FLEETWOOD TALISMAN!

I have been a Cadillac fanatic for about a year now. I thought it was time to dump my Dodge Truck. It was reliable, just couldn't get Dodge to fix it right the first time. I was just ready for a smooth ride. The kind of ride only an American "Land Yacht" could provide, a CADILLAC! I searched the country for a mid-70s Cadillac, I wanted the largest post WWII Cadillac made. This size limited me to 74 through 76. During the discovery phase of my Caddiction I found the 74 to 76 Talisman. The most luxurious Cadillac of all time! It seemed logical (for a Caddaholic) to buy a Talisman. So the search was on. I found a couple of really nice cars, all promising, none of them were Talismans. I needed a low mileage daily driver, so a Talisman was not a forgone conclusion due to its rarity. But I found one!, a 74 Talisman in dark blue with 63k on clock. Joe Gildea with the CML graciously offered his time and inspected the car. His report sounded like a winner. For further coverage I had National Arbitration look over the mechanicals in detail, their report was equally positive. So I bought the car for $4800 (Yeah, I know Joe, I'm a lousy negotiator...) and had it delivered to Tampa, Florida.

This is the picture I found of the car on Classifieds2000. I found it on accident, I had been looking for 75 and 76 Fleetwoods, and happened to type in 74. To my surprise I found a 74 Talisman in Boston.

Here are the inspection pictures from National Arbitration. The rust in the pictures was reported by Joe in greater detail and National Arbitration provided by the Pics. Rust is always disheartning, but I don't think this is too bad.

inspect_backseats.jpg
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inspect_front23.jpg
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inspect_frontseats.jpg
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inspect_rear23.jpg
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inspect_rearwindowrust.jpg
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inspect_toprust.jpg
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I need to time the car soon, it's off judging by the muffler. While the car was at Allied a few days ago for an estimate I took some pics of the under carriage, I don't get the opportunity to get a full view while not laying down very often. The pics are below.

oil_exha_leak.jpg
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oil_leak.jpg
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popped_muff.jpg
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popped_muff2.jpg
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resonator.jpg
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Repairs and restorations

BRAKES!!!

A/C & Pulley FUN!!! Last Edited (08/12/2001)

Silencing the speedometer

Rust Repair