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1932 Cadillac V-8 7 Passenger Sedan

Started by Marc A. Thurston, November 23, 2011, 06:59:33 PM

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Marc A. Thurston

I wanted to share with you my “eye opening” introduction into the world of automobile restoration.  I apologize for the length of this first post, but the last 6 years has been an incredible journey packed with all sorts of adventure's

Background
My name is Marc A Thurston and I am a third generation Bakersfield California (Central California) resident who grew up with a dad who thought family vacations were the ideal time to take a trip to a race track or car museum.  These interesting trips nurtured my passion towards automobiles and auto racing.  As a young man in the 70’s and 80’s I dreamed of one day owning a sports car or classic automobile.

After getting married and becoming professionally established I had the opportunity in 2003 to acquire a sports car. (That experience is whole another story).  While this was an enjoyable toy for a couple of years, I soon yearned for a hobby/project that would allow me to escape from the pressure of every day life.

The Car
Although I had no mechanical skills to speak of, I decided that I would search for a prewar car and then learn the art of restoration…Little did I know of the challenges that I was about to face. My search was focused on EBay for a prewar car that appealed to me and was in my budget.  After several months of searching I saw a posting for a 1932 V-8 7-Passenger Fleetwood Cadillac.  Without knowing the right questions to ask I immediately made an offer to the seller, which was accepted. 

The seller indicated that the top ½ of the engine was in boxes and that the interior needed complete restoration.  As we worked out the transportation arrangements, I sensed that the seller knew I was getting in way over my head.  All that mattered to me was that I was now the PROUD owner of a prewar Cadillac.

After a false start hiring Reliable Carriers, I switched to FedEx/Passport to deliver my new purchase from the East Coast to the West Coast.  I cannot begin to describe my excitement on the day that the car was delivered.  The transport driver was extremely professional and very careful with my car.  He told me that seeing “excited new owners” was one of the best parts of his job.  As he left, he asked me to send him pictures of the car when it was completed…I thought that was pretty cool.

Now that I had this incredible (large) car in my driveway, I realized that it was going to be impossible to fit it along with my wife's car and the sports car in my 3 car garage.  I did what most car guys would do…I begged for forgiveness from my wife and told her that she would need to park outside.  I assured her that within 6 weeks I would have the engine running and would then park the car at a storage facility a couple blocks away. 

My wonderful wife was very understanding, but as soon as I realized that I had no chance of getting the car running in short order; I decided that it was in the best interest of my marriage to find a house that could accommodate my wife's car and the Cadillac restoration.  Thus the purchase of the Cadillac necessitated moving to a home with more work space.

In hind sight it was probably a good thing that we moved because it took 168 weeks (3 & ¼ years until September 2008) before the engine was finally started after having been silent for the last 27 years.  My wife and friends now refer to me as Mr. 6 Weeks.


The Best Part of the Car Hobby
As a newbie to the hobby, I didn't have a clue as to where to start, but it was at this point that I made the smartest move possible. I surrounded myself with individuals who were very knowledgeable about cars, restorations and Cadillac's.

My receptionist mentioned one day that her husband was a Gear Head, so I started out by asking him his opinion on the various cars I was considering.  Robert Angulo generously offered both his time and expertise.  Not only have I gained knowledge from Robert, but most importantly I gained a great friend to share in this journey.

In fact the friends I have made and the support that I have received through out the process has been incredible.  The members of the CLC have been very helpful and patient with all of my questions.  Gentlemen like Paul Ayres, Johan Boltendal, Tom Young, Terry Wagner and many others have helped along the way.  Without their assistance I would have given up in frustration.  I cannot thank them enough.

The Restoration â€" Part 1
Robert suggested that I focus on one section of the car at a time.  The decision was made to rebuild the engine first.  Since the engine was in pieces when it arrived, it was unknown if all of the parts were present.  Armed with the abbreviated reprint of the shop manual the journey was started.  Every 4-6 weeks Robert would stop by and give me instructions on how to restore the next set of parts.  He would also check my previous work and tell me that it was acceptable or that it needed to be redone.  Although this approach took longer, I am glad this was the direction that we selected because it forced me to learn versus just watching someone else complete the restoration.

So as not to bore you with every little detail of the engine restoration I will point out a couple of the more interesting side stories.

Carburetor
When the car arrived it included a Carter Carburetor, which was incorrect.  A Johnson Carb is the correct one for a 1932 V-8.  Once I realized that I needed to locate one I started my search in earnest.  The first one I located belonged to a vendor who did Carb Restorations.  After lecturing me about what a terrible carburetor the Johnson is, he informed me that he was going to charge me $800 for the carb and restoration supplies; he refused to do the actual restoration work because he did not want to be responsible when the carb caught fire and destroyed the car.  I decided to keep looking.

About a year later I located the correct carburetor on EBay.  Much to my surprise it was being sold by the guy who sold me the car.  Since I was leaving for vacation the next day, I instructed my staff not to lose the auction.  At the conclusion of the auction which I won, the seller contacted my staff and asked if they would like to buy a 2nd one for a total of $165.00.  I then had Daytona Carburetor restore the carburetor which turned out spectacular.

Parts Cache
Four years ago I received an email from a CLC member who had 5 pallets of 1930 â€" 1933 engine parts for sale.  Since they were only 2 hours south of my location I quickly agreed to his asking price.  I thought that I could use some of the parts for my restoration and then I would sell off the rest and make a small profit.  Little did I realize that EVERYONE has excess engine parts?  I ended up using only 2 parts and was able to sell 4 other parts through the CLC website before I sold them for a loss to a really nice guy from the Midwest.

Cadmium Plating
I want the car to retain as accurate of an appearance as I can achieve.  Before I started the reassembly of the engine I sought out a firm that could Cadmium plate 56 fasteners.  Initially the plater quoted me $175 for the plating.  Upon receipt, the company asked me if I would like them to buff out some of the scratches on the bolt heads.  Without discussing price, (because how much could it cost???) I agreed.  Upon completion of the work, the company presented me a bill for $780.  Needless to say I was shocked! Fortunately after a few discussions we reached a mutually agreeable amount.  I learned an important lesson to always have an agreement on price before hiring work done on the restoration.

Restoration Update
As I mentioned earlier, the engine was completed and started in the fall of 2008. (It was very thrilling) I spent the next 9 months tweaking little things that I felt could have been done better.  From the middle of 2009 through 2010, I spent my time removing everything I could from the body so that I could separate it from the chassis.  Finally this past spring (11) I was able to lift the body off the chassis.  As my schedule permits this winter I plan on addressing the chassis so that in mid 2012, I can finally start on the body.

When I started, I couldn’t understand why people kept telling me how long it takes to complete a restoration.  Now that I have undertaken this journey for the past 6 years, I have come to realize why it takes so long to complete a restoration; “life” has a way of cutting into my restoration time.

Thank you for sharing in my journey.
Marc
Marc A. Thurston
1932 7-Passenger  Fleetwood V-8 Cadillac

Bill Hedge CLC 14424

#1
Mr. "six weeks"!  I love it!  A supportive and understanding spouse are critical to enjoying this hobby!  It appears that you have been receiving support from some of the best.  I look forward to future posts.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

gary griffin

Thanks for the nice post, I enjoyed it very much. I certainly agree that when you start there are certain expetations and I have fallen into that land  mine a few times myself. After I finish my Cadillac restoratration I plan on restoring a Triumph 1800 1948 rumble seat roadster. I purchased the restoration manual from the club and it starts out something like this " Prepare a record log of your restoration and keep all receipts so you will know your total costs but hide them in the garage so your wife wont find them." It is something like after you estimate the time and money required for a restoration triple the time and double the money to get a more realistic figure.  Good luck, I hope to enjoy your posts for quite a while, and great car by the way. More pictures the better 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

Chris Cummings

Marc,

That's a splendid car and a terrific story.  I see wood wheels.  That's always added interest for an early 1930s Cadillac, since you hardly ever see anything but wire wheels.  Wood wheels were standard for the V-16s, but you'd never know it to look at the survivors.  Ditto to what Bill Hedge said about a supportive and understanding spouse. 

Good luck with your restoration.  Do you have a copy of the 1932 shop manual?

Chris Cummings
CLC #20072

Marc A. Thurston

Thanks Everyone for your kind words.

Yes - I know that I am very lucky to have a supportive wife. :)

Chris - The GM Heritage Center told me that my car originally had wire wheels with side mounts.  At some point over the last 79 years the wooden wheels were added and the side mounts eliminated.  My plan is to try and restore the car as closely as possible to the original build sheet.  I have acquired most of the hardware for the side mounts as well as 5 of the 6 wire wheels.

I have been using the shop manual, parts manual and the Authenticity Manual.

Attached are a couple of additional photos
Marc A. Thurston
1932 7-Passenger  Fleetwood V-8 Cadillac

Chris Cummings

Marc,

Thanks for posting the additional photos.  What a neat car! Maroon and black are great colors for these beasts. 

That's interesting about the fenders and wheels.  Are you positive that the engine in your car (and hence the engine number and the corresponding build sheet) is the one the car came with?  I think you can tell by comparing the unit numbers on the build sheet for the steering box, chassis, rear axle, etc. with the numbers stamped in those components.  I have heard of people replacing a rear-mount spare with fender wells and sidemounts, but not the other way around.  Of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't done just the way you described -- just that this amateur observer is surprised. 

Oh, and if you want to know how supportive my wife is, pick up a copy of the book I wrote, "The Cadillac that Followed Me Home."  (How's that for a shameless pitch?)  She made me get my 1930 five-passenger imperial sedan, God bless her! 

Enjoy your car!

Chris

Marc A. Thurston

Chris - I will have to check the other numbers.  When I submitted the information to the Heritage Center, I also included photos of the car.  The historian really appreciated the photos to compare with the items listed on the build sheet (per the engine number)

While the Maroon/Black combination is striking from 20 feet away, up close it looks like it was painted by a low end production shop.  The original color on the car was midnight Blue/Black with Tokio Ivory pinstripes.  This will be the color of the restored car.

Marc
Marc A. Thurston
1932 7-Passenger  Fleetwood V-8 Cadillac

Chris Cummings

Marc,

I think you're well on your way to having a beautiful and fun-to-drive classic Cadillac.

Chris

gary griffin

Marc,

   The build sheet and the authenticity manuals are strong indicators of how to restore a car. I started with the intent to do a quick and easy job on a running car in about 6 months and now it is taking about 2 years and costing about three times what I had figured but the satisfaction of staying authentic and doing a better job of restoration makes it worth while to me.
The other side of the equation is that I will get less time to enjoy driving the car.
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

Marc A. Thurston

The Journey Continues - January 2013 - Part 2 of my Restoration Post

It has been 12 months since my first posting.  During this period, I have been diligently working on the chassis (I also had the transmission freshened up, and the gas tank repaired).  After taking detailed photographs, I have removed every part from the frame.  I am now focused on cleaning, restoring and replacing substandard parts.  Although I hoped to have the chassis completed by mid year 2012, realistically I don’t see completion until the late 2013.

Is it ever really done?
I had an opportunity to re-examine the restoration of the fuel pump during the late spring.  Much to my disappointment the quality of my work left much to be desired.  So I took it off and refinished all the compression fittings.  While not a new concept…It seems the attention to the small details really makes the difference on the overall presentation.  As I become more familiar with restoration techniques and my expectations rise, I wonder how many more completed parts will get a 2nd hard look for their quality.  This could certainly delay the overall completion.


Seize the opportunity!!!
My father mentioned in passing that he had a friend who was a talented woodworker.  This caught my attention because several of my interior wood trim pieces had issues of splitting.  I knew that it will be at least 24-36 months before I get to this section of the restoration, but how often was I going to meet someone who was skilled in woodworking?  The gentlemen offered to look at the trim pieces and see if he could help.  Upon review, he felt that he could restore all of them to their original appearance / shape.  When I received the first one back that originally had a significant crack on the curved section of the window frame, I was speechless; I couldn’t even locate the prior damage.  After refinishing all the pieces, this kind gentleman refused to accept any sort of payment for his time and effort.  He told me that it was a thrill to work on an elegant vehicle of this vintage.

Don’t forget the Memory Card.
I have tried to be very diligent about taking pictures of each step of the restoration, so that I can have a photo history as well as a source of reference as I am reassembling the various mechanical items.  After photographing the passenger side front brake disassembly, I realized that I had missed a couple of crucial pictures.  I vowed to make a better effort when I disassembled the front driver-side brake.  The afternoon of the driver-side brake disassembly, I nearly doubled the number of photos that I had taken on the passenger side.  My only setback was that I had forgotten to reinstall the photo memory card back into my digital camera.  Hopefully, I won’t make that mistake again! 

The majority of this year has been spent restoring the front end and brakes.  As I have pressed forward, it has occurred to me that I need to spend my time more productive during my limited escapes to the garage.  In the past when I would spend hour's hand cleaning nuts and bolts, I now spend the time using the vibratory tumbler, dremel tool and buffing machines.

Well until the next report…Happy Motoring! And Happy New Years!
Marc A. Thurston
1932 7-Passenger  Fleetwood V-8 Cadillac