55 Coupe 4Sale -- future Best of Show winner? $150K spent already...

[Caddy Wizard]

Here is a chance to buy a potential "Best of Show" car.  The car has had $150,000 spent on it and needs to be finished up.  Incredible, luscious paint and body work. Was undergoing a high-end, nut and bolt resto when prior owner died.  I have since redone all of the chrome and purchased the rubber items.  It is ready for final assembly and some upholstery work.  Dresden Blue Poly body with White top (factory correct colors). Has chrome Eldorado trim on upper edges of the doors.

The paint work alone was $26,000 and that was years ago.  Probably would cost $40K for the same paint work today.  And as you can see, the frame, the mechanicals, etc. have been redone to an extremely high level.  All work was done by White Post Restoration in Virginia.

Selling this one (or my 58 Eldo) to free up space and capital to buy back my fave Cadillac ($$$). If the Eldo sells first, I'll keep this one.  If this one sells first, I'll keep the Eldo.  I prefer to keep this one over the Eldo, but one of them needs to go to make room and provide a bit of the purchase price of my old car.


$40,000

[jwwseville60]

Wowza!

[Cadillac Jack 82]

John you should get a 55

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

WOW !!

Looks like your going to put the Eldorado trim on the door tops and the quarter windows.

This is going to be a beautiful car !!

This a really good price for all the work done...

Mike

[Caddy Wizard]

WOW !!

Looks like your going to put the Eldorado trim on the door tops and the quarter windows.

This is going to be a beautiful car !!

This a really good price for all the work done...

Mike

I think that the Eldo trim was installed by the dealer when new.  And that trim is in very nice shape.  Yes, the car will be spectacular.


Art

[Lexi]

That is one awesome car Art. If I lived closer had the storage I would be all over it. Fantastic price as well. Clay/Lexi

[Caddy Wizard]

That is one awesome car Art. If I lived closer had the storage I would be all over it. Fantastic price as well. Clay/Lexi

Clay,

If you don't do your own work and have to pay someone to do projects, you could buy it and I'd finish it in my shop.  I charge $90 per hour, but if you were buying this, I'd cut that to $80.  Probably could finish by Christmas of 2025.

Art

[Lexi]

Some of it I could do, other work not. I also am international so lots of issues there. Clay/Lexi

[Caddy Wizard]

This amazing 55 coupe is still available!  Also, if you need help finishing the assembly/restoration work, I am available. As some of you know, I am very knowledgeable and do excellent work.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

Did you ever sell your 58?  I'd be interested in knowing more.

[Caddy Wizard]

Did you ever sell your 58?  I'd be interested in knowing more.

I sold the 58 in order to re-acquire my 49 Fastback (the "Cadster").  I am interested in thinning the herd from 3 to 2 (keeping the 49 Fastback and my 55 Fleetwood -- the Blue Mistress).  The 58 is now in Norway.

[Caddy Wizard]

Here is a photographic refresher about how luscious this body work and paint work is...

[Caddy Wizard]

This coupe will take some time to reassemble, since this was a "nut-and-bolt" restoration.  I have had dozens of antique Cadillac's and none were done to this level.  It is the sort of car that can win best of show in a big meet.

While it will take some work to reassemble, the big jobs, the hard jobs, the expensive jobs are done.  Every mechanical system was meticulously redone.  Obviously, this is a frame-off restoration.  Even the frame was stripped of every component and restored.  The engine and transmission were totally rebuilt.  So was the differential and the rear axles.  Brakes, steering, suspension, etc.  Body was very, very good before they started.  Totally stripped to bare metal, inside and out, even underneath.  Epoxy primed (the very best way to seal out moisture and the possibility of rust before body fillers and filler primers).  Paint work is unbelievably good (and cost $26,000).  My father owned a paint and body shop and was a master painter.  This one is better than anything we ever put out.  It has all new chrome (I spent almost $15k on that) and a new rubber kit from Steele (about $3k).  Comes with a brand new wiring harness (another $3k).  Vacuum antenna has been restored/rebuilt (that usually costs a little over $1,000).  Even the new exhaust is factory correct, down to the little hangers that support the exhaust pipes.

The shop that did the work before I got it is White Post Restorations in Virginia.  Look them up -- they are a very high end shop.

This car has been done RIGHT.  And I can do as much work as the buyer might want, at a high level. I was a German car mechanic from 1973 to 1983 (VW, Porsche, MB).  I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.  I have done extensive repair and restoration work on 1949-1962 Cadillac's since 1990 (for myself and others in the CLC) and have owned something like 26 of these cars -- more 55s than anything else.  I have a detached 1200sf workshop at home with two lifts and every tool I could need.  I have a '55 Fleetwood to look at if I need to see what some doo-dad goes where or what the original fastener looks like.

I guarantee that you would not be disappointed with this car.

[Caddy Wizard]

Bump -- any interest out there?  Fantastic car.  Unsurpassed quality of restoration work so far...

[PHIL WHYTE CLC 14192]

Bump -- any interest out there?  Fantastic car.  Unsurpassed quality of restoration work so far...

I can't believe this hasn't sold yet Art.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

These cars aren't THAT hard to put together, just takes patience/time.  Its a very pretty car worth every penny.

[Caddy Wizard]

I can't believe this hasn't sold yet Art.

My sense of things is that it will sell at some point. 

If one were of a mind to restore a 55 coupe, it would be foolish to restore some other 55 and not exploit the huge discount in cost represented by buying this one instead.  Of course, lots of folks prefer a car that is already finished -- I get that.  Fortunately for me, the car is safe and snug on the storage lift in my temperature controlled workshop, so it is not deteriorating.