After writing my recent post of the ’75 Fleetwood Brougham, a thought occurred to me. What if Zackman was in charge of GM in the mid-’70s and decreed that all fixed quarter windows be banished and replaced with pillarless styling? There actually was a Fleetwood coupe, but it did not appear until 1981. What would a ’76 model look like? With this burning question in mind, I went to work.
Rather nice, don’t you think? As with the 1975-76 Fleetwood Brougham sedan, I left the solid C-pillar alone, for added privacy and a distinctive look compared to the Coupe de Ville and Calais two-door.
But wait, there’s more! How about a pillarless Coupe de Ville? By utilizing the Sedan de Ville’s roofline, pillarless motoring could have been achieved without the added expense of a special roofline. The public probably wouldn’t have gone for it, with the popularity of A/C-equipped Caddies and the added rattles and NVH of the pillarless body style. Too bad.
Looks good to me (especially the first rendering) you can can use my 76 as a test case if you do it in real life.
That fixed B Pillar is just about the only thing I don’t like about the 74-76 Cadillac design.
Hey Tom. I don’t think these are real pillars. I guess the top isn’t really hard either. Oh well.
Great job Tom. That Fleet coupe came out rather nicely.
Not quite convinced the DeVille works tho. It looks more like a 2 door sedan as opposed to a true coupe like profile. Interesting how that sail window, which to me looks so good on the 4 door, seems out of place here.
So I’ve made up my mind, I’ll take the Fleet.
Now where would I go to get me one of these?
Something more like this, perhaps?
Yep, I’d say that looks better than the real CDV!
Oh. My. Go*.
A revelation, these pictures are. I’ll forever look at long-overhang Cadillacs differently. Thanks for expanding my mind.
Not exactly much different than the DeVille coupes from ’71 – ’73. Or am I missing something? The roofline is a bit more formal, it appears.
No, not that different. I initially was just going to do the Fleetwood, but saw the profile of the ’76 SDV in the brochure and figured I’d do that one too.
These cars had such smooth lines, the ’74-’76 CDV’s opera-windowed roof kind of bulked it up – not an improvement.
I don’t know where the Bean Counter moves started Showing, But They Did Once again in The 74’s IMO …For one Thing I Too Hate fixed rear Windows on coupes, they should go all the way down on a luxury car.
the whole car in as well as out, ie the bumper extenders that cracked and rotted within 10 years…the big eggcrate on the front grill..buy it started in 66 imo , or 68 when the 69s debuted. the 1970 was the last beautiful barge that ruled the boulevard imo.
71 was obviously closer to the chevy that was more like a cadillac… and in 74 it just looked more garish while the caprice classics were 95 % as luxurious in their own right. Ditto Buick, Olds, Pontiac.
in 77 it was an improvement as a better car imo, but again just a different flavor caprice basically. its been similar ever since. right up thru, today’s lacrosse being a xts by buick…
True, but it seemed to work for the times…these barges sold in record numbers for many years.
Plus, the lipstick on a pig plan was no different than what was being done at Lincoln and Chrysler. That was just the way it was back then, with the big3 cashing in on substantial brand equity.
The practice still goes on today. Lexus anyone?
Never really liked the fixed quarter window treatment in any car. In my opinion, my 78 Eldo would look better with roll down back windows, the true hardtop convertible experience.
It could be interesting to see the same treatment for the Buick Electra and Oldsmobile 98 of the same era. I spotted a picture of the 1975 Toronado on Oldcarbrochures and the central picture (the green circle with cowbows) showed a Toronado without a B-pillar and opera window. A recycled ’74 picture or some pre-production prototype?
Wow…you have a good eye. Looks as though they used ’74s for the shoot, and doctored the photos (cut-and-paste – literally – and airbrush) once a ’75 prototype was available. But the long shot in the small photo was probably too difficult to fix, so they left it alone.
They did this kind of thing (retouching older-year photos) a lot back then. For a really blatant one, look at the Delta 88 “photos” (particularly the green car on page 12) in the ’71 Oldsmobile brochure. They are clumsily-retouched 1970 models – odd since the ’71 was an all-new body! Anyway, I checked out the Toronado pic in the ’75 brochure and I think it’s just a mistake. They actually bothered to change the rear fender/bumper from ’74 to ’75, but they forgot to change to the opera roof treatment. Or, could it be that the opera window roof treatment wasn’t standard in ’75? They show it on every photo except that tiny one, but I don’t see a mention of it being either standard or optional. It’s just there. In the ’74 brochure a very similar treatment is shown as a new option.
I had one awful time trying to read the text, as I was laughing so hard! Wifey got a kick out it, too!
If I were in charge of GM back then, if the pillarless style HAD to go, I would have decreed roll-down glass no matter what, ala 2-door sedans on the mid- and full-sized models and at least flip-out glass on Novas (which WERE offered) on down. In the case of the Camaro, a three-window coupe was fine, but I still liked the 1st gen models better.
As to the Colonnade coupes, I could have fun with those!
This coming from a guy who has never owned a hardtop!
If memory serves correctly, my friend’s 78 Pontiac Grand Am four-door sedan had fixed rear windows, as did another’s 81 Oldsmobile Cutlass four-door sedan (though the latter did have power rear vent windows) – a continuance of the bean counting at GM?
It’s item number 4,363,783,564 of The Great Encyclopedia of GM Dumbass Moves. You’ll find it in book 24, page 768, listed right below the Crotch Cooler, an interesting little vent found under the steering column of most late 1970’s GM vehicles.
Whats wrong with the crotch cooler?
+1. As one who used to have to wear business suits year ’round in the coastal South, the crotch cooler had some, if limited, benefit.
love the crotch cooler, one of the best things about 70’s GM HVAC systems, wish you could get it today.
Eureka! I now know the solution for seat-of-the-pants discomfort, even with full AC. Can I get this in cars now? Or would cooled seats have to suffice:(
“What if Zackman was in charge of GM in the mid-’70s and …”
Forget about the mid-70’s! Put him in charge now!
Let’s start an online petition to install Zackman as GM CEO… a REAL CAR GUY who knows what other real car guys want!
And we can install Buickman as his CMO! (kind of like his VP)
Zackman and Buickman! It sure beats real politics!
I’m in! How about you?
;^)