New pics of the '95 Fleetwood Brougham & some mods

[caddycruiser]

More than 3 months after I bought it, I finally got some new pics of both it in general and also some mods I completed. It was a BUSY Easter break, to say the least!

First, the car itself.

[caddycruiser]

[caddycruiser]

The stainless steel chromed front plate with OEM Cadillac emblem, and the new OEM Heritage of ownership badge with “Cadillac” in the center (replacing the original one that was on the car, #11—that’s now on the ‘93).

[caddycruiser]

OEM GM 5.7 Liter emblems. Got these a while ago, but wasn’t sure if I wanted to put them on or not until recently. The one on the trunk is similar in concept to the ones Cadillac used to put on some older models (really different look, but still the same idea)—and I think it looks pretty nice. But my favorite is the one I put on the gauge cluster, right below the shift indicator—the color and chrome on it looks great with the wood background, and I like advertising the 5.7L fact…in a perfect spot, too!

[caddycruiser]

OEM center armrest/console with the solid lid and pop-out cupholder arm, out of a wrecked ’96 Fleetwood. Not only looks better, but also seems just a tad taller or is at least more comfortable for my arm. The inside is also more open and larger and easier to get at with the rear hinge. Very much enjoy it!

[caddycruiser]

OEM CD/cassette head unit out of a wrecked ’95 Fleetwood. The stock cassette unit worked great, but I always wanted one of these, and picked it up.

As a side benefit, the fully working cassette-only unit I removed plugged right into the ’93 FWB, and now that car finally has a working cassette (which had been malfunctioning since we bought it).

Edited April 22, 2006 by caddycruiser

[caddycruiser]

Now, one of the BEST mods EVER for this car—a Roadmaster climate control. ocjmakaveli was the first to get this done, and I bought the Buick CC unit back in December, but just never had a chance to get it in. Fabbing up the brackets to it hang in the stock space properly took a bit, and the whole thing lasted a few hours, but I cannot believe how dramatically different this makes the car—5 completely controllable fan speeds, the ability to blow airflow wherever you WANT (floor, middle, blend), and still have an automatic control to set it and forget it if desired.

The finished product, with new head unit and climate control unit:

Edited April 24, 2006 by caddycruiser

[caddycruiser]

And, finally, a repair. When I got the car, it had the typical slit on the side near the lumbar/heat controls, but was just a slit and wasn’t more torn. Also had a small hole and a few wear marks on the driver’s left back bolster.

Got a leather repair kit, custom color matched from a sample I sent in, from leathermagic.com and went to work. Cut up an old car wash sponge to fill in some spots were the foam had broken down under the cut and wear mark, then glued in a subpatch on the underside of each defect, and started filling in each spot with the special compound. I did about 4 applications of the compound, smoothing and forming in between, then re-painted the specific sections wear the repairs were made with the provided paint/coloring.

Up close (as in some of these pics with the camera’s macro setting on), you can still see a few imperfections, but there’s no more tears or visible wear spots, and the seat looks brand new otherwise now.

[caddycruiser]

Oh, and here's what it looks like with a Tyvek car cover, when I'm not around or just not driving it.

[caddycruiser]

Next to come, I think....

-OEM chrome Brougham wheels

-Completely new air intake system, to replace the overly restricted stock one

-Window tint

-Maybe a better alarm/remote start system

-Etc., etc...

Also have to get the A/C repaired (not working at the moment) and check out a few more things mechanically, but all pretty minor

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Most impressive!! I must say I am impressed with your work. You know that is the thing about some of the older luxury cars I like.. You get one you are willing to invest to fix it up to make it really nice. I know I did a few things to my Ninety Eight.

Good for you. I was really interesting in that material you used to fix that leather. Mine is not cracked or broken, but I often wondered how could you fix cracked or broken leather.

[Croc]

Wait, are you saying the Roadmaster had a better, nicer climate control setup than the Fleetwood did? Blasphemy!

[Flybrian]

Buicks have always had clear, legible, functional controls. My Aurora has a Concert II unit from a '99 Regal LS and its much nicer than the stock Olds Delco unit.

[Croc]

Well, yes, because in the GM hierarchy Buick > Olds. I'm asking about Buick having something better than Cadillac...which shouldn't be happening.

[caddycruiser]

Wait, are you saying the Roadmaster had a better, nicer climate control setup than the Fleetwood did?  Blasphemy!

Yes, actually, it's all in the controls.

Apparently, and especially based on some marketing videos I've seen for the car, the intention was to make everything inside and bare bones simple and easy to use as possible...the only problem being that this made for, among other things, a climate control you have very, very little control over.

As stock, on a Fleetwood, you CANNOT control where the fan actually blows, and there's only really 3 fan speeds--High Auto, Low Auto, and just Low.

My father and I hated this with a passion, and could never figure out why his Roadmaster's climate control unit had SO much more control options on it. Then last December a guy one one of the Fleetwood owner clubs/boards picked up a Roadmaster climate unit and realized it would plug right in and work, you just needed to make up brackets for it to bolt into the Caddy's dash correctly.

It was a strange thing, definately, and I've never seen another climate unit that had less control choices in any car EVER...and now, with the Roadmaster control, it really is like a completely different (and now more "normal") car.

[caddycruiser]

Most impressive!! I must say I am impressed with your work. You know that is the thing about some of the older luxury cars I like.. You get one you are willing to invest to fix it up to make it really nice. I know I did a few things to my Ninety Eight. 

Good for you. I was really interesting in that  material you used to fix that leather. Mine is not cracked or broken, but I often wondered how could you fix cracked or broken leather.

Yes, I really didn't have to fix much of anything (this car was already pretty immaculate and well cared for), there were (and still are) just a few things I wanted to change/improve.

It's definately nicer now than when I bought it, though, and still hasn't cost me a whole lot

As for the seat repair, I got the kit from this place and am REALLY impressed with it:

http://www.leathermagic.com

They work well with even older leather that's just lightly cracked up or has worn coloring too.

[scharmer05]

very nice caddy...im very impressed with what you've done. The leather fix turned out really nice. Fine looking ride you have there.

[caddycruiser]

Thanks...I thought I was unnaturally obsessed with the '93 my father bought for me to use for school and stuff, but that was only a start, and the main reason why I bought the '95. Just a very, very cool car, especially since they're so rare and so few people actually knew they were the "Impala SS in a tuxedo" for a few years.