1967 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham: Triple White American Luxury
In 1967 there were so many choices if you wanted an American luxury sedan. Cadillac, Lincoln and Imperial were the top choices of course, but there were, just a half rung below, all manner of other compelling choices. Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, Pontiac Bonneville Brougham, Buick Electra 225 Limited, and many other large, V-8 powered, luxurious models. And that was just within GM. Even Cadillac had multiple options for the choosy new luxury car buyer.
Sure, the Fleetwoods were the top of the line, but you could also opt for a Coupe de Ville or Sedan de Ville, or even a Calais if you wanted the Cadillac look and power, but didn’t want to spend quite so much as the Brougham and Sixty Special buyers.
1967 was a good year for Cadillac. All models received a new look, with more sculpted flanks and a nose that now had an aggressive lean forward, as if moving while standing still. And the new front wheel drive Fleetwood Eldorado coupe debuted, with sharp bladed fenders front and rear, hidden headlights, and swank oozing from every molecule of its Magic Mirror paint.
As the cover of the brochure advised, Cadillac was “The 1967 Standard of the World.” And there were so many choices. Of course, the brand new, beautiful Eldorado coupe was the belle of the ball, but all Caddys wore new styling and glorious color choices, including Flamenco Red, Tropic Green Firemist, Baroque Gold, Atlantis Blue Firemist, Sable Black, Caribe Aqua and Persian Ivory. By the way, today’s gorgeous Fleetwood Brougham is Grecian White.
The ’67 Fleetwood Brougham was the top “owner driven” Cadillac, with a $6,739 base price. 12,750 were built for the year. The Fleetwood Sixty Special, essentially the same car but without the padded top and Brougham emblems, was much less popular with 3,550 of the $6,423 sedans sold. By 1971, the Sixty Special would be gone, with the Brougham being renamed the “Sixty Special Brougham,” vinyl top and all.
The all new Eldorado retailed at $6,277, with 17,930 made. It was a favorite among celebrities too, but we were talking about the Fleetwood Brougham, weren’t we? Sorry, sometimes I get ahead of myself!
One feature I’d like to mention on these cars—because it is so cool—is they had eight window controls on the driver’s door. These Cadillacs had four power windows, but also four power vent windows! Yes sir. One for each door. It would last appear on 1968 Broughams and Sixty Specials. And a little bit of America’s fantastic jet age ingenuity went with it. Now where was I?
All ’67 Cadillacs had a V-8, as it should be, and should be today, but let’s not get into that right now. The 429 cubic-inch V-8 was good for 340 horsepower at 4600 rpm. The compression ratio was 10.5:1 and it breathed through a Carter AFB 3903S four-barrel carburetor. All models were backed by the storied Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission.
Fleetwood Sixty Specials and Broughams rode a 133-inch wheelbase; de Villes and Calais models had a 129.5-inch span. The overall length of the ’67 Brougham was 227.5 inches. Only the Seventy-Five series Fleetwood limos were longer, to the tune of 243.8 inches.
Again referring to my 1967 Cadillac brochure (of course I have a copy), the 1967 Sixty Special and Brougham were “…the finest expression of Cadillac’s dramatically new styling, with remarkable elegance of line and form.
“Its new forward-sweeping grille, flowing side contours, and bold, clean rear design lend majesty to its exclusive longer length. Its sixteen exterior colors and five optional Firemist finishes are complemented by an impressive choice of twenty-one interiors in cloth, leather and cloth, or leather.”
Yes, that’s right. 21 total exterior colors and 21 interior combination possibilities! A far cry from the silver, black, or gray with tan or gray interiors of 2024! People beamed from 1967 to the present day would look at the narrow options now and think, “what the heck happened?!”
As recently as 2019 you could get a new Lincoln Continental, Lincoln MKZ, Cadillac CT6, CTS, or XTS, all fine luxury sedans. The CT6 and Continental were essentially modern equivalents of the 1960s Caddy and Lincoln offerings, of course. They were attractive, well-appointed, fine cars. I drove both when they were new, thanks to friends at Strieter Lincoln and McLaughlin Cadillac, at the time.
I currently own a 2017 MKZ, and it is a comfortable, attractive sedan as well. All it’s needed since I’ve owned it is a new set of tires. But lo and behold, the American luxury makes started chopping sedans. The XTS after 2019, the MKZ and Continental after 2020, and the CT6, the spiritual successor to Fleetwood Broughams like today’s imposing land yacht, also in 2020.
It seems everyone wants you to buy crossovers and SUVs now. I care for neither. My grandparents, on both sides, drove Ford Galaxies, LTDs, Continentals, and T-Birds. I’d like to get another Lincoln sedan when I’m ready to trade in the current car, but Lincoln cares not for sedan buyers, at least at this time. So odds are I’ll either go back to Volvo, or see my buddy Brian at McLaughlin for a CT5 when the time comes. Dear Lincoln: I buy sedans. So do a lot of other folks. Please consider that in your future plans.
But at least we can fondly look back at the amazing choices in 1967, and all the fantastic cars of that era! Sedans, and coupes, ruled! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on some pictures of a Fleetwood Eldorado for another future column! But before I go, let me once again thank Jayson Coombes for the photos of today’s Brougham, seen at the CLC show in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last year!
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Two items I noticed on the featured car: tinted glass all around, and front fender-top “somethings”.
I’ve never seen full window tinting on a Caddy before.
I’m guessing that the fender items are turn-signal and lights indicators.
Great article, as usual.
Amber turn signal indicators on the fenders.
Window tinting was usually standard with air conditioned cars.
Isn’t it amazing all the foreign automakers still sell sedans right & left, but the US guys think everybody should drive an SUV. DUMB!
Agreed! We are told to believe that the car buying public no longer wants sedans or coupes…I believe it is more about the manufacturers force feeding us what THEY want to build. Fewer models, and very few choices available within those models = big cost savings for them. Enjoy your black, grey or white cookie-cutter appliance and stop complaining!
Another example of the government or car manufacturers DECIDING what the public wants. The public wants only SUVs and want all of their cars to be electric or hybrid and they want those cars to only be white, black or 50 shades of grey. When people modify or customize a vehicle – they are never one of those 3 categories.
It’s all about profit margins. A $70k Chevy truck is a lot more profitable than a Malibu (or volt). They’ve consciously decided to sell fewer vehicles with higher profit margins – they have no interest overall market share or low margin segments. This is great for profits in the short term, but who knows what will happen long-term. Preferences change and it’s a whole lot easier to ramp up production of an existing model than design one from scratch.
The Chevy volt is a perfect example. GM was first to market with a plug in hybrid and owners love them, but they didn’t make GM any profit. So GM killed it. Now hybrids are THE growth market and GM has absolutely nothing to offer – despite first mover advantage and an outstanding product that was selling well (but at a loss). GM didn’t have the vision to see a future where that would be a profitable platform / market segment
Absolutely agree! I despise this SUV/CUV era. I hope it just an era… a short one. I’ve ALWAYS owned sedans and coupes except for a 4 month stint with a Grand Cherokee Limited V8. I would be driving a new Lincoln or Cadillac except they offer nothing I want. The CT4 and CT5 ARE NOT luxury cars. They are sport sedans, imo. I bought a Mercedes E-Class a few years ago and am happy with it. Too bad the domestic automakers won’t build an equivalent.
Lexus is the new Buick, at least in the ES range. Replaced the dearly departed Park Avenue with one. Wife is pleased. I’m astonished at the quality-
67 Cadillacs are really good looking.
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I’m a coupe/sedan person all the way (and I like regular cab trucks). Wagons occasionally amuse me.
Where I live, the way winter roads are maintained, AWD or 4×4 is necessary.
When Dodge was making AWD sedans… you never saw them in stock at a dealership within 4 hours of where I live. Dodge is just the example of the situation.
I bought an old beater 99 Subaru Legacy wagon which I loved. We have a 2018 Subaru Outback which I tolerate. Without going more “premium brand” there isn’t much choice in “AWD car”, that segment has mostly been abandoned to Subaru.
Non-AWD cars is dominated by Toyota and Honda. The business case for multiple companies to build overlapping model lines isn’t strong. If Japanese Sedans continue to be a rising % of the market, maybe someone wades back in —Stellantis for example makes sedans of various sizes but just doesn’t send them to NA.
I do think the car companies are missing out though. Some auto CEOs called for more mergers 20 years ago (Marchionne was one –obviously finances a factor there) and the case is stronger now.
GM + Honda = nearly every automotive niche on existing platforms for example. Especially if Honda’s not-in-NA product mix got involved. You put some Nova style onto the Accord platform I’m sure they’d sell at a GM dealership.
Dealerships, for a variety of reasons, are a huge factor in our lack of choice in NA.
I had 67 Sedan De Ville, used to take Trans Ams off the line. 6 mpg no matter how I drove it, so get it on! When I purchased it used in 1977 with 100k, $1000 bargain, the AC not working. Part of the deal was fixing ac, only to find out Cadillac only unit, cost over $1000 to repair, but dealer kept his word. Wish I had it today, was fun and held 8 of my closest friends, take that SUV! Truly they were the standard of the world. And oh the smell of real leather!
Car looks great. I’m sure it’s a smooth riding boat.
In the mid ‘80s I bought a ‘70 coupe de ville. Red with a white vinyl top. The interior was like the one in this car, white with black carpet and dash. Engine had been bumped to 472 by then. It was a real cruiser. Had it for a couple of years and sold it. I should have kept it longer.
Having grown up working at a Cadillac store until I was 25, My favorite Cadillac year was 1962. First year for the “new” motor. They even made a 4 door hardtop with swiveling front seats.
I prefer the 65-66 Cadillacs to the 67-68s. The earlier cars were more understated, more classy. The later cars were simply garish. That said, I’d rake any of them over the current SUV/crossover offerings.
I never knew the rear doors had operational vent windows, that’s pretty cool. Vent windows are something that should make their way back on certain vehicles, especially pickup trucks.
Back in the day a friend’s parents had one of these who made the mistake of leaving it with them while on vacation. We drove it all over the place, it even had power vent windows! We ran the battery down running all the windows up and down. A great car left in the care of some Twenty year old’s.
Different era but would have purchased recently a…Eldorado, or Tornado, Riv….if the front seat was…buckets or one bench but each side individually controlled. Different drivers…might need the seat closer to the steering wheel and then the passenger has no choice but to be crammed close to the dash….
I absolutely hate SUVs I will never have 1 I have a 87 coupe de ville will never get rid of it 79,000 miles no rust and blue besides.I also have a 67 Rolls Royce 50 Chrysler 23 model T a 30 model A 68 VW bug i never
That is such a nice cruiser it’s in excellent condition you can tell and who ever is in charge of keeping it clean is doing a great job that’s the way I detail
Oh, The cars of yesteryear. My sentiments exactly. Over the years I had all GM vehicles for the exception of an 85 T Bird Turbo Coupe and a 77 F250 . I loved my GM coupes, Regals, Delta 88 Royale Broughams , LeMans Grande, Riviera, even a HHR and dreaded Cruze , and many assorted Chevy and GMC trucks and vans. These vehicles gave me great service and I. would have no excuse to ever go to another manufacturer, A loyal customer for life. OR WAS I ?? By 2019 or so GM had axed all or most of its iconic cars in favor of SUV’s and crossovers. I wasn’t ready at that time for a change . In 2021 I did what I thought I would never do, and bought a new well equiped Honda. While quite different from my GM cars the Honda is an excellent build quality , comfortable and dependable leaving me no interest in going back to GM and buying something I dont want. GM’s new design trend has pushed me away and quite frankly I dont think they care about those of us who bought their cars in abundance during the 60’s – 90’s and early 2000’s . The American car market has lost me and many others to their new SUV’s and now electrics. One day when they are hanging on by a thread, maybe they will wish they had listened to seasoned buyers like myself and thousands of others.