Did the Cadillac spend it's whole life in Kansas? It's in amazing shape. Mechanics: "as long as the body and interior are good, I can fix the rest". Body men: "as long as it's mechanically sound, I can fix the body".
The door jams wont always be the exact same color as the outside panels because the jams aren't as exposed to the sun as the outside panels so there will be some slight discolor.
For the future health of both the engine's cooling system and the new A/C compressor, I recommend you replace the fan clutch, this is often overlooked, and critically important. The bonus with be stellar A/C performance.
I'll try that new clutch. My A/C always worked funny at a stop light or, with the 454 at idle. Eventually the compressor pulley seized after 50k miles. 2 years ago. Replace pulley only and dash control panel 2 week s ago.
What a great find! It's so nice to find a well-cared for, well-maintained old car like this great old girl! My grandmother had a 1972 Coupe deVille, and I was her go-to mechanic... I did minor repairs and kept it tuned up. She called it "putting your healing hands on it"! They don't make 'em like that anymore! I know you'll enjoy driving this land yacht, and you will enjoy wrenching on it, too! Happy New Year, Dave!
We've all seen the 'what to look for in a used car' videos before ... BUT 'The Wizard' actually takes his time and goes through every step logically & in detail ... this channel just gets better & better ... keep up the great work ... it's really appreciated ... A++
Hey Wizard! I want to express how much I enjoy your videos. I gobble up every word you say and I know your viewers do too! Your craftmanship is impeccable and you give "attention to detail" a WHOLE new meaning. I like how you mention the condition of the dashboard and how to respect the car. You said if it looks like the dashboard is in tact then leave it be! Don't go mashing down on it in places because it very well could have some soft spots underneath and in other words that's not what you want to do. You have love and respect for old cars and its a love identical to how we should treat our elders! I love that about you Mr. Wizard! Please keep us enlightened with more videos. You've become very popular here on this RU-vid but I tell you I'm honored to be a fan of yours and when I'm cruisin down the highway watching your videos your like a good friend in the car and we're talking shop!
When I was 13yrs old my next door neighbor had a 1970 gold 2dr Calis I begged her week after week, cut her grass and took care of her, when I was 17 she sold it to me just a flawless mint beautiful car, I loved it so. O nthe interstate one weekend got sideswiped by an uninsured driver, I put it back together but just wasn't the same. Broke my heart when I let him go. That is a beautiful piece. I love older Cadillac 67 - 72.
VERY NICE Cadillac, especially from Kansas City (road salt eats these old cars up) !!!! I learned to drive in a 1977 Lincoln Town Car. It was almost 22 feet long and weighed 6,000+ lbs, and had the 460 (7.5L) V8 and a C6 automatic transmission. We were able to fit it in our garage, with just about a calf thickness to spare by the door, so you could wiggle around when the door was closed. Viewers, be aware that a lot of the power features on a car like this may be VACUUM-operated, and that can be a problem sometimes.
Beautiful car! I love old 60s land yachts. In many ways these cars were much more advanced than the Rolls Royce of the time, even though the Rolls probably has better quality materials.
This guy is the real deal, not a showman or terribly exciting but the knowledge he's spitting Is the absolute truth. Any buyer needs to look for all of the areas hes showing. Take it from a guy who bought a 79 Trans am in 1989 that had swiss cheese for floors and a 403/ 6.6 L oldsmobile engine that needed to be replaced a month later. Love the channel Wizard!!
If I had room here at home I'd probably have a project or two in my yard getting worked on. This Cadillac is absolutely beautiful. I'm have a thing for big early to mid 70's cars. Great find.
Nice caddie. In the late 70's I had a 1972 Buick Electra 225...about the same length as your caddie....wish I had kept it... And by the way, great video.
So nice to hear someone pronounce Brougham correctly. Not Bro-ham. Thanks Car Wizard. (Edit) AHH!! I typed too soon! 12:00. This model, pretty much any year, is by far my favorite Cadillac. I''m tall, 6'4" the rear seats are never crowded when I run the front seat all way back. The foot rest is a cool bonus for the passengers. When I was high school, maybe before you were born, in my Vo-Tech class I had the pleasure of replacing those double cardan joints (taught to call them constant-velocity joints as well). The part I remember being the most difficult was the centering yoke. Still sticks with me almost 36 years later. Great information for buyers!
I like the non-chalant, quiet, matter-of-fact style of this guy. He does not try to impress you like lots of others out there do, influenced by an entertainment model aimed at people with very short attention spans, who get bored easily and need constant fireworks and load noises to stay focus. This guy just calmly explains his shit to you as if you were next to him in the workshop, listening as you take small sips from your beer. Cheers!
Try feeding that beast with $6.10 a gallon =D My family has a ´68 Cadillac DeVille convertible and it gets about 12 mpg on the highway and 9.5 cruising the town, lots of smiles per mile though!
That's one classy beast... Had 2 1968's, a 1969, a 1973, 1976, 1979, 1983 then Cadillac died. I love the way you ignored the rubber fuel line on the passenger side... LOL Sweet Ford EXP...
'69 Cad,,,,great highway car. That opinion coming from having owned a new '69 deVille vert. That tells you how much older I am than you so I'll forgive (haha) you for the statement you made about being "surprised" to find a trunk release in the glovebox. Man, back in the day that was pretty much standard equipment (or at least a popular option) in any luxo boat. A feature of your car that I really wish they'd bring back is Cornering Lights....not only did they look cool, they're very practical for turning into dark driveways. GM cornering lights were extra cool because they had a delay feature which kept them lit for several seconds after the turn. Enjoyed the vid, good tips and well done! Enjoy that land yacht!!
Very cool! I own a 69 cad convertible. Yep, they are great highway cruising cars. Have had mine for about 25 years..would never sell it. The only problem with them is the 8 miles per gallon fuel economy. When gas was $4 a gallon... I wasn't driving it much! =) What happened to your 69? Did you sell it?
In the fall of '69, I traded it in for a '70 Eldorado. Whoops,,mistake. The Eldo never had the couch-on-wheels floatiness of the rwd deVille. Good on you for keeping yours 25 years and counting!
You are so right about the cornering lamps ! I have an '05 Mercury Gr Marquis and I upgraded all of the interior and exterior lights over to the brightest LED's I could legally use and man, my cornering lamps are wonderful for my very dark and steep driveway. Having headlights that actually work now is a real treat too. I'm keeping her for forever unless something truly $$$ happens to it, then it's on to a Hybrid of some kind...Progress ???
jrider4 I had quite a few of these old Caddys back in the day, and oddly enough, many weren't very well equipped. Fleet woods and Eldos had everything but a DeVille or Calais not necessarily. Air was not standard till 71, though most had it. Tilt wheels, even power locks were absent on some lowball models I've seen. Funny how a Hyundai has more gadgets than these old Caddys. I'll still take the Caddy though!
Awesome Fleetwood! I drooled the whole video! That leather is amazing! Great to see Cadillacs and Rolls Royces living together! I can't express how much I love my 1990 Cadillac Brougham D' elegance (5.7V8) and my 1991 baby(4.9V8 FWD) Fleetwood coupe! Can't wait to add more Cadillacs and hopefully a 70's-80's Roll Royce to my fleet!
It is in very nice condition.Easy to work on compared with modern cars,no electronics that are 'engineered to fail' nor plastic pieces under the bonnet/hood that get heat damaged in time.Loads of space around the engine.A cool car to have as a daily driver.
WOW what a great find! Really nice to find a big luxury car that was well loved and pretty well maintained over it's lifetime. I passed on its' twin about 4 years ago...black with a black interior...it was a beauty...but it was a 4 door, like yours...not a Fleetwood, but a Sedan DeVille, and they wanted $5k. Which for me was too high, since I had previously been severely injured on a 4 door 40 Merc. When I needed to sell, NO ONE was interested in a 4 door. Took a major hit. I would still buy another 4 door...but only if the price is really right, and it is something to just drive and enjoy.
My grandfather had one JUST like that. Right down to the seats! I was going to ask if this one was sold out of Columbus, OH; but remembered that it burned in a fire in '72! Love that sharp rear roofline a huge panoramic rear side windows thanks to them nixing the vent windows that may Dad's gold '68 had.
Good Luck Wizard with your 69' Fleetwood.. When I was a kid, I worked in a restaurant & the owner had a 69' Fleetwood. Black on Black. Beautiful. Thought the rear footrests were VERY cool-
I had a cherokee with stop signs for front floor pans years ago. Its all i had available (i didnt steal them, they were surplus from the city i worked for) . Sealed it up with lots of undercoating. I saw the old girl a few months ago. Signs were holding up well:)
I noticed the vacuum line was not attached to the vacuum advance on the distributor... im 59 and used to work on a lot of these old Caddys as well as others from the 60's and 70's, I really miss these big comfortable smooth riding old cars they were way more comfortable on the highway than anything on the road today. Nothing rides like these old cars, in todays cars you feel every pebble on the road. That 472 was a smooth reliable engine, it later became the 502 cu. in. in the Eldorado and later was available in the Devilles etc. it was the largest production American V8 at the time - I remember how smooth they idled after a good tune up - damn I miss these old cars.
This a nice one. Get yourself some fluid film and fill the doors, quarter panels, rocker panels and frame rails to stop any rust that might be there. This is worth to preserve.
Don't forget to check the bottom of the door itself for rust. That leather looks awesome in there! Inspect for leaks both before and after test drive too.
Congrats Wizard, I had a 64 convertible. It sat outside for over 20 years with rotted off top and when I got it back on the road, it still rode better than a new car. But i'm a Ford guy, so I sold it and bought a Lincoln...LOL
The boss man bought himself a car only the boss man would have bought back in the day. Love it, 1969 was a great year for Cadillac and that thing is in amazing original condition. Also take my advice from somebody who has owned an old Cadillac with a vinyl top. Mine started to get a rust bubble on it on that rear sail panel near where it met the roof. I let it go for a year or so, big mistake. There was a lot more rust under the top that I couldn't even see, had a quarter size hole where it bubbled up. I'd strip it off immediately and kind of see what you got under there. I assume you aren't going to drive it in the winter so right now would be a good time to do that project and have it done when spring rolls around.
Nice old Caddy. My grandparents had a 1972 Fleetwood Brougham that they bought brand new and it was white with a black top like your car. Cadillac really made nice cars up until the oil crisis hit in the 1970s.
Love these old cars. I looked for a late 60s, early 70s Cadillac, but here in Michigan they are all rotten. I ended up buying a 79 Lincoln Continental in surprisingly good shape. It's currently my daily and I absolutely love it.
I love steering wheels! My lexus rx450h has a killer black wood one and i love touching it everytime! I really like the super big wood ones like in the old mustangs and the see thru plastic ones from the 50s were cool too. I know its minor but MAN, you touch it the entire time you are driving! Make it nice!
What a sweet ride you were very lucky to find one in such great condition especially after 50 years it’s a testament to the previous owners caring about a bit of American history as a daily driver I don’t know so much finding parking spaces for it Will be a big problem and backing out of angle parking because cars drive so fast these days you’re gonna have the car halfway there and someone may come along and T Bone you.
My uncle had an identical Cadillac except it was green. It was in near mint condition. He paid $1500 for it in i think 2014-2015 and had it appraised for $12,000 or so. The only issue it had was a broken motor mounted he would take me and 3 other full sized adults for ride and everyone say comfortably. Amazing car.
I'm no professional mechanic, but on the Camaros and Firebirds along with the pre 85 Corvettes check by the bottom corners of the windshield as sometimes water will get stuck there and rust out the body from beneath the windshield. On Firebirds especially make sure to peek inside the door, there should be a little seal that is removable and shine a flashlight into it. Water likes to collect in the doors on the older Firebirds and Camaros and at times the drainage holes will get gunked up and thus the doors can rust from the inside out
Got you beat by 2”; I have a 230” Lincoln Mk V. Love it! You’ll need whitewall tires. Hankook Optimo H724 Tires with 1/2” whitewall, excellent tire and inexpensive.
Your speaking is getting much better and the quality too! Love the vids keep em up wiz and nice hat 🧙🏻♂️ One of my Old boss’s had one of these when I worked at a pizzeria maybe he was a Mobster. Anywho Merry Christmas and a Happy new year Wiz!
Congrats. Daily driving that should be a lot of fun. I notice this car has the fuel fill behind the plate, at the center of the back, so during your frequent stops for gasoline, you will be able to drive to either side of the pumps and reach the filler opening. I have a Chrysler K car, and I replaced the sealed beam headlamps with conversion kits. I used Hella Vision Plus, but there are probably others, too, and Hella has them in your 5 3/4 " size. Upgrading from the sealed beam units would make the car safer for night driving.
What an amazing find. I am really impressed how you want to return it to original. One of my absolute hates is how people return levelling suspension to standard suspension. Looking forward to some videos along the way. I hope you get it rustprofed before using it in the wet.
I like the barber chair like rear seat foot rests on the fleetwood and the induction sound of the 4 bbl Quadrajet on the 472 V8. Nice solid frame and rear quarters.
Great find , love 1969 cadillacs . If you can fix the horn blow , it was only on 69's . I used to have a coupe and a sedan and loved them both. Those 472 engines were used for a few years and were good engines .Thanks for the videos !
Nice car. Looks beautiful and those cars are comfortable in every way possible. They ride well as well. Nice Landau top. That Caddy is a real car, not like most modern cars. Thank you for your good videos. The information helps a lot.
Great looking car, good buy. I was never a fan of that series, loved the 67 (390ci), and 71-74 (472ci), always wanted a 76-77 Eldorado (500ci). They don't last that long in Minnesota (6-months winter road salt).
The bad u-joint ruins the front seal on the differential usually. And he's right about taking it to a shop that specializes in driveshafts. They have balancers and all the stuff to make it right for highway speeds.
That interior makes the interior of a '69 Rolls Royce look like a high school shop class project. The Cadillac is SO refined and SO sophisticated, while the RR is just quaint and clunky.
