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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