Hello all. This is my first post and first experience as a classic car owner. I’ve got a ton of questions and have been lurking on the site for a few weeks before I posted reading a lot. I’ve recently become the owner of an all-original 1958 Coupe Deville in Tahitian Coral. The story of the car is pretty neat.
History of the car:
The grandmother of a former client of mine originally purchased it from a dealer here in Houston in 1958. She passed it down to her daughter, who gave it to her son. Upon the son’s death, his wife moved back to France, and the car stayed back in the US. The car has never been in an accident, is 100% all original including the paint, and was running. (WAS is the operative word). There is no rust on it anywhere, which is a huge relief.
How I got it:
It’s been sitting in a storage unit in Houston, TX un-driven for at least 20 years. About five years ago, the former owner asked if I wanted to buy it, and I declined. I think she wanted to sell it after that, but there were no takers. Years passed, and shortly before Christmas I get an email from her saying she was serious about selling the car now because of storage costs, not living in the US anymore, etc. and asked if I wanted to buy it. I declined again, but mentioned it was such a neat car and that I’d be happy to help her sell. I just needed the mileage, make/model, etc. The next email I received shocked me. She knew I had kids, and said I could just have it, and wouldn’t that be a great Christmas present. I’m not a lucky person, but I was thrilled and couldn’t believe it. About 1.5 months of continued emails between Texas and France led to me holding the title in my hand.
Here she is after sitting in this storage unit for 20 years:
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Engine plate:
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Seeing the light of day for the first time in two decades:
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Future owners getting their first look at her:
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Condition of the car:
It “was†running. It had 87K miles on it, and after sitting for so long, the piston rings were shot, and the manifold was cracked, so off it has gone for an engine re-build. I say it was running because it started up fine, ran for about 2 days of some slow cruising around the neighborhood, and then it started smoking like chimney. Other than that, everything is working. Power seats, windows, radio, etc. All great. The paint is the only thing that I really am torn over. The bulk of the paint is fine. It’s oxidized from sitting without a wash/wax for so long, but fine. There is some crazing and a few dings where the paint has peeled off. The tires look fine, but are likely old and I know they have not been used in years. The interior’s only real blemish appears to be a small hold in the rear seat where someone in the past likely dropped a cigarette.
Engine rebuilding process:
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Back from the machine shop:
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Questions for the experts:
1. To re-paint or not: I really like that the car is almost all fine, but those unpainted spots and crazing have me a bit concerned. What does the brain trust think about fixing those spots, or re-painting the car, or even just those spots?
2. Obviously there are no seat belts. I’m trying to decide whether to add them or not.
3. Tires: I’ve read about all the different brands, so should I pull the trigger and get new ones now or see how the others are on the road. Old/unused tires concern me, so I’m thinking this is a no-brainer.
4. Deck/shelf/whatever you call it behind the rear seats: That fabric is stained from the sun/age/who knows what else and I’m unsure if it can be cleaned or needs to be replaced. Any guidance from those who have done that would be great.
I’ll post more pics as the re-build on the engine comes back together.
Congratulations! Great story. First, join the CLC. It's worth the cost of dues.
Do not paint the car. It is original lacquer. The spots can be fixed. Enjoy it for now and read up on bringing old paint back to life. There Was a thread on just what you are describing on the board not to long ago. That paint can be given new life.
Best of luck! Hope to see this parked next to my '57 at a grand national someday!
G'day Chip,
Again, a great story, and I wish you the best in your future life as a car lover.
BUT, first thing to do is get rid of the old tyres, no matter how good they look, as they will cause you problems in the not-too-distant future. Go for Radials. Then a wheel alignment.
The next thing is to replace all the brake fluid, and look at the wheel cylinder rubbers and M/C rubbers. Now you are getting it to go by doing up the engine, you need to know that it will stop.
As for Seat Belts, you need to be very careful in the way you go about fitting these safety items, as these cars were not built for seat belts, and it is not a simple case of drill a few holes and bolt in.
Getting the car for free is going to be the easy part. Getting it back on the road safely, and getting all those non-used parts back to correct working condition will take money, and time, as you found out with the engine.
Bruce. >:D
The original front seat belts were lap style. No shoulder belts back then. They were attached to the seat frame with crimped cables. About all they did was make sure when the seat flew out of the car, you went with it.
Nice Caddy,Love the color,one of the best in 58. Nice to know it went to a good home. Keep us posted ! Ken Perry
Nice car and congrats. I agree with most of above, especially leaving the original paint. However, I would go with BIAS ply tires unless it's a daily driver as they look much more original (especially if leaving orig paint). 8)
https://www.cokertire.com/ (https://www.cokertire.com/)
Great story and great car. What a legacy for you and your sons.
I will echo some of the earlier comments. They are all on the spot correct, and I will also sugest a little more.
Join the CLC and join your local chapter, the support and comradeship you find will be great.
Tires, your current tires are what I call rollers, O K to move around in the shop or garage but unsafe to drive on. There are radials that have the look of the bias ply tires, try Diamondback for example.
I suggest you purchase an "Authenticity Manual" from the club and try to keep everything as authentic as possible as you proceed. My exceptions would be Radial tires and do a little research about seat belts. There are after market belts that will make your car safer and color matching is no problem. Front shoulder harness will not work without a B pillar.
I suggest replacing all of the rubber components in the brake system, including rebuilding master and wheel cylinders. If they fail you have a 2 1/2 ton battering ram on your hands and the old
rubber is not reliable. As I recall Houston has a lot of humidity. Every time you use brakes you introduce new air into the braking system and it contains moisture that corrodes you brake system so renewing the brakes and bleeding them every couple of years will be important.
Focus on safety and reliability before worrying too much about cosmetics. The paint wont matter to much if you are driving along and have a tire blow out or a brake hose fail.
Leave the paint original, and get a good qualified painter to touch up the minor scratches.
Drive it!! Enjoy it!! Take your family out in it. You seem to want to have your sons involved which is great for all of the family. What a legacy you are beginning.
Document EVERY THING. Take photos. With a known, untouched car, you will find factory markings and things. These are invaluable. Photo before cleaning anything. Save every part, even if it's broken. I'd like to have seen that engine before it was taken out for the rebuild.
You've got a great car for 'preservation' as opposed to 'restoration'.
My gut reaction is to do as much as you can while doing as little as you can. Try to keep things as original as possible. I'd clean the dirt, dust and great off the firewall and the inside of your engine bay, but go slow and gently. For your car, being original trumps looking brand new.
Hi Chip,
What a lovely car! How it came into your possession is also a great story. There are "barn finds" and then there are hidden treasures.
As they say, a car is only original once. I agree with others that preservation should be given strong consideration. Based on how you want to drive the car, you may alter it with such things as seat belts, radial tires, etc. I agree with Gary that fuel and brake systems should be thoroughly reconditioned given the age of the car and its lack of use (I disagree with Gary that, " Every time you use brakes you introduce new air into the braking system" - hydraulic systems are design to be closed. You should not have to renew/bleed brakes every couple of years provided the system is reconditioned and kept closed thereafter).
Are your boys excited? Do they show an interest in the car? Are they mechanically inclined? How soon before your oldest is eligible to get his driver's license? (Probably too soon.) Your original post stated you do not consider yourself a lucky person. I would contend the opposite. I hope your good fortune continues with the car and your family.
Christopher Winter
Thanks for all the replies. I already joined CLC (actually not official since I haven't received my member number yet and the website says it takes a few business days). Back in 2010, when the prior owner wanted to sell it, she put several thousand $$ into fixing it up to make it run, but put it right back in storage after that.
Brakes:
backing plates were cleaned, all brake shoes replaced, R&R all wheel cylinders/hoses/master cylinder assembly, and then all re-greased.
Fuel System:
original fuel tank had to be replaced. That's the only non-original major part on the car. With that came all new fuel hoses, etc.
I'd rather not repaint, so I'm assuming a good paint shop can match the missing dings and then polish polish polish, and then probably polish some more. I agree on the tires. I looked at the coker radials that look like bias ply tires, and am leaning toward those. Not cheap, but I've seen some bad things with bad tires. The spare tire/wheel is missing, so I'm assuming that authenticity manual will help with tracking down the right size. I'll continue to put up some other pictures as we move along a little further. I need to get some floor mats to protect the original carpet, and some other minor things too, but much of it is cosmetic.
I'm trying to track down some information on the local chapter in Houston, Texas, but the gulf coast CLC website is not working, so I'm wondering if the local chapter is not active.
Hi,
Great gift, lovely model year !
I also have a 1958.
For tyres, excellent rapport quality/price are American Classics, radials, 235/75 R15, white wall.
Nice engine restoration.
For leather care, I use very good product from ... France :-)
www.alta-cuir.fr
An original paint in good condition is a treasure. Yes, you could fix the little spots.
Do you have the matching interior ?
Good luck with this masterpiece :-)
The interior is all fine with one exception. The rear dash/deck/shelf/whatever you call it behind the back seats is stained pretty badly. I'm assuming it had a leak at one point or something, but then someone decided to try and clean it. It appears that it could be cleaned, but does anyone know what this woven material is and what to use to clean it? Pics attached to see the nasty stain.
Dark stain vs. cleaned section:
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My photos of the interior are not great, but I snapped one of the carpet to show it is still in good shape. Just need some plastic mats or something to cover/protect it.
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It is a woven straw that is painted or dyed to match the interior. If yours is not torn, you can basically repaint it in the car. Replacing it would require removing the rear seat and belt line trim and that's just the beginning. At least it's black and not some one-year odd color.
You do not want to polish, polish, polish lacquer. Every time you do, you'll remove more and more color until you're down to the prim er.
Fantastic story and looks like it's now with a well qualified owner! Good luck with it, look forward to seeing more pictures in the future.
Nice find/Great story. 1958's are my favorite year! Good luck with it!
Nice car, and Welcome to the CLC! The post that Walter was referring to RE: preserving the original finish contained a you.tube link about how to use Meguiar's no 7 polish to renew the original finish. Unfortunately that post has been deleted. You may be able to find the video by searching you tube. Basically it involved applying a very heavy coat of the polish and allowing it to remain on the paint for at least 24 hours. There were some amazing examples of the results of this procedure. The deleted post showed before and after on a 59 100% original coupe. Hopefully you or someone here can find the video procedure and post the link here.
HTH,
Craig
Quote from: 936CD69 on February 07, 2015, 10:59:44 AM
Nice car, and Welcome to the CLC! The post that Walter was referring to RE: preserving the original finish contained a you.tube link about how to use Meguiar's no 7 polish to renew the original finish. Unfortunately that post has been deleted. You may be able to find the video by searching you tube. Basically it involved applying a very heavy coat of the polish and allowing it to remain on the paint for at least 24 hours. There were some amazing examples of the results of this procedure. The deleted post showed before and after on a 59 100% original coupe. Hopefully you or someone here can find the video procedure and post the link here.
HTH,
Craig
I've never heard of leaving polish on paint for 24 hours! In the old days, the Dupont No 7 was hard enough to wipe off after 5 minutes. Rather, I would recommend 3M hand glaze followed by a coat of McGuire's Ultimate paste wax. Both are fantastic on lacquer.
Nice car! Only original once! 8)
Keep us updated.
Best regards,
Nicolas
The engine re-build is coming along....slowly. I'm not thrilled with the engine paint color as it looks more royal blue than the dark blue. The shop used a dupli-color paint and I read on here and saw the thread on the bill hirsch cadillac blue paint, which looks much better. Does the brain trust here have any thoughts on painting over the color that is on the engine with the bill hirsch paint? Any fear of some chemical reaction between two different paints that might make the paint on top peel off?
I'd rather have my color be off a bit than have it peel and look crappy. Here are the current photos:
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I may ask with a new thread in the technical authenticity section too since that's where the original thread was re paint, but figured it would not be bad to have over here too. Looking forward to reading your thoughts.
Hard to tell/say given variables such as lighting, computers, etc. One man's opinion, mine, is that the color is indeed off. Not dark enough. I would think a repaint would hold without problem is properly prep'd and applied.
Chip,
Your safest approach is to get the can of Dupli-Color from the shop (not any can - the can) and read the list of ingredients paying attention to the solvents used. Then contact Bill Hirsch and confirm that their paint is compatible with the Dupli-Color. From the photos, the blue on the engine looks too vibrant. Good luck.
Christopher Winter
Welcome to the CLC. I agree - it's only original once. Always go right through the braking system though - you need to be able to stop, at least rebuild kits and hoses and set the drums up to factory spec as per the workshop manual [feeler gauge through slots in the drums]. You are very very lucky getting that car in original condition. Phil
Wow, What a car! Your story made me smile.
The engine is out of the car--get the color right while it is out of the car no matter what you have to do.
Put seatbelts in it. You have kids. There are ways to do it so they could be hidden, etc but put the belts in.
Keep us all updated on this and post pictures. What a wonderful find!!
Jeff
I was asked to put up a few interior photos of the condition of the car. So, ask and you shall receive. I don't have a ton to do on the inside. It's in pretty darn good shape.
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The A/C that was added to the car at some point works great, but is looking a little shabby. Right now, I'm good with function over form.
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Gorgeous. I can smell that old Cadillac interior just from the photos.
Am I seeing things or does this car have the Eldorado trimmed brake and accelerator pedals?
That interior is stunning!
Quote from: Walter Youshock on February 19, 2015, 03:57:44 PM
Am I seeing things or does this car have the Eldorado trimmed brake and accelerator pedals?
I noticed the same thing - it shouldn't.
I've got a few more questions that I hope someone can answer. The engine rebuild is still coming along, and the shop is recommending running some Royal Purple break-in oil to start and then draining that and replacing it with 10W-30 oil. I've read on here that some skip the break-in oil and just go straight to the 10W-30. I hope I am not opening a Pandora's box of arguments, but I'm just curious as to whether there are any concerns with using the break-in oil first. Thoughts?? I don't really see any harm in using it.
I'll happily take recommendations on what brand of oil you are running in your 50's cars too and whether you are adding the zddp or just using a brand of oil off the shelf.
Oh, and to answer about the brake and accelerator pedals....I have no idea if/when they were changed. Everything else was original in this car, and I can't see the prior owners having changed out those pedals, but anything is possible when something is 50+ years-old. I honestly am not sure if that was an option to have those pedals or if it came on some trim models, but I haven't changed them, and the woman I got the car from didn't change them either.
Quote from: fishchipper on February 27, 2015, 02:32:04 PM
I've got a few more questions that I hope someone can answer. The engine rebuild is still coming along, and the shop is recommending running some Royal Purple break-in oil to start and then draining that and replacing it with 10W-30 oil. I've read on here that some skip the break-in oil and just go straight to the 10W-30. I hope I am not opening a Pandora's box of arguments, but I'm just curious as to whether there are any concerns with using the break-in oil first. Thoughts?? I don't really see any harm in using it.
I'll happily take recommendations on what brand of oil you are running in your 50's cars too and whether you are adding the zddp or just using a brand of oil off the shelf.
Oh, and to answer about the brake and accelerator pedals....I have no idea if/when they were changed. Everything else was original in this car, and I can't see the prior owners having changed out those pedals, but anything is possible when something is 50+ years-old. I honestly am not sure if that was an option to have those pedals or if it came on some trim models, but I haven't changed them, and the woman I got the car from didn't change them either.
If your rebuilder is recommending break in oil, then go with it to maintain the Warranty he is giving you. After that you can use either 10W/30 or 10W/40 with ZDDP. Personally, I have been using 10W/40 for the past 40 years.
As to the brake pedal/accelerator pedal - to my knowledge there was no "trim option" on the 1958's for that. Those were standard on the Eldorados.
Wait .. the style says '58-6237D' so it's not a Coupe DeVille but a Series 62 Coupe or am I wrong? Still a lucky find!
"D" is for deluxe. It is a deville. The interior and standard power windows are basically what set it apart from the series 62 standard coupe.
It is definitely a Coupe de Ville interior. Deville had the nicer door panels and supior interior as shown in the pictures. It's a Coupe de Ville.
I've been wondering since you first posted this car you stated "It “was†running. It had 87K miles on it, and after sitting for so long, the piston rings were shot, and the manifold was cracked, so off it has gone for an engine re-build. I say it was running because it started up fine, ran for about 2 days of some slow cruising around the neighborhood, and then it started smoking like chimney."
Do you think if you had changed the oil and added some Marvel Mystery Oil, you might have been able to avoid the rebuild you went through? My car has approximately the same mileage, has not sat for 20 plus years, but only travels 500 - 1,000 miles/year and burns no oil. Was just curious.. .
Jon S: I'm not sure anything would have helped. Before I so much as even attempted to start the car, I sent it to my mechanic to make sure it has proper fluids, etc. We put in oil, checked the gas, etc. All looked good, but I think that sitting for so long and then getting a little use was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Truth be told, it stinks to have to incur the cost of rebuilding it, but in the end, I'm happy knowing that I should have more years of trouble free engine time now.
We commented on the brake and gas pedals in an earlier post. Does anyone know if the Deluxe coupe would have had the pedals that are shown in my pictures, or does it really look like they were changed. Again, nothing other than the AC has ever been added to this car, so I would be very surprised if that wasn't standard, but as I said before, anything is possible with a 55+ year old vehicle.
Update:
I noted in this thread and one in the technical authenticity about my concern with the engine paint, and I am happy to report that the Bill Hirsch paint adhered to the new (now older) paint that was off-color. As I noted previously, they used the dupli-color cadillac/GM blue engine paint, but it didn't look right. I ordered cans of the Bill Hirsch paint, and you can really see the difference. The valve covers were left in the wrong color so you can see the comparison. There really is no comparison. The engine should be going back in the car next week. We're pretty pumped!
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Blade has point - from what I can gather a CDV should be 6237DX. That is definately the case with my 1954 CDV and looking at the membership directory it appears to confirm this also for 58. In theory you could order a standard coupe and specify electric windows etc. I am happy to be corrected if I am wrong, 58's are not my specialty.
Phil
Phil,
Check the picture of the body plate. You will see the X next to the D. It is a Coupe de Ville. It has the Deville interior trim and exterior trim. Hope this helps. Frank
I am a confused by everyone's confusion the body tag is showing 6237DX the X is a little hard to see but it is there. In my opinion the pedals were probably included on the DX. My 55 is a DX and it has chrome trimmed pedals as well. The car is in amazing condition to say the least !
Neither the Sedan De Ville nor Coupe de Ville came with chrome trimmed pedals in 1958. These had to be changed by the original owner or Dealer. Only on Eldorados.
My purchased new SDV has EDX after the body style snd has non-chrome wrapped brake/accelerator pedals.
Quick update with a few more pictures:
Some of the other components were test fitted back on the block today just to see how they looked, and it's looking OK. We still need more paint for the valve covers, and since the AC was after-market at some point, I'm trying to figure out if I should paint those support arms in blue to match the rest of the block, or grey (I think that's what they were), or black. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.
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Also, I need a new power steering hose. I got the catalog from the CLC sponsor (Original Parts Group), and they sell them, but the earliest year they have is for years 59-60. I snapped two pictures of the ends (yes, I know the engine compartment is still filthy), but I am concerned about whether the 59-60 OPG sells will fit. If anyone else has other suggestions of where to get one, please let me know.
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My last questions are about the chassis and paint for that. I'm getting ready to clean the engine compartment of 57 years of road grime/etc. and was looking at the chassis. It looks like it may have originally been black, but some of it looks to be bare metal. The question is whether I should paint that black, or some other color, or leave it alone? Lastly, if you look at the second to last picture above, the exhaust pipe is structurally fine, but a little discolored on the outside with a rusty look. I may just leave it alone, but should I paint that to help protect it? If so, black paint?
As always, thanks again for looking and helping answer my newbie questions.
Component support arms were black. So, I'm thinking your after-market AC arms would look best black. Only the pulley for the Power Steering was blue, but many incorrectly finish those in black also.
The 59 power steering pressure hose apparently doesn't fit the 58 models. Any help on where to look for one of those would be great.
Chip -
There are guys out there who can make an exact duplicate PS hose reusing your ends. I know a guy on Long Island. There should be some by you. They specialize in truck high pressure hoses.
Thanks, I was going by the previous post on this, I did not go back and look at the plate - yes, I can see the "X". Defiantely a CDV. Phil
Chip -
The PS Mounting Bracket should also be black. I see in the above pictures yours is Blue.
Wow, nice car!!
Haven't updated in a bit, but the engine re-build is almost complete. The engine has been put back together and is back home in the engine bay. I expect it will all be operational/done this week. We also got the horn working again. Here's a few pics.
Getting ready to go back in:
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Almost in:
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Back home:
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Found you a power steering hose on ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-Cadillac-Power-Steering-Pressure-Hose-/321698414489?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ae6b83f99&vxp=mtr
Incredible! Your pictures show that monster V8 floating into the engine bay without the need of human effort... must take divine intervention-- nothing short of miraculous! Congrats. James
I have one NOS steering hose, nice rubber, should be fine.
$100 plus shipping.
David
I got a local company to build a new power steering hose for way less. They were able to re-use the original fittings and install a new hose to those fittings. The engine was purring like a kitten yesterday. It's unbelievable how smooth it is running now. New shocks being installed, and then it's finally time to address the very neglected original paint. A little waterless wash and a lot of meguiars show glaze to start, and we'll see where we go from there. I plan on taking lots of pictures for before/after of the paint. I've got 20 years of dust/dirt to clean off of it.
Chip
What I did with my 61's original paint was the following:
Start with a waterless wash
Go over entire car with Pinnacle clay bar
Hand rub the paint with Pinnacle paint cleanser
Use a Meguiars dual action polisher with a foam polishing pad with Pinnacle advanced swirl remover
Followed that up with a finishing pad and Pinnacle advanced finishing polish
Finished off with four coats of Pinnacle carnauba wax applied by hand
The reflectivity of the paint is incredible.
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Dan, your car looks great. That's essentially the plan. I've been in touch with Mike Phillips (the auto geek guy) and he has taken a personal interest in the car. His method is essentially the same thing, and he is in the process of using my car for a detailing clinic out here to work on the paint. The only switch to your/his regular method is waterless wash first, and then go straight to the #7 show glaze before claying. The reason is that the paint has been neglected for so long and needs to be conditioned before claying.
I am picking it up on Friday, so hopefully I will have some new shots. The exterior paint/chrome cleaning won't happen until later this month.
Chip, I just finished my grill on my 58 I used Autosol Polish and a toothbrush as well as 0000 steel wool for bad spots and lots of elbow grease and time. I wanted to avoid dismantling and stripping then polishing and re anodizing . I think it turned out well considering what I started with, yours appears to be in better shape. Good luck and beautiful car !
marty, that looks great. What a difference! Mine's in pretty good shape overall. The bumpers are going to need some steel wool though. I did a small test spot and it cleaned right up. I get it back tomorrow after being in the shop for 3+ months, so I'm excited to get to work on some of the detailing issues.
Quick update, sorry no photos.
The car is out of the shop and the engine is working flawlessly. I'm waiting to get a few more photos, but this weekend is the big detail/paint restoration attempt, so we'll have lots of before and after pics soon. OK, so after the engine the rebuild, the shop put in 5 gallons of gas. I knew the fuel gauge was not working (it's still not) but I thought that the 5 gallons would be enough to get me the 2.6 miles down the street to get to the tire shop to have the new tires put on. I had a total newbie moment of non-clarity, and forgot to realize that 5 galling being put into a totally empty/new engine/lines is nothing. As you might image, I got about 2.4 miles of my 2.6 mile destination and ran out of gas. That's the first time in my life that it has happened, but made for an amusing story.
New tires are on now, and we're just about ready to go for paint salvation/restoration. The idiots who put the tires on tried to "help" me by adjusting the wheels and now my left front wheel is not on right and is grinding, so it's back getting a slight adjustment from my regular mechanic, and then we're all set. Stay tuned for lots of before/after photos.
I’m finally back with a LOT of pictures after finishing the paint restoration. Several months ago Mike Phillips from Auto Geek in Florida contacted me. He was very interested in trying to restore the paint on my car without having to re-paint the whole thing. So often people will strip the cars down to bare metal and start over because the paint is beyond salvation. I was concerned mine was too, but he assured me the lion’s share of it was salvageable. It did not work out for him to personally come work on the car, but we assembled a team of volunteers who wanted the opportunity to work on restoring a single-stage paint classic vehicle. All of the people in these pictures below volunteered their time, experience, tools, and a local detail shop in Houston volunteered their amazing space for this event. It ended up being a lot of fun.
The paint will never be perfect again, but it is absolutely a head-turner at this point. I tried my best to show the documentation from start to finish and reveal the transformation. This is something you all can do without anything more than some product and a lot of elbow grease. I apologize for the photo intensive post, but I think seeing the process from start to finish might help some others with what to do.
Here we are with the original condition of the vehicle as it had been for 20+ years sitting in a storage shed. This is the day we opened the door to reveal this beast.
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As you can see from the following photos, she was pink, but covered in a ton of dust, and her paint was very dry. So dry that it had cracks in some areas. I had my doubts about whether this was even remotely salvageable.
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The paint was also very thin in several places such that the bare metal was beginning to show through.
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The chrome bumpers weren’t in much better shape too. They had some pitting, early stages of rust, oxidation, etc. The wheels weren’t much to look at either.
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The white top of the car was in some of the best shape, but as you can hopefully see in this picture, it still left a lot to be desired.
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So, the day arrived and it was time to take the car to Clarity Auto Detailing in Houston who graciously agreed to host this event. Curtis and Beth at Clarity are great folks and have a wonderful facility. Before taking it in, I decided to get a few more of those “money shots†of just how bad/oxidized/dirty/etc this was. My pictures did not disappoint.
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As you can see, there is no reflection this paint right now.
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Here’s some more of the condition of the bumpers:
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I arrived at Clarity and am happy to report this monster did actually fit into their white detail room. This room brought out every imperfection you could imagine, and it did not take much imagination to see all the flaws.
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Here’s an unfortunately blurry shot of Curtis beginning the waterless wash on the top of the car as a test spot to see how it clean up. Surprisingly, it cleaned up nice from the start. Beth was documenting everything as well and the amount of dirt removed was pretty great.
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OK, so the time came to begin the rub down process with the Meguiars 7 show car glaze. Of course, here is the obligatory product photo (on a towel for all you purists out there).
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Right after the first coat went on, our first volunteer, Harris, showed up to help with the task of rubbing on a THICK coat of the #7.
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You can see it here hazing up a bit and soaking in the good stuff it so desperately needed. Not having done this before, I was amazed at how fast it improved the look and feel of the paint. This old/dry paint absolutely drank this stuff up.
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Since this was Friday afternoon and we needed to let that soak in all night, Harris and I decided to try and have some fun with the 8 miles of chrome the car has on it. With a little bit of rubbing on some compound on the bumpers, they shined up nicely.
Before:
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After:
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Saturday morning arrived and these 5 brave souls (Harris, Vargas, AJ, Christian, and Brian) in addition to Curtis and Beth who worked in/out since they actually had other work to attend to outside this room got ready to get to work with the elbow grease. However, they first had to admire the size of the beast they were about to get to work on.
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With even just one application/removal of #7, you could absolutely see the since coming back into this paint.
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You could even start to see a reflection coming back into the picture here.
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Again, while waiting to let the #7 soak in some more, the team decided to hit the wheels with some 0000 steel wool and some of the compound to try and polish them up. They turned out great and shined right up. Here’s some before/after:
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So, break time was over, and it was back to rubbing on/off more #7:
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At this point, the paint was really starting to pop. You could begin to see reflections of the junk in the room off the paint at this point.
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So, the age old question came up of whether to Machine polish or not came up. Vargas was the fist to step up to the task and grabbed some of the Pinnacle Finishing Polish to try out.
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After properly priming the pad (or whatever that was called), we tried a test spot on the hood. Of course, it was not without a little bit of ribbing from me and everyone else about how Vargas was getting ready to mess it up.
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None of us thought the machine polisher did any better on the paint than hand-rubbing, so Harris was brave enough to step up to the plate with a different DA polisher to see if the brand of the polisher made any difference. Again, with some more ribbing about he would be the second person to “mess it up†he stepped up to the plate to give it a shot in a different test spot.
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At that point, we all unanimously agreed that our hand rubbing seemed to bring out a deeper and more vibrant color than the machine polishing. So, it was time to rub on some more #7 and buff out by hand. However, Curtis at Clarity had this amazing little compressed air-powered micro-polisher (I’m sure there is some brand specific name that I am missing), but this little thing was awesome. We hooked it up to the air hose and went to town on all of the little strips of metal/chrome all over the car for a great polish. Here’s AJ hooking it up to the air hose and getting started:
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Our 16-year-old phenom, Brian, was next up on it:
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Christian couldn’t resist either, so he took to polishing out some of the metal on the fins:
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While not pictured, I got in on the action with the little polisher and hit some of the trim in the front. The right side was done, and the left was not. I think you can really see the difference this little thing did.
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The tires were new whitewalls from Diamondback tires (I’m a big fan) and we had to remove the protective blue coating on them and get them all cleaned up and shiny too.
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The before/after of the wheels is as amazing of a transformation as the paint too:
Before:
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After:
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We were finally nearing the end, and after 5-6 applications of the #7, it was time to apply some of the Souveran wax.
Another few gratuitous product shots here:
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Again, I’m not a pro, enthusiast, etc. I am a novice, but can say this stuff rocks. It was the finishing touch that this car needed.
I love these photos. I rotated the second one upside down to show the success shot of reflection in the paint that was so good, you could see teeth at this point. I think we were all super happy to really be seeing the finishing results of nearly a whole day of work.
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It was finally time to remove the final coat of Souveran. We broke out the very nice Gold Plus Jr. Microfiber Towels and Microfiber Gloves for the final removal.
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And just to prove I was actually there and worked and didn’t just take pictures, I had Vargas snap a few shots of me taking off the final coat of wax.
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I don’t need to say much more (I’ve said enough), but the final photos will do all the talking. What a transformation!
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The final gratuitous photos of all the wonderful products used, and a great product shot courtesy of Clarity (Curtis), who is way better with a camera than I am.
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Here’s a big group photo of everyone involved in the extreme makeover.
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Beautiful!!!
Chip this was all done with just #7 ? No Compound ? I have not tried leaving the polish on old paint , I usually get rid of the oxidation first and then feed it the polish, this is amazing. Looks great !
Quote from: marty55cdv on April 28, 2015, 01:54:17 PM
Chip this was all done with just #7 ? No Compound ? I have not tried leaving the polish on old paint , I usually get rid of the oxidation first and then feed it the polish, this is amazing. Looks great !
No compound on the paint at all. Just multiple costs of #7 and two passes of the Souveran wax. Leaving the #7 on overnight on the first pass was key. It is what conditions the paint and allowed all the good oils to go back into the paint. It was simply amazing how much better the paint felt after the one pass.
AMAZING! I wish I knew about this 24 years ago when I bought my car. It might still have the original paint...
Great rare color..leave it all original. Nice find!
wonderful cleaning job !!
Congrat.
Wow she cleaned up nice! Great pics and results ;D
Beautiful car. Great story.
Make sure to check out all the threads regarding the vacuum pump inside the engine & the splitter valve mounted on the firewall. They will cause headaches if not correct.
Keep her as original as possible. Great advise from all the posts.
Larry
Congrats! Love the color! Its only original once so keep the paint. I'd recommend a detailing shop to give that paint a workover....did wonders for my 1954 Buick as the body paint was original (or at least it was 40 some year old lacquer). Hope to see it one day next to my 57!
Nice car! We renovate DeVille 1958.(//)
This thread provides a lot of motivation to make mine look better.
Wow!!!
Hey Chip, could you post some picks of what the worst previous areas of the body look like after the polishing? near the fins by the trunk lid with the cracked up and worn through paint, Your Cadillac looks amazing! I can't believe paint that old can be saved that well.
Absolutely stunning! Those guys are miracle workers, can't wait to get my 57 Seville on the road!
That looks great Chip. I'm jealous that you had such a large crew of volunteers ! I will be trying the exact same thing on my 58 once the weather gets a bit warmer. I think since it's just me and my aching joints I'll do most of the polishing via orbital. Turned out beautiful, enjoy thoroughly. Email sent.
I'll try to get some current pictures of the "really" bad areas of the car and how they look now. I will say that the areas where bare metal was exposed still has bare metal there. Nothing I can do short of repainting is going to bring that back, but the areas of cracking with repeated treatment of #7 did amazingly well. Are there still cracks? Of course, but they have really diminished to the point where you can run your hand on it and not fear for everything coming off. I've reapplied the #7 to it several times since this picture, and between that and a good coat of wax, the paint has really come back.
I've been working on trying to soften up the leather inside, and have had success with leatherique treatments, but if anyone has any other suggestions, let me know. I'll get pictures uploaded when I can.
Amazing