Cadillac Brougham: the last body-on-frame Cadillac

The Cadillac Brougham was a full-size, rear-wheel-drive luxury car sold for the 1987 to 1992 model years. It was the former Fleetwood Brougham with the word Fleetwood dropped from its name, and it kept the traditional body-on-frame construction that coachbuilders relied on for stretched limousines.

Cadillac Brougham at a glance

Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Brougham.

History of the Cadillac Brougham

The Brougham name goes back to a horse-drawn carriage for two to four people, named after the British statesman Henry Brougham. Cadillac first used it in 1916 for an enclosed five-to-seven-passenger sedan body, and in the 1930s for a formal body with an open chauffeur compartment. It returned on the 1955 Eldorado Brougham show car, then on the four-door Eldorado Brougham of 1957-1960, and from 1965 as an option package on the Sixty Special before becoming a subseries of the Fleetwood Sixty Special.

From Fleetwood Brougham to Brougham

When the Sixty Special series was retired in 1977, the Fleetwood Brougham took its place as Cadillac’s largest owner-driven sedan, and it was sold under that name through 1986. In 1987 the word Fleetwood was dropped, leaving just Brougham, so that the rear-wheel-drive car would no longer be confused with the front-wheel-drive Fleetwood introduced in 1985. The optional d’Elegance package, with button-tufted seating and rear-seat reading lamps, stayed on the list. Otherwise the 1987 car was the same as the 1986 model.

1990 facelift and the end

The car was built at the Clark Street plant in Detroit, then at Arlington, Texas, from 1988 to 1992; a few early 1988 cars came from Detroit Assembly before it closed in December 1987. A 1990 facelift, the first since 1980, brought a digital instrument cluster, composite headlamps, flush bumper mouldings and an optional Chevrolet 350 V8. Door-mounted front seatbelts became standard that year, and the Brougham remained the only Cadillac without a driver’s airbag. For 1991 a fuel-injected Chevrolet V8 replaced the Oldsmobile unit, and 1992 brought no major changes. The model was replaced by the 1993 rear-wheel-drive Cadillac Fleetwood.

Design and features

• Body-on-frame construction: the last of its kind at Cadillac, and popular with coachbuilders making stretched limousines.
• Grille changes: a cross-hatch grille in 1987-1988, a vertical-slat grille for 1989.
• d’Elegance trim: the luxury package carried over from the Fleetwood era.
• No airbag: the Brougham was the last Cadillac sold without a driver’s airbag.

Cadillac Brougham versions

• 1987-1989: Oldsmobile 307 V8, cross-hatch or vertical-slat grille.
• 1990: facelift with digital instruments, composite headlamps and optional Chevrolet 350.
• 1991-1992: fuel-injected Chevrolet V8 with 170 hp, or 185 hp for the 350.
• d’Elegance: the best-equipped trim, with tufted seating and reading lamps.

The Brougham sat above the front-wheel-drive de Ville in the range, and it was replaced by the Fleetwood. More Cadillacs are in the Cadillac collection.

Video: 1991 Cadillac Brougham 5.7L Start Up, Exhaust, and In Depth Review

Video by Saabkyle04 on YouTube.

Sources

• Cadillac Brougham, English Wikipedia: history, production, engines, equipment