Monster Jam with the 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy Five!

Because I didn’t do a post yesterday, I’m making up for it today by bringing you a car so big that it might as well be two: The 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy-Five. 

Back in 1969, Cadillac had 3 tiers for its buyers to choose from.  There was the entry level Calais, the mid level de Ville series, and the top of the line Fleetwood.  Fleetwood is a town in England, and de Ville is French for the town, which seems a bit generic, but whatever.  Calais is the name of a town in Northern France. So, all European names for American cars -ooh la la!  They’re all named after geographic locations, I assume, because trying to park one requires the space of an entire zip code to accommodate the vehicle. 

These hunks of metal are nothing to scoff at, with a curb weight of 5,710 pounds (nearly 3 tons!), a length of 245.3 inches (over 20 feet long) and a width of just a hair under 80 inches (about 6 and a half feet), you did not want to be putt-putting around in an itty bitty car that went head to head with a Fleetwood seventy five.  Fuel tank capacity is nearly 26 gallons, which at today’s gas price of $3.35/gallon  would cost about $87 to fill.  But if you’re going to drive one of these, you need that fuel capacity because this car has a massive 472 cubic inch engine to feed  (a bit over 7.7L) that pounds out 350 HP and 500 lb ft of torque, all of which are necessary to propel this nearly 3 ton beast. 

The Fleetwood sedan came in a couple different sizes.  There was a sixty special, which was huge by anybody’s standards, and then there was the seventy-five, which was bigger yet and could be upgraded with a limo option, turning the rig into a 9 passenger land yacht.  1969 brought about the addition of front power disc brakes, a locking steering wheel and ignition to prevent theft, and the deletion of vent windows thanks to the advent of a new ventilation system (see how many “vents” I squeezed into that sentence?).  Customers could choose from 205 trim combinations for the interior and 21 colors for the exterior.  In 1969, buyers got all this splendor for right around $11,000.

A glance at an old Cadillac brochure describes the Fleetwood Seventy-Five as “The aristocrat of motor cars.”   The brochure goes on to declare a Fleetwood to be “A truly majestic motor car and a genuine compliment to the discernment of its owner”. 

Well, check out the discernment of today’s Fleetwood’s owner!

Betcha' the the brochure didn’t feature this trim combo.  Clearly this is for the discerning aristocratic Cadillac owner who can’t make up his mind if he wants a limousine or a monster truck. And really, what choice does one have but to build a monster Fleetwood when one must attend Monster Jam At The Dome!  Sunday! Sunday!! Sunday!!!!  after an evening at the opera and a fine dinner coupled with a bottle of expensive wine?  Pass the Grey Poupon already and then wash it down with a 40 of some cheap swill and pork rinds because this Fleetwood is one gloriously insane hot mess of a collision between two very different rungs of society.

Yes, this is truly a majestic motor car, and if you disagree with that, I’m sure its driver would be happy to flatten your vehicle for you by driving right over the top of it.  But this isn’t even a high riser really, or a donk.  Those aren’t oversized rims, and the frame does actually sit pretty low.  What we’re looking at here is a good, old fashioned,  lick-em stick-em, home made jobber -not the type of thing you build by ordering a $3,000 donk lift kit off the internet.  Interestingly, a stock 1969 Fleetwood Seventy-five came with a ground clearance of 6.3 inches.  Not that it matters now. 

...But, you know, if this Fleetwood wasn’t modified like this, it wouldn’t have been the belle of the ball at the drive-in last week. In fact, I probably would have passed it by.  But this big bruiser Bertha was the show stealer.  While perhaps she wasn’t the prettiest princess in the lot, she sure turned a lot of heads, mine included.