Properly Named Survivor: 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham D’elegance

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Long and square, with wire wheels and a half-vinyl top, the 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham listed here on eBay, could be yours on Tuesday evening. You do like conspicuous signs of luxury, don’t you? We just have to see if bidding picks up off its current $8500 threshold, where the reserve is not met. The winner will find the spoils in Fairfax, Virginia.

This car might then be driven home, though with 135,000 miles already on its 4.1-liter V8 engine, you might not want to pile on 2500 more if your nest is on the West coast. That engine, which we recently discussed in a profile of a 1983 Eldorado, apparently gave GM a good number of warranty headaches in the early days. The mill in this Fleetwood was subject to recall service in the 1980s, which is good—any problems the engine had have been long remedied and tested. So let’s leave worry behind as we float over the highway seams in this 121-inch wheelbase barge. Total length, in case you have to measure your parking space, is just a tick under 221 inches.

The list of options on this fully equipped car is long, though to today’s eye, some of these extras are just normal equipment, even on lesser models: power windows and door locks, power driver’s and passenger’s seats, a remote trunk opener button, and cruise control.  The car further features a tilt and telescoping steering wheel, rear defroster, and heated mirrors, and it’s actually not so much that all of this is present as that everything works on this one-family-owned vehicle. Part of what’s nice is that you get a window sticker, two pairs of unused gold keys, and the plastic key set used to make duplicates in with the deal.

The name tells everything: Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham D’elegance. Parsing that, you have the marque, the model, the fact that this is a RWD platform (in 1985, GM introduced a new Fleetwood that was FWD; the old chassis with RWD was the “Fleetwood Brougham”) and the trim package. (It sure would be nice to get a look at that window sticker and sort out what equipment creates the elegance.) The car sure makes the attempt at signaling one’s good taste, with woodgrain accents covering large swaths of the dash and instrument panel area, including the enormous glovebox door, not to mention the opera windows, half-vinyl top, and hint of tailfins. Most noticeable as far as ‘80s opulence might be the pillow seat cushions, which almost don’t look attached, they’re so thick. And don’t say velour has never been your thing. If you buy this car, it is now.

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Comments

  1. wooky

    Yeah, the engine issue with the 4.1 or 4100 aluminum block engine was with the camshaft, no bearings in the early ones and eventually the cam wore down through the block and caused catastrophic engine failure. I should know because my Mom had one and it failed on a road trip

    Like 7
    • Bob C.

      With a whopping 135 horsepower to boot.

      Like 3
  2. Stan StanMember

    They could’ve just used the 350 ?

    Like 4
  3. Brad460Member

    Now that’s real luxury. Got too many now or I’d be looking close at it

    Like 1
  4. Mitch

    Broum.t d’uberlength plasti vinyl barge with a terrible engine.
    I’m not amused.

    Like 1
  5. Chuck Dickinson

    The d’Elegance was basically an interior trim upgrade.

    Like 2
    • Mitch

      Ya. Shrinked down to 4.98 meters length and better materials
      and better fitment, it could have been a success outside
      the states. Appealing design but such long cars dont work
      outside the usa. State roads here have a 1/3 the width.
      The infrastructure was made for humans not for oversized
      cars.

      Like 0
      • Stan StanMember

        Mitch do you prefer transit 🚌, bicycles 🚲 and walking instead of cars ?

        Like 1
  6. Chrisdarr

    Is it me or does it look incomplete that there are no side moldings? Seems careless when asking absolute top dollar.
    Bidding is over $10k and reserve is not met.

    Like 0
  7. CCFisher

    There’s a bit of a mis-match in color between the body and the vinyl roof. I believe one or the other has been refinished in an incorrect shade.

    Like 1
  8. Stevieg

    I had a white one with the same dark blue interior. Hated the 4.1 engine, but I loved the car itself so much that I could overlook the terrible engine. Wish I still had it!

    Like 0
  9. Zen

    d’Elegance was a trim package that mostly consisted of the pillow-top seats. Oldsmobile first had it in the 1972 98 Tiffany Edition, then it was picked up by Cadillac in the later 70s for the d’Elegance package available in the Fleetwood and Devilles. Other GM cars offered it under different names on and off through the early 1990s. Then GM decided to cheap out and offer hard bucket seats only, making the only difference between a Cavalier and a Cadillac was fancy lights and wheels.

    Like 0

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