It is hard to say which got my attention first; finding two of these Cadillacs, or finding one of them painted up like the American flag. In 1964, Cadillac’s 75-Series production totaled a mere 808 limousines and 617 nine-passenger sedans; in either configuration, each of these cars is as rare as a four-leaf clover.
Let’s take a closer look at the tri-tone Cadillac.
I didn’t count the stars that had been painted on it, but there shouldn’t have been a problem finding room for all 50.
All each of these cars needs is a teenage rock and roll band.
LOL! I don’t know if they are still together, but the star-spangled Caddy should be the tour vehicle for the band Presidents of the United States of America.
Love the wild paint job, looks great on this car. As individualistic as americans are, it always amazes me how unwilling we are to express our individuality in our cars. How many identical medium blue Prii are on the road?
Give it time re: the Prii.
We Americans are also firm believers in resale value. Once Prii start to reach their “final owners” (read: when they’re 15-20 years old) they’ll start to get “customized.”
Many of them have already reached the “MY ideology is better than YOUR ideology!” multiple-bumper-sticker phase.
Crazy to see two of these Caddies at once. A scene not witnessed since a 60s airport drive-up, I bet.
Don’t get me started about silver cars. There are way too many silver cars on the road, and I think most people choose silver because it’s not too noticeable when a silver car is dirty.
When these cars were new, how many were seen in anything other than black or dark blue? As with the Prius, the car itself expressed individuality (though at the opposite end of the spectrum).
BTW, the Series 75 continued with the same body into the next year, while the rest of the Cadillac line was all new. One or both could be 1965s. I don’t know if it’s possible to tell the difference.
I don’t think there are any exterior differences between the ’64 and ’65 Fleetwood 75’s. It’s too bad that GM did not get its act together and tool up a Fleetwood 75 on the new body design in ’65. The ’66 Fleetwood 75 is one of the most elegant Cadillacs ever, and it would have been nice to have 2 years of production of that car instead of just one. The survival rate of Fleetwood 75’s is not as good as you might think. When they became too old for commercial use, but not yet old enough to be collectible, they had to pass through a stage of being really totally unwanted, because they are on the big, unwieldy and thirsty side as everyday drivers. Sometimes their low-mileage drivetrains would be pulled for coupe or convertible restorations.
It’s a long shot, but the red, white and blue one could be a ’65, as it appears to have a ’65 wheel cover on the back. Of course, it might not be original.
Here’s the Series 75 with all the other 1965 Cadillacs:
Does anyone know the story why GM kept the ’59-’60 style wraparound windshield on the Fleetwood 75 up until the 1966 model year as I recall?
I believe that 64 was the last year for this windshield, as these got a thorough re-do for 65. I would suspect that the Fleetwood 75 body was such low volume that Cadillac just kept disguising the one it did for 1959 during the 61-64 years.
Edit – I just came back from lunch and have learned something new – the 65 Fleetwood limo looked just like the 64 except for wheelcovers. Did not know that.
Yep, Cadillac did the same thing in 48 or 49 with the limousines too, interesting thing is that the commercial chassis for 65 did get the new stacked headlight front end while the full bodied limo didn’t.
I got to looking at pictures of some of these. It looks like the bulk of the body came out in 1959, and very little was done with it after that, other than to graft new front/rear sheetmetal on for the current-year regular Cads, along with some work on the doors. These things had to have involved a lot of hand work. I suspect that Cadillac must have had its hands full with the 1965 redesign, since so much of the car was new, and they probably decided to use the old limo shell for one more year rather than rushing a new limo out, with essentially a brand new custom body.
To my untrained eye, it looks like the next Fleetwood 75 that came out for 1966 served through the 1970 models just like before, with new front and rear ends and some work on the rear doors. When the car was re-done again for 1971, the Fleetwood 75 was re-done as well.
A ’49 Series 75 would be interesting. Old generation styling (prewar ’42 body) with the new OHV 331 V-8. The ’65 75 would’ve had the Turbo-Hydramatic seen as a mid-year ’64 option for Caddies.
As Jim said. Keep in mind that this windshield is taller than the one used on regular Caddys, so the tooling had to be amortized over a longer time.
The 75’s kept the old dog leg though ’65 because of the roof stamping. Low volume of factory 75’s dictated this along with keeping the same ’64 style into ’65.
The 75 would get an all new roof stamping adapted on the C body for ’66.
I counted 26 stars on the visible front quarter panel and fender, if there are just as many on the other side (another 26) plus the ones on the hood (20+). I think the artist/owner was reflecting the optimism of the times, and maybe included the regions of the empire’s next conquest the Moon.
Actually, I’d take the American flag one over the orange one in a heartbeat. Back in ’64, I went to grade school with a kid whose dad owned a limo service…we’d walk past his business on the way to school. I think he had three new ’64 Cads…one black, one more gray than silver and one white (and this was in the days before white limos and hearses were common sights).
I can’t imagine trying to park a vehicle like this.
Would they be worse than a crew cab pickup? I remember reading in one of the UK classic car mags one of the staff driving a limo (Daimler Majestic Major IIRC, love those cars) as a more interesting minivan alternative.
A Majestic Major with 4.5L V8 would be way more fun than a minivan.
I found one source that listed the overall length as 240″. That’s a foot or two shorter than my crewcab longbed, so I imaging parallel parking would be similarly problematic.
In a surprising coincidence, I came across this ’68 Fleetwood 75 just this past weekend at a corner gas station. Looks to be in a lot better condition than these two ’64s. I didn’t realize how rare they are.
Let’s try again for the photo.
So what’s the difference between a limousine and a nine-passenger? I can’t find anything on the web, and there’s no logical distinction to be drawn from the names.
I agree with you what you state, as I had the same quandary. All I can think is there was a difference in seating configuration to explain the difference. My source was a hard-cover book I’ve had for 20 years.
I believe that the limo was equipped with a retracting divider window that separated the driver from the rest of the car. The sedan was the limo without the divider, and may not have had some of the other limo luxury outfittings.
These cars bring back memories of when you would see a limo, you would ooo and aah because you knew that there was some serious luxury there. Now, limos are just big livery vehicles for transporting intoxicated people in large groups.
That is the difference between the two. And ditto on the changed image of limos.
Limos (75 Fleetwoods and Crown Imperials) had dividers; the 9 passengers did not and 9 passengers came in a wider array of colors inside and out than limos of the day (usually leather up front in the chauffeurs’ compartment; wool or broadcloth in the rear). Both verisions would have jumpseats, and there were a few more ammenities in back in the limousine versions than the regular nine-passenger configuarions.
Today’s limos are lame . . . . a classic Crown Imperial or Fleetwood 75 limo would have sumptous armrests (on the sides and the center in the older models); footrests – large assist straps, clocks built into the divider, ashtrays and lighters galore not to mention some were equipped with radios in back for the rear passengers and at least on pre-war models (including the then Buick series 90 Limited Limousines) the speakingt “tube” for the rear passenger to speak with the chauffeur . . . today’s limos are mobile puke lounges for drunk youngsters . . .