Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham

Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
Overview
Manufacturer	Cadillac (General Motors)
Model years	1977–1986
Assembly	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Designer	Bill Mitchell
Body and chassis
Class	Full-size luxury car
Body style	4-door sedan 2-door coupe
Layout	FR layout
Platform	C-body D-body
Related	Cadillac De Ville Buick Electra Oldsmobile 98
Powertrain
Engine	425 cu in (7.0 L) L33/L35 V8 368 cu in (6.0 L) L62 V8 350 cu in (5.7 L) LF9 Diesel V8 252 cu in (4.1 L) Buick V6 250 cu in (4.1 L) HT-4100 V8 307 cu in (5.0 L) Oldsmobile V8
Transmission	3-speed TH-400 automatic 3-speed TH-350C automatic 4-speed TH-200-4R automatic
Dimensions
Wheelbase	1977–79: 121.5 in (3,086 mm) 1980–82: 121.4 in (3,084 mm) 1983–86: 121.5 in (3,086 mm)
Length	1977–79: 221.2 in (5,618 mm) 1980–86: 221.0 in (5,613 mm)
Width	4-door: 75.3 in (1,913 mm) 2-door: 75.4 in (1,915 mm)
Height	1977: 57.2 in (1,453 mm) 1978–86 4-door: 56.7 in (1,440 mm) 2-door: 54.6 in (1,387 mm)
Curb weight	4,000–4,500 lb (1,800–2,000 kg)
Chronology
Predecessor	Cadillac Sixty Special
Successor	Cadillac Brougham

The Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham is a luxury car that was manufactured by Cadillac from the 1977 through the 1986 model years.

The designations "Fleetwood", "Brougham", and "d'Elegance" had been in circulation among Cadillac models, in some cases since the 1950s, always designating an elevated level of luxury among the marque's vehicles.

Lawrence P. Fisher was the Fisher brother most closely involved with Cadillac in its early years. In 1916 he joined the Fisher Body Company which had been formed by two of his brothers in 1908. Larry (as people knew him) was one of four of the seven Fisher brothers who brought Fisher Body Corporation under the General Motors umbrella in 1919. In May, 1925 Alfred P. Sloan, then the head of General Motors, appointed Fisher as Cadillac General Manager, an office he retained through 1934. Fisher immediately went to work adding exclusive, custom bodies to the Cadillac range. Thus he oversaw the purchase of the Fleetwood Metal Body Company by the Fisher Body Corporation in September, 1925.

The Fleetwood Body Company of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, was founded by Harry Urich in the nineteenth century. It began as a small community of craftsmen founded by Henry Fleetwood, Esq. of Penwortham, near Lancaster, England (the Fleetwood family flourished in England in the 17th and 18th centuries). The rich traditions of 300 years of coach-building that the Fleetwood Body Company applied to its work on cars secured for it a high reputation in automobile circles worldwide by the 1920s. Coachwork was built by Fleetwood for a variety of luxury makes through 1924. However, after the Fisher Body Corporation purchased the Fleetwood Body Company in 1925, Fleetwood bodies were reserved exclusively for Cadillac. By 1929 GM had purchased the remaining stock holdings of the Fisher Body Corporation and thus became sole owner of both the Fisher and Fleetwood companies.

Originally an enclosed carriage, drawn by a single horse, for 2–4 persons, “Brougham” owes its name to British statesman, Henry Brougham. Cadillac first used the name in 1916 to designate an enclosed 5-7 passenger sedan body style. In the thirties, the name was given to a formal body style with open chauffeur compartment and enclosed rear quarters, metal roof and often "razor-edged" styling. When Cadillac started offering Fleetwood bodies on some of its cars in 1925, the Brougham body style was Fleetwood bodied every year with the exception of 1926. After 1937 the Brougham name was not applied to any Cadillac for the remainder of the pre-WW II period.

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Wikipedia