Inherited 1938 Cadillac 7519

[Joe Pierce]

Hi,  I have inherited a 1938 Cadillac 7519 from my Grandmother along with the original 1938 paperwork on the car and lots of other documentation for it for the first 30 years of the cars life.  My Grandfather bought the car in 1967 as a restoration project and finished it in the very early 70's.  Sadly he passed away in 1980 and the car went into storage (climate controlled thankfully!!!).  I have spent the better part of my life looking at this car and hoping that I would get the chance to one day make it drive again.  In fact, one of the strongest memories I have of my grandfather is riding with him in this car.  After sleeping for a little over 28 years, I had it running in less less than an hour!  I am currently in the process of rebuilding the brakes (only missing new front wheel cylinders, can't find any!!!).  The radiator did not fair well over the years and is currently being rebuilt.  I hope to have the car back together in the next month or so and be able to drive it soon!I will try to post some picks on a website soon and list it here.If anyone has any insight into the production numbers of this model of 38 Cad, I would appreciate the information.  I do know that there were 475 7519's produced.  All the cars I have ever seen have had the side mount spares and mine does not and know that it was not equipped with them originally.  How many were made without them is my question?Thanks and look foward to hearing from you!

[homeonprunehill]

09-18-08
Joe, Have you checked-out KANTER (they have a website) for wheel cylinders. One thing I would advice you to do and that would be to NOT THROW AWAY ANY OF THE WRITTEN MATIER. Can't wait to see pictures of the car,you lucky guy! Good Luck,jim

[baxterculver]

If you strike out on finding new wheel cylinders, the old ones can be sleeved and rebuilt.  There are several companies that do this work.  Check Hemmings for advertisers.

[Doug Houston]

I've always had good luck with NAPA for wheel cylinder rebuild kits. One other thing I'd strongly recommend is replacing the brake plumbing with stainless tubing. There is an outfit here in Michigan, Inline Tube, that makes brake lines in either galvanized, or stainless. They probably don't have lines made for the 75 series cars, so it would be well to send them the old lines as removed from the car, and have duplicates made. I've had four experiences where the pipe to he rear brakes had a pinhole rusted in it, and out go the brakes! I have a set of them on my '41 Cadillac convertible coupe, and they're going to be on all of my cars, ultimately.

For wheel and master cylinder rebuilds, White P{ost Restorations, in White post, Virginia is supposed to be the master of the art.

Don't lament the absence of side mounted spare tires. They were an extra cost item.  I have them on my '39 Cadillac 90 coupe, and they had been swapped from a sedan. If I had the chance to get my original fenders back, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  If a car is equipped with side mounted spares, it had to have heavier springs  and shock absorbers. Side mounts added about 300 pounds to the front end.

So, congrats on your car. You have a lot of reasons to appreciate it.

[Joe Pierce]

Thanks for the input everyone!!!   

I did check out Kanter, no help!  They told me that they did not have any and no one reproduced them.  I contacted AllCads and bought the rears and the master cylinder.  They said the fronts wheel cylinders from a 60 special will fit and work fine, just a slightly smaller bore size.  If anyone thinks ths might cause a problem please let me know!!!  I am planing on ordering them this week and changing them out.  I had some brake hoses made today and will heed your advice on replacing the brake lines.  I checked them this evening and they appear to be fine, no rust at all.  In fact, this car has ZERO rust anywhere!!!  The radiator should be ready next week and I have flushed the blocks water passages.  What amazed me when I started the engine for the first time is how quiet it runs, the fan is louder than the engine! 

Don't worry, I will never toss out any of the paper work on this car.  I have framed the pics of the car on the day it was bought new and also the war ration gas reciepts from World War II.  There is also a documented history with quotes from the cars previous owner about days in its life.  I think it is awesome that I have all of this inormation on the car and treasure it like gold.  Like I said, I have stared at this car for the last 28 years since my grandfather died and have dreamed of the day that I would be able to drive it.  That day is approaching and I can't wait!   As I have told my wife, we will live out of this car before it ever goes anywhere!

I also want to mention that my family had two other cars he had until a couple of years ago.   They were a restored 1947 Cadillac 7523L and a 1929 Pierce-Arrow 5 passanger sedan.  I wish now that I had talked my Grandmother out of selling these cars but they did go to good homes and I keep up with their new owners. 

Pics to come soon when I figure out how to post them somewhere.  I have to admit I am not to computer literate!!!   

Thanks, Joe

[Alan R. Harris CLC#1513]

Sounds like a great car. I would love to see it.

I would be leery of using the smaller 60 Special wheel cylinders. I once did a similar swap on a 1951 convertible. They did the job, but the car seemed to need more pedal pressure than it did before. The 75 series is a lot heavier than the 60 Special. I would either hold out for the right ones or get the originals sleeved and rebuilt.

Good Luck

[Whit Otis, 1188]

Both NAPA and Carquest can supply complete new wheel cylinders for your '38-75.  Part Numbers as follows.  Carquest:  LF Cyl = EW9344; RF Cyl = EW9345; RR Cyl  = EW155999; LR = EW155998.  NAPA:  LF Cyl = 9344; RF Cyl = 9345;  RR Cyl = 7537; LR Cyl = 7536. 

NOTE: On the NAPA front wheel cylinders, the original style brake hose will not fit as orginal cylinder had 7/16-20 inlet and the above units have 7/16-24.  Preferably have new hose made using 7/16-24 fitting or use NAPA hose 36649 which is just barely long enough.

I Paid about $64 ea for the front cylinders and $40 ea for the rears from NAPA.  Also, NAPA has a good selection of the copper washers you will need for the rear cylinder hardware.

Whit Otis

[Joe Pierce]

Thanks for the informations on the wheel cylinders.  I didn't get the 60S wheel cylinders because I thought the same as you, more pedal effort to stop the car.  I was afraid this might cause future problems down the road.  I have restored several old cars, mostly mustangs, and have always believed in replacing parts with what is correct and not with what will work.

I'll try to post some pics this weekend, my wife says she can help with that.  Now, off to NAPA to get the wheel cylinders!

Thanks everyone!

[baxterculver]

Joe,
If you had changed just the front wheel cylinders to a smaller bore, that would affect the ratio of hydraulic pressure going to the back cylinders as well.  Remember it is a single system. 

Whether it would result in too much pressure in the rear cyls or not enough, one or the other would occur.  Better to get the right cylinders even if they have to go out for sleeving.

[Glen]

Baxterculver is correct; in a hydraulic brake system the pressure in all the cylinders are equal.  During a brake application the force on the brake shoes would be dependant on the size of the pistons for a given hydraulic pressure.  The designer selected cylinder sizes, drum sizes, and shoe width and lengths to create the proper ratio of braking action between the front and rear axles. 

If the front cylinders are reduced in size it will be necessary to press on the brake harder to get the same braking action for the car as a whole, but there will be a different ratio of braking between front and rear than the designer intended.  Specifically there will be greater force on the rear brake shoes and the rear wheels will be more likely to lock up.     

Glen

[LSUFAN]

Finally getting around to putting a pic of the car up here as some people have requested!

[Tom Magdaleno]

That looks real nice for a car that has been sitting.  Good thing he knew how to store a car!

[okccadman]

Great car!  Where did come from originally?  Where are you located?

[LSUFAN]

The orginal bill of sale and title are from Lancaster, PA.   I'm in Shreveport, La.  From what I can tell by all the documentation that I have, the car made its way to Shreveport sometime around 1939 or 1940.  Was sold again here in 1941, twice.  First owner kept it for only a couple weeks due to the fact his wife said it was too big for her to drive.  The next owner had it until 1967 when my Grandfather bought it.  It was in regular use until sometime in the early 1950's when the engine blew a headgasket and seized. 

He spent about 3 or 4 years restoring it...I can remember being picked up from school by him in it when I was around 5 or 6 (1975 or so).  He died in 1980 and it was put into storage with his other cars.

I have the engine out of the car at the moment...the coolant passages are very corroded.  My plan it to have it driving before I turn 40 next summer.  I have collected most of the parts I will need to get the car driving.  Just need to source out a few odds and ends, which are available.  The engine hopefully will be put back into the car before the end of January.  Then fix the brakes and mount a new set of tires and enjoy her for a few years.  I've wanted to drive this car my entire life, I plan to enjoy it for a few years before treating it to a full body off restoration!

[Steve Passmore]

Thanks for the input everyone!!!   

I did check out Kanter, no help!  They told me that they did not have any and no one reproduced them.  I contacted AllCads and bought the rears and the master cylinder.  They said the fronts wheel cylinders from a 60 special will fit and work fine, just a slightly smaller bore size. 

Thanks, Joe

I'm so glad you didn't take this particular bit of advice, Im amazed someone could even consider advising altering the manufactures specification detrimentally, especially when in comes to the braking system.

[LSUFAN]

Steve, no I decided against changing the braking system on the car.  Always best to keep things correct and as they came!

[Joe Manna]

Nice inheritance.Good Luck with it.

[Joe G]

It's refreshing to hear a story like this. So many times the person who inherits a car like this has been dreaming for years of putting in a 350 Chevy and bucket seats from the junkyard.......and the dream (NIGHTMARE) becomes true. 

[Otto Skorzeny]

Hi Joe,

I've compiled a laong list of vendors specializing in vintage  (mostly) Cadillacs. Click on the link in my signature to find it. There are a couple brake specialists on it that might be able to help you.

even if you don't find a brake parts supplier on the list, you'll need something else for your car sooner or later so it might be handy to keep this list bookmarked or copy it for your files.