Many people would consider the Cadillac Fleetwood an automotive dinosaur, and at a time when small cars were becoming the trend, such large monster of a car simply didn't fit. This is probably the reason why Cadillac eventually called it quits for the Cadillac Fleetwood. Other than its size and style, however, the Cadillac Fleetwood was a very impressive vehicle. And it should really be because it's a Cadillac.
Cadillac has been using the Fleetwood designation for its top of the line trims since the 1920s. The name was derived from the Fleetwood Metal Body, a coachbuilder that created many custom Cadillac bodies for the company in its early years. Among the notable vehicle models that used the designation were the Cadillac Series 60 Special Fleetwood and the Cadillac Series 70 Fleetwood.
The Fleetwood as a separate model designation, however, did not appear until the 1977 model year. The first generation Cadillac Fleetwood that was introduced in 1977 has actually two variants: the Cadillac Fleetwood Limousine, a four-door limousine in the D-Body platform, and the Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, available in 2-door coupe and 4-door sedan body configuration and fitted on the same D-Body platform.
Four more generations of the Cadillac Fleetwood were manufactured after the first, and each generation featured either a change in body style or a change in platform. Most significant among the changes occurred in 1985 for the Generation III Cadillac Fleetwood, when the vehicle shifted from D-Body to C-Body platform. The vehicle, however, would return to the C-Body platform for its final generation.
The Cadillac Fleetwood was manufactured until the 1996 model year and was dropped after then, Cadillac citing its outdated style for the vehicle model's eventual demise. But while the style of the final Cadillac Fleetwood was outdated, the Cadillac Fleetwood parts it was equipped with weren't. An example was the engine used for its final season, which was a 5.7-liter V8 that generates 260 horsepower and 335 lb-ft of torque, definitely up for competition against most other vehicles of the '90s.