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My newly acquired 1974 Eldorado convertible project car

Started by MaR, December 08, 2018, 07:14:12 PM

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DeVille68

1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

MaR

With it getting "cold" (and I do use that term loosely) here, I have started working on some of the interior trim parts. I'm starting with the rear interior side panel. The upper panel upholstery is brittle and cracked on the top and the lower panel is faded/discolored. All of the panels are also very dirty from sitting for decades in a barn.







As you can see, the panel is relatively OK but the upholstery is shot.






The pad is held on with these inverted nuts that require a special hex socket.






With the pad removed, you can see just how dirty everything was.






I'm reupholstering the pads with Ultraleather polyurethane synthetic material. It's commonly used in marine and aviation applications so it should do just fine in my Caddy.






With the pad and trim reinstalled, everything looks great. The "wood" vinyl on the top of the trim has faded a bit and I may recover it at some time, but it OK for now.

MaR

Now on to the lower panels.






Like the upper panel, the lower panel is very dirty but overall, in good condition.




The carpet, at a glance, looks fine but it's faded and just touching it causes it to fall apart.




With the carpet removed, you can see that the panel is in good condition underneath. The other side had a little bit of water damage in this area that I was able to reinforce.






After a considerable amount of scrubbing, the panel is starting to look a bit better. The color is very uneven though and I want the white parts of the upholstery to be a bit brighter than the standard Cadillac white from the era.






I redyed the panels with SEM Sailcloth White vinyl and plastic dye. The color matches the material that I upholstered the upper panels quite closely. I have been using the SEM dyes for years with excellent results. You can also see the repair that I made on the lower section of the other panel. The final steps will be to put new carpet on the lower sections, polish the stainless steel trim and attach the carpet edge cover.

Bentley

Wes Bentley
CLC # 30183

DeVille68

very nice! 8)
Can you post a link or company where you got that material from?
Best regards,
Nicolas
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

MaR

Quote from: DeVille68 on January 23, 2019, 03:52:27 PM
very nice! 8)
Can you post a link or company where you got that material from?
Best regards,
Nicolas

This is the Ultraleather material:

https://www.ultrafabricsinc.com/collections/original

A number of online upholstery sites sell it.

DeVille68

ok, cool. Thanks!
Added this to my many link of suppliers.
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

MaR

I did some more work on interior panels over the weekend.





This is the passenger side upper panel. The vinyl is cracked and deteriorated along the top edge and the entire panel is quite dirty.






With the panel apart, you can see that it's just as dirty as the rear panels.




The foam is discolored but perfectly serviceable so I'm reusing it. The door pull is in good condition also.










Here is the new upholstery going on the pad.






This is the foam core of the pull strap. The upholstery is sewn to the foam core and then glued to the metal frame.




Here is the new upholstery after it has been sewn to the core but before it has been glued.




And here is the back of the strap after the upholstery has been glued.




And here is the completed panel with all of the reupholstered parts installed. I also redyed the the door lock knob escutcheon.

MaR

I did some work on some of the other trim pieces as well.







The A pillar trim pieces were faded, scratched, and slightly rusty.




After sandblasting.






And after priming and painting. I use the same SEM dye that I use on the plastic parts over the primer. Since the Dark Cranberry is a custom mixed color, I top coated it with satin gloss clear to give it a nice low luster sheen.




Here is the passenger side kick panel. You can see the fading were the trash can sat for decades.




And after the panel was cleaned, dyed, and the clear coated.

DeVille68

1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

MaR

Quote from: DeVille68 on February 01, 2019, 02:25:16 PM
pretty nice!
So, did SEM mix the color to your spec?
SEM already had a formula for the correct color. I just had my local automotive paint supplier mix a quart. I'm going to dye all of the Dark Cranberry parts in the car so they are all uniform when I put it back together.

James Landi

Although your car has been terribly neglected, my conjecture is that the neglect is relatively recent and that it spent a good deal of its long life in a garage and in loving hands. So pleased that your digging into  body parts that are not rendered useless because of weather and lengthy neglect.  In all, the car is fortunate to have your dedication and skill... it will be a beautiful tribute to you when it all comes together. Keep sending us pictures and up dates--- youre an inspiration.  James

MaR

Quote from: James Landi on February 02, 2019, 03:32:44 PM
Although your car has been terribly neglected, my conjecture is that the neglect is relatively recent and that it spent a good deal of its long life in a garage and in loving hands. So pleased that your digging into  body parts that are not rendered useless because of weather and lengthy neglect.  In all, the car is fortunate to have your dedication and skill... it will be a beautiful tribute to you when it all comes together. Keep sending us pictures and up dates--- youre an inspiration.  James
Yes, that's the conclusion that I have come to myself. With the limited paperwork history that was included with the car, I think the recent history of the car was as follows: The car was purchased by the second or possibly the third owner in 1997 with around 35k miles on it. Over the next two years, ~15k miles were added and then somewhere in 1999, it was parked in a barn. Since the only mechanical issues that I have found were related to it sitting for a few decades, I could assume that it could have been parked for the winter and then never bothered to be driven again. I would also guess that the car was probably in decent shape when it was parked and the "patina" it acquired was just from neglect. Since the biggest problem with most of the parts is that they are just dirty or faded though, it makes restoring them much easier.

MaR

I played around with some exterior paint on some parts that needed a bit of repair this weekend. I pulled both headlight buckets out to take some measurements and to replace the broken headlight adjuster screws. I also found that the drivers side flange were it meets the turn signal housing and the fender nose cap was bent. The drivers side fender nose cap was also bent on the inside where it meets the headlight bucket. I sourced a replacement headlight bucket and fender nose cap but I also found out that the headlight bucket for a '74 is unique for that year so I had to just repair the one I have.





Both headlight buckets were worn, had damage where they meet the fenders and the tops had pitting.






I started out sanding them but realized quickly that it was going to take forever to do that. I went with plan B and sandblasted them.






I primed them both and spot filled a few nicks and chips.






I sprayed them with an inexpensive single stage catalyzed acrylic enamel to see what the color should be. They turned out just fine and the color is exactly what I hoped it would be.




I forgot to take a "before" shot of this part but it came from an Oceanic Teal Firemist '73 Eldorado coupe that had been repainted white with what appeared to be Rustoleum using a heavy nap roller. I had to use paint stripper before I would even consider priming it.




It came out just as nice as the headlight buckets. I still need to let them cure for a few days and then I can paint the back of the buckets black and reassemble the pieces so they can go back on the car. In the end, when I paint the entire car, I will probably strip and repaint them again so they match 100% with the rest of the car. For now though, they are more than adequate. The buckets will be coming off and on the car several more times as I work on reproducing the bumper fillers.

cadillacjack

Mitchell,

Your doing a great job on that car !   I can't believe how fast your going at it.  Keep at it.


MaR

Back to work! Time to get the pieces that I painted back on the car so I can at least drive it around a bit.






I painted the rear of both headlight buckets black like they were when I took them off. I'm not 100% sure that they are supposed to be black but it make sense.




I gave the emblem a bit of a polish and put it back on the fender end.






Drivers side bucket partially assembled. Most of the headlight adjuster screw retainers were broken and had to be replaced. I also re-greased the pivot points.






And here is the completed drivers side assembly.




Passenger side bucket getting assembled.




Passenger side complete.




Here is how the fender end cap fits to the headlight bucket.


MaR

Some may have noticed that I have not mentioned the filler that goes between the headlight and the bumper yet. I do have an NOS filler for the drivers side and I'm using it as a template to 3D print one for the passenger side. I do know that reproductions can be purchased but they are not the quality that I'm looking for.



Here is the NOS filler for the headlight bucket. Notice the detail on the right side of the filler.






Those lip piece fit over the edge of the headlight bucket and help keep everything flush. Those features are not present on the reproduction parts.




Here is the detail on the other end. The filler looks short but when it's actually mounted to the car, the gap between the filler and the chrome trim is gone. Also notice that the shape of the end is a little rough. I suspect that this part was made late in the life of the mold and it had started to wear out. I fixed this defect on my 3D model.




Here is the filler completely mounted. The slight waviness on the leading edge is not present when the assembly actually mounted to the car. In the end, I will use my 3D printed fillers on both sides and keep the NOS part as a reference.

MaR

I had mention in a previous post that I was mistaken in thinking that the '73 and '74 headlight buckets were the same. Here are the details about the differences if someone wants to know the differences.




The '74 part is on the left and the '73 is on the right. You can see that the '74 had "D" shaped holes on the face and the top edge is a bit different.




Here is a closeup of the top edge. The differences in the notches in the top (as well as the "D" shaped holes) is to mount the trim for the '74 part.






Here are the inner trim pieces that go over the grooved end of the buckets. Again, '74 on the left, '73 on the right. The '74 part is a much larger die cast part that is bolted on whereas the '73 part is stamped stainless steel that snaps on.






With the '74 NOS filler mounted to the '73 bucket, you can see the detail on the inner end is not correct for the '73 part. Many reproduction filler vendors advertise that the same filler works for both '73 and '74 but you can see that this is not the case.

James Landi

Mitchell,

SO pleased to note that you;re working on these precise details.   Getting these parts to fit correctly will add substantially to your experience and relationship with the final effort--.  You're preserving a lovely car, that had you not rescued it, it would be dead.   I suspect that the first and second owner would be so pleased to know that you're involved in this preservation project. Certainly is an exceptional example of one of America's last full size luxury convertibles.  congratulations and Happy day,  James

MaR

Quote from: James Landi on February 05, 2019, 06:23:45 PM
Mitchell,

SO pleased to note that you;re working on these precise details.   Getting these parts to fit correctly will add substantially to your experience and relationship with the final effort--.  You're preserving a lovely car, that had you not rescued it, it would be dead.   I suspect that the first and second owner would be so pleased to know that you're involved in this preservation project. Certainly is an exceptional example of one of America's last full size luxury convertibles.  congratulations and Happy day,  James
Most of this detail work stems from the frustrations I had years ago with my '74 Coupe deVille. After teen age me scrimping and saving for what seemed to be eons to buy a set of reproduction fillers for that car, only to be disappointed with the quality of the fiberglass ones that were available at the time, makes me want to do whatever is reasonably possible to get them right on this car. I do have a feeling that I will just have to "invent" some of the parts myself as I am still unable to find certain pieces or even good pictures. I would love to have a glance at the blueprints for these parts...