1939 Cadillac Convertible Sedan #23 of 36 Built

[Jon Riley #13576]

It looks so good in that color! 

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Thanks Jon,

I wanted a 1939 color.....something classy and not flashy because it wasn't suppose to be flashy,.... like a 1950s convertible....it's Franconia Beige......

Check this car out....it's a 1940 series 75 convertible sedan......the 1940 color is Beaver Brown and it's the same as the 39 Franconia Beige.....I really like this color with that color top....I also think this guy also used the body color on the wheels.....

Mike

[Jon Riley #13576]

I think that is the Rockefeller car.  Sold at owls head museum auction in the last few years.   


There is also a nice green 40-75 convertible sedan supposedly owned by Elizabeth Arden new for sale currently.  Asking approximately what the Rockefeller car sold for.


In my opinion, especially for large 4 door cars, you want a period color.  It just looks out of place with a modern color.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

I received the color swatches from ARO today....2 lighter and 1 darker....all 3 would look good I think....The Owls Head car has the lighter color top on it....What color is best??....

ARO has the pattern for the convertible top fabric for an 81 series Buick....that car is pretty close to the series 75 Cadillac.....They said they could cut it with some additional material on the front, back and sides.....

Check the pictures, the darker car is a 39 Roadmaster convertible sedan and the brown car is a 1940 series 75 Cadillac.....They look kinda the same or close.....

I also found online, some GM documents showing some measurements of my series 75.....I'm hoping these will help when the convertible frame goes in and heights at different points will be needed....

I'm starting to just place the LaSalle convertible top frame in place....I can see none of this is going to be easy....

Mike

[Roger Zimmermann]

It seems that the Buick has shorter rear doors.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Today I also just started to place some of the LaSalle convertible sedan top frame parts I picked up a month ago.....

I had to cut the main overhead bow in half and extend (widen) it about 3 1/2".....

You see the general shape is there but everything is going to have to massaged into shape.....

I already know whats going to happen....as soon as we spend all kinds of time and money to get this looking right, up will pop a convertible top frame from a big Buick or a series 75 Cadillac....ouch.....

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

It seems that the Buick has shorter rear doors.

Yep I think your right Roger....but are the Buick front doors longer than the Cadillacs ?

I'm hoping the extra material added to the top will be enough so adjustments can be made...

Mike

[Jon Riley #13576]

Here is the other 1940 I mentioned.

https://www.hcca.org/admore.php?num=14890

[Jon Riley #13576]

Buick road master is closer to a series 62 Cadillac.  Buick series 90 is close to a 75 Cadillac

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Thanks Jon,

I'm not super familiar with Buicks...but I don't think they made a series 90 convertible sedan in the late 30s-1940....I wish they did, because that's the size car I need....

In 1939 Buick calls the convertible sedan a Buick Roadmaster Series 81C Sport Phaeton....

I took a couple of more pictures of the LaSalle top frame just thrown on the car to try and jog some creativity.....It's ugly but it's got a shape ??

Mike

[Roger Zimmermann]

Mike, I hope that with the needed work for the roof you will not damage the body paint!

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Your right Roger....I wish I could've done all this top work before the paint went on but, I only had my body/paint guy for a few months in a short window of time.....

That'll be a good job for today is getting the body back there covered up....lots of blood, sweat and hopefully not to many tears will be spent trying to come up with a top that looks good...

On something completely different....Sweet mother of all that is holy Roger !!....That is unbelievable work your doing on your V16 scale model!!....just unbelievable !!

Mike

[Roger Zimmermann]

On something completely different....Sweet mother of all that is holy Roger !!....That is unbelievable work your doing on your V16 scale model!!....just unbelievable !!

Thanks Mike! It seems that you are appreciate it!

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Alright...greased up the U-joints.....And then put the driveshaft in....From underneath the car I put the transmission in gear to hold everything so I could tighten the bolts....transmission spun in neutral like it was supposed to....more on that later....

Finished off the brake system.....had a bad master cylinder....said it was rebuilt on the box but the brake fluid just poured out of the front end...what a mess....don't you just love other peoples projects....who knows what's in all those boxes....

I grabbed the next zip lock bag in a box with a master cylinder in it....it was labeled... "rebuilt and sleeved by Jimmie the sleever"...yikes...But, I got good brake pedal out of that one!!

Wow those star wheel openings in the backer plates on the rear of the car are behind the leaf springs....tough to get the adjuster tool in there to spin the wheels....

I have one of those hand pump power bleeders....bled the system....took longer to find the bleeder than to bleed the brakes....all went well...

Tighten a couple of the line fittings and the small leaks stopped....got real good pedal....even the brake light switch is working...it was a good day!!

Went to the fuel system....tank and fuel line went in months ago and I needed to connect all of that to the fuel pump....poured in at least 20 gallons of gas!....I went to the manual and found that the series 75 & 90 cars have a 26 gallon capacity!....one small drip at tank...tighten and it was gone....

Lets fire this baby up !!!

Mike

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Time to start the car.....car starts up pretty easy...the choke is working like it should....I let her warm up.....punch it and she settles to a nice idle....So far so good on my carb rebuild I did months ago!...

Ok she's running, lets see if she'll move so I can test the brakes....I'm still in the shop...I just want a few feet forward and a few back to test brakes, clutch, transmission, etc.....

Put her in first, slowly let out the clutch.....nothing...car doesn't move....reverse same thing....I can hear the clutch rubbing on the fly wheel....It doesn't seem like it's sending power to the transmission....

I need help here....Is this a clutch adjustment problem??....when I was under the car working on the driveshaft I manually shifted the trans into gear to hold the shaft so I could tighten the bolts....I'll have to re-read the shop manual about clutch adjustment...it wasn't clear...the manual spent more time on installation of the clutch and transmission....

Could somebody chime in and tell me how get her in gear?....I'm anxious to get the car outside for a test drive.....

Thanks,    Mike

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Could somebody chime in and tell me how get her in gear?....I'm anxious to get the car outside for a test drive.....Thanks,    Mike 

G'day Mike,

I take it that you did put in the gear lever to connect to the linkage etc. ?

Bruce.

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

Yea I guess I said that wrong....I used the shift lever and moved it to first gear then to 2nd then 3rd then to reverse....the car didn't move in any direction....

Mike

[harry s]

Mike, When you press the clutch the first inch or so should be the slight resistance from the return spring. If properly adjusted you should then begin to feel stronger resistance which is the throw out bearing beginning to engage the clutch forks and taking pressure off of the disc. If your pedal is fully released and you hear the disc barely touching the flywheel something is way out of adjustment. One other possibility is when the transmission was shifted from under the car the gears could have gotten jammed. Does the column shifter work the way it should for all the gears? If this is the case you can move the shifting levers to neutral and it should be OK. Also check the adjustment of the shifting mechanism under the hood along with adjustment to transmission levers.    Harry

[Mike Baillargeon #15848]

As usual Harry you were right the clutch adjustment is way out of wack....no free play and the throw out bearing was really into the clutch release levers....no way it was going to send power to the transmission...

The shop manual just says to have 7/8" to 1 1/8" free play in the pedal...but it doesn't tell you how to adjust it....

I can see the adjusting rod underneath the car and it's buried in between the frame rails....tough to get at....I pulled it all out today...cleaned up the adjusting rod and put it all back in....clutch return spring was a real pain to hook back up!

Is there a trick to easily adjust for free play or is it just trial and error?....

I have the clutch cover plate off the car so it's easy to see whats going in the clutch, pressure plate area...

I want to put a pry bar behind the clutch fork and force the throw out bearing to just touch the clutch release levers....then go ahead and spin the adjusting rod to get the pedal to that point....so, I'm hoping I get that right pedal free play....?

Mike

[harry s]

Mike, It looks like if you disconnect the adjusting rod clevis which should relieve the pressure on the pressure plate then with the clutch pedal all the way up you should be able to move the fork with the throw out  then adjust the rod to the proper length until it is in spec. Hopefully no BFHs needed.
Harry