CraigsList and another moment of weakness

I knew I should have stayed off of CraigsList.  Cruising around CL and what pops up in front of me is a 94 Fleetwood from FL, tucked away in VT.  No vinyl top, and only 91K.  I called the resident B & D hoarder, CT Dave.  As Dave has 14 B & D's, at last count, he's probably not the guy I should be calling asking if I should buy it.  Actually I had pretty much made up my mind.  Dave said look up the VI# and check if it has an "R1P" code, commercial chassis etc..  He said it probably doesn't.  It did, now I'm really salivating.

Gave it a good look over, body and interior in very good shape.  Engine ran good.  Drove it home, no issues.  Did notice a bearing noise coming from the rear, not that big of a deal.  Needs a few trinkets, but plenty of potential.

Tom

Here she is.

That's an awesome find!

Looks great, nice find indeed

Nice find. Would be perfect if it wasn't White

Thanks boys!  All in all pretty happy with it.  Right off the bat, the owner told me how much his wife disliked it.  I knew by that he would take less than what he was asking, and he did.

94Woody wrote:

Nice find. Would be perfect if it wasn't White

Even though it's white, I had to look the other way as it didn't have a vinyl top.

Tom

Score!

Congrats. A commercial caddy is a real find.
Check out the colour of the seat cushion. If it's green you now have the most comfortable seat of all the B and D cars.

Bill

Thanks Bill

Actually, I had the passenger seat apart to have some leather repaired. Was the usual yellow color foam w/ blue leather.

Tom

Nice. Ok so I feel dumb, what is the difference with it being a commercial chassis?

Heavy duty radiator and additional cooling for trans and power steering. I believe it is a heavier frame, suspension, 4 air shock, a heavy duty rear end and HD breaks.

John, until a month, I didn't know anything about them either. Dave from CT, told me to check the sticker in the trunk for R1P code; which it had and it says Commercial Chassis.

Still Learning

Any updates on what ales your wagon?

Tom

convert2diesel wrote:

Congrats.  A commercial caddy is a real find.
Check out the colour of the seat cushion.  If it's green you now have the most comfortable seat of all the B and D cars.

Bill

I just looked at the build sheet and it has an entry for heavy duty seat, maybe it does have what your are talking about:

A75 SPRING,SEAT FRONT,CUSHION AND BACK,HEAVY DUTY HVY DUTY FRT ST(A75)

Tom

what does the frame look like under the door area on your fleetwoods, as last month we had one come in for an oil change at where I work and I noticed that while it had the full frame the part that was under the doors was open, more like a conventional u channel frame rather then fully boxed.

The reason I'm asking is because both my 94 rmw and my 87 Pontiac Safari have fully boxed frames identical to each other but neither one has the commercial code or anything extra about the chassis, other then the tow package on my 94. So I was just wondering if the u channel section was for the normal non commercial chassis fleetwoods or maybe it's the other way around as all the metal lines on that Fleetwood where tucked into the frame instead of exposed under the floorboard.

Awesome find Tom. We can now start calling you the Cadillac Man. Oh and keep looking at Craigslist all you want...if you don't buy feel free to send leads my way

Hope all is well with you and yours and that your ready for Santa's visit.

goldwolfnhn wrote:

what does the frame look like under the door area on your fleetwoods, as last month we had one come in for an oil change at where I work and I noticed that while it had the full frame the part that was under the doors was open, more like a conventional u channel frame rather then fully boxed.

The reason I'm asking is because both my 94 rmw and my 87 Pontiac Safari have fully boxed frames identical to each other but neither one has the commercial code or anything extra about the chassis, other then the tow package on my 94. So I was just wondering if the u channel section was for the normal non commercial chassis fleetwoods or maybe it's the other way around as all the metal lines on that Fleetwood where tucked into the frame instead of exposed under the floorboard.

Not sure about the Cadillac but on 91-96 B bodies only the wagon has a boxed frame.

i know you didn't mention what you paid for it but it looks like a good one

Great find, indeed! Good luck fixing it.

convert2diesel wrote:

Congrats.  A commercial caddy is a real find.
Check out the colour of the seat cushion.  If it's green you now have the most comfortable seat of all the B and D cars.

Bill

Just wanted to follow up on Bills quote about the seat cushion color - what makes the green foam special. I am looking for ways to improve the comfort of my Caprice seats. The drivers seat at the very least has some very broken down foam, possibly more structural issues.

And that Caddy is definitely a great find!

Thanks,

Andrew

68JCode wrote:

Just wanted to follow up on Bills quote about the seat cushion color - what makes the green foam special.  I am looking for ways to improve the comfort of my Caprice seats.  The drivers seat at the very least has some very broken down foam, possibly more structural issues.

 And that Caddy is definitely a great find!

Thanks,

Andrew

Andrew:

The green foam is denser than the tan coloured cushions in your Caprice. The "Livery" optioned cars (funeral cars, limos, etc) typically had the green foam as it was more durable and didn't break down as quickly. The only downside, was the seat covers and the moldings were different so its not just a direct trade to make your current seats better. You also have to use the seat covers that came with the foam.

The best route is to hit your local pick and pull checking for the green foam and swap out both front seats.

Bill

Interesting - thanks for the quick response!