1967 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special And Brougham: Cadillac Builds The Ultimate Passenger’s Car

 

In concocting ideas for posts, I spend a lot of time looking for suitable photos, sometimes shelving a promising idea because I can’t find any. On the other hand, I sometimes run across pictures that strike my fancy enough to want to find something to do with them, like this 1967 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special — the biggest and fanciest of owner-driven Cadillac sedans. Let’s take a closer look, and examine its relationship to the more expensive and ultimately more popular Fleetwood Brougham as a Cadillac tailored more for passengers than for drivers.

To modern eyes, all standard Cadillacs of this era are colossal, so it isn’t initially apparent how this Grecian White 1967 Sixty Special differs from the somewhat cheaper and far more common Sedan de Ville. Here’s how they look in profile:

 

The Regal Silver Sedan de Ville is of course a four-door hardtop while the Sixty Special is a pillared sedan, but the more significant difference is that the rear wheels of the Sixty Special are shifted backwards 3.5 inches, increasing the wheelbase from 129.5 inches to 133. (Overall length increases by the same amount.)

 

Unlike some long-wheelbase sedans, where the additional length was ahead of or behind the cabin and thus of no practical benefit, the Sixty Special used its longer wheelbase to increase minimum effective rear legroom (as listed in the official factory specifications) to 45.4 inches, 5.7 inches more than the hardtop Sedan de Ville pictured above, and 3.3 inches more than a Buick Electra 225 pillared sedan. Some big American cars of this time weren’t terribly roomy despite their monstrous exterior dimensions — the Fleetwood Sixty Special wasn’t one of those.

 

What caught my eye about this particular car is its vivid “Medium Aqua” Damascus cloth upholstery. This wasn’t even the fanciest of the available trim options — there were also extra-cost all-cloth or wool broadcloth cloth upholstery options, leather upholstery in your choice of eight colors, or special-order “maximum leather” in perforated or nonperforated styles — but it is striking. I’m very partial to the contrast between the aqua interior and the white exterior: Individually, the aqua is a bit much and the Grecian white paint is rather ho-hum, but the contrast is pleasing, calling to mind Don Johnson’s signature pastel T-shirts and Armani white linen suits from Miami Vice.

 

Color combination notwithstanding, I was surprised to discover that the Grecian White Sixty Special was quite a rare car. The “plain” Sixty Special (to the extent that a car with an interior like that could be considered “plain”) was on its way out by this time, and would disappear after just a few more years.

 

By this time, the Cadillac Sixty Special (sometimes styled “60 Special”) was one of the most venerable Cadillac models. Its name was a throwback to the 1930s: Back in 1936, Cadillac had rationalized its lineup into short-wheelbase Series 60 and long-wheelbase Series 70 lines, plus the bigger, posher Fleetwood lines: the V-8 Series 75; V-12 Series 80 and 85; and V-16 Series 90. This was still too many variations for the Depression-era market, so it was further consolidated over the next few years, but some of these models survived for decades.

 

Although the Series 60 was the smallest and cheapest Cadillac line, for 1938, it received a stylish new sub-model called the 60 Special, designed by a young stylist named Bill Mitchell, whom Harley Earl had hired in the winter of 1935–1936. The 60 Special rode a 3-inch-longer wheelbase than the standard Series 60 models (although it was still smaller and cheaper than the senior Cadillacs) and had a variety of advanced styling features. It was a commercial success — through 1940, it was actually the bestselling individual Cadillac model — and was highly influential in its day.

 

The Sixty Special returned after WW2, although after the war, it no longer had much stylistic distinction from cheaper Cadillac models. For a while (from 1959 to 1964), it even shared the same wheelbase as the cheaper Sedan de Ville. As with the Eldorado convertible, the Sixty Special seems to have been aimed at customers who demanded the top of the line and didn’t care to haggle, rather than having any really unique features of its own.

 

When the Cadillac line was refreshed for 1965, the Sixty Special returned to its earlier format: a well-trimmed four-door pillared sedan (rather than a four-door hardtop) on a longer wheelbase. Curiously, while the roominess of its back seat was apparent, the Cadillac Data Book didn’t claim any more rear legroom than the hardtop Sedan de Ville.

 

This was rectified for 1966, when the rear seat was revised, giving Cadillac sufficient confidence to memorialize its greater legroom in the official specifications, now quoted as 45.5 inches.

 

It’s here that we have to bring up the Fleetwood Brougham. In 1965, Cadillac offered a new Brougham Option for the Sixty Special. Despite its fancy Brougham script emblems and hefty $198.90 initial price, the option was really just a padded vinyl roof covering of what was later called the “halo” type. The 1965 Data Book describes it as “set off by a slim twin-bead and vinyl color molding around the entire roof area.” Contrary to what you might expect, this did not include any interior trim changes — upholstery and trim options were the same as the regular Sixty Special, making the price tag seem rather outrageous. (You could order a padded vinyl roof on a Sedan de Ville for $139.75.)

 

For 1966 and 1967, however, Cadillac tried something new. The Brougham, which was now listed as a separate sub-model, still shared the same interior trim choices as the regular Sixty Special. However, its $316 extra cost now included not only the padded roof, but also a significant upgrade in rear seat accommodations, including carpeted footrests like those of the bigger Series 75 formal cars, plus fold-down multipurpose trays with adjustable reading lamps, like the “picnic tables” found in the back seats of fancier British luxury cars.

 

This brings us back to that “owner-driven” stipulation I mentioned at the outset. The general presumption with the Fleetwood-series Cadillac models was that the Eldorado and Sixty Special were for customers who intended to drive themselves, whereas the Series 75 was for livery services and the handful of wealthy owners who wanted private limousines. Where, then, did the Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham fit in?

 

By all appearances, the Brougham rear seat treatment was intended for adult accommodation. The general automotive tendency in the ’60s was to stuff excess children into any convenient nook or cranny; it’s hard to see many contemporary buyers spending more than $300 extra just to give the kids footrests and reading lamps. The Brougham setup seems tailor-made for livery services, since it offered a passenger-oriented, formal-looking big sedan for substantially less money than a Seventy-Five (which started at more than $10,300 in 1966). A Brougham would also have suited corporate executives or public officials who rated a driver (and perhaps a radiotelephone), but who didn’t need to carry a whole retinue of servants or a large bodyguard detail, and probably appealed to some affluent older people who needed or preferred to be driven, but didn’t need the bulk, expense, or conspicuousness of a nine-passenger sedan or formal limousine.

 

However, all that suggests that the Brougham was aimed at a niche market, where in fact it quickly outsold the regular Sixty Special by a very substantial margin: 13,630 to 5,455 in 1966; 12,750 to 3,550 in 1967; and 15,300 to 3,300 for 1968. By 1969, the Brougham was also outselling the base-model Cadillac Calais! The slower-selling non-Brougham version was finally dropped after 1970, and while the “Sixty Special” designation survived on the Brougham through 1976, I think even Cadillac fans generally find it easier to just say “Fleetwood Brougham.”

Model Year Production, Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special and Brougham, 1965–1970

	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970
Sixty Special	18,100	5,455	3,550	3,300	2,545	1,738
Brougham	N/A	13,630	12,750	15,300	17,300	16,913
All Other Cadillac Models	163,335	177,590	183,700	211,403	203,392	220,094
Cadillac Total	181,435	196,675	200,000	230,003	223,237	238,745

The Brougham’s folding seatback trays were short-lived, offered only in 1966 and 1967. They were replaced with seatback map pockets for 1968, I assume because the trays wouldn’t pass muster with the new federal occupant protection regulations (FMVSS 201) that took effect January 1, 1968. The footrests remained standard on the Fleetwood Brougham into 1977, but they were deleted before the end of the model year, probably because they now cut too much into legroom with the downsized C-body.

 

I wonder about the 26,350 customers who bought the Brougham in 1966 and 1967. How many were company cars or Driving Miss Daisy-style ERTs (Elderly Relative Transports), and how many were used as regular big sedans by people who just wanted something posher than a Sedan de Ville and reflexively ordered the top-of-the-line model, without caring one way or another about its extra rear-seat features?

 

The Grecian White and Medium Aqua 1967 Sixty Special isn’t a Brougham, although I’d rate the absence of a padded vinyl top a plus, and it is very fancy — as well it should have been, with an original delivered price of $7,739.40. (MeasuringWorth estimates its relative worth in 2025 dollars as between $74,100 and $83,839.)

 

Would I buy a car trimmed like this? Maybe. The extra-cost leather might be tempting, but I’m awfully fond of the aqua color, which wasn’t offered in leather, and by 1966–1967, the standard leather option had taken on a plasticky look I don’t much like, as seen in this 1967 Brougham with Sandalwood leather:

 

The aqua interior is admittedly rather loud for a formal Cadillac — exacerbated by deletion of the previous wood trim on the doors and seatback. Compare the 1967 Sixty Special …

 

… with this 1966 Brougham in Medium Blue Dartmoor cloth:

 

On the other hand, I’ve never cared much for wood trim in passenger cars, and the white/aqua combination would reduce the danger of being mistaken for an airport shuttle.

 

There are other Cadillacs of this vintage that would be more satisfying to drive, and if asked to choose just one car, I’d take a 1967 or 1968 Eldorado. On the other hand, many people bought Cadillacs to ride in rather than drive, and in that realm, the Sixty Special — with or without the Brougham package — was at the top of the heap.

Related Reading

Curbside Classic: 1962 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special – Very Sixty And Very Special (by Tatra87)
Curbside Classic: 1965-66 Cadillac Sedan DeVille – The King’s Last Stand (by Laurence Jones)
1966 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Convertible – The Last Fading Ember of the Rear-Drive Eldorado (by me)
Curbside Classic: 1967 Cadillac Sedan DeVille – Be Careful What You Wish For (by Joseph Dennis)
Curbside Classic: 1968 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham – Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This (by Jason Shafer)
Car Show Classic: 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham – The Last True Cadillac? (by Tom Halter)