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hi all im new here from melbourne australia

Started by 57caddy, December 26, 2012, 09:37:31 PM

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57caddy

this is my 57 cadillac coupe deville matching number car


Where do i start
Ok well just over 2 years ago now my mum had past away as she was a elvis freak and elvis loved his cadillacs and mum loved classic 50,s cars this one came up for sale so i thaught well i cant bring mum back or elvis id bring back to life this beauty 57 cadillac and restore it in memory of my mum and elvis more mum though .
So it begun got the car home and said to dad lets bring this car back to life for mum he cried i ended up renting a factory as it was just to big to fit at home every nite after work me and dad went and started to strip the car down bit by bit i purchased a hand sand blaster and blasterd the shell once that was done i had my mums cousin build me a rotisery .
We took the shell off now that was a task and a half on its own .We got the shell off and bolted it to the rotisory and went over and under the hole car after we removed everything else from the shell it was bare we washed the bottom of the shell before we started said to dad fingers cross no rust under there please couldnt belive our eyes all we had to do is paint the bottom .
Then we re stone gaurded all in side and painted that then we went around the body and found i hole where the back window mould sat about a 5 cent peice thats all on the hole car couldnt believe it cut that out and put in a new peice .
We then sprayed red oxide over the hole shell again like it had before i blasted it we let that sit for about 3 mnths .in that time we started to pull the engine down thats when we hit a brick wall couldnt turn the motor to undo the ply wheel nuts to seprate the 2 it was jamed . Looked at my dad he looked at me i said there is no way we are changing the motor this is a complete matching number car so we started to unbolt from the bottom and unbolted the mains from the crank and eventualy turned the crank a bit at a time so we could undo the fly wheel it worked smiles all over .WE HAD TO BASH THE PISTONS OUT FROM THE BOTTOM . the carby wasnt looking good a friend put me on to a guy he looked at it and closed his eyes he took it he called and said all done he fully rebuilt it so glad its the same carby going back on smiles again
I orded a full rebuild kit from the states and this build kit came with everything i mean everything droped it all off to footscray engine rebuild they couldnt beleive what i got in the kit so $7500 later the engine was brand new again .
as that was getting all done we stripped totaly the chassy to nothing got it sand blasted and painted it black again .
as for the all the components i fully rebuilt everything used all the origanal parts and rebuilt it all .
then we started to put all the hubs diff and so on back on to the chassy after rebuilding it .
It,s rolling again we sat the motor and box back in after the box was fully checked and bolted back together we started to put all the engine back together yay looks like a half car again but new .Back to the shell rubbed the oxide then sprayed it with 2k 1 step
best stuff ever made left that sit for another three mnths .Then we started to rebuild everything else that had to be done and chassing ducting for the heater material for the trim painting bits and peices ready to go on the car .Well ill tell you this defently not a cheap car to restore prices arnt to bad for some of the stuff in the states the shipping is a killer .
Anyway started to go hunting for stuff that was missing from the car and got all that from the states .
i was amazed that i could get a fair bit of rebuild kits for everything on the car thank god for that
finally i rubbed the car back and painted the pink and white on the shell and left that to sit till now did that so in all that time it would do what it had to like shrink and stuff now it has a good base to paint on when that time comes we put the shell back on and boltted the rest of tha e hang ons back to the car now im at the stage of getting the rest ready so the hole car can be painted
well thats pretty much in a nut shell of rebuilding this car and bringing it back to life like it was at the dealer ship back in 1957
thank you for reading my story sorry it was a long one thank you for taking the time out reading it

gary griffin

Great car and great story. A tribute to your mother and Elvis
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

57flw

Hi Gary,
Well done to you and your Dad. Your Mom would be proud of you.

My car is quite similar. You may be interested in checking mine out.

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=107762.msg146319#msg146319

Ken from Hervey Bay

Ken Francis
Hervey Bay
Queensland, Australia
1957 Series 60 Special Fleetwood
Skype: fleetwood1957

57caddy

hi ken
i bow my head down to you on a great resto on your caddy its awsome well done


Quote from: 57flw on December 27, 2012, 02:56:00 AM
Hi Gary,
Well done to you and your Dad. Your Mom would be proud of you.

My car is quite similar. You may be interested in checking mine out.

http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=107762.msg146319#msg146319

Ken from Hervey Bay

Walter Youshock

Welcome to the group!  That looks like one aggressive restoration.  I have the twin to yours--Mountain Laurel and Alpine white CDV.  I see yours also has fog lights.  Is it an air conditioned car?  Only option mine is missing and I wish it had it.

Good luck!
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

57caddy

no air con walter you should have the fog lights pretty sure thats standard on the coupe devilles

Quote from: Walter Youshock on December 27, 2012, 01:01:35 PM
Welcome to the group!  That looks like one aggressive restoration.  I have the twin to yours--Mountain Laurel and Alpine white CDV.  I see yours also has fog lights.  Is it an air conditioned car?  Only option mine is missing and I wish it had it.

Good luck!

57caddy

seats restored

57caddy

engine rebuild

57caddy

stripping the car

Walter Youshock

Your car sounds like the twin to mine.  The only thing I did add that didn't come on it is the power trunk.  I do wish I installed factory ac when I had the car painted but that is a major undertaking.  Never had the body off the frame on mine, either nor have I had to have the engine rebuilt.  Transmissions and carbs are another story.

My car was built the last week of May, body #5762096834.  What's your vin #?  Wonder how closely our cars went down the line.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

57caddy

my body number is 5762049513
ive been looking at putting the power trunk to when i got the car looked like it was parked up and sitting for over 25 years plus
when the motor was pulled down the guys at the shop said its never been opened 
looks like it done a head gasket was never fixed and seems like was parked up and never fixed
well its fixed now  $8000 latter to have back to the way it was new

Quote from: Walter Youshock on December 28, 2012, 09:26:24 AM
Your car sounds like the twin to mine.  The only thing I did add that didn't come on it is the power trunk.  I do wish I installed factory ac when I had the car painted but that is a major undertaking.  Never had the body off the frame on mine, either nor have I had to have the engine rebuilt.  Transmissions and carbs are another story.

My car was built the last week of May, body #5762096834.  What's your vin #?  Wonder how closely our cars went down the line.

Walter Youshock

Your car was probably built in early May--1st or 2nd week.  Mine was built on the 21st.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

57caddy

what colour was your engine when you got it  mine was red




Quote from: Walter Youshock on December 28, 2012, 03:32:49 PM
Your car was probably built in early May--1st or 2nd week.  Mine was built on the 21st.

57caddy


Walter Youshock

My car sat from 1969 to 1993 when I bought it.  Still had 2 of the original tires on it with a set of wide-white snows on the back.  The spare is one of the original 5 that came on the car.  It showed 24,510 miles on the odometer, so nothing had been touched on it.  The engine was the correct Cadillac blue.

You and I have basically the same car--Mt. Laurel and Alpine white Coupe deVilles.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

57caddy

its shows 15,372 on the odometer on mine
so pretty much was bugger all to do on yours by the sound of it
brother and sister cars haha have you got pics of it i cant see any on here

Quote from: Walter Youshock on December 28, 2012, 03:56:36 PM
My car sat from 1969 to 1993 when I bought it.  Still had 2 of the original tires on it with a set of wide-white snows on the back.  The spare is one of the original 5 that came on the car.  It showed 24,510 miles on the odometer, so nothing had been touched on it.  The engine was the correct Cadillac blue.

You and I have basically the same car--Mt. Laurel and Alpine white Coupe deVilles.

57caddy

more pics

Walter Youshock

Here it is a few years ago at a show outside Hershey, PA.
CLC #11959 (Life)
1957 Coupe deVille
1991 Brougham

57caddy

very nice hey you know where the door knob is  dose it have a chrome ring on that pannel for the knob to go up and down

The Tassie Devil(le)

If your engine was red, then it has definitely been out of the engine bay, unless they painted it whilst still in there.

Maybe the Odometer was on its' second time around?

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