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1948 cadillac fleetwood buisness sedan

Started by KrissyS, August 04, 2019, 01:57:42 AM

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KrissyS

Her name is Lorraine the Limo. I wanted her for a couple months after seeing her in an auto clipper. Husband said no, but luckily finally decided to do the right thing and surprise me with the bill of sale. She's a diamond in the ruff. I have a show Cadillac (1989 cadillac eldorado) but have always craved more. Its our first restoration and this week has been fun finding all the pieces tossed about in the car. Just put transmissiono fluid in the spark plugs to see if we can get it to turn. Fingers crossed. Hope to use original engine.

The Tassie Devil(le)

Congratulations on your acquisition.

Son doesn't look too happy inside the car, but his expressions will change.

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

harry s

Congrats on your new acquisition. Keep us posted on your new adventure.  Harry
Harry Scott 4195
1941 6733
1948 6267X
2011 DTS Platinum

Tom Boehm

Hello Krissy, Welcome to Cadillac restoration. After looking at your pictures you are brave. I suggest you join the Cadillac and Lasalle Club. The club's resources have been a huge help to me restoring my Lasalle. Look at other cars like yours in pictures and in person to determine what is correct for your car and what is missing. Do this before you disassemble. Get advice about mechanical, chrome, upholstery, bodywork, paint, before you disassemble so you know what to expect cost wise and effort wise. The three most important information books are the 1948 Cadillac shop manual, and the Cadillac and Lasalle master parts book. These are available reproduction. The third is the Cadillac and Lasalle Club Authenticity Manual for 1948 cars. Whoops, the manual for 1948 series 75 has not been published yet.
Here is some technical information about your car. The body and chassis of your car (1948 series 75) was in production from 1940-1949. It began in 1940 as the series 72. The same body/chassis was called the series 75 in 1941 and continued reletively unchanged as the 75 until 1949. The front end styling was changed yearly to match the other Cadillac series cars. There were minor trim and dashboard differences along the way. The 75 used the Cadillac flathead engine until 1948. The series 75 got the new Cadillac overhead valve engine in 1949. The 72 and 75 in this period were low production cars but your chances of finding parts are increased because the design went unchanged for 7 years.

KrissyS

Thank you for the information. We have just received the reproduction manual, that should definetly help! As far as disasembling we are picking up where somebody left off about 30 years ago. They gutted it and took everything off. It changed hands and got left in a field for what I'm told about 30 yrs and then in a car lot for 5. Windows out and all so things got real musty and gross. Working on removal of bee hives, mice bones and nests, also what i was told was gopher droppings. YUCK! But she's worth it :)

Tom Boehm

Hello again Krissy, and again you are brave. What state do you live in? Because of the vast amounts of time and money required to restore cars, this hobby tends to be an older crowd. We need enthusiastic younger families like you. I'm 55 and I am still on the younger side in the hobby. My story is similar to yours and I want to give you some encouragement. I am restoring a 1940 Lasalle woodie station wagon. It was in worse condition than yours when I got it over 20 years ago. Mine sat outside for about 20 years. I am familiar with mice nests, raccoon droppings, and what seemed like endless mud dauber wasp nests. My car is not finished yet but I have made slow steady progress over the years. I have pictures like yours of my car with my kids when they were toddlers. Now my oldest is 20 and has projects of his own. In between has been a lot of soccer games and boy scout campouts etc. I do not regret getting the car or how long it has taken. The Cadillac master parts book for the era of your car will help also. It will tell you what other Cadillac cars and model years used a given part. That is helpful to you with a low production car. My car required a lot of research to restore correctly. Yours will require a lot of research also because of the condition and because it is already partially disassembled. In the interest of full disclosure, know upfront that it will cost more to restore your car than it will be worth when you are finished. That is a fact with many restorations. Broad hobby interest in prewar cars is waning and values are waning too. There are not as many parts reproduced for prewar cars being produced anymore as the hobbyists who made them die off. Your car is essentially a prewar car both mechanically and styling wise. This hobby should be about the enthusiasm you feel about the car you selected to restore and the joy you get out of resurrecting it. Again, consider joining the Cadillac and Lasalle club. There are pictures of my car on the forum section of the AACA site. www.aaca.org. Scroll down to the National Woodie Club section toward the bottom.

Tom Boehm

Cadillac made a total of 3329 series 75 cars in 1948. A total of 90 were 7523L Business Sedans. Original price was $4,679.00. The series 75 did not get the front end styling update of other 1948 Cadillacs.