The infamous 1976 Fleetwood Talisman that took me from Columbus to Nashville to Houston is for sale on eBay. And just like before, if you buy it and you’re located in the 48 states, I will drive it to you and cover my own flights. (As usual, there are exemptions and conditions that apply.)
Short-time readers who don’t remember the Fleetwood can catch up here. Somebody please buy this: it’s a brilliant car, restored by a man who valued results over cost, and it’s personally important to me.
I like it a lot.
Post it in BAT!
If I only had the money…
Can someone please explain to me the significance of the yellow line on Cadillac tires? I’m sure it’s of some importance but it looks ugly as hell to me.
The yellow-line tires are made by Vogue. I don’t know much about their history but their primary appeal lately is to retirees and the donk/box/bubble crowd.
As applied on Cadillac, the small yellow, secondary whitewall, indicates that the tire is equipped with . Royal Seal was a kind of self-sealing tire. It was only on the most expensive tires offered by Uniroyal, and maybe others.
Vogue has likely copied the look, but may not be using the self-sealing membrane.
Thank you for a better answer than I had!
Thanks Tomko! I figured it was a symbolic throwback to some feature it used to represent. But since I have no memories of Royal Seal or Uniroyal, to my eyes it just clashes terribly with the cars I’ve seen them on.
Royal Seal tires had a layer of soft, sticky rubber lining the inside of the tire in the tread region. the theory was that anything puncturing the tire would have the soft lining “flow” around the penetrating object and seal it; or if what punctured the tire didn’t stay in it would flow into and seal the hole.
my “best” memory of a Royal Seal tire is when someone came in complaining of a horrible vibration while driving. after finding the offending wheel, we also found it impossible to balance. dismounting the tire, I found a huge, congealed shiny black ball of muck inside.
Apparently what had happened was that this wheel had a slow leak (around the rim or valve stem, can’t remember) and since the owner thought he never needed to check the air pressure, he drove around forever with this tire being severely low. The resultant heat buildup melted the Royal Seal liner and after parking it all flowed down and collected at the bottom of the tire.
Love the car, but won’t be buyhing it.
Jack, it’s sad that G&L’s artist list doesn’t have you on it. WTF?
If only I had the garage space, and could still drive…
Is the music in the header rotation a bit of foreshadowing?
He’s the Duke, A number one
Hopefully will be bought by someone with a proper Garage to keep it in whenver it’s not being driven .
-Nate
I hope this grand old car finds a loving home. It has an interesting history, plus a presence that no modern car I can think of matches. Like it or not, it’s an emblem of its time in full unapologetic glory.
Jack could sell a guitar or two for it. I’d bet on it appreciating more. Or he could just buy it to store more guitars and motorcycles in.
It is absolutely gorgeous. I’m sure my SF garage neighbors would love trying to dodge those fins with their Prius bubbles in the morning. . .
Love the Townes van Zant references today in the DG piece. I’m jealous that your bride loves motorsport. I’m hoping to nurture some interest in motorcycles on my wife’s part. Guns would work too.
Damn, thought I was in the round up. Whoops. Wish I had the garage space. I had a 77 coupe DeVille with the asthmatic 425. Wonderful car until it blew the rear main seal on the highway and cooked everything.
In a strange coincidence, someone just posted a picture of the cover of Blue Oyster Cult’s album ‘On Your Feet Or On Your Knees’ on Facebook. Are they the same cars?
that’s a Series Seventy-Five, the LWB commercial car.
The Talisman had the interior of the Seventy-Five in the standard Fleetwood wheelbase.
So jealous of whomever ends up with it. But it won’t be me.
From front concrete wall to garage door, my garage is at least two feet shorter than this. I had to destroy some built-ins to get even my Lexus to fit, which it does by about six inches.
I just linked to this over at The Brougham Society, in case someone there is interested.
Jack, your old review of the Talisman is one of my favorite pieces of automotive writing. You knocked that one out of the park.
Like the other guy from the Bay Area, I would delight in piloting that behemoth to work among the Lexus SUVs and Priuses. Sadly, there is no place to park it. I hope it finds a good home.
I thought you would want it for yourself, if given the chance!
Did it sell for 6 grand? That’s a great price for a lot of car
A little more than that, but not so much more that I wouldn’t have paid that much if I’d known it could be had.