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Restoring the Mothership – 68 DeVille

Started by Bentley, August 09, 2016, 05:26:01 PM

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Bentley

John,

I kind of wish I had chosen to have the grill chrome plated. My plater said he could do it, but reminded me that it is supposed to be a polished aluminum finish. So I opted to go the steel wool route. I have already invested about 16 hours of scrubbing with steel wool. I finished the grill yesterday. All I have to do next is the final polishing with the AutoSol.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Bentley

I finished the grill. After scrubbing it with steel wool I did a final polish with Auto Sol. I used a sponge paint brush from a craft store to apply the polish. In this photo, the two columns on the left have not been polished, and the four columns on the right have been polished. The Auto Sol product works very well. They also make polishes for chrome and other materials.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Highwayman68

That looks great!  I intend to remove mine and work on it over the winter to bring it back to the original shine with steel wool and polish.
1968 Fleetwood Purchased in 1981

Bentley

The bumpers are back from the chrome plater and are being stored in my garage. The grill is finished. Since this is not a concours restoration and the chrome trim parts are in good condition, I am polishing them by hand, instead of having them re-plated. Meanwhile, the doors, hood and trunk lid are off the car, and it went into the spray booth for primer, before coming back out for more block sanding.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Bentley

Happy New Year everyone. Hope this year brings you peace, health and prosperity. The car is finally in the spray booth now. I had to look at a couple of spray-outs before I got the color I like. This photo shows the two spray-outs. I chose the one on the left.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Bentley

All of the bright metal trim parts are finished except the two side extensions of the grill. In this photo, the parts wrapped in paper were re-chromed. Mostly the bumpers. The parts wrapped in clear wrap are the ones that I polished by hand.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Bentley

I finished polishing the front grill a while back, and finally found time to work on the left and right side extensions. The recessed areas get painted black while the raised fins will remain brightly polished aluminum. These photos show the parts after being sanded and cleaned, then you can see the intricate work of masking that is involved here. I wasn't sure how to do this other than place each piece of masking tape down by hand.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

savemy67

Hello Wes,

Very meticulous!  How long did it take to clean/sand?  How long did it take to mask?

Christopher Winter
Christopher Winter
1967 Sedan DeVille hardtop

Bentley

Christopher,

I didn't really keep track of my time, but I would estimate I spent 8 to 10 hours cleaning and sanding these two parts, and another 4 to 6 hours masking them.

Wes
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Bentley

The exterior mirror is in pretty good shape so I decided against having it professionally restored. I got the chrome looking good with some polish, but the Cadillac script logo was faded. It should be black. I used an extra fine black Sharpie marker to make the logo black. The letters are recessed into the metal so they make a natural path for the marker ink to follow. I'll investigate some type of sealant to put on over the letters to lock in the black ink. Will probably have to use a really small brush to apply it.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

Bentley

The first photo below shows the two grill side extensions after being painted and with masking tape removed. If you look towards the bottom of the photo, you'll see the part where the extensions curve. I couldn't get the masking tape to follow those contours so there are some areas that are missing paint. To touch these areas up, I sprayed some paint into a plastic pallet until it formed a small puddle. Then I applied the liquid paint with a brush (see second photo).
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

DeVille68

nice work!
I'll put that work on my todo list! :-)
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Bentley

The car is painted and the doors, trunk lid, hood and front fenders are back on the car. Before they put these back on, they painted and refreshed under the hood. Now they are putting the bumpers, trim parts and rubber seals back on the car. I bought all new rubber seals from Steele Rubber Products. They have just about everything for this model car. I bought new hood and trunk crest emblems from Original Parts Group (Not shown in these photos. They installed the old ones, but they will fix it.) I still need to get new DeVille script logos from OPG for the rear fenders.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

WTL


Bentley

WTL, Thanks.

They're working through some issues getting the windows in and working properly, so it has been a delay. And they installed a rebuilt power antenna, and were having some issues with it. Also, the power steering pump and power brake booster went out. This does seem a little suspect, with all of the dust in a body shop environment. But in all fairness, both of these components are over 15 years old. I will have a flatbed pick up the car and haul it to a mechanic to repair these items. Then, it's back to the body shop for a final detailing and inspection, and I'll tender final payment.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

blugg


from the investigative budget made 6 months ago....are you on task with said / given budget?

Car / progress / build / restoration looks fantastic.    slow n steady.   

Bentley

Jeff,

Thanks. For the most part, I've stayed on budget with the bodywork and paint. The only time it went over budget was when the car came back from the blaster and we found rust on the front fenders behind the wheels. I went over budget with the chrome, however.

Here are some more photos. They're still working on the power windows. A new motor that I bought from NAPA did not work, so we're waiting for the replacement.
Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

DeVille68

looks good! I like to color!
I would get a proper car cover as soon as possible! :-D  :-X
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Rob Troxel

You rock!  Keep us posted on the details.  I was surprised that NAPA had the  right window motor.  On my 68 Eldorado, most of the window slowness was the fact that the old grease needed to be removed and regreased.  That with new felt channels and channel rollers made them go up down twice as fast

john henderson

65 coupe 76 coupe