Can this really be a 65?

Richard & Adam , i thought a 65 Cadillac factory Limousine used the same s body as the 1964 kinda a carryover. i might be wrong but i,m going on the info from a couple of books.
 
My understanding that the only what to tell the difference between the 64 and 65 was the tires that were factory installed. The 65 came with double stripe white-wall tires, according to my Cadillac book.
 
Russ , you are very correct another question i still have is why did the major coach and ambulance builders use the styling of the 65 fleetwood on the C/C and not the styling of the 1965, 75's sdn or limousine
 
Last edited:
I believe the answers to life, and all other questions were stored in the M&M archive. Where was the landfill that the trash was dumped in?
 
Yes, it most assuredly could be a 1965. To quote from page 73 of McPherson and McCall's amazing "Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 Limousines" book published in 2009 - "Due to the additional time required to engineer an all-new "D" body, the prestigious Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five models, unlike other members of the Cadillac family, did not receive a re-design for 1965 and retained their exterior styling from the 1964 model year." and on page 74 "The only way to differentiate between a 1964 and 1965 Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five was the three ring white sidewall tires used as original equipment on the 1965 models." The 1966 models got the all-new styling that matched the other Cadillacs of that year and that body shell, with annual cosmetic up-dates, was used through 1970.
 
Yes, it most assuredly could be a 1965. To quote from page 73 of McPherson and McCall's amazing "Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 Limousines" book published in 2009 - "Due to the additional time required to engineer an all-new "D" body, the prestigious Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five models, unlike other members of the Cadillac family, did not receive a re-design for 1965 and retained their exterior styling from the 1964 model year." and on page 74 "The only way to differentiate between a 1964 and 1965 Fleetwood Series Seventy-Five was the three ring white sidewall tires used as original equipment on the 1965 models." The 1966 models got the all-new styling that matched the other Cadillacs of that year and that body shell, with annual cosmetic up-dates, was used through 1970.

I have this book, and did not know this fact... :bonk: shows how obsessed I am with the '71-'76 Cadillacs: read that section about 15 times. Looks like I need to crack its spine and re-school myself.
 
Deja vu

A similar thing happened with Cadillac's 1948 and 1949 models.

For 1948 the limousines and commercial chassis kept 1947 styling while the regular passenger cars got an all-new body. For 1949 the commercial chassis changed but the limousines again kept 1947 styling.

Finally, for the 1950 model year, a funeral director could buy a matching set of Cadillacs.
 
And issues did arise...

When my dad was in college, he worked for O'Halloran & Murphy Funeral Home in St. Paul. In 1967, their fleet consisted of a 1965 Miller-Meteor Cadillac 3-way and a 1962 Cadillac limousine. Mrs. O'Halloran, who ran the company, saw an ad for a used 1965 Cadillac limousine and decided to buy it in anticipation of having a matching hearse and limo. The limo was purchased directly from a funeral home in Iowa. Everything "checked out" during a series of telephone conversations, so the car was purchased sight-unseen. Big shocker when the limo arrived and was anything but a match to the hearse, other than the color!

According to my dad, Mrs. O'Halloran admitted she learned her lesson about buying vehicles sight-unseen!
 
For 1948 the limousines and commercial chassis kept 1947 styling while the regular passenger cars got an all-new body.

Even though a funeral director couldn't buy a matching set of cars, 1948 was one of the three highest years of Cadillac commercial chassis production in history (also 1965 and 1973). This was because buyers who had made their older cars last through the war were standing in line to buy new ones when normal production resumed.

I'm surprised that 1965 had such high production; again, being a model year in which you couldn't buy a matching Cadillac hearse and limousine. I would've rather had a set of matching '65 National/Ramblers than mismatched Cadillacs!
 
Back
Top