What have you done with your Cadillac today?

[jyinger]

I drove Blue Girl up to the shop where they are putting the pieces of Sally ('42 series 61) back together.  Blue ran like a dream.  She shifts like a new car.  I think I have a photo here somewhere

[Dan LeBlanc]

Today was alignment day for the Brougham.  It got wet, but you simply don't reschedule my alignment guy.  He's got a long waiting list to get in, so you suck it up and go and clean the car later.  It was worth it though - the steering difference was night and day.

[Lexi]

Took her out on the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Highway) today. Had her up to 75 mph and in this 94 F heat she ran well. Got home and installed my freshly painted oil filter canister lid with period correct decals. Did an oil change and chassis lubrication Saturday. Had to drop by my Ford dealership where the car was mobbed by sales and service personnel. While driving off their parking lot, a fellow driving by in a late model car stopped on the road, stared, then yelled "What the F*%# is that"? Oddest comment I have yet to receive on the car. Hope that meant he liked the Caddy. Clay/Lexi

[K_Cassutt]

Update on the 1967 Eldorado in Montana.  Yes, the one that caught fire last year. Mechanic returned from vacation so he is enthusiastically working on my car.  A freeze plug was leaking-he sent me the pic to prove it.  Daughter and I dream of cruising in Big Sky Country this fall.

[Lexi]

Good luck on your project. I had a 1956 CDV in the mid-seventies that went up in flames while I was driving. I had to source a replacement wiring harness from a parts car as well as other parts that were smoke damaged, to repair all. Two months of solid work out in the parent's driveway under the punishing sun. You have my sympathy. Clay/Lexi

[Andrew Trout]

During the restoration of the Cadillac, my Dad bought a reproduction rear view mirror. While installing the reproduction mirror, the bushing from the original mirror was lost. So every time you'd adjust the mirror, it would drop down after a moment or two. Adjust, drop, adjust, drop, on and on and on. My Dad tried tightening the screw more, and that did a whole lot of nothing. You could switch the mirror to 'night' and sort of see out the rear view mirror, but not clearly. It wasn't the worst thing, as I prefer to turn around and look over my shoulder when backing into the storage space I keep the car in. But it was a limitation when changing lanes on the road, as I couldn't see if any cars were coming up behind me. The other week, I bought a replacement bushing and screw off eBay and installed them yesterday. Getting the bushing into the hole in the mirror took a minute of fussing with some needle nose pliers, but once I got the screw back in, the mirror stayed in place.

To celebrate, I took the top down for the first time this year and went to get some ice cream with my wife. The Cadillac certainly attracted plenty of attention in the parking lot, with small kids fascinated by the rocketship-esque car, and the older men all stopping and admiring on their way into the shop. The car's not great at helping people maintain social distancing though, and one adult child had to remind their father to not get quite so close to me when I was getting ready to leave. Several people asked if the car was a '59 (which is quickly becoming a pet peeve of mine) but one guy did stop in the middle of an intersection to ask if it was a '61 or '62, so maybe there's still hope.

Driving around with the top down was great, as was glancing in the rear view mirror and seeing two tail fins peeking back at me. My wife was wearing a wide-brimmed hat, and occasionally the brim would flutter from the wind. I'd catch that movement out of the corner of my eye in the mirror and think the boot for the convertible top had come loose, but instead it was just the two of us, enjoying the open air and open road.

[35-709]

Lovely.  Pompeian Red, yes?  One of my all time favorite colors.

[Andrew Trout]

Correct! Pompeian Red, red/white interior, white top.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Andrew, the car looks fantastic.  Pompeiian Red has to be one of my favourite colours.  With that interior, simply superb!

[Dan LeBlanc]

We got some much needed rain over the weekend, so I took advantage of that. The Brougham got incredibly dirty going for an alignment the other day in the rain. So, I gave it a soap and water bath and deep cleaned the vinyl top. I usually use a waterless wash as I don't intentionally get the car wet, but as dirty as it was,  that would have just scratched it.

Got it all dried off, looked good, but I knew it could be better. So, I broke out the DA polisher, and really worked the Meguiars Ultimate Polish more than normal and not a swirl mark to be found. So, that made the chrome really look dingy, so I polished all that too. Then I decided to really give the door guards a good polish and put them back on. They won't be coming off again. Gives the side a little pop. You think these cars don't have much chrome until you have to polish it all.

Cleaned up the interior too. Gave everything a nice coat of protectant, waxed all the fake wood, good vacuuming, and moisturized the leather.

Mission creep anyone?  What started with what a simple wash and spray with quick detailer should have been turned into a two day affair. It's never looked this good in the two years I've owned it and now it's too clean to drive.

Excuse the messy garage - it's not finished yet, and we've been doing some home reno projects, so everything is everywhere.

[Dan LeBlanc]

A couple of weeks ago, I also did something that I'd been putting off since I changed the headlight adjusters last spring. Coming back from Pennsylvania last summer on the Mass Pike, I found out the hard way that you don't eyeball your headlights or take it down a dark road to get them close. Couldn't see a bloody thing that night. Now, all good. Another thing checked off the list.

[Andrew Trout]

Andrew, the car looks fantastic.  Pompeiian Red has to be one of my favourite colours.  With that interior, simply superb!

Thanks! It photographs great, but once you get close you can see the defects in the paint. I've been slowly working at compounding the paint with a Griot's Garage DA to get out all the swirl marks. It's a big car, and I'd rather spend time driving around town if I can. The repairs from countless dings and scratches will have to wait until I can afford to repaint the car. The damaged paint is a mixed blessing. I still get twitchy about people getting too close to the car, but at least I'm able to drive and park it in public without causing myself undue anxiety and stress.

[jyinger]

I drove Blue Girl up the the shop, and then toured around the neighborhood.   

As always:  A lot of thumbs up, "nice car," etc.  And the inevitable:  "what year is she?"

Let's see if you guys can tell......

Jon Yinger  CLC 26643

[Matti R]

Today I received the new inlays for steering wheels of both my Eldos-71. It was very easy to install and looks great.
I will install the other one to -71 coupe tomorrow. It has Medium Maize interior and the original inlay is falling into pieces. I want to pay attention to those parts which are visible all the time when driving. Like steering wheel.

[mario]

Matti:
How did the seam ends meet. Did you have to trim them to fit?
Thanks.
Ciao,
Mario Caimotto

[Uhegej]

In the last few days.... I had new tires put on; washed it and added new floor mats!

[Matti R]

Matti:
How did the seam ends meet. Did you have to trim them to fit?
Thanks.
Ciao,
Mario Caimotto

Hi Mario,
The seam ends met very tight. No trim was needed.
Regards,
Matti

[2manycars]

I drove Blue Girl up the the shop, and then toured around the neighborhood.   

As always:  A lot of thumbs up, "nice car," etc.  And the inevitable:  "what year is she?"

Let's see if you guys can tell......

Jon Yinger  CLC 26643

'm guessing it's a 42 60 Special, yes?

[JohnnyRockit]

My Hydramatic seal kit for the 1962 CDV from FatsCo Transmission arrived, so I decided to install the extension housing bushing and rear oil seal today. I had already just replaced the rear oil seal but it still had a pretty healthy leak at the rear. The difference in the FatsCo seal and the Brand X one that I put in previously was dramatic. The FatsCo seal was deeper and had a much larger area of rubber on both sides of the seal.

The rear bushing that FatsCo sells is a single 1.4" bushing instead of the dual 7/8" bushings the Hydramatic originally had, but they said it is the correct replacement going into a Hydramatic. We'll see...

Anyway, I got it all put back together with 10 qts of fluid and a new filter...tomorrow morning I'll hopefully have no trans fluid on the garage floor.

JohnE

[Bill Balkie 24172]

Hello ,
    I have my climate controlled air conditioning system working as it should and was able to keep the R 12 refrigerant  in the system . Feeling very good right now . thats what i have done for my 1970 Cadillac Coupe De Ville today .

    Bill