1968 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine

1968 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine Description

1968Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine David: 303.947.0444

Cadillac Limousines by 1968 were the only American factory built limos. Since the beginning of Cadillac producing limousines it’s almost always been for marketing. The cars were exclusively built in the Fleetwood factory off of the motorized assembly line virtually by hand. With completely unique bodies from the front clip back, extended specialized frames and drive shafts, and commercial chassis suspensions, they would have had to sell probably 20,000 cars to break even on all the special tooling and manufacturing. 995 limousines were built in 1968 and 805 Series 75 sedans (no divider window). The limousines were huge financial losers. The idea was that when Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor stepped out of a limousine at a movie premier, they stepped out of a Cadillac and the public seeing that aspired to own a Cadillac. So these cars were built with no consideration of profit and only of quality. Cadillac limousines were built to be the best, period.

I bought this vehicle out of Las Vegas from a private owner who had purchased it from the original owner in San Diego. The San Diego owner had been a contractor for the US Navy building radio and sonar parts – and his business was good enough that he has a chauffeur that drove him in this vehicle. It has never been used for funeral or livery service. The car other than the fact that the paint that I have not stripped and reapplied is aging and will need to be repainted in the next 10 years (I painted the front clip). The under hood has been completely detailed with an engine out detail and the frame and other components have been painted from the firewall forward. However, I left the original paint on the inner fenders and core support for originality. Every item on this vehicle has been seen to from vent windows to air conditioning to rebuilt rear control radios. New weather strips were applied where necessary (doors).

The interior other than the base cushion is absolutely original and absolutely beautiful. The base cushion we located the original Cadillac fabric and recovered it (back seat). The interior on this car absolutely pops and appears as new. During under hood restoration A/C was converted to R134, radiator was pulled and cleaned out, suspension bushings and center drag link was replaced and the car has been made immensely drivable. The engine detail was very extensive to include not only all new seals and gaskets, but I plated the bolts with cadmium for a better show like appearance. Also all the accessories were repainted and refurbished as well as a new front seal in the Turbo 400 transmission along with a shift shaft seal in it.

I am an air conditioning freak, so special attention was paid to the dual A/C unit. These dual units don't like to cool very well from the factory, so I disassembled the system, blew out all of the lines and compressors and evaporators, installed R134-R12 compatible oil with dye, replaced the dryers, installed heavy duty dual condenser fans, a ten cylinder upgrade compressor, and used the dynamic charge method to get maximum performance out of the systems. As a result, this A/C unlike most limousines actually works and can use either the R12 or the R134. To complement the dual fans and all the other electrical accessories on the vehicle, I upgraded the the alternator to a Power Master 100 amp single wire alternator. This vehicle from the factory had a vacuum powered air-ride compressor. The compressors are no longer available nor will anybody rebuild them anymore. So I restored/replated the original compressor under hood for appearances sake and installed an auxiliary compressor in the trunk (hidden). The leveling system still works as the factory intended it to, it just has a different compressor.

Fun limo facts: Along with the exclusive nature and production methods, one of a kind limo things are true about almost every Cadillac limousine. The cars were keyed separately from the driver and the passenger. A separate lock on the left rear door that was keyed to the trunk and the glove box allowed the passenger to keep his items private from the chauffeur by placing them in the trunk and locking the glove box, Also, the divider was controlled only from the rear. The limousine was the only Cadillac available with a dome light and it was special just for the Chauffeur and very bright so he could read maps or read a book while waiting for his charge to reemerge from the movie premier or the high level government meeting. Limousines have a radio control in the rear which takes over the front radio and allows tuning tone, and volume from the back. Also, limousines carry a special windshield because the head room is higher than a standard sedan. Finally, Cadillac limousines have completely separate rear air conditioners and rear heaters allowing for a dual zone control.

As with all NGDCARS offerings and unlike most collector vehicles, this car is completely drivable. Many collector cars are just shiny, pretty things, this one is beautiful and is fully capable of being driven and enjoyed.

David: 303.947.0444

If you click on any of the photos below, you will be taken to a gallery of all the photos I have of this car.