1985 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance: When America Wasn’t Afraid of Luxury
Once upon a time, a person who had done well for themselves could drive down to their local Cadillac or Lincoln dealer, and with ease, get a truly luxury conveyance. Vinyl top, moonroof, coach lamps, opera windows, velour or leather, power everything, and elegant good looks.
Oh, and size too—most of these ’80s domestic luxo-cruisers had plenty of that to spare, most being six-passenger capable with front and rear bench seats. Why don’t we have cars like this anymore? Why does everyone have to have a crossover or SUV?
Yes, I understand they are popular with many, and have their uses. But decades ago, Bill Mitchell, GM’s head honcho in Styling, said it takes just as much money to design and bring to market an ugly car as it does a beautiful one. So where have all the attractive cars gone?
Take the 1985 Fleetwood Brougham. Sure, it wasn’t precisely the kind of Cadillac that existed, say, from 1950 to 1960, but it was still large, imposing, comfortable, and clearly a luxury car.
And Cadillac was still Cadillac, recognizable as such to folks who may have somehow warped from 1950, 1960 or 1970. Today, those time traveling folks might not understand an Escalade or XT5 is a product of the wreath and crest.
The 1985 Fleetwood Brougham was in its sixth year of relatively unchanged visual appearance, though the basic design had been around since 1977. It was the third year of the polarizing HT4100 V-8 with digital fuel injection.
To hear folks tell it, it’s either a reliable albeit leisurely power plant, or the worst thing in the automotive world ever. Of course, it was ushered in due to emissions and CAFE, and early ones definitely had teething issues.
But my friend Jayson Coombes had an ’84 Seville Elegante and drove it on many CLC tours trouble-free, with the A/C cranked the whole time. As he related, “My experience was if you followed the maintenance schedule it worked just fine.”
Another friend’s father in law had a similar vintage Seville, and put over 140,000 miles on it, again with no major issues, until he finally replaced it in the ’90s.
Few are neutral about this engine! But the later ones were improved, and in the lighter front-wheel drive 1985 de Villes and Fleetwoods, they didn’t have to work quite so hard. It eventually was modified into the much improved 4.5-liter V-8 in 1988, and the 4.9 starting in 1991.
As for the Fleetwood Brougham, in 1985 it remained available as a $20,798 coupe or $21,402 sedan. The d’Elegance package remained available on both, and possessed some of the comfiest seats of the year, with a “lawyer’s office” button-tufted, floating-pillow style.
This was the final year for the Fleetwood Brougham coupe, which first appeared in mid-1980. Starting in 1986, the Fleetwood Brougham would become sedan-only, and remain so all the way to the end in 1996. Though there would still be a smaller front-wheel drive Fleetwood Coupe through the 1992 model year.
52,450 Fleetwood Brougham sedans and 3,000 coupes were built for the model year. Of course the HT4100 remained under the hood, but for 1986 it would be replaced with the Oldsmobile-supplied 307-cubic inch V-8 instead.
’85 4100s produced 135 hp and benefited from new cast aluminum rocker covers. The same engine, mounted transversely in the de Ville, Fleetwood, and Fleetwood 75 limo, produced 125 hp.
Our featured d’Elegance was recently in inventory at my friend Anthony Gozzo’s classic car dealership, and I was immediately smitten with the color combination.
Today’s luxury cars typically have tan, beige, gray or black interiors, with white, silver or black exteriors, a country mile away in luxuriousness when compared to today’s Fleetwood, finished in Medium Blue Firemist with white leather and white padded roof.
I especially love how the white leather is contrasted with the dark blue instrument panel and carpeting. I miss colors. And sedans with stand-up hood ornaments and cushy interiors. Not everything has to be a sport sedan, faux or otherwise, you know!
Anthony didn’t have a ton of information of the car’s history, but relayed that it was a one-owner car.
The owner was Rick Minton, who was in the House of Representatives for the state of Florida back in the 1990s. He donated it to a non-profit, which is where Anthony saw it and eagerly snapped it up. He’d had it a while and recently decided to get it out of the far corner of the garage and get it presentable.
As you read this, it’s now with a happy new owner, no doubt pleased with the fantastic colors and power Astroroof!
We used one similar for our wedding.
Regulations killed cars like this in the 80’s and buyers taste went to larger SUV models over the FWD cars.
What has happened is just the path it took. There still is a market for cars like this but it is small. Hence why a Bentley is expensive.
But I would not discount the CT5 and 4 as both are very good cars and in tune with todays market.
Sadly no matter how hard some of us hold onto the past time continues to March on.
I had one in 1991. It has some cool features like 8 cylinder engine that would turn into a 6 cylinder engine when power was not needed. HUGE BUTTONS. I loved it but parking it in a downtown garage was tight! Smooth, floating ride, a great driver.