[lacville78]

Hi,

I was just looking at some of the pics of the rwd caddy's (nice rides by the way!)

It got me to thinking. Ive owned 3 77-79 ones and a 82 Coupe DeVille D'elegance

And most of my cars were always optioned weird

Like my 79 Sedan I had. Was no leather. But had the Vynl Top option.

My 82 Coupe Deville D'Elegance had no leather either?!?!

Didn't leather come standard????

Also the 78 Sedan DeVille I own at the moment

Is a weird one

I would like some info if anyone has it

1st, The interior is a mix of leather and cloth
I'd say its leather trimmed cloth

With 50/50 split in the front

I know my cars and it isnt 60/40 like all the rest i've owned

Also Its a Sedan Deville but the emblem on the bottom of the door jamb says

Interior by Fleetwood / Body by fisher

The emblems say Sedan DeVille ------ Is mine a Fleetwood???

Also it isn't plain

It has Vynl top (with opera lights), pull down trunk, Even Guide-matic and Sentiniel Lights

Im wondering what is going on?!

Did someone order this car like this??

Is it a Deville or Fleetwood????


Thanks guys!!

Also I have pics but i dont know if the site will let me post them

If someone wants them I can send a link to my flickr page

 

[77CDV]

Leather was always an option. Cloth interior was standard. Your current car is a Sedan de Ville. All Cadillacs of this era have "Interior by Fleetwood" on the door sill plates. Fleetwoods have Fleetwood emblems and other trim details to differentiate them from the Devilles. Your current car likely has vinyl in the seating areas that aren't cloth.

In this time period, options could be ordered separately. Option groups were available, but individual options from a group could be had without having to get the whole group. These were the days when you could go to the dealer and fill out a factory order form to build your car however you wanted it. If the only option you wanted was front floor mats, that's the way they'd build your car. Also, many of the factory options were available as dealer-installed options. Dealer have the car you want but it didn't have cruise control? No problem. They dealer would install cruise control on the car as a dealer-installed option.

It was a whole different world that what we have now. Post pics as soon as you get enough posts.

 

[lacville78]

Thanks for the info!!!

here is a link to some of the pics

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625991291359/

I had alot more pics but then My computer crashed

Im glad I have these tho

A couple of them are of the car on the trailer when we picked it up

I got her for $600

In bad shape

Since then I've done quite a bit and plan on more

Mechanically she is tired tho

The 425 has a dead miss on a couple cylinders

I ran a compression test but quit when I saw 16psi (im thinking bad head gasket/leaking compression between 2 cylinders?? I dunno should have kept testing but I got depressed and quit)

The other cylinders were averaging 80

I thought the gauge was broke until I put some oil in the plug holes

The compression Shot right up then


How the thing is still running is beyond me

I daily the car in shape that its in too(Only to college and back, but still every day usually driven)

I change the oil once a month (Straight 40 when its not too cold)

Oh well I got a 500 on a stand I plan on rebuilding and installing hehehe

The Tranny was howling bad and hesitating to go into gear, when I picked it up

It turned out the pump was cavitating

I just replaced the filter and away we go!!! Shifts fine now, No noise no hesitation.

I did clean handfuls of clutch from the bottom of the pan

Im quite sure most other trannys would have been fried

But the Turbo 400 lives

These cars have done nothing but impress me and I have done nothing but take them for granted... All in search of the newer flashy car

I did buy of a 97 Deville Concours at one point

Big mistake!!!!!!

Now Im back to the old ones

I'll deal with the wear and tear any day over the new cars with their crazy designs and problems and expensive parts

Thanks guys for helping people keep these things on the road!!!

 

[outsider]

nice car! needs a hood ornament and looks like it's rusting bad under that vinyl top!

good luck with her. hope you get the engine problems sorted

 

[cadillac kevin]

welcome aboard. nice car. needs a bit of help, but nothing some good body work and a mechanic cant fix.
first thing I'd do is yank off the vinyl roof. the vinyl top is pretty well toast, and all its doing is holding moisture against the metal. the car will look worse with it off, but you can get rid of the rust that is eating the car. If the metal under the pillars feels mushy/ flimsy when you push on the vinyl, most likely you'll need to replace it.
on the plus side, the interior looks clean. it looks like it used to be burgundy (they always fade.) yours is cloth and vinyl which I believe is a mid level interior. also, the 425/ turbo 400 combo is very rugged and with proper maintenance, will outlast the car itself.
btw,your car is a deville. the fleetwood nameplate is a throwback to the fleetwood body co., which originally (back in the early 1900's) would build the cadillacs interior in house to match the buyers tastes (much like conversion vans of today-you buy a shell, then have it customized.)

 

[lacville78]

Thanks guys

***********NOTE**************

Those are the before pics of when I picked it up

The Vynl had small black mold spots on it

Nothing a little dilluted bleach didnt take care of !!

The filler panels have been replaced and painted(60 on ebay used)

The hood ornament has been installed (got it for $20 on ebay)

The rust looks worse than it is in those pics
It looked kinda like it was bleeding

I polished the rust stains out of the paint
Then I just sprayed over the rust spots with dupicolor for the time being

I plan on wire wheeling the bad rust and treating with rust converter and body filler

Im sorry to mislead everyone the car isn't so bad in the shape that its in at this moment

I've come quite away and plan on making more progress.

This summer I'll take car of the engine and body more

Until then patch and cruise!!!!

 

[Powar]

Sounds like you've made some nice progress. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I'd love to see some updated pics.

 

[Bro-Ham]

Hi, Nice car! Glad you're enjoying it so much. I love the 77-79 Cads, darn tough automobiles.

Some of the questions may have already been answered but I'll give you what I know.

Leather was an option in 70's and 80's deVille and Fleetwood models.

Optional deVille d'Elegance package ONLY came with cloth interior. Starting in 1976 the deVille d'Elegance interior had 50/50 seats through 1984, the last year the package was offered.

Cloth and vinyl seats were common through 1978. Here is a picture from the 1978 Cadillac brochure showing the type of upholstery you have, called "Hampton woven cloth," the color in your car is called Mulberry.

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/cadillac/78ca12.html

Here is a link to the rest of the brochure:

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/brochures/cadillac/78cad.html

50/50 seats were optional in 77 and 78 deVilles. 77 and 78 Fleetwood Broughams had 50/50 standard. In 1979 the deVilles no longer had 50/50 seats (except in d'Elegance) and switched to 45/55 (bascially the same as 60/40).

Back in the 70's, all the Cads had the door sill plaque that read "Interior by Fleetwood, Body by Fisher." Fleetwood was the former in-house Cadillac custom coachbuilder and Fisher Body made bodies for GM cars. The plaque was mostly symbolic and set Cadillacs apart from other GM divisions which had plaques that simply said "Body by Fisher."

Hope this helps. Good luck with the car and have fun with it!

 

[lacville78]

Wow!!!

Thanks I really appreciate it.


Also I'll post more pics when I can

 

[The-Dullahan]

All Cadillacs of this era have "Interior by Fleetwood" on the door sill plates.

Except Hearses.:yup:

 

[77CDV]

Hearses are always special cases. I've really started liking them a lot since seeing yours last summer.