The ARK arrives at the body shop

[Highwayman68]

That is such a different color from what was on there it looks like you got a new car.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Just might need to build a trophy room addition to your house.    

I would be building a good solid garage to replace the "tent" first.

Bruce.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Looks great!

Thank you!

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Just might need to build a trophy room addition to your house.   

What a kind thing to say, thank you.
Actually, I have one already. The "I love me" room. Ribbons and trophies from the horses, the dogs and me
professionally shooting. I have enough. But someday I'd love to see The Ark recognized, such a great car.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

That is such a different color from what was on there it looks like you got a new car.

Oh its different alright, LOL! They did a really nice job, exquisite attention to detail.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

I would be building a good solid garage to replace the "tent" first.

Bruce.

The Lair has survived and protected The Ark through multiple nor'easters, heavy snow storms, 2 hurricanes and 1 tornado that missed me by a street. I built that with 'benefits', multiple straps in the roof for a snow load, 7 guy lines on each side for wind. Now I've doubled the walls all around, reinforced the floor and put on a new, heavier roof. Its pretty solid.

I make a decision on 13Jul22 on whether or not I'm going to Florida. If I stay here, you just watch the 2 or 3 car garage, with
a lift, pnuematics, heat/AC/humidity control and a dual heated driveway this contractor builds... 

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Tried to post a video of the car done today at the shop, outside for his bath, couldn't post it. Why can't we post video?

So here are the last pics of The Ark at the shop, he comes home tomorrow. My favorite driver has his favorite truck fueled
and ready. I could get AAA for free, I'm not taking the chance now, I'll pay. Wheel covers are already at the tow company, they'll be put on and the skirts at the shop. Dave is just throwing chains, The Ark will be well driven, and well protected, for the 100 mile trip home. ETA later in the afternoon, and I can't wait. First drive will be for a full tank of fuel (at $5.30 a gallon) then out to Eastham for a slice of pizza. I've been briefed "take it easy on the car, its been a statue for 6 months". I'll go easy with him.
Finally, to be able to sit in the center of the front seat and have a drink with my parents after so long... Praise God.

[James Landi]

These memorable trips with our parents in their Cadillacs truly stick with us.  If your folks were from the same generation who survived the Great Depression, rationed fuel and food during the WWII, the fact that could purchase a second hand well maintained low mileage Cadillac, and ride in true comfort did more than simply brighten their day.  Frankly, there were few times that I recall the two of them more in love--  taking a road trip on their beautiful '56 SDV.  It had freeze out a/c and every power option.  My brother was in his freshman year at Collgate, we had to take the new (lightly used) Cadillac on its first 250 trip up the New York thruway... My father said, "Katharine, you drive."  I was in the 8th grade (1958), sitting on the sofa like beautiful seat in the back.  My mother got on the highway, and the two of them started talking about how fabulous this car was--- nothing like the 52 Chevy (rattles, 2 speed trany, no options).   I watched as my mother, chatting with my father, got up to speed, then began exceeding the speed limit, and stayed in the passing lane, not noticing that she was going nearly 90 miles per hour.  They could not have been more happy with any purchase in their lives, and those times, fixed in my aging brain, certainly have sustained my love for Cadillacs.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

These memorable trips with our parents in their Cadillacs truly stick with us.  If your folks were from the same generation who survived the Great Depression, rationed fuel and food during the WWII, the fact that could purchase a second hand well maintained low mileage Cadillac, and ride in true comfort did more than simply brighten their day.  Frankly, there were few times that I recall the two of them more in love--  taking a road trip on their beautiful '56 SDV.  It had freeze out a/c and every power option.  My brother was in his freshman year at Collgate, we had to take the new (lightly used) Cadillac on its first 250 trip up the New York thruway... My father said, "Katharine, you drive."  I was in the 8th grade (1958), sitting on the sofa like beautiful seat in the back.  My mother got on the highway, and the two of them started talking about how fabulous this car was--- nothing like the 52 Chevy (rattles, 2 speed trany, no options).   I watched as my mother, chatting with my father, got up to speed, then began exceeding the speed limit, and stayed in the passing lane, not noticing that she was going nearly 90 miles per hour.  They could not have been more happy with any purchase in their lives, and those times, fixed in my aging brain, certainly have sustained my love for Cadillacs.

Awww, great memories James! My dad bought his Cadillac's brand new, and got a new one every other year.

[79 Eldorado]

"...My dad bought his Cadillac's brand new, and got a new one every other year."
Laurie,
It would be cool to look back in retrospective, with the advantage of history, to see how lucky your dad hit certain years and avoided others.  What years did his Cadillacs span? It's not always so obvious when a new car comes out at the time of introduction. I know there was once a time when it was thought that the latest must be the greatest but it didn't always pan out that way.

For me not all of the best examples are Cadillac but, despite the HT4100, I would have hated to trade-in a 1984 Eldorado for a 1986 Eldorado... Same thing with a 1971 Chevelle to a 1973 or even worse a 1987 Buick GN for a 1989 Buick W-Car regal.

A lot of projects drag-on past the intended date whether we like it or not. It's good to see yours really stayed pretty much on target.

Scott

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

"...My dad bought his Cadillac's brand new, and got a new one every other year."
Laurie,
It would be cool to look back in retrospective, with the advantage of history, to see how lucky your dad hit certain years and avoided others.  What years did his Cadillacs span? It's not always so obvious when a new car comes out at the time of introduction. I know there was once a time when it was thought that the latest must be the greatest but it didn't always pan out that way.

For me not all of the best examples are Cadillac but, despite the HT4100, I would have hated to trade-in a 1984 Eldorado for a 1986 Eldorado... Same thing with a 1971 Chevelle to a 1973 or even worse a 1987 Buick GN for a 1989 Buick W-Car regal.

A lot of projects drag-on past the intended date whether we like it or not. It's good to see yours really stayed pretty much on target.

Scott

First was the 70 Fleetwood, since the engineering company he was the lead engineer for would only buy him a new
Buick and he wanted a new Caddy. So he bought his own dayam Caddy. Then a 72 white coupe, 74 red coupe, 76 brown SDV, in 78 he went to the dark side, Lincoln. Bought a copper Town Coupe (Cartier edition) he put over 300K miles on, never had the engine apart, only to have the 2nd wife wreck it drunk. He never got over the Lincoln, but he always remembered his first Caddy.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

And 9 pages later, The Ark is HOME. First, shout out to my MVP of the day, our driver and my friend Dave Noonan. He started off EARLY today dragging cars around the Cape, SE Mass, up the east coast to NORTH OF BOSTON to fetch The Ark, in the heat, drag him back home to the Cape, take the truck back, do his work on the truck at the yard and I'm sure a lot of paperwork before heading home for the night. He didn't get here with The Ark until well after 7pm. That's a LONG frickin' day kiddies doing a very physical job with no room for error and driving a truck through a LOT of moron infested weekend Boston traffic, in the heat. Here's to you Dave, well done. And I really hope you can get some rest Sunday, you looked so tired when you got here my heart just broke. Thank you, I'm grateful. Eh, 'we' are grateful. I gave him a tip and an ice cold beer on arrival. "If I drink this now I'll go right to sleep". Save it for later honey, no problem. BIG hugz.

At first glance the car looks perfect, an extraordinary amount of body work was done and there's NO sign of all that significant surgery. The paint is a match to my spray out, correct original Code 93 "Lucerne Aqua". Stainless looks new, Brightworks did an amazing job. Car was remarkably clean outside and inside though its still going for pro detail next Friday and then to Michael for the annual physical Saturday morning. Took The Ark for a quick spin around the block, missed my car. Then parked into the Lair. Then I really started to 'look'. Heartbroken to see so much in the front not aligned correctly, grill, hood, headlight 'holders', their trim, stunned. Reached out to the shop and of course it was MY FAULT FOR NOT COMING UP TO SEE THE CAR. Silly me, silly girl! Sending a CADILLAC to a CADILLAC guy. They were fatally OCD doing ALL OF the other work on the car, only to unzip their fly on of all things, the FRONT. "Bring the car back". Right. Drive it 200 miles for that? Spend a grand having it shipped? Nah, I'll pass.

I already reached out to Garbitt and Hyannis with pictures, "we see it, bring it in Monday, its not fatal". Groovy. But HOW did this shop miss all this... as they were re-assembling. Things aren't out a little, they're out a lot. And I've polished every inch of that nose enough times at 6 dozen+ shows as well as at home to KNOW it isn't right. Heartbroken. This car isn't a "one off", you can Google images and see what it looks like correct. Jeez. It could be worse, I've read the horror stories from others who weren't so lucky, this is all probably easily fixable for a price. But... why should it need fixin'? Its ALL MY FAULT for not going up there and making sure Cadillac people were doing a Cadillac job on a Cadillac. I understand. Its all my fault. I'm the rectum here. No problem. And its such a dayam shame since the other intricate work on the car was executed flawlessly, with patience and with extraordinary skill. Who knew the dress and shoes wouldn't match? Certainly not me. Whatever. If there's one thing I've learned, you can fix anything with a car if you have money.

The most important thing is - The Ark is HOME, Praise God. And we're going for a long ride tomorrow after a LONG DRINK of V-Power. "Drive the car" - M. Amster

First show is a week from today, 4 shows in 7 days, let's do this. #TheArkIsBack

[James Landi]

Would have been great to have someone in charge, examine the entire project, then ensure it was perfect.  Having had to "negotitate" with folks who are disappointed with us, as a school, I always attempted to work something out that would please the parent/client.  Perhaps the folks who painted the car would want your written review on their website,provided that they paid for the alignment work that needs doing. Should be something THEY can do to restore your enthusiastic endorsement of their efforts to "make it right."  I "get" their desire to have you bring the ARK back, but they are surely convinced that makes no sense for YOU.  "Come on guys, let's make this right."       Happy day, James

[wrefakis]

every part is hand tighten all 3 of my originals have varying amounts of shims in headlight doors there is a process  to this that until you do one it can drive a shop crazy

and yes i have done them

[79 Eldorado]

Laurie,
I tried taking a look at the photo of the front where you see the alignment issues. I rotated and captured the photo from the front. I'm sure it's more clear live and maybe from a direct shot of the front but things look pretty even. I tried to look at:
-Headlight trim to hood gap (Left vs right) -Seem pretty close side-to-side but I'm not sure what that area should look like
-Headlight trim to bumper gap (Left vs right) - Seem pretty close
-Hood to fender gaps - Seem pretty even
-Hood to fender height - seems to follow on the side I can see

It looks like there's a larger space above the headlights than below to the bumper. I don't know the front of the car like you do though so I don't know what that should look like. I understand though when you've looked at it as many times as you have, and as close when waxing, things can be more obvious. I don't know if it helps but, at least in the photo, it looks pretty good. I guess to see it better a direct front shot in good light would help. Is there any chance you had a photo like that, for comparison, before the work was done?

Scott

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

Laurie, all things considered you were very fortunate
with this guy.  The car looks fabulous and the paint
job makes it look brand new.  A few minor bumps
but no big deals.  Also, the pricing was very fair
considering the overall quality.

I was not so lucky on getting my '55 restored. 
The first restoration place in MA, by the way,
went bankrupt on me with my car in pieces.  I
had invested a lot of $$ with that person
(about 100k) and had to hire a transport to bring
the rolling chassis back to me in PA.  Then, drive
up with a trailer to collect all of the small parts. 
Fortunately, I was able to find everything   At least
he kept the parts for me.

Some guys in this situation will sell your parts to
pay the bills.  It was finally finished correctly by
Harbor Auto Restorations in FL, but much of the
work done by the first place was substandard and
had to be redone.  I learned an expensive lesson.

There are lots of horror stories with restorations
but I'm happy for you that the Ark is back looking
good without any major surprises.

Mike

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Laurie,

What you have to do is look at all your old photos, and then compare those with what your car looks like now.

Many times, people complain about something when a car comes back from a body shop that something is wrong, and doesn't fit, but believe me, many cars weren't perfect prior to being pulled down for repairs. etc.

The quality of these vehicles and body fitment and gaps were pretty ordinary when they left the factory.   Nobody complained then, because they were glad to get their purchase, and all the Service Manager would say is "Within tolerances".   If the same tolerances were in use now, everyone would complain.   Computers and Robots are programmed to make things perfect, every time.

Bruce.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Laurie,

What you have to do is look at all your old photos, and then compare those with what your car looks like now.

Many times, people complain about something when a car comes back from a body shop that something is wrong, and doesn't fit, but believe me, many cars weren't perfect prior to being pulled down for repairs. etc.

The quality of these vehicles and body fitment and gaps were pretty ordinary when they left the factory.   Nobody complained then, because they were glad to get their purchase, and all the Service Manager would say is "Within tolerances".   If the same tolerances were in use now, everyone would complain.   Computers and Robots are programmed to make things perfect, every time.

Bruce.

Bruce, Mike also indicted me for my imagined photographic memory. Things to remember, 1)I'm a chick, 2)I was responsible for nukes in the military, 3) I've polished every inch of that car's nose with my hands guided by my eyes WELL over 6 dozen times. I have TONS of pictures, they're not necessary. When my index finger doesn't fit between the grill and headlight trim, where I'd polish like mad - there's something wrong. A closer look showed a lot more wrong. Jeez the 'point' of the bumper, the point of the grill and the point of the hood, always in a straight line, now it looks like a lightning bolt. AS I SAID PREVIOUSLY its a shame, they did so much right, beyond all expectations, great attention to detail. Only to f it all away on the front trim. Are you kidding? Too soon to mention the back left door is inop today, can't open the door from the outside or inside. Left back up light is out when I was told the day before transport all lights were working. Sure, the bulb could have died. It will all get straightend out locally, I just hope quickly, its making my OCD crazy. And seriously, just no excuse for it. I've done enough elaborate crown molding to know instantly when something doesn't match up perfectly. The failure of the back door already is inexcusable. TEST this $hit before you sign a car off.

The Ark had his first cruise after 6 months as a paperweight tonight. Standard pre-flight, start at the radiator and work around clock wise. Surprised to see both battery cables just dropped over the terminals, not tightened at all, just flopped onto the terminals. Fortunately my fairy God Father sent me an array of car tools, and if Michael ever finds them he'll throw them out since I'm not allowed to own tools. Tighten both down well. Wires, cap, fluids, odd to see the front brake resevoir, (disc brakes) with the rubber thingy fully deployed from the top, that's never happened before. Plenty of fluid, reset the rubber thingy, I had full brakes tonight, I'll let Michael take a closer look Saturday. No other oddities under the hood other than a filthy engine bay, they'll clean at ATD this week. Then a WONDERFUL 50 mile, nice and easy, cruise to Eastham for a slice of pizza, by the Cape Cod National Seashore, etc, just gorgeous, low 70's light traffic and we kept it to 50-55 ergo that 472 had no idea it was on, 'easy' for the first trip in 6 months. And what a blast, so blessed. Now to get that front end fixed and left rear door, I shouldn't have to have to do this, seriously. A Cadillac guy who works on/owns mostly Cadillacs should know how to put a Cadillac back together. When in doubt, Google. Jeez.

[Cape Cod Fleetwood]

Its always a great day when The Ark is your daily driver. I just want to get that first rock chip over with, like breaking the
cherry all over again. The 3 toughest body critics in my circle are Gary Amster, Mike Staab and Dickie Garbitt, and with good
reason given their reputations. All 3 agreed the shop hit this car out of the park. All 3 agreed the issues I have with the
alignment of the grill, headlamp assemblies were legit and easily fixed. Thought I'd paying one of them fix the issues, then the shop that did the car reached out to me. *THEY* will becoming *HERE* Wednesday to straighten The Ark's smile. Nice.
I'll buy the lobster or clam rolls from Spanky's Clam Shack if they wish for lunch. Now the weather is turning to crap for
Friday putting the detailing at ATD in jeopardy, I won't drive that car in the rain. Saturday looking a little less wet, Michael
said he'd work with it. Really hope rain Saturday doesn't effect the Cape Cod Classics Car Club opener Saturday night,
Troops In The Spot Light show Sunday looks like perfect weather. I may have to detail The Ark on Thursday, this will require
the "SUPER NURSE" to attend to my back. You gotta do what you gotta do, the calendar doesn't give AF about my back.

[James Landi]

SO pleased to know that the "shop reached way out" for you Laurie.  That's great for you, and apparently. they realize you'll be encouraging others to reach out to them... We all know that social media is a mixed blessing, but when it comes to landing authentic enthusiasm about a commerical enterprise in America, reaching and exceeding customers' expectations is literally pure gold... and in this case, they'll experience your liberal hospitality!   Happy day, and be of good cheer, James