The poor last-of-the-BoF-RWD-dinosaurs 1993-96 Fleetwood Brougham gets no respect, no respect at all. Even at CC – there is no “proper” long-form post to commemorate this now genuinely classic vehicle. Sure, there are plenty of fans of these reading, commenting and writing on CC. Owners, current and past, even. But no long-form post about the Last of the Broughicans? (Or should that be Broughicants then?)
And you won’t be getting one from me, either. Because much as I understand how significant this car is historically, I found a tired tan one wearing a peroxide blonde toupee. I just cannot take it seriously. Had it been black or burgundy in perfect nick and easier to photograph, it might have been worth a shot. But as it is, I’ll just join the choir and gently josh this wrinkled Floridian.
Not that said pensioner has no dentures: these final-edition Floodwets came with Corvette V8 power, all 260hp of it, as advertised at the time. (I’ve seen 255hp quoted in other places, but who’s quibbling?) Surely that’s not too much to shift this bulging Boomer along with traffic, which by the late ‘90s was comprised of smaller and much more efficient cars, or much bigger and more ego-affirming trucks and SUVs.
It’s not great to be stuck in the middle of the pack. That’s why GM gave the whole platform, Chevrolet and Buick included, the heave-ho after the 1996 model year and used the lone assembly line dedicated to the old-school full-sizers to make Suburbans and Escalades. If you can’t beat ‘em…
Since it was impossible to get a rear-end pic, here’s one courtesy of GM’s PR department. Pretty close shade body-wise, but the vinyl top on this one is markedly grayer than the one I caught. Must have been the salty air during the trans-Pacific crossing. Or maybe they just get blonder with age…
There’s something about this yellowish top, ginning chrome snout and metallic beige body that makes one think of an old has-been B-lister with leathery skin, shiny dentures and an unconvincing hairpiece.
But you know what convinced me even less? That interior. It would have looked cheap in an ‘80s Chevrolet, never mind a ‘90s top-of-the-line Cadillac Footweed Bro-ham. I’m sure the leather seats are comfy and all, but surely GM must have known about perceived quality by the time they started making these. Nasty.
The missing trim on the rear wheel wells is unfortunate, too. But at this point, it’s just nitpicking. However, it looks like they managed to colour-coordinate the vinyl roof and the tyres, which is quite an amazing feat! Where can you find a set of four yellow-walls for your 25-year-old Fleecewool? On that there Internet, no doubt. Ain’t the 21st Century great?
I mock, jest and poke fun, but that’s because, deep down, I quite like these. It was inevitable that this type of car was to disappear, but GM did themselves no favours by giving these awkward styling and cheap interiors. Ford showed that the old-school concept, when done right, had enough remaining adepts that it could be commercially viable up to the late naughties. The fact that full-size RWD Cadillac sedans disappeared well before Lincoln’s last Town Car is a plot twist few could have foreseen. No respect, I tells ya.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: Boston Brougham (The Green-Plate Green Monster), by Mya Byrne
Cohort Pic(k) of the Day: 1995 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham – The End Of The Long Road, by PN
CC Outtake: 1993-96 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham – I Could Even Accept A Donk, by William Stopford
COAL: 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham – Mine’s Bigger, by BigTomBrougham
COAL: 96 Cadillac Brougham vs 98 Ford Crown Victoria LX – Showdown of the Last Old-School Big Sedans, by BigTomBrougham
My Curbside Classics: 1996 Impala SS, 1996 Buick Roadmaster Woody, 1995 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham – The LT1 Holy Trinity, by ImpalaFleeta
I am waiting until I get it back from the shop, but I will do a proper 1993-1996 Fleetwood Brougham write up as soon as it is finished.
Those seats are some of the most comfortable anywhere, and the leather is durable. Helps make up for the rest of the interior, as does the LT1 (OptiSpark aside).
Long Live The Brogham!
I am not really a big car sort of guy but I do like these. The colour combo you have stumbled across is terrible however. The vinyl top colour choice is just … odd. The Kei Hijet van and rwd Cadillac pairing is quite a contrast.
This is the car that got Morty Seinfeld impeached from the Phase II Del Boca Vista Board of Directors. They thought he was stealing money to pay for the Cadillac.
Two of my friends each have one of these boats, a 1994 and a 1999. Both cars are in excellent condition and since they both are Texas cars, look quite new. Neither have the funny roof and both are cream/white in color with saddle leather interiors. Both had under 50 K miles when purchased a couple of years ago and I believe they paid less than $7 K for each one.
Not a bad ride for a couple of retirees and not bad on fuel on the highway.
But, then again, these cars don’t do much for the millennial SUV crowd.
With the limo-style doors, the vinyl tops on these look like a toupee gone askew. You can’t look away. If Cadillac had declared the vinyl top/fake wire wheel era over before 1985 and prohibited their dealers from adding them, they might have saved their reputation with yuppies.
It’s funny that they ladled the chrome on the outside while removing it from the inside (one reason it looks cheap).
Those tires are Vogue tires, still available, used to be “the” thing for these and other higher-zoot Cadillacs. But the top on this one makes me think of Dennis Rodman’s hair color. It works better on him.
The flip out/over cupholder is interesting, I don’t think I realized they did that on these. That’s one of the less well-kept interiors you’ve shown us in Tokyo, but no, a 1980s Chevrolet interior is several orders of magnitude worse than this. This is quite good for GM in this era and what it shows is that the senior exec staff at GM does/did not really do anything like benchmark the interiors and finishes of the cars that have a better claim at being the “Standard of the World”. My personal opinion is that senior staff should be driving the products of the target market six days a week and on the seventh day be forced to drive their own product, at least until such a time that market share has improved and all agree that the product is class leading.
After all that, I too am somehow a fan, just not of this particular color combo.
“My personal opinion is that senior staff should be driving the products of the target market six days a week and on the seventh day be forced to drive their own product, at least until such a time that market share has improved and all agree that the product is class leading.”
Totally, totally, totally agree, Jim. Absolutely no excuse for them not to.
Okay, okay, as a Fleetwood owner and fan I feel compelled to bite. None of this is exactly wrong but perhaps some clarification would help…
“Corvette V8 power, all 260hp of it, as advertised at the time. (I’ve seen 255hp quoted in other places, but who’s quibbling?)”
The horsepower numbers differ for engines with mechanical or electric cooling fans. Electric fans got you 250hp, but mechanical fans were found on cars with the tow package and soaked up a few extra horsepower. The tow package on these cars is fairly desirable despite the slight horsepower ding. You got much lower gearing in the rear (like 3.08 instead of 2.73), heavy duty cooling, etc.
“Or maybe they just get blonder with age…”
The vinyl top was available in a plethora of colors just like paint and interiors. Mine is triple taupe, which isn’t as bland as it sounds but weirdly the interior, top, and paint are clearly not the same color despite having the same name. Who knows.
“That interior. It would have looked cheap in an ‘80s Chevrolet, never mind a ‘90s top-of-the-line Cadillac Footweed Bro-ham.“
Have you even been in a 1980’s Chevy? Believe it or not but this interior is miles better than the Chevrolet of the day. By the 1990’s most of the metal (or metal-look) trim was long gone leaving just acres of plastic. In the Chevy Caprice that plastic was hard, brittle, slick, and prone to coming loose. In the Cadillac at least it is mostly padded and of distinctly higher quality. No, it’s not an Audi. But the people who built and bought these had probably never been in an Audi.
“Ford showed that the old-school concept, when done right, had enough remaining adepts that it could be commercially viable up to the late naughties.”
I would argue that the only reason Ford had enough sales to keep the Panther going is because GM got out of the market first. Perhaps if things had been different, they wouldn’t have been the same but…did the BOF dinosaurs have to die? Yeah they probably did.
This is one of the best titles ever for a CC article. As an admirer of big, outdated cars, I do have a certain amount of affection for these cars. I actually don’t mind the cheap-looking dashboard, either.
I can see getting one of these cars as an enjoyable and affordable classic… but I don’t I’d make that choice if I lived in Tokyo
The Morty Seinfeld “CAT-LACK”! Says it all about these:
Well, I was selling Cadillac’s till 1995 and again from 2007 to 2010 and again from 2013 to 2014. I watched as the old model (basically 1977 to 1992) waved goodbye and this model (1993 to 1996) came and went. Here’s my take.
Style: This is totally subjective of course, but this car actually looked quite nice in certain colors and with the correct top and interiors. My personal favorite was the dark cherry with the matching top and leather. Very attractive. Yet in some of the other colors, I thought it looks over-sized and bloated.
Interior: I can’t agree that the interiors were bad or cheap. Of course, I’d take that interior over nearly any car’s interiors today where the door panels today are mostly hard plastics with a couple patches of “soft-touch” materials in key areas (average cars). In fact, I feel this era Brougham’s interiors were as nice as most any Cadillac or luxury car today. Of course, Lincoln was the main competition and if you looked at the Lincoln TC of that same era, I still feel the Cadillac was nicer and held up better over time.
Comfort: These cars can not be bested even today. They rode so well, were some of the quietest cars to ride in, had seats that were more comfy than most anything I’ve ever been in and the car did exactly what it was supposed to do. It was the early stages of the SUV/Truck market taking over that left these cars for dead. And finally,
Performance and fuel economy: Even with the 250+ HP, these large sedans would easily get 27 mpg on the highway. I’ve heard of higher, but will stick with the numbers I consistently heard. Handling was respectable for what it was and the car held the road very well. The fun part was watching the faces on some of the younger people as this car would whisk away from a light in a quite fast manner. All I can say is that I wish Cadillac would bring back a large sedan (with a good old Cadillac name) with the moderns mechanics and design while not forgetting where it came from.