These have got to be owned by the same guy. I mean, this car is not exactly known for its longevity. It has its fans I'm sure, but not enough that two guys on the same block would own one. Both of these are the 1984 or 1985 model. One's a stick, the other automatic.
I'd like to see the reaction of the GM guys who built this car if I could go back in time and tell them that in just 12 years, they'd be selling a Cadillac that made only 88 horsepower. That would be the infamous Cadillac Cimarron. This Fleetwood however packs a 472 c.i. V-8 that makes 375 horsepower. The biggest, most luxurious American car made in the second half of the twentieth century started at $7,284 or about $57,000 in 2023 dollars. (You know, that's not really that expensive. The cheapest Chevy Suburban you can buy costs that much today.)
Cadillac's top of the line included a dizzying array of magic carpet ride features. For instance, "The front suspension used upper and lower control arms with a new integral steering knuckle for greater dependability and longer life. It had independent helical coil springs, rubber mounted strut rods and rubber bushings to isolate road noise as they absorbed impact. The rear suspension was set-up to accommodate the Automatic Level Control network. The rear suspension used the Cadillac four-link drive system, helical coil springs and large rubber bushings to improve ride quality."
When I was a kid, I remember seeing this truck with its bizarre plastic
jump seats in the bed, and thinking, "They've got to be kidding." Yeah,
they actually were kidding. Subaru's expectation was not that Americans
were clamoring to ride in hard plastic seats in the back of pickup
trucks.
Those seats are back there to beat the Chicken Tax. As we discussed in my post about Volkswagen Type 2 trucks,
in 1964 in response to a European tariff on American poultry the US
introduced retaliatory tariffs including a 25% tariff on light trucks.
By bolting seats in the bed, Subaru was able to classify the BRAT as a
passenger car. By the way, BRAT is an acronym for, "Bi-drive Recreational All-Terrain Transporter."
