1967 Cadillac Eldorado - My First Classic Restoration

[Myfirstclassic]

Hello everyone! As the title states this is my first classic! I have always wanted a resto project and this one found itself in my driveway quite quickly.

A little backstory on the car. My uncle bought it a couple years after I was born in 1993 (I’m 28) and then he got deployed and when he came back it wouldn’t start and so it ended up sitting until January of 2019. The property ended up being put up for sale so he needed the car gone and he didn’t want to scrap it because it is a one year only car in a lot of ways. I have always wanted it since I was a kid but he said he didn’t want to sell it. It was under a car cover most of that time so I didn’t even know what it was until about a couple years ago I just knew it was old and big! He ended up giving me the car as long as once I got it running I could take him for a drive and so I forked over the cash to have it shipped to Idaho. And it has sat untouched with a waterproof cover on it since due to another project car.

[Myfirstclassic]

This is where I plucked it from

[Myfirstclassic]

This when I got her home. My wife and I named her Marion after “the birds”

[Highwayman68]

Nice starter, it has potential.

Look on ebay for a factory service manual both paper and digital.

There are several 67 Eldorado experience here to help you.

[hornetball]

Very cool.  I'm on my 3rd Eldo, a '74.  Used to have a '70 that I really liked.  Once I'm done restoring the '74 for my wife, I'd like to pickup either a '67-68 Eldo or '66-67 Toronado for a follow-on project.  I think these hidden headlight cars were the pinnacle of Bill Mitchell's styling.  Your car was my favorite matchbox car back in the day!

[Myfirstclassic]

Nice starter, it has potential.

Look on ebay for a factory service manual both paper and digital.

There are several 67 Eldorado experience here to help you.

It can with a really ratty chip tons and a huge blue blue Cadillac binder for repairs but it doesn’t cover everything. Had an issue getting it started for the first time yesterday and couldn’t figure out if it had a ballast resistor or not. I’m hoping to learn a lot through the forum and get her back to her former glory!

[Myfirstclassic]

Very cool.  I'm on my 3rd Eldo, a '74.  Used to have a '70 that I really liked.  Once I'm done restoring the '74 for my wife, I'd like to pickup either a '67-68 Eldo or '66-67 Toronado for a follow-on project.  I think these hidden headlight cars were the pinnacle of Bill Mitchell's styling.  Your car was my favorite matchbox car back in the day!

I agree! Bill Mitchell did a hell of a job on these! I follow a guy out of Austria who has several cadillacs I believe the site was www.eldorado-seville.com lots of info of his restoration. I’ve been stalking it a bit lol

[MaR]

Nice! Looks like you have a solid car to start with. We need another Eldorado restoration going on here.

[Myfirstclassic]

Nice! Looks like you have a solid car to start with. We need another Eldorado restoration going on here.

Thank you! I’m gonna need a lot of help from everyone here as I go through it. I’ve never worked on a points ignition or carbureted car before this one so I have a lot to learn. I’m scared of some things because it has the tilt/telescoping steering wheel and parts are really hard to find for some things

[67_Eldo]

I'm a fellow '67 Eldorado worker bee. You have jumped into the deep end of the pool!

I hope you've got lots of time and money because Marion has the potential to pick you clean! :-)

If you're doing this because you think the car will be of great value in the future, stop now and invest your money in something else.

If you're doing this because the '67 Eldorado is the most beautiful post-WWII American production car and you want to preserve a piece of rolling sculpture, then you're on a better track. The '63 Riviera and Bill Mitchell's personal car (the Riviera-based 'Silver Arrow I') were the Eldorado's spectacular warm-up acts. People will yell and wave when you drive by ... even before your work is complete. And it acquits itself quite nicely on the highway too.

First of all, find a local machine shop/garage in whom you can trust and who will listen to you. Unless you've got a garage well stocked with tools, you're going to need occasional outside help with issues that require major force (e.g. front wheel bearings if you have a disc-brake car).

Also first of all, find a body expert with whom you can confide. When you peel off your vinyl top, you are going to spot some ugly surprises. Get your new body-shop friend to offer second opinions.

And finally, first of all, hone your internet-searching skills. While almost all body parts are interchangeable from 1967 to 1970, many mechanical and electrical parts are very hard to find.

So there are three things you need to do first. :-)

Then, first of all, you need to get the 1967 Cadillac shop manual, the Fisher Body manual, all the parts manuals, and any other relevant info you can find. The best single source for these is a CD sold online:

https://www.themotorbookstore.com/1967-cadillac-factory-shop-manuals-cd.html

Also, don't be a Cadillac snob. Oldsmobile did much of the heavy lifting in Eldorado's overall mechanical design. There's lots of good info at Toronado.Org. When you start asking yourself "Why did they do the front suspension this way?" read the Olds literature. Hey, even Buick got into the Eldorado act by designing the front-drive "pumpkin." The more you know about GM overall, the better because then you'll be able to cross reference parts that appear to be Eldorado-unobtainium with pieces from other GM divisions. Remember, Fisher Body and Delco weren't terribly interested in designing new, Eldorado-specific parts when they could simply pull an existing Pontiac piece off the shelf.

That's the good news. Now here's a thread that documents some of the body work I've done on my car.

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=149456.0

There's an earlier thread that I'll dig up later that addresses some of the mechanical issues.

Good luck! You're got pretty much all of your spare time for the next two or three years accounted for now. :-)

[67_Eldo]

Hopefully you'll never hit the low I was feeling when I started this thread. It is full of good info on '67 Eldorado mechanical stuff, though.

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=147838.0

[hornetball]

Fortunately, OPs car is a slick top!

[67_Eldo]

Fortunately, OPs car is a slick top!

But it's a top with problems.

[35-709]

One thing you mentioned that no one cleared up, it does not have a ballast resistor, it has a resistor wire that serves the same purpose and runs from the engine side of the firewall to the coil.  On the other side of the firewall that resistor wire is connected to a pink #12 wire from the ignition switch.
As was suggested a couple of times and bears repeating, get the Cadillac Factory Shop Manual and Fisher Body Manual for your car.  Originals are easy to find on eBay and the illustrations are usually much clearer than the reproduction manuals.

Best of luck with it, but take it to heart when "67_Eldo" says ---
"I hope you've got lots of time and money because Marion has the potential to pick you clean! :-)"   

[67_Eldo]

One thing you mentioned that no one cleared up, it does not have a ballast resistor, it has a resistor wire that serves the same purpose and runs from the engine side of the firewall to the coil.

Yes. A picture of that resistor wire is pic #87 on this page:

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=149456.40

I bypassed my resistor wire when I installed new wiring for the Pertronix Ignitor (I). But I did not cut the original resistor wire. I wrapped it up and hung it on the firewall.

[35-709]

I did basically the same thing when I put a Pertronix in my '73.

[Myfirstclassic]

Thank you everyone for the info and comments! I have no interest in ever selling the car🙂 it’s kind of like a family heirloom of sorts to me. And I just enjoy working with my hands.  I won’t know until I get a proper battery in her but it seems as though the climate control, door electrical, radio don’t work. Wipers work perfectly. Dash lights/interior lights work great. Headlight switch had the knob seemingly damaged like it was pulled too far out. Tail lights work.

My biggest concerns are the front floor and getting it running and driving. It has the ever so common rust so there is a dinner plate sized hole on the passenger side and driver side seems weak. Once my current project is finished I’m going to pull the carpet and seats and have it fixed.

[67_Eldo]

The best of luck to you!

[Myfirstclassic]

The best of luck to you!

Thank you!

[cadman56]

From experience I can tell you open up your wallet BIG.
If you need a floor pan one from a 70 Toro is an exact match.  Experience speaking here.
Good luck.  You will have a very fast car when you get done.