1971 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham: Boss of Bosses

I’ve always loved the 1971 Cadillacs. I think it began when, as an elementary school-aged kid, I watched the classic 1988 movie License to Drive many, many times. Back then, after my brother, sister, and I got out of school, Mom would pick us up and we’d go visit my aunt.

While Aunt Candy and my mom chatted in the kitchen, we would lounge in the living room. We’d frequently watch TBS because back then, they frequently showed great movies on weekday afternoons, including License to Drive, The Wraith, Smokey and the Bandit, and many other excellent choices.

Anyway, due to those visits I saw License to Drive many, many times. It’s a classic. For those who haven’t seen it, it involves a night on the town with a bunch of kids, including Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Heather Graham, who borrow Grandpa’s mint condition 1972 Sedan de Ville. Crazy scenarios ensue—it’s a classic ’80s film.

But the star of the show was arguably the Cadillac, and upon first viewing the film, I fell in love with the 1971-72 Cadillacs. The movie car was especially fetching, in Adriatic Turquoise with a white top and white Sierra grain leather interior. Bad things happened to that car, but the movie is a fun diversion to this day, confirmed when I found a DVD copy last year and re-watched it for the first time in probably two decades.

As a result of my affection for this film, one of the first vintage car brochures I ever got was the impressively oversized 1971 Cadillac full line brochure, with heavy covers and onion skin pages. I fell in love with them, and still have that brochure to this day. Featured prominently was the top of the lineup that year—not the Sedan de Ville, but the Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham.

The reason for this was because in 1970 there were two Fleetwood sedans, the Fleetwood Sixty Special and the Fleetwood Brougham. The primary difference between the two was that the Sixty Special was a “slick top” while the Brougham had a padded full vinyl roof with Brougham emblems on the C-pillars.

But when the Brougham version first appeared in the mid-sixties, it quickly overtook the metal-roofed Sixty Special in popularity, so come 1971, the Sixty Special was eliminated, and for whatever reason, Cadillac decided to call the sole remaining Fleetwood sedan the “Sixty Special Brougham.”

This would continue through the 1973 model year, finally reverting to simply “Fleetwood Brougham” in 1974. But getting back to 1971. . .the Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham had an MSRP of $7763 ($60,285 in today’s dollars), curb weight of 4,910 pounds, and 15,200 were built for the model year.

Under the hood was a 472-cubic inch V-8 producing 375 hp at 4400 rpm. These were unapologetically huge cars, with a 133-inch wheel base and overall length of 228.8 inches. Only the Fleetwood Seventy-Five series limos were longer, at 247.3 inches.

Standard Brougham features included Automatic Level Control, adjustable rear reading lights, power two-way adjustable Dual Comfort front seat (six-way power was optional), and of course, the padded vinyl roof.

Production was hampered to a certain extent due to the 1970-71 GM strike, but 188,537 1971 Cadillacs still managed to come off the lines. 1972 revisions would be fairly minor, a more horizontally-themed grill, parking/signal lamps moved from the front bumper to between each pair of headlights, and some new colors, fabrics and trim.

But I still slightly prefer the 1971, I love the Art Deco-style Cadillac emblems on the front end, and the bolder checkerboard grille. But to each their own. As for today’s featured car, I saw it by total happenstance.

It was, believe it or not, over ten years ago. I was driving to a show to meet my friend Jason Shafer to attend the Loafers show in downtown Hannibal, Missouri—a very nice show, by the way. This 1973 LTD Brougham was one from that show, held the Saturday before Mother’s Day, every year.

I usually take the four-lane through Monmouth, Macomb and Quincy. And it was in Macomb, while sitting at a red light just a block from the county courthouse, that I saw this magnificent Fleetwood.

I immediately had to circle the block, park and check out this lovely survivor of the Brougham Era. It was dusty but in very clean shape, though it appeared to have one 1971 taillight lens and one from a ’72. But no big deal!

More recently, when I finally decided to write it up, I tried to pin down the color. I initially thought it was gold, but Duchess Gold was much brighter than this color. I checked out the 1971 Cadillac colors and guessed it was color code #64, Desert Beige.

I messaged my friend April Chadwick (she has written a couple columns here too), who happens to own a Duchess Gold ’71 Fleetwood Eldorado coupe. She confirmed my suspicions: “pretty sure the Fleetwood is #64 Desert Beige; the Duchess Gold has a lot more yellow in it.”

But no matter the color, this Fleetwood Brougham is a gorgeous conveyance I’d be proud to drive to The Cellar in Geneseo for surf and turf and gin and tonics. I guess I’m just not an SUV/crossover guy. Cadillac, can you build a new one of these for us? Please?