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History so far as promised of my 1960 6339 Sedan De-Ville in England

Started by Fatz n Finz, August 19, 2009, 06:03:30 PM

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Fatz n Finz

It all started round about May 14th 2008 I'd just had the Zodiac M.O.T'd ready for the coming season,, Even with a brand new re con engine the trouble did not stop there it was hesitating just when you put your foot on the accelerator pedal, breaking my neck every time I tried to move off smoothly. The problem ,a worn butterfly on the carburettor that was the straw that broke the camels back ! ( that and the fact that I am so fat that I couldn't reach the ignition to start it without the use of a long screwdriver !)  Enough was enough after Twenty -Three years she'd have to go and make way for my other childhood dream car "A Finned Cadillac ". £2,901.00 pounds later she was winging her way to Sunderland spares and all. Three weeks passed and nothing, not in a magazine or internet or even word and mouth. " Lets go to the Americana," my mate said, " Loads of Caddy's up there." Fifteen pounds lighter, and I was through the gates, searching the rows and rows of American cars for a Finned Monster!Out of all the Caddy's that were for sale there were two that met my criteria, a '59 coupe in Black, sadly out of my price range at £13,000 also a scabby '60 series 62 Sedan De-Ville,in my price range but sadly messed about with too much. The bloke wouldn't shift from the price of  £6,000 on the screen (flat tyre included). My mate who's quite knowledgeable on all things Cadillac said to me to walk away as he said that we can do better for the money.On the way home I thought that I would never find a good enough one that was within my price range. " I wonder if that old boy who bought my caddy wants to sell it ? " my mate said a few days later. It was for sale as he had lost his storage and didn't want to leave it to deteriorate  whilst being left outside. " You'd better come and see it ", was the result of a quick phone call, so the next week after work one night we shot up to his car dealership in North Norfolk. I couldn't stop grinning as my mate was trying to be all serious like to close the deal I must have looked like some kind of simpleton to passes buy, but I didn't care. The deal was done twenty foot of American Iron was mine!  Roughly a week went dragging by then on the 24th of July last year she was on my drive, every man and his dog came out to look at the size of her. Next evening I set about trying to get her in the garage! The length was O.K but the width was a different matter quite tight in fact, nothing for it out with the skill saw and wood saw . Notched a piece out of the frame both sides lovely, more than needed but better to be safe than sorry ! Now the brickwork columns the same? 20 seconds of cutting and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face !!!!!! BANG,BANG, BANG ! on the internal wall, I ran inside only to see Deb with a  big towel round her shoulders flapping as she ran down the stairs Bloody Hell  here comes Batman I thought.
" There all this red dust in the bathroom and I'm trying to have a shower ". she yelled at me " Sorry love I'll do it tomorrow when you're at work " I said. All day it took me to clean up the mess !Two days later when the dust had settled and the gloss on the frame had dried completely another one of my mates came round to help me to get it in the garage. "start it up and back it in as far as you can " he said, so I got in it for the first time. Oh No I thought, not again ! I couldn't fit behind the wheel ( maybe I WAS fat ? ) Nah, cant be that, must need the seat altered. Well, I pressed and pulled every switch & knob I could find, all the windows were going up & down, the radio was " self seeking ",the ariel was going up & down, the seats were going in & out,tilt-up, tilt-down, it was like bieng on the Waltzers at the Fair !!!!!! Finally finding a seat position I liked, proceeded to put it into reverse. FOUR BLOODY FEET backwards then we pushed it into the remainder of the garage, that was my total "Caddy Driving Experience.Since then I've been laying on my back underneath scraping with a hot air gun the old paint & underseal off down to bare metal. Then putting on three coats of white and two coats of black on the suspension, removed one front wing to tackle some inner wing corrosion, whilst the wing was off it's been re-sprayed and all put together again. The same again happened for the other side ,then that's all for the moment I want to drive it and get used to it for a couple of years then we will maybe do a bit more. It is presentable to drive as it is but as it was off the road anyway I thought I'd do the bulk of the work now, so I won't have to role about underneath it when I'm say 50.

jaxops

Simon,

  Congratulations!  We'd all love to see some pictures!  Did you have to take out part of the sides of your garage too?  I had to push back a wall in my house in Florida to fit my 70 Electra...no more walk-in closet, but yours sounds much more worse.  How did you get out of the car once you got it in there?  Through the window?
1970 Buick Electra Convertible
1956 Cadillac Series 75 Limousine
1949 Cadillac Series 75 Imperial Limousine
1979 Lincoln Continental
AACA, Cadillac-LaSalle Club #24591, ASWOA

Fatz n Finz

Quote from: jaxops on August 20, 2009, 07:53:50 AM
Simon,

  Congratulations!  We'd all love to see some pictures!  Did you have to take out part of the sides of your garage too?  I had to push back a wall in my house in Florida to fit my 70 Electra...no more walk-in closet, but yours sounds much more worse.  How did you get out of the car once you got it in there?  Through the window?

Hi Mark,
No Pictures as the environment for a digital camera was not good ! and yes I did take something out  MY TOILET !!!!!!!! space around the car once in is  two feet either end and THREE INCHES each side so to do the work I had to shuffle on my back from the back all the way to the front and work my way out to the back !!!!!! When putting the car in and out it is pushed, if the wheels turn halfway in then it's jacked up and the wheels turned, lowered got straight, jacked up wheels turned straight, lowered and pushed in a bit more. It can take up to 1 hour to put the Caddy away, not just a case of pop it in & pop it out Ha ha ha !

Regards,

Simon.

cadman59

Hi Simon,

Wow, and I thought MY garage is a tight fit....
Feiko Kuiper - Netherlands (Europe)

1959 Cadillac Series SixtyTwo 6-Window Sedan
https://instagram.com/feikokuiper

jaxops

Amazing.  I like Cadman59's picture, still a fairly tight fit.  Beautiful color on that 59 by the way!  Simon- you could set wooden guides on the sides for the wheels, and a pulley down low in the front to "winch" the car in.  Then you wouldn't have to be a contortionist to get in and out.....or win the lotto and build a new garage!
1970 Buick Electra Convertible
1956 Cadillac Series 75 Limousine
1949 Cadillac Series 75 Imperial Limousine
1979 Lincoln Continental
AACA, Cadillac-LaSalle Club #24591, ASWOA

Otto Skorzeny

I was thinking that Simon could benefit from those cradle rollers that sit under each tire.
fward

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for YOURSELF

HUGE VENDOR LIST CLICK HERE

Fatz n Finz

Hi Guys,

You've all got some good  ideas,  my wife  was thinking  what you all said about runners on the floor. I was going to ( when funds allow ) get an electric winch and mount it in the rear of the garage with a long lead to the front so I could buzz it in under control  but for now I'll have to push it.

                                                  Regards,

                                                                                          Simon.

Fatz n Finz

Quote from: cadman59 on August 21, 2009, 06:26:42 AM
Hi Simon,

Wow, and I thought MY garage is a tight fit....

Feiko Hi here's my tight garage as promised.

Regards,

Simon.

Otto Skorzeny

Good Grief!  And you can get it in and out without scratching it?

An Austin 7 would have a tough time getting in there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_7
fward

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for YOURSELF

HUGE VENDOR LIST CLICK HERE

kelly

Good God!
  I have a hole in the back wall of my GarageMahal after an attempt to back my '57 Fleetwood 75 in after 3 BIG beers, but I feel like a rich man after looking at the size of a couple bays shown. I can actually back it in without the use of wing-walkers and feeler guages, despite it's huge dimensions! I make other players feel good about their golf game, you make me feel better about my garage bay.
Kelly Martin
1957 Fleetwood 75
Michigan
Kelly Martin
1957 Fleetwood 75
2008 DTS

cadman59

Hi Simon.

Yes, that's a tight fit also.
But.... you still have the overhead garagedoor. I had to replace that one because the car was 1.5 inches too long.
As you see in the picture below, the standard overhead doors were mounted on the inside of the wall.
By replacing that overhead door with the current doors, I gained the thickness of the wall; just enough to make the Cadillac fit into.
Regards,

Feiko

Feiko Kuiper - Netherlands (Europe)

1959 Cadillac Series SixtyTwo 6-Window Sedan
https://instagram.com/feikokuiper

cadman59

Simon,

Never considered to tear the wall down between your home/living and the garage, and make sliding glass doors between them?
I've seen that once, and that was really great!
Imagine, you can sit on your couch with a beer in your hand, enjoying the view of your nicely illuminated Cadillac.
Better than any TV-show....!
And in your case you could slide the glass door open, open the door of the Cadillac, and just get in the car. No more winches or other difficult things that can damage the car.

Feiko
Feiko Kuiper - Netherlands (Europe)

1959 Cadillac Series SixtyTwo 6-Window Sedan
https://instagram.com/feikokuiper

Fatz n Finz

Quote from: cadman59 on August 25, 2009, 10:48:01 AM
Simon,

Never considered to tear the wall down between your home/living and the garage, and make sliding glass doors between them?
I've seen that once, and that was really great!
Imagine, you can sit on your couch with a beer in your hand, enjoying the view of your nicely illuminated Cadillac.
Better than any TV-show....!
And in your case you could slide the glass door open, open the door of the Cadillac, and just get in the car. No more winches or other difficult things that can damage the car.

Feiko

Brilliant Idea Mate but I think the Wife would not approve, I think you've got a little bit more side room than me, but I've got a little bit more length than you. Still it's all swings & roundabouts, we've both got really tight garages.

Regards,

cadman59

Yep, you're right about that.
And I think we both prefer to live with that, than sell these beautiful cars and buy an Austin 7 or Fiat 500 or so!

Feiko
Feiko Kuiper - Netherlands (Europe)

1959 Cadillac Series SixtyTwo 6-Window Sedan
https://instagram.com/feikokuiper