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Carl 61 Fleetwood Phyllis

Started by Clewisiii, January 20, 2020, 09:10:55 AM

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Clewisiii

Hello All,

My name is Carl Crittenden, I am the proud owner of a 61 Fleetwood named Phyllis.  In all honesty I wanted a Buick.  Being from Flint most of my family worked at Buick City.  I thought a mid 50s Buick would be great.  But while searching on Craigslist one day I came across this Cadillac and fell in love. 

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"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

The car was found in the basement of a barn south of lansing. It had been parked since 1976.  The deal was I had to remove it. We had to cut down a section of trees that had grown in the old driveway to the basement.  The barn was falling over so they had put support beams in the door opening to shore it up.  this made the opening only 1 3/4 inch wider then the car.  Tight fit coming out.   Covered in dirt this car is actually blue.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

Cleaned up and far away it looks pretty nice. But this was deceiving. It is covered in surface rust and had a total of 27 rust holes that needed to be fixed. Two doors needed replaced and half of a rocker.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

I tried I honestly tried to get this engine to turn over. But it was locked solid.  When you see later how much rust I blew out of it it makes perfect sense that it wasnt going anywhere.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

Because I could not rotate the engine I could not access all of the bolts to separate the transmission.  So I had to pull the engine and trans together.  I then unbolted all of the pistons from the crank to be able to rotate the crank and access trans bolts.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

Stripping makes it look like there is alot of progress. But not really. This is the free part. Stripping a Car the right way or the wrong way will get you the same result. But if done wrong will leave you with no good path to reassemble.  Thousands of pictures and hundreds of labeled bags of parts.

I love the rotisserie but it is a large tool that only has one purpose. The good thing is the used selling price is only a couple of hundred less then new. So it holds its value when I need to unload it.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

It took a while to be ready for blasting, and weather cooperating. But I did this on the day of my birthday.  A little present to myself.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Gene Beaird

Wow, that's a LOT of work!  Nice job. 

Did you lay the plywood down in your 'blasting cabinet' so you could sweep up the sand and reload the blaster hopper?  Just curious. 
Gene Beaird,
1968 Calais
1979 Seville
Pearland, Texas
CLC Member No. 29873

Clewisiii

Yes.  It was 600 pounds of silica sand that I bought.  Also the boards helped to roll the rotisserie across the lawn.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

I started with the frame. all new suspension.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

My posts are not going through. I have tried my brakes one now 5 times.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

Lets try Body work.  I am not very good yet.  But there is plenty to practice on.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

Body
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

I had to replace one door from a series 62 for my series 60 door.  To do this I had to cut out a section of the inner door panel and transfer from my old door.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

David Greenburg

Carl:

Welcome.  You will find some familiar names here, and lots of good information!
David Greenburg
'60 Eldorado Seville
'61 Fleetwood Sixty Special

Clewisiii

My goal is to restore my interior myself.  I built my own trim shop set up and am slowly working through all of the pieces to understand them.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

There appeared to be two different colors to the painted interior. A green blue color on the cast parts and a light blue on the steel parts.  I think that the cast parts paint discolored.  I found a section of paint under the shifter ring that was not discolored.  So it is all going to be painted with the light blue.
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

Clewisiii

Interior
"My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there."  Charles Kettering

6262

Hi Carl,

I am really happy to have you here. Great story and great pictures.

Thank you.

1962 Cadillac Series 62
1965 Pontiac Bonneville

Cadman-iac

Welcome Carl,
That is really a great story on the car. A true barn find.
How long have you been working on it now? That's a lot work for a whole crew, let alone one man.
I'm in the middle of doing mine too, ( a '56 ), but I'm not nearly as far along as you are.
Keep up the good work and best of luck with it.
Rick
CLC# 32373
1956 Coupe Deville A/C car "Norma Jean"