1966 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham

[electra225]

Riding a 133" wheelbase, this is probably one of my favorite years of the big Cadillac. I like the clean slab-sided styling and the absence of tail fins. He talks about how hard it is to change the tail light bulbs. And the problems Cadillac had with oil pressure loss due to the oil pump being in the aluminum timing cover. That is an overblown issue, IMHO. If you filled the oil filter with oil before you put it on the engine, you could minimize that issue. Buick and AMC, among others, had the same issue at various times. I like the 429 V-8. This is a really nice big Cadillac, a car you seldom see anymore.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv5-94D9kEM

[walyfd]

Geez... another of my favorite cars...

A local couple had one of these in black with the gray silk brocade interior. It was one car my dad said he'd like to own when we saw it at our local car show like 40 years ago. Dad wasn't a car guy but this stood out.

Years later, I tried to get one. We drove to Youngstown to look at one. It needed cosmetic work but was mechanically sound. I drove it and didn't like it. It was mushy, cushy, slushy... like too much.

Couple years later, I got to drive my friend's 67 brougham. Mint, gorgeous aquamarine sedan with white top and 30k some miles. Same thing... was like driving a waterbed. It was TOO too floaty.

One problem with these is it was the first generation of level ride with the rear air shocks and the systems are essentially not rebuildable so the behinds just wallow.

Oh... and that additional wheelbase doesn't really add anything to the rear seat legroom. It was absorbed in the filler between the roof and trunk.

[electra225]

Some of the Buicks in the middle 1960's had a fairly mushy ride. Neoprene bushings and gas shocks help a bunch, stiffening the suspension. That was one feature of the big Chryslers I appreciated. Their ride was soft, but still controlled. GM finally fixed the sloppy suspension. My '68 Electra was lots more firm than the '65-'66 models were. From a formal looks standpoint in Cadillacs, that '66 Fleetwood was hard to beat.

[walyfd]

Dance 10. Looks 3... well this was LOOKS 10, drive 3...

Fine in a parade or out on the turnpike cruising at 70 but from 25 to 55, it was all hands on deck.

[Firedome]

My college roommate's parents had a '66 Fleetwood in dark Navy blue. So elegant, and real wood was still used inside. I like the '67/68s too but it was all downhill after that. The 390 and 472 were known as Cad's truly bulletproof engines, the 429 not so much, but they seemed fine if maintained properly. My childhood neighbor's '64 DeVille that he bought new and kept for 12 years never had a problem and still looked new when he traded it in at Chesapeake Cadillac, an old line multi-floor dealership in downtown Baltimore.

[electra225]

My old Electra would run off and hide from a 390 Cadillac. I only tangled with a 429 once. I got my doors dusted by a new white '64 Sedan DeVille. I wasn't all that thrilled with a 472. They were okay, maybe even a better engine, but they weren't as potent in my experience. The '71 Coupe that I serviced on a regular basis was hard to keep in tune. Admittedly, the lady who owned it was picky, but it was hard to tune and to keep in tune. Rough idle was it's main issue, although idling around town didn't help any. It was not frequently driven at freeway speeds.

[Firedome]

One attribute of the 390 was supposedly quite amazing gas mileage, not sure why, I'd reckon they had the same Rochester 4GC as some of my Olds 371s that got fairly lousy mpg, but '59 Cads, at least, were alleged to get in the high teens on road trips. I've heard that from a number of sources, Tom McC. for one.

[electra225]

Buick used both the 4CG and a Carter AFB. I'm guessing Cadillac did the same. I don't know about Olds. The ones I paid attention to had the AFB. AFB-equipped 401's got way better mileage than with the 4CG. The Rochester had icing issues, serious icing issues in damp, not quite freezing weather. The 4CG was harder to tune. You could get the parts close to an AFB and it would tune and run great. The Quadra-Jet was a huge improvement over the 4CG. They got a lot of bad press, mostly by guys who didn't know their secrets.

[walyfd]

Cadillac started using AFBs 4,999 cars after my '57. Cadillac and Oldsmobile had this horrible choke unloader linkage that was supposed to allow you to drive the car without warming it up first. The link was attached to the throttle plate and altered the choke spring tension via the gas pedal...

To boot, there were 12 alterations to the original rochester settings in the shop manual from float drop to accelerator pump and even drilling additional vent holes in the top... these alterations were supposed to be done when a customer came in for regular service, whether they had a complaint or not. Finally, they published to replace the rochester with a Carter in cases of repeat complaints.

I put the Carter on mine and it was better but not great. I have a rocky on the 62 and I think it's great.

I did get good mileage on the 57... I hit about 20 on my way to Detroit through Ohio and Illinois on the flats. This was also when the transmission was working right and thats a whole other story. I got GREAT mileage when it was on a rollback. And it was more times than I wish to remember.

The 390 is a great engine. I figure I'm getting 16-17 highway even with air. The 365 was used for 3 years. 56 to 58. The original 390 was 59 through 62... the 63 390 was really the 429 underbored, totally different from the 62 390.

[electra225]

My only gripe about an AFB, at least on a Buick 401, is that if the choke does not close completely, it won't fire a shot. You can pump the accelerator until your foot falls off and it doesn't help. Buick didn't use the unloader you mentioned, thank goodness, but choke setting is absolutely critical. Too rich and it fouls plugs and stops up the heat tube from the manifold to the choke housing. Too lean, it will never start, period. I keep a NOS choke stove in the glove compartment in the Buick. Those things have been unobtanium for 40 years. I ran across a bunch of NOS ones at an auction so I stocked up. I have several still in my tool box. The heat passages in a Buick intake manifold stop up with carbon. Every 20 years or so, the manifold should be removed and vatted to remove the carbon buildup. Without heat under the carburetor, cold driveability suffers. Of course, out here in the desert Southwest, more heat is something you don't need, due to vapor lock. What I do is make a plate for under the carburetor that stops up the passage to under the carb, but it still heats the intake manifold to help cold driveability. Needless to say, the "Cold" light doesn't stay on very long......