth inserts with white leather bolsters; you’ll notice that the cushion faces match the leather:

Left side of the back seat of a 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with black cloth and white leather upholstery, viewed through the driver's door — 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with black honeycomb weave Drummond cloth inserts and natural finish white leather bolsters — this was one of the regular trim combinations for the De Ville in 1965 / Orlando Classic Cars

Bucket Seats

It often surprises people to learn that Cadillac offered bucket seats and a center console in the early and mid-’60s. These were not necessarily a special order: Buckets were a $187.85 regular option for a De Ville convertible or a Coupe de Ville with leather upholstery, and a no-cost option on the Eldorado convertible:

Surprisingly, you could also get leather buckets and a center console as a regular option on a hardtop Sedan de Ville, although they were a special order on the pillared Sedan de Ville or Fleetwood Sixty Special. A Sixty Special with bucket seats would be a real unicorn, as I can’t imagine many were built.

Sun-dappled front 3q view of a blue 1965 Cadillac Sedan de Ville four-door hardtop with its side windows down — 1965 Cadillac hardtop Sedan de Ville in Hampton Blue with rare bucket seats / Pedigree Motorcars of the Palm Beach

Most Cadillac buckets were leather. Cloth bucket seats were only available by special order, and only on closed De Ville and Sixty Special models.

Bucket seats in a blue 1965 Cadillac Sedan de Ville four-door hardtop — Leather bucket seats (in white with blue carpeting) didn’t require a special order on a 1965 hardtop Sedan de Ville, but they were unusual / Pedigree Motorcars of the Palm Beach

Cadillac wouldn’t install bucket seats in the cheaper Series 62 or Calais even by special order.

Leather Upholstery

Leather upholstery on a ’60s Cadillac was a complicated subject. Leather was standard on all convertibles. De Ville closed bodies came with leather bolsters, but adding leather rather than cloth inserts cost extra. Closed Series 62 models and the 1965 Calais could only have leather upholstery by special order. (After 1965, Cadillac no longer offered leather on the Calais even by special order.)

Right side of the front bench seat of a 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with black interior, viewed through the passenger door — 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with black leather upholstery, a $140.90 option, but not a special order; the cushion faces are black vinyl / Hollywood Motors

Except on Eldorado convertibles, leather upholstery included color-matched vinyl on cushion faces and certain other areas. The Eldorado had cowhide on most areas except on molded components like seat backs; you could special order similar “all leather” or “maximum leather” upholstery on other models for an additional charge.

Brown leather bucket seats in a 1964 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with the top up, viewed through the passenger door — On the Eldorado convertible, unlike the De Ville or Sixty Special with the standard leather option, the cushion faces were leather rather than color-keyed vinyl / Jace Stout – RM Sotheby’s

Where leather upholstery was used for seat inserts, it was normally perforated “Aztec” grain (natural grain for black or white); seat bolsters were non-perforated “Antique” grain leather. You could special order all Antique grain non-perforated leather inserts for an extra charge ($21.45 in 1965), but you couldn’t have perforated leather bolsters, which Cadillac said was due to the production limitations of the mills that supplied the division’s upholstery materials.

Seat cushion of a 1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville with perforated black leather seats — Note that while the leather inserts on this 1965 Coupe de Ville are perforated, the surrounding bolsters are non-perforated natural grain leather — you could get non-perforated inserts as a special order / Hollywood Motors

I know some people don’t like leather upholstery, but it was a sensible purchase on a ’60s Cadillac. You got almost the entire cost back at trade-in, and it gave you the most options for interior colors. With cloth upholstery, all you could really do was substitute standard cloth trim choices available elsewhere in the line (e.g., ordering Sixty Special cloth upholstery on a Series 62).

Front seat of a 1964 Cadillac Series 62 two-door hardtop with two-tone turquoise upholstery, viewed through the passenger door — 1964 Cadillac Series 62 hardtop coupe with turquoise wing-patterned Doncaster cloth and turquoise coated fabric bolsters and trim / Orlando Classic Cars

Leather Colors

Each Cadillac model and body style offered a selection of recommended trim combinations that were available as regular factory options. In any given model year, there were usually at least five and sometimes as many as a dozen trim combinations in cloth, leather, and vinyl. On some models, Cadillac confusingly described the recommended leather trim as a “standard option” even where it cost extra — it just meant that that trim combination was available as a regular production line option, not a special order.

Front seat of a 1964 Cadillac Sedan de Ville four-door hardtop viewed through the driver's door — 1964 Cadillac four-window Sedan de Ville with Sandalwood petal patterned Dorchester cloth and Sandalwood leather, one of the 12 regular trim selections for the closed-body De Ville in 1964 / Classic Auto Mall

If you ordered leather upholstery (or if leather was standard on the model you wanted) and you didn’t like the recommended choices, you could pay extra to special order from the more extensive non-standard leather list. Let’s suppose you were buying a new 1964 Coupe de Ville. Closed De Ville body styles normally came with leather bolsters and cloth inserts. Adding leather inserts was an extra $140.90 if you opted for one of the standard color choices, which were limited to black, white (with black carpeting), sandalwood, or red. If you were willing to pay extra to go the special order route, this unlocked 11 additional leather color options:

Gray-blue
Aquamarine
Dark blue-green
Light blue
Palomino
Lime
Green
Gray
Midnight blue
Turquoise
Beige

If you instead ordered a De Ville convertible, which came with leather upholstery at no extra charge, four of these colors (light blue, Palomino, lime, and green) were regular options in 1964, not requiring a special order or an extra charge. For example, light blue leather was a regular option for the Aspen White De Ville convertible pictured below, but would have required a special order in a Coupe de Ville.

Front seat and dashboard of an Aspen White 1964 Cadillac De Ville convertible seen through the open driver's door — 1965 Cadillac De Ville convertible in Aspen White with light blue leather upholstery, a dark blue instrument panel cover, and medium blue carpet / Classic Auto Mall

With either an open or closed body, you could also get white leather with dark red rather than black carpeting as a special order in 1964. This apparently proved very popular — starting in 1964, Cadillac began offering white leather with either red, blue, or medium turquoise carpeting as regular options.

Special Interior Components

With a few exceptions, each standard and non-standard color choice normally included a color-keyed instrument panel, headlining or convertible top boot, steering wheel, carpet, and so on. However, with a special order, you could select different colors for different parts of the interior.

Front seat of a lime green 1964 Cadillac De Ville convertible with the top down — Surprisingly, this two-tone white-and-lime interior was a regular option in 1964; all-lime upholstery was available as a special order, the opposite of the usual practice at this time / The Barn Miami

Cadillac divided the interior into a series of distinct areas (e.g., inserts, bolsters, carpeting, lower instrument panel). The color of each of these areas could be specified individually to create two- or even three-color interiors. The Firemist Aquamarine 1964 Eldorado pictured earlier in this post has a special order two-tone white and aqua interior:

Passenger door trim of a 1964 Cadillac Eldorado convertible — 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado with white upper door and armrests, dark turquoise instrument panel extensions, and medium aqua carpeting, plus the standard Baku wood veneer / Classic Cars of Sarasota

With an aquamarine leather interior (a regular option on the 1964 Eldorado), the upper door sections and door armrests would normally be aqua, but this one was special ordered with those areas in white, plus a white steering wheel and while lower instrument panel:

Front seat and dashboard of a Firemist Aquamarine 1964 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, seen through the driver's door — 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado in Firemist Aquamarine / Classic Cars of Sarasota

While the seats are white leather, they have aqua piping for some of the seaming laces:

Back seat of an aquamarine 1964 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with the top down — 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado in Firemist Aquamarine / Classic Cars of Sarasota

The copies of the Cadillac data books I have are vague about pricing for these options: Only the 1965 book has prices for special leather combinations; the 1963 and 1964 data books have blank spaces where that information was supposed to be written in. However, the bill of sale for the turquoise 1963 Series 62 convertible I found earlier indicates that the original purchaser was charged $86.00 for the special two-tone leather interior, which is also what the 1965 book quotes for special leather on a De Ville convertible. The prices for non-standard leather were lower for an Eldorado convertible ($59.15 in 1965), and higher on closed bodies.

Left side of the front seat of a 1963 Cadillac Series 62 convertible with white and turquoise upholstery — 1963 Cadillac Series 62 convertible with turquoise leather seat inserts, white leather bolsters, a turquoise steering wheel, a dark turquoise upper dashboard, a white lower dashboard, white door armrests, and medium turquoise carpet / Orlando Classic Cars

Although the data book suggests there were separate charges for substituting different colors for different interior areas, it doesn’t appear customers were always charged on an itemized basis. The turquoise 1963 convertible (whose interior is pictured above) also had a non-standard white lower dashboard as well as non-standard two-tone leather, but the bill of sale indicates the buyer paid only the single $86 charge for special leather.

Left front 3q view of a white 1965 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with the top down — Aspen White was a popular Cadillac color in this era, even on a 1965 Fleetwood Eldorado / Mecum Auctions

Since what you were really paying for with a special order was the special handling at the factory, Cadillac may have be willing to throw in the additional changes for the price of the more expensive one.

Front seat and dashboard of a 1965 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with a blue interior — Surprisingly, the blue leather interior on the white Eldorado pictured above was a $59.15 special order in 1965 / Mecum Auctions

Interior No-Nos

While Cadillac offered a lot of interior trim choices, there were certain things they would not allow as a matter of policy:

No style substitutions: Each trim series had a distinct style of stitching, seams, pleats, etc. You could special order a nonstandard material, but it would be applied in the same style otherwise supplied for that series. Cadillac was surprisingly adamant about this, insisting that the way the patterns and components were made (particularly molded or formed pieces like rubber seat pads) meant they were not interchangeable between models.
No light-colored dashboard pads or package shelves: The dealer data books noted that buyers sometimes wanted the top of the instrument panel to be white or some other light color to match the rest of the interior. The data book recommended that salespeople demonstrate why this was a bad idea “by laying a white sheet of paper or handkerchief on the panel” to illustrate the hazardous reflections it created in the windshield. With color-keyed interiors, the upper dashboard pad and package shelf were usually darker shades than the rest of the upholstery, and the factory would reject orders requesting lighter-color or white upper dashboards.

Dashboard of a 1965 Cadillac Sedan de Ville with a blue and white interior — Note that while this 1965 Sedan de Ville has white leather, white door panels, a white steering wheel, and a white lower dash, the upper dashboard pad and carpet are blue / Pedigree Motorcars of the Palm Beach

No white carpets: Cadillacs with white upholstery could sometimes be ordered with several carpet colors, but you couldn’t get white carpeting because it was too easily soiled. With most other colors, the carpeting was typically a darker shade of the upholstery color, for similar reasons.
No cloth upholstery in convertibles: Cadillac convertibles of the ’60s had standard leather upholstery, and the data books generally indicated that cloth wasn’t available on open cars.
No interchangeable steering wheel grips: Cadillac steering wheels of this period often had the grip sections on either side molded in a contrasting color or contrasting shade. Although there were various color options, you couldn’t choose nonstandard steering wheel combinations — Cadillac said the way the thermoplastic wheels were molded didn’t permit mixing and matching colors.

Steering wheel and dashboard of a 1964 Cadillac De Ville convertible with a green interior — 1964 Cadillac De Ville convertible with a two-color green steering wheel and green leather upholstery / Bring a Trailer

The Limits of Good Taste

The question you may be asking now is, “So, other than those policies, would Cadillac make just ANYTHING to special order? What if someone ordered their new Cadillac with each interior piece in a different color, like Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?” While Cadillac dealer literature didn’t suggest that the factory would refuse orders on grounds of dubious taste, the data books urged dealers and salespeople to steer customers towards more “harmonious” combinations, offering this warning:

RECOMMENDED COLOR-UPHOLSTERY. Interior colors are selected and toned to harmonize with their counterpart exterior colors. … The upholstery selection involves the complete interior decor of the car and if not harmonized with the exterior color, it becomes uncomplimentary to the automobile. When selections opposing the experienced judgment of trained specialists in color harmony are made, the results may sometimes be disappointing even to the customer making them. It may be regarded as poor styling judgment by others, although it was the original purchaser’s choice.

A firm stand should be exercised to channel the upholstery selection according to the recommended options; otherwise, the finished product may present an appearance contrary to the customer’s expectations.

GOOD TASTE. Taste, which is a developed skill, is frequently confused with untrained personal preference. Most customers respect and adhere to Cadillac color-upholstery recommendations, as they are based upon standards of esthetic principles and experience. They are part of Cadillac’s quality standards.

After the factory Custom Order Department received a special order, they would normally send back a copy within 10 days indicating how they interpreted the order. If it seemed especially bizarre, they might kick it back as a typographical error unless the dealer made it clear that was definitely what the customer wanted. If it was, the order couldn’t be cancelled or changed even if the customer thought better of it later. (This is frequently the case with retail special orders, especially where they involve additional labor or require the retailer or manufacturer to purchase special materials.)

Right side view of a metallic blue 1965 Cadillac Coupe de Ville lowrider with 22-inch rims — No, Cadillac wouldn’t sell you a lowrider or 22-inch rims in 1965, but for an extra charge (say, around $200 or $225), they might have been able to approximate the gorgeous metallic blue color of Christina Szeremi’s ’65 Coupe de Ville / Lowrider

Would a very unusual special order risk the dealer being stuck with a basically unsalable car? In most cases, I think the customer would be on the hook for it, at least from a legal standpoint. Different jurisdictions have different laws on such things, but if it ended up in court, the dealer would likely win if they could demonstrate that the car was definitely what the customer ordered and that the customer was definitely told that orders couldn’t be cancelled after they were placed. The exception would be if the car wasn’t what was ordered, or was finished in some negligent way. For instance, in 1973, a Baltimore Cadillac buyer sued Chesapeake Cadillac for $67,150 for allegedly fulfilling his order for a gold 1972 Cadillac with a black vinyl top by spray-painting the white vinyl roof black! (I don’t know if he won his suit.)

Left side view of a Promenade Golf 1972 Cadillac Sedan de Ville with a black vinyl roof — Baltimore customer Willie Toliver Jr. claimed he spent $7,150 for a gold 1972 Cadillac like this one and got a white vinyl top sprayed black with a rattle-can — hardly a *special* order! / Barrett-Jackson

Also, in some cases, it might be the dealer who ordered an oddball color combination, like colors chosen to match the colors of a local sports team. As the dealer data book sagely noted, “A customer may be attracted to visit the showroom by the lure of a ‘one-of-a-kind’ Cadillac automobile.”

How to Tell If It Was a Special Order

As you’ve probably noticed, older cars sometimes sport curious non-standard paint jobs. Some sellers will try to insist the cars were special ordered that way from the factory, whether they actually were or not. On a Cadillac of this vintage, cars ordered with special exterior colors should have a “00” in the “PAINT” section of the trim plate. (Current-year Firemist or Fire-Frost colors will have the actual paint code instead, even if they were invoiced as SR options; a no-longer-offered previous-year Firemist choice would have a “00” paint code.)

Trim plate of a 1964 Cadillac Sedan de Ville showing a "00" paint code — 1964 Cadillac Four-Window Sedan de Ville in “Iris Purple” / Streetside Classics

Special request interior trim combinations should have a “00” (or “000” from 1965 on) in the “TRIM” space.

Trim plate of a turquoise 1963 Cadillac Series 62 convertible showing a "00" trim code — 1963 Cadillac Series 62 convertible with a special order turquoise and white leather interior / Orlando Classic Cars

With the exception of Fire-Frost or Firemist colors, if neither the PAINT nor the TRIM code is 00 (or 000), the car was not a factory special order, whatever fanciful story the seller may cook up.

Left side doors and roof of a purple 1964 Cadillac Sedan de Ville four-door hardtop with the doors open — 1964 Cadillac Four-Window Sedan de Ville in special order “Iris Purple” / Streetside Classics

Even if the trim plate DOES indicate a special order, there’s almost certainly no way to know what color or trim combination was originally ordered. So, even if the Cadillac has a “00” paint code and is painted a weird non-standard color, you can’t be sure it’s the SAME weird non-standard color in which it left the factory all those years ago.