1961 Eldorado Concept Motorama Show Car

[Bill Hedge CLC 14424]

Very nice photos.  Your daughter has talent!

Bill Hedge

[76eldo]

Nice work.  I just noticed that the tail lights were deleted from the fin and filled in.  You really found a great car.

Brian

[N Kahn]

The 8.20-15 US Royal bias ply narrow whitewalls are on, the car drives like a dream now, and looks a zillion times better too.

[Barry]

Looks GREAT with the new tires !

[N Kahn]

Here's a couple of pics of the neato back up lights, they come when the gear lever is in reverse whether the ignition is on or not.

[Barry]

Absolutely love this car , and your willingness to share it with us !

[veesixteen]

Nadeem, might I ask if the car is equipped with automatic door locks? The 1959 and 1960 cars already had that option. In 1959 they were operated by an electric motor and there was a small "lightning bolt" decorating the top surface of the door knobs. In 1960 the locks were vacuum operated (my 1960 Eldorado had that option).  Lovely car!

[N Kahn]

Veesixteen, yes it has power door locks, they don't work, I think they're vacuum operated, there's no lightning bolt on the switch.

[LA213]

hi ...need help ..  i love the one you made for your car .... can you help me get one for my car ...window sticker price label  or a Monroney Label window sticker  ... please let  me  know  thanks  Albert Rios ....anything you can get me  will be helpful thank you (626) 672-8462 cell pone or email back thanks or  at least lead me in the right direction do do it my self  or if  you can do it  i would really appreciate it .. thanks .. 1990  Cadillac Sedan DeVille

[N Kahn]

LA123, I think you posted this on the wrong thread

Progress as of today, I hope Spacecoast can get my bumper plated quickly

I removed the front bumper to fix the split in it, I also found a rust hole in it, the brackets to hold side lights in place are rotted out but they'll be easy to replicate. The fiberglass lower bumper needs a lot of work, I have to strengthen the bonded in steel mounts and fix many cracks from being hit.
The grille will have to be removed and taken apart completely to straighten in, it's pretty complicated but I think it's repairable.

[N Kahn]

Got my eyebrow moldings back from Spacecoast Plating, they look pretty good even the one I made from scratch, there's a couple of divots and blemishes, but they're in the areas that are gonna be painted so I can prime and putty them smooth.









They picked up my bumper too, I worked on the fiberglass lower bumper, I fiberglassed all the damaged areas, the old chrome peeled right off but it was sharp like a razor blade, I got lots of cuts, I shoulda worn gloves.









This bumper's off to Paul's Chrome in Pa, they do plastic and fiberglass, I don't how this process works, I'd love to know.

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Nadeen,

Most likely they use some variation of vapor metal deposition  (aluminum?). Much like what’s done for the chrome parts on plastic model cars and plastic interior trim in newer cars.  I suspect there are additional steps afterwards to protect the surface.

I sent  several pot metal pieces to Spacecoast for repair and plating. They sound like an upstanding operation…….I’ll know more when the parts return. Thanks for the contact information.

Ralph

[N Kahn]

Ralph, you won't be sorry, they are top notch.

The copper on the bumper is very thick, as thick as an aluminum can, at one time I'm sure that it was firmly adhered to the fiberglass, which appears to have just plain primer on it. I think when the bumper was hit water and water vapor worked its way up underneath the copper making it easy to peel off in sheets, you can see green tell tale copper corrosion veins all over. I'm hoping it comes back looking good, I have never used Paul's before but they have a solid reputation and one of only a few places in the US that will tackle fiberglass.

I'm dreading the quote from Spacecoast for the upper bumper, man it's huge.

[N Kahn]

This car's like an archeological dig, I removed the outer headlight buckets, both of which are damaged and when I looked at the bulb retaining ring I found that SO# stamped on the backside 50110, yup this is fer sure that car.

You can see how crudely constructed the backs of the buckets are, there's holes everywhere, there's no specific hardware it's all, whatever was laying around was used. The right side bucket had its bottom part broken off but luckily it was in the trunk of the car, I've started fixing all the pieces then I'll send them off to get rechromed, the inner buckets and all four rings are in perfect condition.

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Nadeem- if I ever decide to play the lottery, I'm using the numbers 5-0-1-1-0! 

[76eldo]

Judging by the work you are doing and what you are posting, it really seems like this gem fell into some very capable hands.

Really doing a great job.  This should be a feature in the Self Starter.

Brian

[N Kahn]

Headlight buckets are repaired and ready to be shipped to Paul's Chrome,  these were a pain, I got all new studs welded on, I hope they come out looking good, I still don't know how they chrome fiberglass. The grille is a real mess, the vertical bars are so thin they're bending, I think I'm going to have sacrifice them and come up with a plan to put thicker bars at the back of the grille to tie everything together.

[N Kahn]

Seeing as how I have the front end apart I decided I might as well fix the two small rusted ares in the front fender tips, I'm just going to blend the paint it shouldn't be very noticeable repair because of where it is.

[N Kahn]

On to the grill, I cut the bar down the center but not all the way through and had it welded back to it's right contour. Now it will fit the center support properly. Note how bent and tweaked the vertical bars are, there's 17 of them total, I'm thinking of making them in stainless steel so they're stronger than soft aluminum.
Look at how the bars were kept in place by cross drilling across the horizontal bars and driving a pin in the hole. All complicated stuff.
There's another aluminum strip in a brushed finish that goes over the center bar, the hammer marks will be covered up.

Wish me luck with this piece.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Nadeem,

This vehicle is surely in the best hands available.

These "one-off" constructions saw the builders doing a lot of different things, and looking deeper into the way they did these things, one can only appreciate what lengths they went to to create these masterpieces.

They were never designed to be repaired, as in normal repair practices, and you are proving to be the master of alternative repairing.

Bruce.