1978 Hillcrest Fleetwood Limo

Today’s Cadillac Story comes from Bruce from Shaky Christchurch, New Zealand

I had wanted a Cadillac for forty years, and finally had the means to buy one in 2003. While looking for a ’58 Fleetwood and surfing sites, I spotted this ’78 on EBay, and ”had” to have it.

The car got lost twice during shipping out to New Zealand, so took about 6 months to arrive. Christmas eve 2004, we opened the container and found redbacks and webs everywhere, shut the doors, and called the fumigators. Bought from a seller in Nevada, on a few long distance photos, I’m thinking ‘what have I done’. But all was ok and just a sunburnt exterior and cracked vinyl top. My son took 4 days to make the hood respectable, and I spent similar time on the top, with ‘no more gaps’ and silver paint which exactly matches the original color.

Well, 6 years now and she’s yet to see polish or interior cleaning. Starts first time and never misses a beat. Only gets taken out on club days or the occasional wedding. An absolute head-turning attention grabber everywhere she goes.

The only thing I’ve had to attend to was a welch plug that leaked and a new fuel pump. The mileage increased now from 95000 to 98000.
I call her the ‘Long Cool Woman’, as in the Hollies song, ” Just one look, I was a bad mess, the long cool woman had it all…..’

The silver pin striping was shot, so I’ve had it redone in mulberry and cream to match the badge coloring. With a little added flourish, you know, to say it’s mine.

The Hillcrest origin intrigues me and I’d love to hear from anyone with any knowledge either of the car’s Bel Air history, or anything on Hillcrest themselves. You never know, someone may recognize it in the photo. bruceej@ihug.co.nz

We get immense enjoyment out of this car, well beyond expectation. Somehow has also escaped damage through our now, 8000 plus earthquakes.

Thanks Bruce for sending in the pictures and for sharing your Cadillac story. If you want to see your Cadillac here and share your story click on the share your story. Include as much details as you wish. No story is too long, our readers love details.