Blue Mistress (55 FW)

[Caddy Wizard]

That's awesome Art good to see her home. Now the fun begins. Are you pleased with the results?

Regards,
Bob Kielar

Mostly.  There are some minor issues.  Overall the car looks fantastic.


There are some places where "trash" (dust or dirt) got in the paint while wet and those haven't been adequately sanded out and buffed.  Then there is an issue on the trunk.  Many years ago, someone must have added a nameplate or something to the lower left part of the trunk and drilled two holes for the nameplate.  Later, someone must have removed the nameplate and filled in the holes with body filler and then painted the trunk.  My painter stripped the whole car to bare metal.  They removed the filler from the two non-factory holes and then left the holes intact when they painted the car.  So the trunk has two little holes that need to be filled and the paint touched up.  I would add a photo, but the Forum is not letting me do that right now... 

[Caddy Wizard]

First picture shows a pair of non-factory holes in the lower left part of the trunk lid.  Those will have to be dealt with.


Paint is Cobalt Blue Poly over Ruskin Blue.  A factory color combo for 55, although this particular car came in all Ruskin Blue from the factory.  Very pretty color combo to me.  The top is painted in two-stage urethane (base coat with clear coat) to protect the metallic paint.  Bottom is single-stage urethane for ease of making minor touch-up repairs for scratches and door dings.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

Art she's beautiful!  As for the two holes...why not find a cool vintage dealers plate to place there.  Gives the car character.  My 66 has one from Davenport, IA that looks like its almost new.

[Lexi]

First picture shows a pair of non-factory holes in the lower left part of the trunk lid.  Those will have to be dealt with.

Lovely colour combination. Those non-factory holes would bug me non-stop until fixed. Clay/Lexi

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Aren't those lower holes part of the V emblem?

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

Aren't those lower holes part of the V emblem?

Bruce.

  He's referring to the holes on the lower left corner of the lid, typically where the dealer would attach their name plates.

 Art,
 How are you going to cover those? Or are you going to attach a name plate as well?

 Rick

 PS, that's going to be a beautiful car, wish mine was that far along.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I thought that those holes would be for chrome pieces that are factory.   The holes don't look like simple drilled holes.

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

I thought that those holes would be for chrome pieces that are factory.  The holes don't look like simple drilled holes.

Bruce.

I'm not sure, but I think you aren't blowing up the picture far enough, or you're looking at the wrong holes.
Here's his picture with the holes circled. They are really small.
The reason they don't look drilled is because the lid was painted after the holes were made. At least that's what I think you meant by your comment.

Rick

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Thanks Rick,

Thanks for the clarification.   Definitely didn't see those.

A real pity they weren't "fixed" before painting.

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

Thanks Rick,

Thanks for the clarification.   Definitely didn't see those.

A real pity they weren't "fixed" before painting.

Bruce.

 I would agree, but maybe he's got a dealer tag/label that will fit the holes. Otherwise it's a good place for a bumper sticker, lol!

 All joking aside, Art, how will you fix this without having to repaint the lid again?
 Best of luck to you with your reassembly.

 Rick

[Caddy Wizard]

He's referring to the holes on the lower left corner of the lid, typically where the dealer would attach their name plates.

 Art,
 How are you going to cover those? Or are you going to attach a name plate as well?

 Rick

 PS, that's going to be a beautiful car, wish mine was that far along.

The holes are so small that I think I can take a tiny amount of the leftover paint, add some hardener to it, and apply one drop at a time to the holes.  It should fill in.  Then sand and buff.  Essentially, using some hardened paint as a tiny amount of filler. I think one or two drops of paint should be sufficient for each hole.

To do it, I'll open the deck lid so that this surface is horizontal so that the drop of paint won't run down the panel.  I'll put some masking tape on the back side (assuming I can get to that from behind) to keep the paint from just dripping through.

[Cadman-iac]

The holes are so small that I think I can take a tiny amount of the leftover paint, add some hardener to it, and apply one drop at a time to the holes.  It should fill in.  Then sand and buff.  Essentially, using some hardened paint as a tiny amount of filler. I think one or two drops of paint should be sufficient for each hole.

To do it, I'll open the deck lid so that this surface is horizontal so that the drop of paint won't run down the panel.  I'll put some masking tape on the back side (assuming I can get to that from behind) to keep the paint from just dripping through.

 Very ingenious idea, I like that! Gotta remember that one if I ever run into the same situation. Most clever indeed!
 Thanks for sharing that.

  Rick

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Yes, very ingenious.   But, don't remove the masking tape too soon as it could pull the filler out backwards.   Let is simply degrade off over time.

Bruce.

[Roger Zimmermann]

The idea may be good, but too risky. You must have a solid base, otherwise you may have disapointment with temperature changes.
Why not glue two tiny brass (or steel) plates at the lid's back and then apply the paint? If you are gluing the plates with bondo, a bit bondo in the holes will not harm. On the contrary, less paint will be needed.

[Cadman-iac]

  Something else to consider is the shrinkage of the paint over time.
 I'm not sure if the newer products are less susceptible to this or not.
 And wouldn't you have to at least scuff the paint within the holes in order to get better bondage to the existing paint?

 Rick

[Caddy Wizard]

The Blue Mistress has come home from the paint shop after 16 months. Now comes the big, tedious task of reassembly, which is tougher on a Fleetwood than a regular Cadillac.

Have cleaned up the underside of the rear half of the body. Have started polishing the 24 rear hash marks (I didn't rechrome these to save about $1200). Reassembling the rear bumper.

Lots of work to go...

[Caddy Wizard]

Working on installing and adjusting the rear bumper assembly.  It is more complicated and subtle than you might imagine.  I have already installed the thing and removed it a few times.  Probably have a couple more installs to go before I have it adjusted just right.


First, we roughly installed the rear bumper. Left bumper end fit nicely against the body, while right one was jutting out laterally. Removed and installed the bumper a few more times and tried different adjustments, to no improvement. Finally determined that the right bumper end was not the original. It was an extra. So we swapped the original one for the extra and voila', the end fits snugly!

It makes me wonder if bumper parts were matched to one another to achieve the best fitment.

You can adjust the orientation of the bumper ends relative to the center bar, a little bit. And because the top and fronts of the bumper ends are a long way from the pivot point (the 4 bolt semicircle attachment of the ends to the center bar), even slight rotation of the ends relative to the center bar makes significant changes in how the ends line up with the quarter panel.

I'm planning to pull the bumper back off and loosen those 4 smallish bolts and reinstall the bumper. Then I will get the bumper ends in the best position and tighten the big bolts on the diagonal braces. Then remove the bumper and tighten the 4 smaller bolts. Then reinstall. I think this will give the best results.

BTW, before sending the bumper off for replating, we welded in new plates inside the ends.  The plates hold the rubber grommet that the tail pipe extends through. These plates are often rusted to nothing.  I also cleaned up the stainless inserts (trumpets) that push in from the outside of the bumper end and are held in place by a rubber donut secured by a sheet metal ring with inwardly pointing teeth.  While someone holds the trumpet in place, you slip the rubber donut over the trumpet and up against the inside of the bumper end.  Then push the toothed plate in tight (it works like a giant speed clip).

[Caddy Wizard]

More rear bumper pics...

[David King (kz78hy)]

I had a mystery rubber part when I bought stuff for my car.  In Sept. I helped Rick Payton retrieve a parts car that had been stored inside for 50 years.  A very solid car.  I  noticed this bumper shield and how it was supposed to go so I took some photos so I could remember.  I thought I would post here for reference as well.  Seems an odd execution to me.

[Roger Zimmermann]

Those rubber parts are in the parts list under group 11.0804; in your case 55-6267SX #1463316 2 pieces, rear bumper ends.