1957 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special

[electra225]

I believe our resident Cadillac expert said this year of Sixty Special is less common than the '58's. I don't dig the go-fast doodads on the engine, but that can be made right. Nice car otherwise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C3OKcmXKVk

[walyfd]

24k 60 specials for '57, 12k for '58...

Nobody wants a 57...

[TC Chris]

Not a very informative video, just recycling the same photos while she coos about how cool it is. Don't tell us that it's wonderful; tell us why.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I must the audio on many of those car videos.

The '57 looks a lot like a Sedan DeVille with extra chrome. The '58 has a distinctive body style. Buick is backwards from Cadillac. The '57 Roadmaster is much preferred over the '58...

[walyfd]

Not really... 57 sedans were short deck (stubby trunks) and looked kinda awful. The 60S had the long coupe trunk and the 3 extra inch wb. It was well proportioned and didn't look like any other 57 sedan. Plus it had the rear quarter trim. People actually complained the sedans looked too short which helped 60S sales.

In 58, they had the stubby 62 sedan and an extended deck version with the coupe trunk. This was also used on the SDV.

There was a 58 62 series sedan on ebay that someone added the 60S trim to. I hope I don't see it at a judged show.

[electra225]

One version of a Cadillac truck lid would fit a Buick. You had to bore holes for the "Roadmaster" letters. I forget which version, though....

[walyfd]

The coupe trunks interchange.

[electra225]

For some odd reason, the lower lip of a Buick Roadmaster/Super trunk would rust out at the bottom. The Cadillac version was not so prone to rust. Art used to keep a supply of Cadillac trunk lids, drilled and ready to go, for use on Buick. The '57 Buicks were fairly rust-prone. Chrysler got the bad rap, Buick deserved it.....

Roadmaster was built in two series for 1957. Roadmaster 70 series with coupe, hardtop sedan and convertible, and the Roadmaster 75, built in coupe and hardtop sedan only. I think the trunk lids were all the same. The difference was trim and options. The 75 came with everything standard except air conditioning. The 75 series appeared again in 1958, this time called the Limited. Art told me that the '57 75 and the '58 Limited shared their carpet with the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. I don't know whether or not that is true. I know it was the BIG money if you had to replace it.

[walyfd]

Brougham carpet was karakul nylon or genuine Mouton. Karakul was a fine fur-like nylon and Mouton is sheepskin fur. Maybe rolls royce still uses it.

[electra225]

Art used to find Roadmaster 75 or Limited carpet that had been in a junkyard dirt for eons, vacuum and shampoo it and it would be like new, unless it had been wet for a long time.

[TC Chris]

My '57 Super is remembered as a rustbucket. It did have rot, and I remember the lower trunk edge being one spot. But I just looked at the only photos I've got, and wow, it was a lot less eaten-up than I recalled. The chrome panels behind the rear wheels were bad, ad the quarter panels just above them, but overall the car was not so bad. For a Michigan car of its vintage, at any rate.

I'll attach photos if I can taken just before it was hauled to the junkyard about 1968. The car had been stored under an open sheter and not washed, so it was really dirty. The yellow stripe was added before I got it, as a gag, and probably the red roof too. The interior was blue. It started, ran, and stopped. I've always regretted not being able to rescue it at the end.

Oops, can't attach the pdf image. Anybody know how?

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

You can't attach a PDF to a post.

[Ken Doyle]

Oops, can't attach the pdf image. Anybody know how?

Chris Campbell

Grab a screen shot, and use Paint to save it as a JPEG.

[TC Chris]

Thank you. Herewith please find my '57 Buick Super, and a much younger me.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I had a low-mileage Garnet Red '58 Super that I put into a demolition derby because I couldn't keep it running. It had a Rochester carb on it that would ice up under about 50 degrees. A Carter AFB would have fixed it. I gave $75 for it, which was $70 more than it was worth. A simply horrible car...... I am a car guy and a Buick guy, but I was thrilled to see that thing go to the crusher......

[TC Chris]

My '57 was never licensed while had it, but it always started and ran after sitting forever. I'll bet it had been sitting for two years when those last photos were taken. Add a battery and it started and ran. I liked it. But remember that I've never had a vehicle I did not like, so maybe that tells you something about my level of discernment. And I'm happy as can be with a 4-cyl. Ranger, which tells more.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I would much rather have had a '57. I have never liked '58 Buicks and still don't. I bought the one I had so I wouldn't have to drive my Electra in winter. I had to anyways, because the '58 would stall and make me walk.

[TC Chris]

All I know about '58s is that they were UGLY in the worst possible way. The '57 was a bit over the top, as all in that era were, but in a tasteful and fun way. Remember, I liked Virgil Exner's Forward Look.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Everybody like Exner's "Forward Look". Chrysler advertised their new cars against GM's three-piece windows used in the 1957 cars as "Suddenly it's 1949". The only downside to Exner's Forward Look was Chrysler's build quality....

Ford outsold Chevy in 1957. When was the last time you saw a '57 Ford at a car show? Or a '57 Chrysler product?

[walyfd]

I'm not a 58 GM fan either.

The only brand new car my aunt owned was a 57 ford. It was a demo she got cheap. Whenever it rained, the taillight would fill with water.

Mopars and ford's were huge rusters. Most of them were eaten.

About the only 57 fords you see are retractables. Rarest when new with a huge survival rate.