The History of Fleetwood

The Fleetwood bodybuilding firm was founded in the Pennsylvania town of the same name in 1909. It produced high-end bodies for Cadillac, Duesenberg, Isotta-Fraschini, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Rolls Royce and Stutz. In 1926 the company was bought by General Motors and moved to Detroit. It continued to build special bodies for Cadillac and LaSalle in the early 1930s, and then was merged with the Fisher division. The Fleetwood name was used on top Cadillac models until 1996.

Fleetwood became the main bodybuilder for Cadillac and the new LaSalle brand. The plant was moved from Pennsylvania to Detroit, Michigan. The Fleetwood plant closed in 1931. Despite its status as the court atelier for Cadillac, Fleetwood still made single bodies for such brands as Chrysler, Lincoln, Packard, Stutz and Isotta-Fraschini. From 1930-1932, the luxurious Cadillac 452 V16 is produced, for which dozens of body styles from Fleetwood are offered.

Since 1933 Fleetwood ceased to be an independent bodybuilder, as all of its bodies were unified with the Fisher division products. The Fleetwood name now denotes the trim level on Cadillac's top models. Beginning in 1941, the Fleetwood name was assigned to the Cadillac Series 60 Special and Series 75. After the war, the Fleetwood factory continued to produce the two series, the Fleetwood 60 Special (sedans) and Fleetwood 75 (limousines). The Fleetwood factory in Detroit closed in 1985 and was demolished in 1993. The last Cadillac Fleetwood rolled off the assembly line in 1996. Do not forget to use Fleetwood VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.