1992 Cadillac Brougham 5.7 Liter
Matt Garrett - Dallas Texas - 214-878-3823
SOLD but Click Here for Current;
You can email me at Cadillacman@mcsmk8.com
There are always claims of things considered the "Best in the world" in a general since, but this car should prove to the best example known in the world of a 1992 Cadillac 5.7 Brougham. This car is brand new in the wrapper and has never really moved under its own power, less what it was driven from the Arlington Assy. Plant onto a truck in 1992 and in my driveway. The car has never even been wet and has been kept fanatically as a collector in a heated-AC humidity controlled environment and is perfect in every since of the word. The only flaw with the car is the window sticker is ripped a little on the top, and that is the way it was delivered. The color of this car is Victorian Firmest Red, which offers a wonderful variety of change in different lighting. The photos are taken throughout a day until sunset and show the variety. The interior is dark maple red. Be sure to click the links above to see all the other photos of the undercarriage and the high resolution photos too.
I am the second owner of the car and purchased it from another collector when his health was unfortunate failing several years back. Upon purchasing it I made a solemn promise that I would never drive it and keep it as it was. I have kept that promise with the exception to one end of my driveway and back. As he did, I do run the car every 6 months on jack stands and exercise the AC and all accessories to keep the car from deterioration. When I am done, the battery is removed as I would not want any possible corrosion damage from it. The car is then put in the very rear of my garage parked properly and covered. It never gets above 88deg or under 60 deg. When I lift the car to run it, I run the car for approx 20 miles or so off the ground, so the car does have a bit above 600 miles showing from doing that every 6 months from new. The car has never been driven on a street!
This car is loaded and also has the optional 5.7 Liter Engine. Basically a Chevy 350 in this year. 90%+ of these cars came with a 5.0 Liter engine. The 5.7 is pretty rare and desired. Although the 5.7 was only a $250 option, it goes much deeper than than just the engine as far as hardware. The 700R4 transmission is Heavy Duty and set up for Towing, the Suspension is different and much more HD. The cooling system is larger, and on and on. Its not just the engine in other words. You can tell by the stance of a car if it is a 5.7 without reading the back. They sit up pretty high. The other big difference is that the Differential is the GM Corporate 8.5, not the smaller 7.5 version in the 5.0 cars. The differences from a 5.7 car to a 5.0 car with all the hardware is every aspect of its driving, not just the difference in torque and power. The 5.7 is more of a muscle car type drive with very good power, very decent handling in a big car. The 5.0 with the softer suspension and light duty hardware was more in tune with the average aging Cadillac buyer of the times, thus making the 5.7 pretty rare. The 5.7s were really designed to tow things or be turned into limos and were not floating soft ride Cadillac crowd pleasers.
Although this car is pretty well loaded, there are two rare and desired options that this car does not have and that is unfortunate. One is the Astroroof and the the other the DeElegance Seating. Both were not desired much by buyers at the time of purchace, but are very rare and desired now as so few have them. Especially the Astroroof. I have only seen about 5 90-92 cars with it, and 2 were in the salvage yard, the others were on their way to the salvage yard. Typical. Anyway, this car is what it is and is loaded with all the other right stuff, but in a perfect world it would have an Astroroof. Could always be added, but then not original. Its a dilemma! To see a Cadillac loaded with every option available then some power to boot, check out my 1980 Fleetwood Brougham DeElegance. It's the first year, and this 92 is the last!. It however is not as new in the wrapper as this car is.
The other item this car has is the RARE Cadillac Wire Wheels. I say these are rare as they are 15x7" wheels, not the little 15x6 that you see on the Cadillac's that have real wire wheels. Since the 5.7 had some guts and was designed to carry a load, you could not get the real wire wheels on these cars. You could on the 5.0, but not the 5.7 unless the dealer put them on. The reason being as you would twist them into a mess as they are not strong and really are little in width and strength. These wheels are however different. The previous collector ordered these from Appliance, who made the GM wheels wire wheels for the Cadillac Fleetwood/Brougham. These were built to proper looks spec in 7" width and the ability to handle the torque and towing capacity of this car. Spokes are a bit bigger if you know these cars. Not like it will ever need it but its there and wheels make the looks of a car. Either way this was a correct and painstaking upgrade in the 3K+ range on top of the car. The rare and now impossible to find gold stripe Royal Seal tires are back on them.
1992 is as good as these cars got even though these years lost the real Big Block Cadillac engine of 1980-81, where these cars started on the right foot with a real engine that are capable of outlasting time itself. When the Big Block Cadillac engine was dropped from these cars in 1982, it nearly destroyed the car and Cadillac too with introduction of the HT4100. I would consider the HT4100 the worst engine in modern GM history! The 5.7, although a Chevrolet based engine, ended the production of the car in 1992 with the best driving and best build quality done on the Fleetwood/Brougham. Its just shame that Cadillac did not keep the 80-81 engines and improve the technology with those. I guess it would be a long term disaster as you would have cars going for 1 million miles then.
The Cadillac Fleetwood/Brougham represents an era that will probably never come again. The car ran from 77-92, making it the one of the longest running platforms in GM history, if not the longest. 77-79 was a different body, so most consider the car running from 80-92. It was a learning era in the car industry that created a very large disappointment in the middle years. It was so bad that Cadillac still carries a stigma today. It was finally patched up as best as possible in the end of this cars production. Over the years there were 8 different engines put in the 80-92 RWD Cadillac platform. Cadillac Big Block 6.0 4v (best), Cadillac 6.0 v8-6-4 (decent engine actually) , 4.1 V-6 (bad), Olds Diesel (horrible), HT4100 (the worst ever), Olds 307 (fair but weak), Chevy 305 (OK, just not in a big car) and Chevy 350 (modern best). I say the HT 4100 is even worse than the diesel as at least with the diesel you have a good differential, springs and transmission making the car an easy conversion to a good engine. The HT4100 has no redeeming qualities in hardware and the radiator to differential has to be changed for a decent conversion. The RWD Cadillac started off the best with the Cad 6.0 and ended up with the modern best with the Chevy based 5.7 in a full circle. Other than the first and the last the others were large failures in the name of emissions, cost cutting and fuel economy requirements. Post HT4100 engines were pretty much band-aids to fix the disasters of the HT4100 mess up when the real Cadillac engine was dropped.
As a whole, the RWD Cadillac Fleetwood/Brougham was and era of a classy looking well built car with lots of chrome, style and appeal. The car actually weighs less than the average big sedan or SUV made today. Hard to believe, but true. To produce a car today with all the intricate trim, chrome and detail of these older Cadillacs is not economically smart, therefore the manufacturers made an easy exit with cars like these and played it into their marketing manipulation. Unfortunately, or fortunately for us that have the nice ones of these, 99% of these cars were discarded and used up as people shunned the "extremely" large size and "poor" fuel economy of these cars for even larger and heavier SUVs and Suburbans that got even worse fuel economy. Where is the Logic there? This is also the same mentality that shunned all the muscle cars as trailer trash transportation. Who's laughing now? Nice and rare Fleetwoods/Broughams should have a pretty promising future and this 1992 5.7 Brougham represents the best of an era of modern American Class that will probably never come again in an automobile.
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