1961 Eldorado Concept Motorama Show Car

[76eldo]

You have really done a lot of work and improving on this car is a short period of time.

Seems like a great future article for the Self Starter.

Brian

[N Kahn]

Thanks for all your kind words.

You do nice work Nads.

Thank you.

Here's the trunk half polished so you can see the difference a little bit of sweat and labor can do. It ain't perfect but it looks presentable.

And here's the taillight bezels all taken apart and polished, these pieces are all unique to this car, everything shined up really nicely, all the metal pieces are handmade from brass and beautifully chromed.
This piece has "for Rodgers" engraved on the backside as well as the 50110 SO number

[Davidinhartford]

Looking good!     

[Walter Youshock]

Shame that wasn't adopted as the standard '61 taillight setup.  They REALLY make a difference.  Love the backup lamp between the stop lamps.

[N Kahn]

The little reflectors in the middle of the tail lamp trim are stock Stimsonite pieces. I had a heck of a time getting the lenses out of the buckets, I don't think they were ever taken out. I'm gonna clean out the housings and install them today, I think they'll look so much better.
I really need to get the car up on a lift and pressure was the decades of mud and dirt off the underside, it's got what looks like clay on everything, is there clay in the Traverse City Michigan area?

[N Kahn]

Here the lenses are all polished up and installed, not bad for 4 hours work and zero dollar expenditure.

[Davidinhartford]

WOW!     Looks like new!   

[dadscad]

I'll repeat what David Smith said.....WOW!!... A stunning improvement. That is one lucky car, to have fallen into your possession. Amazing what a little TLC will do. 

Thank you so much, for sharing with us.

David

[DeVille68]

That's exactly what I always say. The old-car-hobby essentially is: take things apart, clean it and put it back together!   

By the way: nice chrome! What product do you use?

Here in Switzerland, I use a product called "Mellerud" (www.mellerud.de). It works very well. I use a old fine cotton cloth to massage the compound into the surface, and then just wipe it of with a clean cotton cloth.

[N Kahn]

That's exactly what I always say. The old-car-hobby essentially is: take things apart, clean it and put it back together!   

By the way: nice chrome! What product do you use?

Here in Switzerland, I use a product called "Mellerud" (www.mellerud.de). It works very well. I use a old fine cotton cloth to massage the compound into the surface, and then just wipe it of with a clean cotton cloth.

It was all machine buffed and then sealed with wax.

[N Kahn]

I don't know if I shoulda done this but I did, too late now. I took a good look at the cracked lacquer on the wood and realized that it was actually pretty good underneath, no splitting or anything, well one little chunk missing out of the passenger side.
The lacquer dissolved really easily with lacquer thinner and after a slight sanding I masked it up and painted it with Deft nitrocellulose lacquer which you can still get at Lowes.
I think it came out pretty good, I know it's not original anymore but would you not do an easy fix like this?
Check out the door pulls, man are they gorgeous.

[N Kahn]

I just picked up my bumper from Spacecoast Plating, as usual their work is impeccable.

[Walter Youshock]

GORGEOUS!  Good turn-around time, too.  Would you be willing to share about how much they charged?  It's been a long time since I had any chrome work done and doubt I could even afford it today.

One thing about plating--once you start, it's very hard to stop!  One new piece like that and everything else may seem out of place.  This being as custom as it is, it looks like the original plating was done to even higher than normal Cadillac standards.  Your taillights look perfect.

[N Kahn]

$750, which is only about $100 more than they charged for my much smaller and lighter one piece California 59 Chevy.

[Walter Youshock]

That's fairly reasonable.  I think I paid around $800 for the entire 4-piece bumper on my '57 and that was a good 15 years ago.  And it had a dent that needed to be repaired as well. 

Can't wait to see this car in person someday.

[N Kahn]

I'm sure it woulda been double that if they had to fix the rust holes and the crack. They trust my work but most of the time they won't plate outside repairs.

[INTMD8]

Looks awesome! Chrome work appears to be excellent. I can see no waves or grinding marks, just looks liquid :-)

[Barry]

Beautiful work ! I look forward to every new progress report !

[N Kahn]

My friend Eric who runs Paragon Customs in Orlando made these stainless cones which are the basis for replicating the original hubcaps that were on my Caddy when it was first built, he did it from nothing but a foam core model and a simple drawing, he is quite skilled.

[N Kahn]

I was up until 11:30 last night detailing and getting all the lights to work, it was worth it, this car hasn't been this shiny and tarnish free in 30 years. All the wood is relacquered and protected. I wish I had time to get the top redone but I don't and it's not something I want to tackle myself.