Carl 61 Fleetwood Phyllis

[Clewisiii]

That actually went faster then I thought. 1.5 hours in total.   I started lifting and realised I forgot one body mount.  So it had to go back down.   Working alone this is a little dangerous.  I lifted both ends enough to put the rotisserie ends on.  I then lifted the frame and put the rotisserie center bar in.  I then took the wheels off on one side and slowly slide the frame out sideways.  Only 1 inch of clearance so it was a lot of back and forth sliding.  Now to clean all the dust and dirt.

I have to admit I nearly made a mistake. I started rotating the body before I realized I forgot to put nuts on the front mounts.

[Clewisiii]

I don't know how it is possible. But another one of these fell out of my car. 

I sand blasted everything.   Spent hours with an extension on an air blower blowing out every body cavity I could find. I spun this thing in circles on the rotisserie last time over a hundred times to help shake everything out of the body.  And the first time spinning upside down this time another one fell out. 

It really bugs me how much clean up I am going to need to do because of the racoons.  There are even areas of my ceramic painted frame along the firewall and front section that have rusted. 

[Clewisiii]

It still amazing to me that this car is sitting on the same tires from 1976 when it was parked. One of the tires is actually the original spare.  I have not put air in them for two years. 

When I went to look at the car originally I brought two tanks of air with me and asked the seller if I could try to air them up And look under the car.   I came back a week later to pick it up and all but one tire was still holding air.  That is the one I switched out with the original spare still in the trunk.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

No matter how much we try to clean out, stuff will always appear from somewhere.

I had a car media-blasted at the request of the owner, and even the body was totally stripped, and cleaned out afterwards, many times, blown out, vacuumed out, and shaken, powder is still finding its' way out of crevices and onto the carpet.

I am still finding bugs nests in my car and boat that I imported back in 2008, even though they were thoroughly cleaned prior to departure, and in the case of the boat, totally stripped out and rebuilt with new timber and upholstery.

In the picture under the dash of my '72 Eldo, there were 3 nests, and I didn't see them till years later, and didn't notice them, even though I had been under there many times.   One on the nut looks like a starter, the one next to it has proceeded a bit further in construction, then the one on the wiring loom was well on the way to a condominium.

Bruce.

[Clewisiii]

That original spare is beautiful though.  I am really going to have to make sure I get original look tires. 

I was sitting here looking at my car after I got the body back up in the air, and watched about three spiders drop down from the body to the floor. 

I didn't have any bees nests.  Originally it was all mouse and squirrel mess. The first time I had it in my garage we sat and watched three mice take a dive from the car and run across the floor.  No telling how many dead ones I cleaned up.   But this clean up after getting back in my shop included racoons crap in the trunk. 

I am so thankful for my remodeled shop.  Hopefully I can put an end to this mess.

[Clewisiii]

I probably have six coats of paint on the bottom of this car now.  I did two coats of grey epoxy originally.  Then I did a full coat of red oxide to match the look of the original.  But the red oxide primer I used did not like being a top coat. It was turning chalky.  So I did a coat of black frame paint.  Then went back to grey after I had to do another repair.   I still want the red oxide  look.  I have tried others.  I think I will just search for a red epoxy.

[David King (kz78hy)]

Rick Payton and I are in the middle of doing 2 '55 Eldorado's and a former Cadillac studio fellow doing his '57 Brougham gave us his paint color which matches the OE primer.

Per Glen, "about a gallon of PPG DP74LF red to a quart of DP90 LF black"

I can't get the photo uploader to work, is it me or is anyone else having issues?

David

[Clewisiii]

My feeder attachment showed up for my flat sewing machine today. This attachment is for the folded vinyl edge around the sun visor s. 

It was a pain to set up. The material did not want to feed at all. Kept jamming in the machine.   I broke some needles and had to reset the machine timing. 

I this this attachment was originally gaped for fabric. I tried prying it open a bit with the blade of some thin screwdrivers and it started feeding much better.  But I still need to adjust the bottom plate to allow it to come closer to the needle.

Once I get my order of two more yards of vinyl from SMS I will feel much more comfortable cutting some more to try out those visors again.

[Clewisiii]

Well my exterior chrome and door chrome is back out in the garage.  I had been storing it in a spare bedroom. I am still fearful about having these clean rechromed parts in a working garage.  But it is just me so I should be safe. 

All of my IP chrome is still on a rack in my basement.  And the windows are in the spare room.  The IP parts can stay I am going to rebuild rebuild the complete IP in my basement trim shop.  But I need to figure out a long term storage place in my garage for the windshields.

[James Landi]

Carl,

With all of your magnificent expertise and, now, having repurposed the space to restore Phyllis, do you have any thoughts about taking on other projects when Phyllis is entirely resurrected, or am I asking this question at an inappropriate moment.     Am enjoying from afar (in Maine) the wonderful progress you're making on one of my most favorite model and year of Cadillac cars.    Gratefully, James

[Clewisiii]

Yes.   I am young.  And learning on a somewhat undesirable car.   With this experience and tool/ equipment collecting anything else should get easier.   I still want a 50s buick roadmaster.  That was my original goal.

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Carl, say “I am young” proudly…..You’re gonna miss “young” when you get “old”.

You should also be very proud of the shop you built and the work thus far. It all appears to be professional quality. I started in this hobby with a few friends in the 1960’s when we were twenty somethings. When everyone wanted muscle cars we tinkering in local garages with the “old guys” helping with their Model A’s, Packards, Lincoln Continentals and even a Stoddard Dayton. That’s how we learned. Many of my friends went into the mechanic, fabrication and body work trades and opened their own businesses. My home garages have always been clean storage or at most assembly type of work. I did the mechanical and dirty heavy work in their shops bartering by helping them with their cars or jobs, learning with each experience  There’s no better way to learn something than the apprentice system of doing with someone there to explain the right and wrong of a task.

I’m curious about one thing. There is no one else in your shop pics. Do you have any helping hands to handle the heavy tasks?  In my best days, 6’3” 220 lbs, I needed help to hang or remove doors, hoods, bumpers and engines. Today I need someone flexible enough to work under a dash. Unfortunately there is no one interested in helping or learning. Young relatives and neighborhood teenagers have no interest cars or building/fixing things. They’ll never know the satisfaction of building something with their own hands. If they don’t start now, where will the next generation of doers come from? I was in graduate school about the time that the engineering disciplines were diversifying into the more esoteric, specialized and theoretical fields. My advisor, a hard boiled machine designer who made a fortune with his own company by “doing” , had an expression about the emphasis on PhD’s and DSc’s. It was “What would they do if they had to kill something to eat today”. Professor Deutschman’s descriptions may be a bit crude by today’s standard but his observations were always wise.

Please keep us posted……

[Clewisiii]

I work alone.  Unfortunately.   My dad is my neighbor. But I have never gotten him interested in working on this with me. The only issue I have had with that so far, is the body panels. I cannot adjust and tighten the bolts into place at the same time.  Leading to the thought I will just pay for professional body work.

I have learned that I can do anything with the right planning.  I actually lifted my parents house and put a new foundation under it with only sporadic help.   I impressed myself getting that I beam for my hoist raised and bolted to my shops ceiling alone.

I am a degreed engineer.  My actual degree is in Bio Engineering.  I wanted to make artificial knees and surgical devices. But being in Mid Michigan becoming an auto engineer was to easy and the pay is good.  I now have a patent for coverstock weakening for passenger airbag deployment.  I am not willing to move for something else.  What we used to say about the degrees when I was in college. B.S, M.S, PHD.   Bull shit, more shit, Piled Higher and Deeper.  The actual activities of my job do not need a degree. As a matter of fact initially I was the only professional engineer in my company.  As we grew I kept pushing to promote and train people off of our plant floor to do my job. I thought it would have been a great thing for my company and morale.  But new management says everyone in my position needs to be degreed engineers. Which really scares others who have been doing this job for five or more years with no degree.

[James Landi]

Carl, Ralph,

I'm truly encouraged and affirmed by your personal observations in these two exchanges.  I'm a "school man," having started my career in '67 (retired '17), in public, and switched to private- independent, and took my first appointment as a headmaster (aka head of school), in 86---  Hired hundreds of professionals, and "replaced" far too many who were convinced that their advanced degrees meant that kids (and their parents) would be engaged and beguiled by their credentials. Hard work, focus, persistence, trial and error, and egolessness are the ingredients for "moment to moment" success, and your restoration process validates and affirms this approach-- thus the appeal to my sensibilities and the respectfulness you engender with your narratives and pictures.  All said, what you've accomplished and are accomplishing have far greater relevance then the project's end product- the physical restoration of a 1961 Cadillac.  James

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I too prefer to work alone, as one can get tasks done silently, except for the occasional cuss when something goes wrong, like hurting oneself, and I have managed the art of self-applying Band-Aids to stem the flow of the red stuff, and to keep the dirt out.

I have many objects that I have created to assist me in tasks, and not having to rely on assistance, I can, or actually, used to, work at odd hours, any time I liked.   Plus, I didn't have to share my beer either, but don't drink alone.   That would be selfish.

I have learnt that anything can be moved, raised or positioned with a lever, jack or rope, and when building my Garage/workshop, many a steel beam "fell" upwards and into place.

Bruce.

[Clewisiii]

Ok I may have been more lucky then I have the right to be.

I am on an auto Upholstery forum. And a shop about an hour from me listed a rack of leather hides for sale at $200 a hide.  From the picture I could see a color poking out the bottom of the rack that could be close to my color.  So today I decided to take a chance and drive out there to see what they had. 

The color is very close. May be better then the hide I got from SMS on color.  It is definitely better in quality compared to SMS.  It was a Bridge of Weir hide. Which is a good brand.

Here is the hide. The rectangle is the vinyl for my car. The oblong piece is the SMS hide. 

At $200 a hide this is cheaper then the vinyl from SMS. They have at least 10 more of this color.  I could go an all leather interior for a good price if I wanted.

I had contacted other suppliers to try to special order a hide in better quality color matched for my car. $1000 a hide.

I bought a lottery ticket on my way home to press my luck.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Congratulations.   Nothing like having a win once in a while, and wish you luck with the ticket.

Bruce.

[Roger Zimmermann]

At $200 a hide this is cheaper then the vinyl from SMS. They have at least 10 more of this color.  I could go an all leather interior for a good price if I wanted.

Good catch! However, you will at the end be disturbed by the color difference between the leather and the vinyl. I would avoid to use leather and vinly like bolsters and seat's sides and go for all leather. I would use the vinyl only for places not direct next to the leather.
Of course, this has a price, especially if you already bought the vinyl; maybe the ticket will help!

[Clewisiii]

Well that is if I recreate the original. The only parts that were leather were the top of door armrest and a 2 inch border around the seats.

[Roger Zimmermann]

If you are sewing the leather's bolster to the side of the sets, you may notice the color difference. As both surfaces are not at the same angle to the eye, this difference can be insignificant.