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Not really New Blog, Restoring my 1942- 6719 ammended August 6th 2017

Started by gary griffin, February 01, 2012, 05:26:27 PM

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gary griffin

#40
HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I officially retired at 12:00 midnight. I have conflicting emotions about retirement at 72 years old but I guess it will work out, both the good of it and the bad of it. The trick is to work on the good part which to me means more time to work on my cars and motorcycles and more time to enjoy using them also.

First my primary goal is the completion of my Cadillac restoration. It is getting so close after months of inactivity. The shop doing a lot of the work has been using the Cadillac to for fill in work when they were not busy. The good for them is they have been busy, and not so good for me is that they have been busy. Mark, the owner is a son of an old friend of mine who left the shop to him in his will. He is a good mechanic, a good body guy and I love his work but unfortunately so do all of his other customers. The good thing that I have known him all of his life and he will let me work on my car in his shop.
 
   Now is the time to focus on the Cadillac and get it ready for the summer.      Just a little bit to do on the body, get it running, bring it home to install the trim and take it to the upholsterers. I wont set another date for completion and I do not make New Years Resolutions but it is reasonable to assume it will be done before summer.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

The Tassie Devil(le)

Congratulations.   I thought retirement (leaving the workforce) at 55 was good.

But, I don't call it Retirement - The Retirement word conjures up the three things.   Nobody wants you, you are too old, and then you are going to die. - I call it "Getting a Life".   I get up when I want to, go to bed when I want to, and in between, do what the wife tells me to do, within reason.

But, seriously, life is good.

Bruce. >:D
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

gary griffin

#42
   I know this "New Blog" is getting old but some are following it to get hints for their own restorations.

   Progress is occurring.

    I have all of my upholstery materials and will be delivering the seats, door panels, arm rests and so forth to the upholsterers the 15th so she can begin. Hopefully the car will be about a week later. She does not have much storage and if she finishes the portable parts and the car is not there I will have to bring everything home until the car is ready.

    Brakes rebuilt but new dual zone master cylinder not in yet. All rebuilt shocks are installed. Rebuilt radio ready. It seems like a ton of chrome work is ready to install and all new flat glass is ready along with a new exhaust system. I know there will be last minute things coming up but now I am retired and have time to find parts and prepare them.

    I am painting the Dash Board and rear and front window trim from my parts car to use temporarily until all upholstery is done as I do not want to install the wood grained items more than once.

    Final painting Wheels are painted and will be going to the shop for mounting and balancing tomorrow. One fender not painted yet but primed and ready for paint early next week. A few questions on engine parts painting asked in technical and restoration Blog. Front fenders staying off until engine is started and tuned to avoid damage.

    Hopefully by the end of the month the car will be home for installation of all of the chrome parts and terminating all of the wiring harness to the various connections. So many loose ends.  Anticipating a cruising summer in the car.

    Towards the end of  a restoration you always find you need a few items you have overlooked. I was preparing to take everything to the upholsterer and found a couple of deficiencies such as the need for a sun visor and a robe rope.  I cant find a second sun visor so it is either lost or I never had it and the robe rope is just too brittle to reuse.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin



   The frustration of restoring a car is getting to me. I have two new problems that will take some extra time to sort out.

  1.   I selected an independant upholsterer with great credentials and reasonable price. Her husband was medically retired and she had to take a full time job to get medical benefits. This happened soon after I took her the seats to rebuild and she is in the middle of that project but going very slowly. I am looking for someone to do the headliner, door panels, carpet and so forth.

   2.   My car was in a friends shop and was being worked on as a fill in job. It sat too long and got nicks in the door paint and they all had to be repainted. I am hoping to get the body finished soon and bring it home for reassembly of windows, doors, wiring, bumpers and chrome, and then  take it to a new upholsterer to finish the interior with the exception of the trim around the windows. Pictures soon and hopefully it will be done for Christmas???
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

Thule

i wish you the best of luck with the rest of this project.

the car is beautiful. i really like the shape of the body
Ivar Markusson.  icelandic cadillac club (part of CLC)
73 Eldorado coupe.

James Gray

Gary,

I saw this series of post regarding restoring your '42 - 6719. I am about to embark on a similar project with a much strong canvas with which to start.

Regarding bodywork. This will be my first attempt at this. Don't panic, I intend to spend a year or better beating, stripping, sanding, painting and sealing metal to perfect the art. WHen I can do it without error, I will then break down the Caddy and repair and Paint.

My question to you is, was this something you did professionally or did you just learn and do it yourself. What sources would you be willing to share to learn to do this properly.

As for me, there is nothing I cannot do well given the proper tools to learn the trade. While this brain still functions, that is.
Maj. James F Gray Ret.
Kristie Koepplin RN BSN

Member # 28494
1942 Cadillac Series 6269

gary griffin

#46
It was supposed to be a big day as we were finally going to start the engine but when the fluids were put in there was  a leak.  On the second page of this blog there is a picture of the engine I posted on June 28 2012 showing a pin hole in the soft plug in the center of the engine about directly under the carburetor.  Hopefully I can get a replacement quickly and keep on going.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

As I posted in the technical forum there were problems with my core plugs. If you look closely at page two of this blog there is a picture of the engine and you can see the core plug directly under the carburetor you will see a small pin hole.  We changed all of the core plugs this week and hopefully will be starting the engine this week.

I should have it home in a week or two and will be able to proceed with installing everything such as glass, chrome, wiring and so forth. Upholstery is currently a questionable but I am working on it.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin


  I wish I knew how to add a short i-phone video to the post. IT RUNS AT LAST!

  Finally it runs, sounds great without the muffler yet and only ran a couple of minutes.  Trying to find an oil pressure line so we can take it outside  and  run it for 20 minutes at over 2000 RPM. 

  I am excited and planning on bring it home next week and start installing windows and chrome, and hardware.

  Trying to solve my upholstery problems also.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

It has been 8 months since I added to this post. A lot has happened in my life as well as with the car. Retired at 72 years old 2 years ago and been busy every since. For now I will comment only on the 1942--6719

As I had said earlier parts are quite difficult to find for this car. One problem was the vent windows on the front doors. Both regulators were completely non salvageable. These are quite rare. There so many variables in them and one being the fact that the shaft coming through the door into the cabin is forward of the pivot point of the window and it is a specific length. Most of the ones I found had longer shafts which placed the handle about 1/2 inch outward from the door panel. Finally I found the parts through Harry Scott and they will fit in my housings so that problem is resolved.

I had a terrible experience with a chrome shop which I will not name here but I have had good luck with him in the past so I sent all of my hard to find chrome to him. It came back late but looked beautiful until I started assembling the grille and it started peeling.  I sent it back and he said he needed my spare verticals so I sent them. He stopped communications and I actually purchased an additional grille for parts then I did get my parts back but not finished. I now have the parts in question at a local shop. Higher priced but good quality and good control. I hope to have the grille fully installed in January.

I had some really bad springs in my upholstery due to rusting accelerated by vermin urine but luckily Harry Scott came through again and sold me the upholstery from his parts car. Series 67 was only 1941 and 1942 low production models so parts are hard to find and also luckily hard to sell so a good deal for Harry and myself I think.

My upholsterer decided to take a night job for medical benefits so my upholstery came in late also. Luckily this did not hold me up due to the other problems being dealt with at the same time.

Somehow the splash pans that are behind the rear wheels inside the fenders were lost or not included in the car but luckily Tod Moore of Texas is preparing to restore his 1942--6719 and he sent me a splash pan for a pattern. Eddie Jones provided similar splash pans which I will be modifying to fit my car.

I am forging ahead and hopefully will be operable early in the spring. Also trying to button up some minor work with my LaSalle and just purchased a 1957--60 Special that needs a little TLC

I was going to post some pictures of the 1942 but am having the usual camera to computer problems. I will focus on this because I know everyone likes the pictures.

Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

Paul Tesone

 Gary - great to see that you're  posting again . And you are correct about the pictures , so keep them coming . ... Paul Tesone CLC # 6876

hudson29

I too have enjoyed reading about your project & seeing your pictures. I often set schedules & goals with my own projects but have found that they are in constant flux as parts, time & budget impact them. I have some projects on low burner that have gone on for more than 20 years. I'm hoping to finish one of these, a Norton motorcycle this Spring as the current Model T project is finally getting well enough along to clear its allied bits & pieces out of my shop. I don't know about you, but I always have another project or three to work on when I get stalled on the "main" effort.

Please do keep us posted on your very interesting Caddie. Bing is one of my all time favorite singers and as the original owner of your car it makes it all the more special.

Vintage Paul
1939 Cadillac 6127 Coupé
1929 Hudson Town Sedan
1926 Hudson Anderson Bodied Coupé
1923 Ford Runabout

gary griffin

Just reactivating my blog.  The first pictures are the car coming home from the paint shop and then the upholstery.

I am just relearning the procedure to post the pictures so I will bring a few more in next post.

You can see the tires and wheels ready to go on the car.  My old lady was upset when I moved her potted plants and decorated the front of the house with my tires.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

More pictures, Bumpers ready to install, and back of bumpers as they were in bad shape and I cleaned them up and painted them.

Front of car a few weeks ago. Tires are all on now so front of house is bleak.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

Just adding an update.  If you are planning on a restoration I would assume you will be making a budget and a tentative schedule. I did and both were way too optimistic. I just passed the three year milestone for this one and have no idea where the budget figure is. I will never know and do not care because the money is gone and the car is approaching completion.

If anything could go wrong it did. I had a lot of the work done in a shop of a friend and he did it on a fill in basis so when he was busy nothing was happening. Not his fault and saved me a lot of money.

I made changes and added to the work several times.

He did a complete brake job including adding a dual master cylinder kit purchased from Art Gardner. I stayed pretty authentic but am fudging on the brakes and seat belts.  Finding the authenticity manual and the fact that only 800 series 67 Cadillacs were built in 1942 made it important to me to stay as authentic as possible.

The car is running and basically a new car in most important items.  Other than the trunk, Back of front seat divider, and headliner the upholstery is fabricated and ready to install. Everything is re-chromed and all of the mechanical items are rebuilt or new. 

I am not making any new schedules or predictions. Life gets in the way of meeting them. I have explained several of my delays in this blog and expect there will be a few more. Right now it is too cold to do much and my garage is not heated. I am 74 now and do not like working out there when it is under 55 degrees.  I am down to reinstalling things and testing them. I put the deluxe heating system on the table and tested each component and they are all working but the left under-seat heater is a little noisy so I am trying to get another one. I took this one apart and lubricated it but it is still a little loud.  One of the splash pans (In the rear fender to keep mud form the tire from splashing back ) got lost in the process so I bought a similar one had have to modify it by welding an extension on it. When reassembling my grille some of the chrome was peeling off so I am waiting for those pieces to get back from the plating shop.  I decided to add a sound deadening product called "Rattle trap" to the inside of the car. It is 80 mil thick foil backed product with adhesive on the other side. Just cut it to shape, peel off the paper and put it on and roll it with a roller to get good adhesion.  I did one door and can not believe the difference it makes. Tapping it and then the other door and there is no comparison the completed door is so much quieter. 

I have the wiring harness installed but not all of the terminations are completed and I am going to remove the wiring through the firewall and install the Rattle Trap material under the firewall insulator pad.  The Rattle trap material will be in all of the doors, the inside of the roof ,  under the carpet, in the trunk and on the back of the rear seat on the inside of the trunk. It will not be anywhere it can be seen.

My schedule or lack of one was also affected by the purchase of a 1940 LaSalle 4 door convertible and a 1957 Cadillac 60 Special. Both needing minor work and  TLC.  Plenty to keep this old guy busy and hopefully this fall I will be able to start restoration of my Triumph 1800 rumble seat roadster.

I have hopes of driving the 1942 this summer sometime and maybe even taking it 1100 miles to the Grand National in Las Vegas next year? 
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

Ralph Messina CLC 4937

Gary,

You’re doing a beautiful job on a special car. It will be stunning when finished.

I can empathize with the schedule and cost estimate. I did a similar job on a ’66 Brougham â€" help from professional friends whenever they weren’t busy â€" and it took me six years.  I lost a year when a vendor I had investigated did an amateurish job on the first job I gave him. He refused to repair it and threw me out. I filed suit, not for the compensation but to get even. Watching him and his lawyers squirm in court was priceless. I did find a much better shop that did flawless work and I’ve been friends with the owner ever since. It took me eleven months to get in his queue…….BTW, I won the suit.

I’ve restored two Eldorado convertibles , one Eldorado Seville and a Fleetwood Brougham. I feel comfortable saying Fleetwood closed cars are far more difficult and frustrating  because of all the special features and appointments. That said, when finished they best represent “The Standard of the World.”

Ralph
1966 Fleetwood Brougham-with a new caretaker http://bit.ly/1GCn8I4
1966 Eldorado-with a new caretaker  http://bit.ly/1OrxLoY
2018 GMC Yukon

gary griffin

Thanks Ralph,

   I am hoping to have it on the road in late summer and have enough miles on it by spring to be able to trust if for a drive to Las Vegas for the 2016 Grand National.

   Had another set back, the center piece of the front bumper valance was misplaced.  I also had some problems with a chrome guy in California and thought I would never get the rest of my grille parts.  I purchased a grille with the valance piece and then I got my grille parts back also. I was about to have the valance from the extra grille prepared and painted then we found the bumper valance in the back seat of my LaSalle.  Problem solved but time lost but now I have an extra rare 1942 Cadillac grille in case I have an accident or any of the 1942 owners needs it. 1942 parts are tough to find!!
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

Quote from: gary griffin on April 13, 2015, 05:28:49 PM
Thanks Ralph,

   I am hoping to have it on the road in late summer and have enough miles on it by spring to be able to trust if for a drive to Las Vegas for the 2016 Grand National.

   Had another set back, the center piece of the front bumper valance was misplaced.  I also had some problems with a chrome guy in California and thought I would never get the rest of my grille parts.  I purchased a grille with the valance piece and then I got my grille parts back also. I was about to have the valance from the extra grille prepared and painted then we found the bumper valance in the back seat of my LaSalle.  Problem solved but time lost but now I have an extra rare 1942 Cadillac grille in case I have an accident or any of the 1942 owners needs it. 1942 parts are tough to find!!
Quote from: gary griffin on February 01, 2012, 05:26:27 PM
This site does not like me. Every time I forget to reduce a picture it eradicates my blog. This is my third try.
I purchased the car which was originally Bing Crosby's ranch car for his ranches in Nevada. This car shipped out of Detroit December 3rd 1941 and was probably on a train when Pearl Harbor was attacked. During the War Bing donated it to the military and it was sold at a military surplus auction in 1951. I believe it was used a few years and then sat 30 years in a Quanset hut in the Utah desert for 30 years. During this period it served as a home for a variety of desert creatures with bad personal hygene and my 7 year old grand daughter vows that she will never ride in it. I bet she changes her mind when it is done though. The attempts by previous owners to restore it were not successful except in losing  parts and chrome plating some of the other parts.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

This basically a bump posting.  We all age and have other aspects of our lives that influence our projects. I purchased a couple of cars and a truck I can enjoy and am now resuming work on the 1942 - 6719.  Delays caused by new knee installation partly. Getting used to them and getting back to the car. Planning on getting the 1942 upholstery completed as soon as the 1957 Fleetwood comes home Hopefully it will be in service in a reasonable time!!

My parents are in assisted living facility and they asked me to bring a couple of cars for an event they planned. Great appreciation was shown by all.  I brought my 1957 Fleetwood and 1940 LaSalle both.
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver

gary griffin

Just moving it to the top for engine perusal in middle of 2nd page
Gary Griffin

1940 LaSalle 5029 4 door convertible sedan
1942 Cadillac 6719 restoration almost complete?
1957 Cadillac 60-special (Needs a little TLC)
2013 Cadillac XTS daily driver