Not many cars remain on the road today that have details like their factory chalk markings still intact. That’s not surprising – after a few years of use, natural elements strip those clues to a car’s past right off the sheetmetal. However, some vehicles survive with such little use that even vulnerable details like chalk survive unscathed. Check out this 1978 Cadillac Fleetwood here on eBay with less than 12,000 original miles from new!
Of course, it would absolutely kill me to not rack up the miles in a boat like this Caddy. I suspect that’s why so many examples appear completely ratted out, because hell – if any car was made for eating up highway miles, it’s a late 70s Fleetwood. But this example is way too nice for blasting across the Nevada desert with the stars as your guide, as fun as that may be. The original owner used it for Sunday drives and it has remained in fanatical Cadillac enthusiast ownership ever since. As you can see, chrome trim remains effectively perfect, as does the original paint.
I’m surprised not to see leather inside, as the seller says this Fleetwood came loaded from the factory. I’m not denying the option list is rich, but I thought leather was standard! Still, this ’78 comes with pillow cloth velour seats and thick carpeting, along with the fake woodgrain dash inlays and the optional Premium door trim. It’s safe to say buyers of GM vehicles has endless choices for pricey-but-useless options, and this Cadillac is no different – aside from the fact, of course, that everything remains in as-new condition.
The mighty 425 V8 is as clean as you’d expect for such low mileage, but it’s the lower output carb’d version. Fuel injected 425’s churned out better horsepower numbers, but torque was still healthy in four-barrel models at 320 lb.-ft. The seller hasn’t ignored basic upkeep and maintenance despite the low mileage, replacing hoses, belts and the radiator and keeping up with fluid changes. He’s also installed a new headliner and sourced OEM-correct tires. The ad says he’s lowered the price to entice serious buyers, but it could also be a sign of desperation. What do you think of this nearly-new ’78 Cadillac Fleetwood with a starting bid of $11,500?
Nope, leather wasn’t standard. My fully loaded, top of the line, ’78 Fleetwood Brougham D’Elegance had the same cloth seats. I always wished it had leather until I got an ’81 with leather seats and found they weren’t as comfortable.
I agree. Leather has many of the same qualities of vinyl. Cold in the winter and sticky in the summer. I prefer the comfort of a nice cloth interior.
We see more of these low mileage 70’s cars than you would think still coming back to Dealership. The carburetor is a blessing as the components to keep the fuel injection running properly are non existent at this point and not supported in the aftermarket. I would not feel guilty at all about driving this one sparingly and enjoying it for what it is, one of the last true Cadillacs.
That cloth is fantastic…actually prefer it with that…beautiful..
Needs some big chrome 22″ wheels underneath it! Maybe even some nice big wire wheels…
Ugh… ‘clown shoes’.
I’m glad to see most folks would appreciate it for what it is. I can only hope the buyer sees it that way and appreciates its originality.
I miss the thumbs… :)
+1
why no more thumbs?
We had to do some updates and the voting plugin was not compatible with things. We are working on a solution, but in the meantime we will enjoy the fact that everyone is commenting more instead of just clicking the thumbs!
Well, it’s got the 8 track player, but looks like it’s missing the integrated CB.
And it looks like the passenger front interior door handle has some issues going on there. The chrome insert is missing behind the handle.
This or a Chevy Spark?
Thumbs up!
Great car, but the seats kill it for me. They look like an unmade bed at 12,000 miles, imagine what they’ll look like after 60,000.
They looked much like that with just delivery miles on them. The d’Elegance package came with pillow cloth standard – even on a Fleetwood.
I’ve been keeping an eye open for a GM land yacht (Electra, Lesabre or Coupe DeVille). To use as a vacation cruiser and to pull a travel trailer.
As soon as I mention wanting to install a trailer hitch, it’s like I have a 3rd eye!
These engines might not have high HP numbers but have torque to pull. The 400 transmissions don’t have over drive but are strong. The front disc brakes are the same as a 1/2 ton GM pickup truck. Install a set of Cargo Coils, a set of light duty truck tires (with white walls) and a brake control, and enjoy the ride.
My 1979 Coupe DeVille was a great tow vehicle.
Keeping vehicles low mileage is great for collectors or the next owner. I say buy em’ and drive em’!!!
CJay, I believe the class III receiver hitch would not affect the bumper, and would look right at home on the back of this beauty. The regular class I and class II hitches usually attached to the bumper and the frame. I sold and installed a bunch of hitches in the 80’s. They were bolted on, not welded. After they were removed, you couldn’t tell a class III had been on there, but the class I and II’s left holes in the bumpers. My shop was next to a used car dealer, and he had me remove any hitches off the vehicles that he was selling. It was a win win for both of us. Once I sold the used hitch, to the guy that bought the car I took the hitch off of.
Anyway, yes put a hitch and a tranny cooler on this cream puff, and tow a nice Travel Trailer across the USA. What a sweet setup
I generally used a custom mount class III hitch that bolted on to the frame. Mounting a hitch to a bumper that was mounted to two shock absorbers I never thought was a good idea.
My uncle had one of these back in the 80s and used to pull his 40′ offshore powerboat to many of the races along the East coast. Never had an issue.
425, 4 barrel, and a turbo 400 need i say more. Dog off the line but mid range power like you wouldnt believe. 45 to 80 in the blink of an eye
After the old man moved on from the big Ford’s ( Lincoln, T-Bird) he had a Caddy like this. I don’t remember much of it, as I was ( kicked) out of the house by then. I remember driving it a few times, and was 10 times the car the big Ford’s were. Is that an 8-track on the hump? ( Now where’s my Edgar Winter tape? Remember how they’d eat the tapes?) Oh, that takes me back. Beautiful car, the best America had to offer in ’78.
Howard, I still have many 8-tracks for our garage Queen Ambassador. I even kept an old Sony recorder and some blanks in case we ever decided to road trip with it. I agree with you on the Lincoln vs. Cadillac comparo, but it seems our younger peers disagree. Probably based on looks alone as they probably never drove a Mark V or a Coupe deVille of the era. From 1956 until about 1979 “Body by Fisher” meant superiority to me, as even the ’56 Continental didn’t seem as luxurious. However, by 1982, the fact that Lincoln was building a coupe with performance changed the dynamic completely. I still drive a Mark VIII on a regular basis. It’s my ” go to Montana” freeway flyer.
Ah, nothing like the velour Brougham D’Elegance interior from 76 to 78. 79 was not quite as plush and after 80, the seats had a million buttons which looked odd to me. I like the D’Elegance interior even better than the Talisman interior from 74 to 76. There was one Cadillac interior even plusher than this. The 77 to 84 DeVille D’Elegance velour was even softer than the Fleetwood’s, it was called Venetian velour as I recall, plus, it had that insane super plush Tangier carpeting which felt like a mink coat. The 79 Eldorado Biarritz had that same carpeting. Oh, by the way, I was away on vacation for a week so I have a question….What happened now with the thumbs up and down? Was there another problem? Gee this is getting silly. Ditching the thumbs up and down is going to cause alot of people to lose interest. It was a big part of barn finds. I thought we already figured this out the last time you guys pulled it. What happened this time?
Thumbs up to that nessy!
👍
Great Stuff
I had one as my first car. It had leather interior. Other wise it was exactly as this one.Even the color. It was sucking gas like it was free.Is it worth the money the seller is asking? Not to me. I had a 82 coupe , much nicer car and no , I didn’t have any problems with that 4100 engine.
Ugh, ok, you can all point your thumbs at me, I’m the guy you want to blame. ( big surprise) Truthfully, I couldn’t care less about the thumbs. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t look at them, and it did bother me that someone has this vendetta against me, and in a whole thread of no thumbs down, I was the only one that would get thumbs down. How would you feel? Still, it was the bashing AND the thumbs that prompted me to go “right to the top”. Don’t worry, keep your pants on, Jesse and Josh are cool, there a’ cookin’ a something up. In the meantime, who wants ginger snaps?
Not blowing any smoke, when I say you are an asset to Barn Finds, and I usually look for your comments in a sea of bashing by so many.
I see your comments as facts not emotion, splashed with personal experience. Thanks for being here.
Really Howard? I always thought your comments were well thought out. Plus, you are well spoken. I’m pretty sure most of the others here would agree. Why would anymore give Howard a hard time? This sounds like the 2nd grade bus ride with all the silly games. As for me, I like you Howard, as for wanting Ginger Snaps, No, I want thumbs up and down back and enough of this childish nonsense from all of us. I get my share of thumbs down and I learn from them. I am very sure 98% of our fellow readers want the thumbs back too. I find it hard to believe that the Barn Find guys do not see how much the thumbs up or down adds to this site. Come on.
Folks, I know Jesse’s responded to this in several posts–they really are having server issues and the script for the thumbs wasn’t working. I’m guessing it’s coming back, but let them fix the server issues first, ok? I know I’ve had trouble loading the site a few times in the past couple of days. :-)
Had a 78 coup, ran the life out of it kept it 10 years had 235,000 on it when I sold it , boy wish I still had it, but am still a Caddy man now its a XRS, but the ride is not the same loved that big car feel on open roads
My old man traded a 1974 for a 1978, he insisted for the first several months that he didn’t like the downsized platform, but then fell in love with it, it was faster, handled better, and got better fuel mileage. As usual he went to trade it in 4 years, he was so unimpressed with the 1982 that he kept the 1978 for another 2 years, then traded for a Lincoln. This is one nice car!
Great car! One of my uncles sold Cadillacs at Mancuso in Barrington, Illinois….he had a demo with plaid cloth.
Looks like a 78 Chevvy with a conversion van interior about when cadillac lost it elegance
At such a low mileage, why did it need a new headliner? None the less, I like this very much.
I had this exact same car but not with the d”elegance interior.. I had the leather in the same color as the car with the AM-FM-8 track CB combo.Mine had the Wire wheels instead of the color matched caps.. Heres a pic of what mine looked like… Was lots of fun on that CB during the Smokey & the Bandit days… Played the 8 track to DEATH with Donna Summer and Fleetwood Mac “Rumors”.. I would love to have another one and if the lottery hits… its Mine !
Put the trailer hitch on it and drive the wheels off of it. I have a 72 Chevelle that I bought in November with 42K miles on it, now it’s going on 48K, it would have more, but it is winter and Kentucky uses salt. Between 2000 and 2016 it accumulated less than 2K. I think its a shame not to drive them. Mine will probably hit 100K by 2020. This is a nice Caddy.
Here’s a picture of leather pillow seats in my recently sold 1978 Toronado XS. Thiy look nice but were dried and starting to “flake.” I went to an upholstery shop who were friends and they said it would probably cost $2000.00 to replace, the color wouldn’t match the original and they really would rather not do it. WOW! They said the “pillow” part is why it was so pricey. Sold the car for $2500.00……..been in family since 1980……..
@Howard
There is a comment from Jesse near the top of the thread explaining that the lack of thumbs is due to a technical upgrade and is temporary. quote :
“We had to do some updates and the voting plugin was not compatible with things. We are working on a solution…….”
Found this 89 deville with 53k original miles. I did not argue the 2500.00 price tag!