Poking around the little back streets and alleys of Springfield, Eugene’s sister city, I stumbled into a rather surprising find, which you see here as I first saw it: a 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine sporting a rather unexpected paint job. But then it was 1958, a time when folks were snapping up pink, green, blue and yellow kitchens and bathrooms. So while it may look a bit odd to our gray and stainless steel trained sensibilities, this was probably very chic in 1958. In some circles, anyway.
To create the proper atmosphere, here’s a few kitchens featuring GE appliances from 1958. One is even two-tone, pink over blue.
That’s not to say that Cadillac was quite showing off green, blue and yellow Fleetwood 75 limos in their brochure. Realistically, back in the day gray or black or possibly white were undoubtedly the most commonly selected colors for these, which were used quite differently than stretch limos are today. Quite.
The only green shown in the ’58 brochure is this low-end Series 62 sedan.
Of course vivid colors alone can’t quite do justice to the excess of the Fleetwood 60 Special that year, which featured not only a longer wheelbase (133″) but the “extended deck”, which was available as an option on the 62, designed especially for hit men who needed to carry multiple corpses, even in rigor mortis.
As it’s quite apparent, the Fleetwood 75 limo did not have the extended deck. No suggestion of it being optional. I wonder if one could get it if one asked very persuasively? Maybe not, since that would have presumably required another huge quarter panel different than the sedan’s. But it would have made for an impressively long limo.
The really distinctive feature about these are the way the doors extend into the roof. A bit like an airplane door. And with their own rain gutters, which somewhat spoils the sleekness of them.
The 1959-up version omitted the gutters, presumably because there was some kind of built in rain diverter. Or one hopes so.
The raised roof means that the windshield was unique to these. It was almost certainly the biggest windshield at the time.
Let’s take a look inside. Hmm; the many decades have not been kind to either the beige broadcloth or beige wool cord and broadcloth. From what’s left, I’m guessing the former. Light gray, gray or brown versions of the same two fabric combinations were also available. The folding jump seats are in different positions.
A look through the open glass divider into the front compartment. To the club, James! But swing by Miss Jones’ house first.
The brochure states that the limousine front compartment is upholstered in black leather. This looks like more of the same. I assume that’s what would have been the case in the seven-passenger sedan, which had no division. A special order, likely. But then I doubt they stocked green-over-green limos anyway.
A Caddy limo with genuine patina. How many are there like that?
That headlight bezel needs to be pushed back into place, but other than that, it looks ready to roll.
The 310 hp 365 cubic inch V8 looks like it should start right up. That gas in that filter/separator does look a bit dark. Theoretically the tri-carb 335 hp version was optional for a mere $134, but it’s a bit hard to imagine anyone buying a limo springing for that. Much more likely the air conditioning, which seems to be missing here. The good old days; a limo without air. Maybe it was bought in Seattle.
It does have a trailer hitch. These old Caddies make good two trucks, and this is the Escalade of its day.
A study in patinated elegance.
Or something like that.
We knew a family with a large number of children who bought a new ’57 Fleetwood 75 (same basic body) in bright pink with a white top. Strange times, indeed!
The undertaker in our town had a large family and used the old 6 door limo from the funeral home as the kiddie mobile occasionally. The highly polished all black 1994ish Fleetwood was a rather imposing and kinda goth vehicle in the school pickup line. Had the flag holders on the fenders with gold trimmed American flags too
A relative’s relative bought one of these in the conventional black in 1968 for little money. He used it to transport himself aa fellow students from his school in central New York State to where he lived in central Massachusetts. So, the large vehicle paid for itself. As for this green-on-green model, I hope that some good soul can afford to restore it and add air conditioning. It could be a fun ride. It will also make a great wedding car for hire with chauffeur, of course.
I would expect the original purchaser to be either someone who wanted to make it clear this was a personal car and not a hired limo or a resort looking for a distinctive identity for a courtesy car. It looks sad but is definitely restorable since it’s unlikely to have structural rust. Of course it wouldn’t be cheap since that’s a lot of upholstery, a few gallons of paint, and replating the rear bumper. Either that or make the interior habitable and have one hell of a rat rod.
Since his likeness is on every can of Green Giant vegetables, this would have been a great car for The Jolly Green Giant.
There’s a funeral home in White Oak PA (E of Pittsburgh) whose livery is all a bright but darker green – the hearse and all the limos. At least they were ~10 yrs ago when I happened by and a funeral was about to depart. They all looked quite handsome.
This is am amazing find! The basic car looks like it is in quite good shape, making a restoration relatively easy-relatively. It will still require a ton ‘o cash to restore this think. Even if one spent $50,000 in this car (easy to do) there is not much of a market for antique four door cars. Everybody wants two doors for a reason I don’t quite understand.