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You simply can't beat an early Cadillac or Corvette --50s era---in their original classic color combination---white with red interior. For 60s Cads, the blues, silvers, greens and yellows seem to work well---those soft pastels---ugh! Black is always no risk but it's quite formal for such a large car, and not very attractive on a convertible. Red works okay....just okay....but it's a LOT of red.
Sometimes at those fancy auctions, I am rather shocked at which colors people choose to paint certain cars. It's like they never stood back and thought about it, just laid it on.
The car I'm looking at has newer rubber seals at the front 6 windows. But, according to the owner, there are no manufacturers who make the rubber for the rear vent windows. He's looked at Steele Products and all the major players. Any of you guys have any suggestions as to who might make these rear rubber pieces??
It had power front vent windows, Autronic Eye, Reverb, AM-FM, A/C, deluxe interior and several other seldom seen options. It even had a purse hook.
I saw one for sale last summer that was a total stripper. Cloth seats, no A/C and it even had crank windows. No thanks!
Parm, those Caddys were hard on front end parts so make sure the bushings and ball joints are in good shape or budget accordingly.
BTW, when did they stop calling that car "Sixty Special", and begin calling it "Fleetwood"?
BTW, what's the significance of the term "Sixty Special"? In the 1960's, I know Cadillac had used the term Series 62 before the Deville name was re-introduced. And, "75" was used to designate their limo. "Sixty Special" sounds like a holdover from the 1940's - as in, "Gee-wiz, that Sixty Special sure is a swell car!" :P
I think it is a holdover from the old days when they really didn't give a car much of a real name, other than "DeLuxe", "Custom", "Special", "Master", or whatever. They used internal designations for the various models, and sometimes those would carry over to the name. For instance, that's how the Olds 88 and 98 models came to be. I think there was an Olds 76 at one time, too.
The "88" was the small body with the V8 engine.
The 98 was the big body shared with Buick Roadmaster and Series 62 Cads.
In 1950 the Series 61 Cad had a Cad engine in a Buick Special body with Chevrolet upholstry, but it was a Cadillac.
I remember the seat material was downgraded and a few other items were missing.
I doubt if many people evern know these were even made and I don't know what years they spanned. I think they went away around 1970.
Looking at my old car book, it looks like Cadillac broke out the DeVilles from the Series 62 starting in 1959. The '58, the DeVilles were just high-spec versions of the Series 62 hardtop coupe and sedan. I guess technically they were "Series 62 DeVilles"?
For 1959, my book lists the DeVille as a separate series. I guess you could call it a "Series 63" if you wanted, as the series code started off with "63XX..."
For 1965, the Series 62 was renamed Calais, and offered a pillared 4-door, and 2 and 4-door hardtops. Interestingly, for 1964, the 62 had a convertible but the DeVille did not, but for 1965, the 'vert was transferred to the DeVille line.
As for sales, in 1965 they sold about 33K Calaises and about 123K DeVilles (plus 2125 Eldorado convertibles, 18,100 Sixty Specials, and about 3900 Series 75, which included the commercial chassis).
By 1976, they were down to about 6200 Calais models, compared to around 183,000 DeVilles! By that time, the Calais must have been a real ripoff. My book lists the Calais at around $8600, while the DeVille was around $9000. But an Electra Limited (top line) was around $6800, and I'm sure was a much nicer car than a Calais! Similarly, a Ninety Eight Regency was around $6700.
Just read what I typed and realize my breadth of useless information knows no bounds. :confuse:
That'll happen in here. It's a big reason why I come....
I remember as plain as day, a brand-new black, no vinyl top, black cloth interior 1972 Calais Hardtop Sedan our local dealer got in new. It was gone in a day or two and never seen by me around town again, so must have been ordered. It had power windows (standard on a Calais by then), but NO AIR...and NO RADIO! It had a radio delete plate on the dash!
It also had blackwall tires. It had ZERO options. Price at the bottom of the sticker, including destination...$6,480.00. I'll always remember that.
The Fleetwood Sixty Special continued on into the 1970 model year, with the "Brougham" being an option in the earlier years and I believe a separate model in '70 (at least it has its own page or two in the '70 sales brochure). In '71 they had one model called the "Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham". I think in '72 and later the name 'Sixty Special' was gone, but didn't they call that stretched late '80's/early '90's FWD Caddy a "Sixty Special"?
Bill
I'll bet trying to sell a Calais without A/C or the power stuff a few years later would have been near impossible.
On a car like a Caddy, it's expected to have A/C and it's an instant turnoff if they don't.
There are folk in NY & LA who will buy the cheapest Cad because from the outside who knows what options are in a given car. It still is a Cad.
When asked why she wore fine clothes and expensive furs instead of eating better, she replied, "People can't see what's in my stomach, but they can see what's on my back."
When I was in high school and college, I worked in a marina during the summer months. Over those years, I worked my way up to Harbor Master (I kid you not) and became very proficient in docking everything from a 10ft fishing boat to a twin-screw 40ft Chris Craft cruiser - the latter of which was great training with respect to parking a '63 Fleetwood!
I just saw a '63 Riviera yesterday, a car I used to own---GEEZ I had no idea they were so HUGE, and that I drove them around using my pinkie. '63 Rivs were not such good cars BTW. Notorious overheaters.
I've owned two 65's and they never ran hot.
Interesting that 63-64 and 65 Rivieras all had a different automatic transmission.
I tend to lean toward the 64's. The 65's had those miserable headlight doors that never worked right. Even when the cars were almost new they would act up. I heard the Buick dealer mechanics just hated them!
The only 60s Cadillac I owned was....let me think....either a 65 or 66. I can't tell them apart anymore.
Nice thing was you could go shopping and leave the car unlocked. Woe to the man who tried to open the door without looking in the back seat--LOL!
A buddy of mine in the military had a used 63, that common gold tan color it came in with saddle leather seats. Funny, but back then it didn't seem that big compared to a lot of the cars on the road even though it was pretty large and sucked gas. It didn't overheat, but had tranny problems. I had a 63 Olds 88 in college that also had tranny problems. I wonder if that was a bad year for GM transmissions?
Cadillac used the Toronado drive system in 1967. The Morris chain drive was very durable.
I think the Toro stole a lot of Cadillac's thunder in the mid 60s, hence the '67 Eldo.
Not a good transmission at all.
But Cadillac's image has certainly gotten better since the late 80s/early 90s.
It won't ever be what it was, though. I can't see that happening. The 1950s were the Golden Years and they aren't coming back.
Plus, cars like the Mustang, Camaro and Corvette seemed to have a more "with it" image...they appealed to the stylish, hip and young (or at least the young-at-heart). Cadillacs and Lincolns came across as increasingly stuffy as the decade progressed.
Cadillac has made a comeback of sorts, which is great to see, and they really are once again set apart from a Chevrolet. Thank God.
Certainly Cadillac used better upholsteries, more sound-deadening, better carpets, etc. I guess if you make fewer cars per hour than Chevy, that helps quality control.
They actually put V-6 engines in Devilles that made them gutless wonders.
The one year only 4-6-8 engines were another disaster along with the junky diesels. In 1982 they took a Cavalier and called it a Cimmeron and that was the first year of one of the worst engines ever produced. The POS HT 4100's.
No longer was Cadillac the Standard of the World and one by one, they lost their loyal owners.
The timing for Lexus couldn't have been better.
Well, that was probably true if you want to limit your comparison to an equipment option spec sheet only. Even then, that didn't occur until the LATE 1960's - keeping in mind that the subject of this thread is 1963-64 Cadillacs. But hey, all comments are welcome here.
No, the point I want to make is this: perhaps you could get similar options on other cars, but when you drove up to the country club or your favorite restaurant in a Cadillac (at least in 1963-64), trust me, you got looks you wouldn't get driving up in an Impala or a Galaxie (the LTD wasn't out at that point) - and that's what attracts me to these cars. In terms of styling (both exterior & interior) in those days, Cadillac was on another planet (and I mean that in a good way) compared to even the faciest Impala or Galaxie of the day - and even if you respectfully disagree, just let me live in my little world. :P
One doesn't really see the decline of the Big Three until about 1972.
It's only been, what? five years? :P
The Olds 98 was pretty much the equal of an Electra back then, and also on the C-body shared with Cadillac. They could be decked out really nicely, too. Still, the Cadillac had presence...a certain aura that just couldn't be duplicated by an Olds or Buick, no matter how nice.
By the 1971-76 generation though, I started preferring the 98 and Electra to the Caddy. All of a sudden, IMO at least, the Cadillac just didn't seem worth the extra money to me. The Cadillacs started looking a bit too pimpy for my tastes, both inside and out, whereas the 98 had a handsome, look about it that was still luxurious, but more understated. And the Electra seemed a bit more youthful and sporty (at least in the context of these 230+" long behemoths), but still tasteful (although I don't like the '74)
There are always plenty of original, good condition Cadillacs and lesser GM cars at the Carlisle and Hershey shows. The 1960s Cadillacs definitely look better built than comparable Chevrolets...but by the late 1970s, there really wasn't much difference between the two.