Fleetwood Metal Body was an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 coachbuilder

Coachbuilder

A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...

. The name derives from Fleetwood, Pennsylvania

Fleetwood, Pennsylvania

Fleetwood is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,085 at the 2010 census. It was home to the Fleetwood Metal Body company, an automobile coachbuilder purchased by Fisher Body and integrated into General Motors in 1931...

, home of the company at the start, and lived on for decades in the form of the Cadillac Fleetwood

Cadillac Fleetwood

Lawrence P. Fisher was the Fisher brother most closely involved with Cadillac in its early years. In 1916 he joined the Fisher Body Company which had been formed by two of his brothers in 1908. Larry was one of four of the seven Fisher brothers who brought Fisher Body Corporation under the General...

 and various Fleetwood trim lines on Cadillac cars.

The company was formed on April 1, 1909. It was a top-tier producer of metal and wood automobile bodies. Fleetwood bodies graced cars owned by Royalty of India and Japan, American presidents, and screen stars like Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...

. Fleetwood produced bodies on chassis from Bentley, Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

, Chadwick

Chadwick

Chadwick is an English surname of Anglo-Saxon/Norse origin, it is a combination of the modernised Old English given name Ceadda, and the anglicised Old Norse word vík which was introduced into England by Scandinavian settlers.* Chadwick, Illinois...

, Daniels, Duesenberg

Duesenberg

Duesenberg was an Auburn, Indiana based American luxury automobile company active in various forms from 1913 to 1937, most famous for its high-quality passenger cars and record-breaking racing cars.-History:...

, Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

, Isotta Fraschini, Lincoln

Lincoln (automobile)

Lincoln is an American luxury vehicle brand of the Ford Motor Company. Lincoln vehicles are sold mostly in North America.-History:The company was founded in August 1915 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac . During World War I, he left Cadillac which was sold to General Motors...

, Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

, Packard

Packard

Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...

, Pierce-Arrow

Pierce-Arrow

Pierce-Arrow was an American automobile manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, which was active from 1901-1938. Although best known for its expensive luxury cars, Pierce-Arrow also manufactured commercial trucks, fire trucks, camp trailers, motorcycles, and bicycles.-Early history:The forerunner...

, Reading, Rolls Royce, SGV, and Stutz

Stutz Motor Company

The Stutz Motor Company was a producer of luxury cars based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Production began in 1911 and continued through 1935. The marque reappeared in 1968 under the aegis of Stutz Motor Car of America, Inc., and with a newly defined modern retro-look. Although the company is...

.

Fleetwood was purchased by Fisher Body

Fisher Body

Fisher Body is an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan; it is now an operating division of General Motors Company...

 in 1925, moved to Detroit, and integrated into General Motors in 1931. Similar to LeBaron

LeBaron

LeBaron may mean:* LeBaron Incorporated, a car design and body builder established in 1920* Chrysler LeBaron, a car model produced by Chrysler* Eddie LeBaron, a former professional American football player...

, Fleetwood continued to build bespoken bodies for several years, mainly for Cadillac. In the early 1930s Fleetwood bodied Cadillacs often wear a sweep panel across cowl and hood. After 1934 and before Fleetwood was made a model name of Cadillac, it was responsible for elaborate detailing on expensive Cadillac with standard bodies.

External links

• Fleetwood Historical Society