Don Bluhm found his 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood 60 Special five years ago in Hershey, Pa.

Photos by Ronald Ahrens | For AnnArbor.com

The Cadillac Division of General Motors enjoyed a series of record years in the late 1960s, and production during the 1969 calendar year exceeded 250,000 units. Yet the factory continued its customary practice of issuing some very limited editions.

So even as President Richard Nixon was sworn in for his first term, and as the counterculture began to emphasize a back-to-nature movement, Cadillac stayed true to its heritage, building a few dignified, upright, enormous cars for elite members of society who weren’t affected by the tumult spreading around them.

The 1969 Fleetwood 60 Special owned by Don Bluhm of Belleville is an outstanding example.

Bluhm displayed his stately car on Sunday during the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival. Many who encountered it, like Ypsilanti resident Chris Holoka, had rarely seen such a large automobile.

“It’s fantastic,” Holoka said before taking a seat behind the steering wheel. “The sheer size of it is so impressive, which is a different direction than the car companies are going today.”

He said he hadn’t been in a truly large car since riding in his own grandfather’s station wagon.

Indeed, at 228.5 inches in length, the 60 Special stretches 83 inches—nearly seven feet—beyond the tailgate of a Mini Cooper. The new Ford Fiesta sedan is 55 inches shorter than the 60 Special.

Woodgrain inserts accent the interior.

Priced at $6,779, the stately 60 Special was an exclusive offering and represented only about 1 percent of Cadillac’s overall build.

The even larger Fleetwood 75 was usually chauffeur-driven.

Bluhm’s black Caddy is clad with bright metal trim along the lower body. The interior’s upholstery of brocaded black cloth receives leather accents on the armrests. The front seats are outfitted with the head restraints that became mandatory for all cars on Jan. 1, 1969.

Assembled in the Fleetwood Body plant at 261 W. End Ave. (at West Fort Street) in Detroit, the body was dropped onto the frame in the Clark Street assembly plant.

Power came from the relaxed 472-cubic-inch (7.7-liter) V-8 that ran with exceptional quietness, thanks to hydraulically operated valves. The engine produced 375 horsepower. This output was managed by a Turbo-Hydramatic four-speed automatic transmission, manufactured at GM’s Willow Run facility.

A longtime Cadillac enthusiast whose first example of the make was a 1940 Series 60, Bluhm, once the security director for Detroit Edison, found this sedan five years ago in its original black paint and upholstery at a car corral at Hershey, Pa.

The purchase price, which he preferred not to publicly reveal, was significantly less than an entry-level, Japanese sport motorcycle.

The big black sedan had only about 54,000 miles on the odometer and was running great. The car spent most of its life in New Jersey but shows no evidence of exposure to wintertime road salt.

A mechanic changed the engine’s timing chain and its drive gear before Bluhm’s recent trip to New Mexico. He and his wife Doris, along with two grandchildren, participated in the Veteran Motor Car Club of America ‘s Chrome Glidden Tour, which started in Taos, N.M.

“The car rode like a dream. It was extremely hot out, but the A/C worked good and kept us comfortable,” he said.

But he found himself surprised when asked whether the car belonged to the Kennedy era.

It seems obvious that the Kennedy and Nixon eras are separated by far more than 228.5 inches of Cadillac.

Bluhm displays the owner's manual. It tells that the 60 Special is 228.5 inches long.