My favourite lady friend and I went for a winter drive in search of cars yesterday. Found a rusted out Cordoba, a white '88 Coupe Deville with fake-convertible top and an '80s Lincoln Town Car. Sort of neat, and not bad for winter in NS. But nothing spectacular.

We decided we'd check one more back-road car lot, and then head home as it was getting dark. On our first pass of the lot, I couldn't see anything so we decided to turn around and head home. On our way back past the dealership, I caught a glimpse of Caddy headlights poking out from under a snow covered hood, two rows of cars back. Of course I had to go check it out, and discovered a dark blue '88 Brougham d'Elegance and a pale blue Fleetwood Brougham, that I'm guessing is a '93 (I need some help with these newer year D-Bodies, caddycruiser?)

Both of these cars came from an auction, and both were missing hood ornaments. '89 Was originally from Quebec, owned by an old couple who drove it south every winter, and as a result the underside was fairly clean by NS standards, not much rust on this car. The interior was dirty however, with a lot more wear than my '89. The dash looked ok however. Back left fin had impact damage, paint was oxodized on the hood and trunk, could be brought back. Car had been recentley inspected. Underhood was dirty, and the hood didn't line up with the front driver's quarter. Headlinner sag. The hood did not shut correctly without some persuading. Evidence of bodywork on driver's side, post crash stuff maybe?

The pale blue Fleetwood was the car I was more interested in. Flat front tire, NS car and was rustier underneath... but not horrible. Back bumper had rust showing. Inside was immaculate-clean, showing little wear (corners of dash, B pillar fabric worn, but all in all the carpet was beautiful and the seats were nice with one tear on the driver's seat. I noticed it had a CD - Cassette player, sway bar, non-chromed rims, one centercap was a bit broken. Underhood looked ok except for very rusty air cleaner. This car is not an LT1, right? Just a 350 fuel injected? Single exhaust, little to no body rust. Nice lower chrome, good headliner/top. I really thought this was a sharp car... love that colour, same as our '80 Hearse I'm pretty sure. Needed white walls though.

I don't know much about these newer RWD's. Neither car had charged batteries in them. They'd been sitting for sometime. I didn't get to hear either running, or pop the trunks. Could someone tell me if this car has any interesting features? I heard the cloth interior is rare, what about this color of paint? I believe the seats were heated, which I didn't know was possible with cloth seats. Guy said he'd sell both cars as a package deal to me for a great price. Looks like he was asking $2100.00 Canadian for the '93, which he had labled as a '92. No idea what price for both. Probably won't get either of these vehicles but I'd like your guys' opinions and info. Also thought I'd like to share the pictures. So here they are on my photo bucket! Thanks again!

http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j82/jn_parisienne/

(Pictures of these 2 Broughams are on pages 1 - 3)

- Josh Noiles, Nova Scotia

Rust scares the shit out of me, but it may just be on the surface. I can't say from these pictures. After a nice washing the cars would look nice, but if they've been sitting for a while, it could be a total pain in the ass in the way of break lines, exhaust pipes, and other corrode-able materials.

The snow heaped on top of them doesn't make them look any better.

As far as the cloth seats, i've always preferred leather anyway, rare or not.

buy them both! look like nice project cars. no LT1 in the 93s but i used to have a 93 and it doesnt matter. if you want performance there are a ton of aftermarket parts for the L05. but its a big car and it doesnt need to be going that fast. good luck!

They're both o.k as beaters. You didn't mention the mileage...

Due to the digidash, and lack of battery power, I was unsure of how to check the mileage of the '93, however, the '89 showed 60647 Kilometers, which would most likely be 160647 Kilometers, or 99 821 Miles.

And I agree: rust is horrible, but in NS the only way to avoid it is to drive cars in fair weather only (garage in the winter), or to lay on undercoating of some sort quite thickly.

The '93 actually looks very nice--on the newer ones like this, the main "killers" as far as condition are all the random exterior trim (often loose, misaligned, cracked, faded) and interiors that don't fair well (dash cracks, seat rips, pillar material rips, and a few other things). On these accounts, that blue car looks G-R-E-A-T, and it definitely was a well kept car in that regard.

The rust is semi noticeable, but still not bad, and certainly not for Canada. Our '93 is a southern car mainly and even it has fairly ugly surface rusted parts underhood and some bits underneath. Since it's a '93, it does have the older 5.7L 350 TBI (throttle body injected) fuel injected V8, which has less horespower than the LT1, but is simpler, extremely reliable, and moves the car very well. We have both a '93 and a '95, and I still prefer some things about the '93s power delivery overall, so that's nothing bad.

Otherwise, problems are usually nil, and compared to the '89, the '93 has the benefit of airbags and a newer design, as well as more room, and more reliable and efficient performance from the always loved fuel injected 350 Chevy small block. Great car.

And, yes too, that's one of the RARE buggers with memory and heated cloth Brougham seats--very cool, if the heating elements still work. That can be a bit of a hit and miss issue, and sometimes people can't really tell if they do or not--especially with cloth--but if you get another look at it, you'll know.

So, by far, my vote goes to the '93 if it checks out mechanically and mileage/price wise. Given the appearance, I have a feeling it was maintained quite well throughout, but you'll see.