Help with 60s 1940 Town Car

[Eduardo Contreras]

Hi, I'm trying to restore a 60s Town Car, the tunneau structure is missing, can anybody help me with pictures or any information about it...

Thanks a lot...

Eduardo Contreras
Chile, South America

[JIM THOMAS]

eduardo, just what iis a tunneau? jim

[Eduardo]

eduardo, just what iis a tunneau? jim

Jim, it's the leather roof that goes over the driver on a Town Car... the one missing in this picture....

Ed

[Cadcliff]

i should be able to get you some pictures from a 40 V16 town car. Do you think they are the same?

[Eduardo]

Yes Cliff, sure its the same, I need details of the structure to remake it, thanks a lot... you can send them to my e-mail econtreras@almazara.cl

Regards,

Eduardo

[veesixteen]

Is this one of the 15 custom town cars on the Series 60 Special chassis built by Fleetwood in 1940?
Check them out this page of the club's Cadillac Database:  www.car-nection.com/yann/DATABASE/dbas_txt/DRM40-42.HTM

[Otto Skorzeny]

Yann, your link did not work.

Is this the page you wanted?

http://www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/Phocad40.htm

or this one?

http://www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/Drm40-42.htm

[Eduardo]

Is this one of the 15 custom town cars on the Series 60 Special chassis built by Fleetwood in 1940?
Check them out this page of the club's Cadillac Database:

Yes Yann, it came to Chile, South America, as a presidential car, I found it in a very bad condition, but it's worth restoring I think...

[Eduardo]

Yann, mine is a Metal Back (MB), only 9 made in 1940 by Fleetwood, Body N° 12, the first 5 were Leather Back (LB), I don't think is there any other that had survive with a Metal Back, here is a picture when I found it....

[veesixteen]

Sorry I got the link wrong.  The correct link is this one:

http://www.car-nection.com/yann/Dbas_txt/Drm40-42.htm

[veesixteen]

A car as rare as this one definitely deserves a complete restoration. But remember that you may not get back your full inverstment the day you decide to part with your treasure.

[veesixteen]

A fabulous find, Eduardo. Where are you located? Chile? USA? Elsewhere?

[Eduardo]

Santiago, Chile, South America... very hard to restore from down here...

Thanks to all, for the support...

Ed

[Eduardo]

Sorry I got the link wrong.  The correct link is this one:

Guess when it's restored I can send a few pictures of the real Metal Back to the data file...

[veesixteen]

I'm sure you will find many helpers here, on the Cadillac forum, to guide you through the restoration process. I see you have completed most of the body work. You may have trouble finding parts in Chile.  Have you been through the car carefully, to determine if any important parts are missing?  Mechanical parts are still readily available in the USA; the trouble starts when you need to find trim parts, especially for a custom job such as your car.

Off topic: I visited Santiago at Easter 1979, on a return trip from Australia, via Easter Island. BTW, my daughter (34) married a Chileno in 2000; unfortunatey it didn't work out!

[Eduardo]

Yann

You can't imagine how many modifications the car had, first someone changed the dash, colum and emergency brake for a 46, the seats are missing, the rear bumper, front and back bumper brackets, radiator is a remake, the grille and one of the side grilles were broken, no radio, no air cleaner, no emblems, godess was from a 42, winshield interior trim from a chevy, etc...

I was lucky to find Eddie Jones in MN, that was tearing a 60s appart and got many of those things, and also I been able to get other things from ebay, but always you find new troubles, the guy that worked on the car before cut off the body back door pillars and made new ones strait without any details for the latch and guide, so I'm having a hard time reconstructing that part, any one with a 60s that can send me a few pictures with some measurements would help me...

Off topic, this is such a small world, in american series or movies when they want to tell someone went very far away they always send them to Chile, guess we are at the bottom of the world... Chile has change a lot since 79, you woul be surprised, it really look like a capital... where are you from?

Regards,

Eduardo

[Eduardo]

i should be able to get you some pictures from a 40 V16 town car. Do you think they are the same?

Cadcliff, any luck with those pictures?

Ed

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

Ed, I'm sure the pictures that Cliff sends will show you the basic shape & design. However, it's a big series car, and you have a small series car. If you're going to do any measuring & copying, I would recommend a 40 or 41 60-S car only. If your a member of the Cad LaSalle or Classic Car Club, you can contact members with town cars useing the roster. I have some 40 parts. HTH, Bob

[Eduardo]

Thanks Bob,

Any pictures would help me, I need to get an Idea how the structure gives shape and holds the leather roof and how its conected to the boltd in the windshield, so it doesn't matter if it's a little bigger becouse I have to adapt something for it,unless someone knows where is one for sale...

What parts do yopu have?

Regards...

Eduardo

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

eduardo, just what iis a tunneau? jim

Jim and Ed,
I'm sure it was a typo, but the word is actually tonneau with an "o".