1953 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty-Special

During the 1950s, owning any new Cadillac meant one had arrived in style, hit the jackpot, made it big, etc. In 1953, it was no different with the Fleetwood Sixty-Special.

This wonderfully restored Fleetwood spent most of its life in Washington State. The last 3-4 years it was in the Thunder Dome Car Museum in Auburn, WA. Prior to that it went under a comprehensive restoration over several years where the owner spent over $62,000.00 to make it the storming Fleetwood you see here. Virtually nothing was untouched o nthe car with the exception of the trunk, which was lift in origianl state.

Cost breakdown:
Paint, Body, Chrome – $41,811
Dash, Gauges, Lights, Emblems – $3,966
Engine Rebuild, Parts and Tune – $7,358
Bumper, Door Handle Repair – $811
New Radiator – $1,398
Misc. Receipts for repairs – $5,133

Wearing Black (code 1), the car’s paint and trim are in overall excellent order. The car’s heavy, chrome bumpers, including the front-mounted Dagmar, fit tightly to the body. The engine bay is very tidy and the body is straight and solid. The car has extras like a sun shield, a cowl light and side window rain guards. All the chrome on the is Fleetwood was professionally replaced.

Throughout the 1950s, the Sixty Special would continue as a stretched and optioned-up version of the Cadillac Series 62, but lost the manual transmission.

This car rolls on wide whitewall tires mounted on true-spoke wire wheels. The tires and wheels are all in very good order. It comes complete with build receipts and numerous spare parts.

Under the hood is a rebuilt 331 CID V-8 engine backed by a Hydramatic four-speed automatic transmission. Driver convenience features include power steering.

Inside, the green leather upholstery contrasts nicely with the black metal parts of the interior. The front and rear bench seats look great, with the latter seat sporting a fold-down center armrest. Speedo/odo are inop. The floormats and carpet look great. The black, metal dashboard looks beautiful, as do the green and black inner door panels. A set of after market gauges were added for oil pressure, temp and amp/volt.

Just more of the same for 1953 Sixty Special, as all the attention was towards the new Eldorado convertible. Minimal trim changes to the Sixty Special included wider rocker panel moldings, which moved the chrome louvers higher up on the rear doors, and a revised grille and bumper. However, significant engineering changes were made to the 1953 models, including a new 12-volt electrical system and a jump in power for the 331 CID engine – now rated at 210 horsepower.

Also available was a set of five wire wheels, which hadn’t been seen on factory Cadillacs since the 1930s. Wire wheels would occasionally continue to be optionally available through 1992.

The minor changes for the 1953 Sixty Special worked wonders, as sales of the car were now up to a record 20,000 copies.

Competition to this Cadillac in 1953 included Buick’s Series 70 Roadmaster, DeSoto’s Firedome, Hudson’s Horne, Lincoln’s Cosmopolitan sedan, Mercury’s Monterey, Oldsmobile’s 9 and Packard’s Cavalier.