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My Dad's 41 60 special - I'm going to hell

Started by barrettn, May 13, 2022, 04:26:25 PM

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barrettn

Hello all -

I know I'm opening myself to some well deserved criticism for what I've allowed to continue to happen to my Dad's 41 60 Special. In fairness, it had been sitting out in the weather for a long time before I bought it. I bought it because my Mom was too stubborn to let me just give her money for a new roof, so I bought the car as a way to get her to take the money.

The town where she lives recently decided that inoperable cars are a problem, so now I am forced to decide what to do with it. Fortunately some family friends have let me move it to behind their garage. I suspect that the car may be past being reasonably salvageable and may only be good for parts.

Am I right in remembering that there are wood posts inside the door hinge posts to the body?

The car has a later (51?) engine with a 4 speed dual range hydromatic trans, and IIRC the differential was changed to something taller to get it off the line a little quicker - so the drivetrain is 100% not original. Given this, if time and money had allowed I had considered the idea of taking advantage of the fact that I think a Suburban has about the same track and wheelbase.

I live hours away by plane, now that I'm facing having to make a decision sooner rather than later, any suggestions of what parts/areas specifically to examine the condition of closely when I go up to look it over? (and I'll also be documenting how much of the boxes of spare parts have survived over the years). Are the pictures my friends took enough to be able to say already that it's too far gone and is only good for parts? I suspect that with $50-$70k this could be made into a $35k car  :'( .

I know that I really need move pictures of the underside of the car, floorboards, and rockers.

I appreciate your help - I wish I had unlimited time and money (and the ability to turn back time while we're at it) to have been able to have given this car what it deserved. As I said in the title - I'm going to hell for what's happened to it. That all said, please help me make the best decision for the car from here!

Thanks,

Barrett


TMoore - NTCLC

Pictures make it look pretty rough - I am only posting because many of my spare parts came from 1941 60 Special that was being dropped on a Suburban chassis and drivetrain - it was a pretty big project, but I did get to see the final product running and driving (was a high-school student and his Dad that did the project) - the car was a hit at the high-school parking lot.

z3skybolt

I know there is an emotional attachment.  But a very nice one can be had for 1/2 the restoration price.  Given it's condition I am not sure that $100,000.00 would make a full restoration,

Best Wishes.

Bob R.

P.S. By the way I have an old Lincoln, Jeep, BMW and a 1940 LaSalle ....forever keepers. My kids will be in your shoes one day.
1940 LaSalle 5227 Coupe(purchased May 2016)
1985 Lincoln Town Car Signature Series. Bought New.

Bob Hoffmann CLC#96

Part that car out. Many people on this board will tell you what to save. Make sure you bag & tag the parts. I would do all the parting work right away & not wait for it to sell. Then junk the carcass.  You could be selling parts for years.  Just a side note, taller gears make it slower off the line & better for high speed driving.
Best of luck.
Bob
1968 Eldorado slick top ,white/red interior
2015 Holden Ute HSV Maloo red/black interior.
             
Too much fun is more than you can have.

Barry M Wheeler #2189

Hi, It's hard to tell whether or not there is original material under the vinyl material. If there is un-faded original material under it, I would appreciate a square of the material for historical (CLC Museum) purposes, especially if it should be a SO (Special/Shop Order material.) You could tell this as the material # on the car's cowl tag would be in high three or four figures such as 815D or 1329.

I realize this request would be wayyyy down on your "to-do" list, but I'd appreciate it if you kept it in the back of your mind when you're messing with the seats in the back. Be sure to save the "washboards" in no matter what condition. They are the stainless trim on the lower edge of the rubber stone guards at the front of the rear fenders.

Don't be too hard on yourself. This car is not the first, nor will it be the last allowed to get in this shape. You're doing the right thing by it, and possibly many cars will be improved by a part from her. Best of luck. (I miss mine.)
Barry M. Wheeler #2189


1981 Cadillac Seville
1991 Cadillac Seville

Cape Cod Fleetwood

You're not going to hell, I promise. Hell is for the evil. You were an angel to use the car as a way to get a new
roof on your mom's home on her terms. That's divine. And I assure you that move pleased your father greatly.

You live too far away and probably have a life that would prevent the parting out of the car.
Sell it as is, someone will take is as a project car. Probably headed to a modified project and that's *OK*.
Any Caddy rolling is a win.

Sell the car as is, take whatever is offered, and it solves the storage problem too. Its OK.

Maybe ask the buyer to stay in touch with you if he/she is going to mod, so you can see its rebirth.

There are 2 kinds of cars in the world, Cadillac and everything else....

The Present -1970 Fleetwood Brougham

The Past -
1996 Deville Concours
1987 Sedan De Ville "Commonwealth Edition"
1981 Coupe De Ville (8-6-4)
1976 Sedan De Ville
1975 Sedan De Ville

The Daily Driver and work slave -
2008 GMC Acadia SLT *options/all

fishnjim

I suspect your assessment is spot on and time to "cut your loses".   When my father "made me" take things that he owned/cherished before he died, I kept them but as soon as he was gone, I started unloading.   So there's no "sin" in that.   I even sold some of the undesirables at the flea and gave him the money.   His view changed.
I'd put it up for sale in the hobby rags, like Hemmings, Old cars, etc.   Someone probably needs the parts or is in the business* and knows.   Frankly, there's a lot of the '41s surviving, and not a desirable design for my eyes.   Sedan's aren't as "precious" either.

* - are you really willing to break that car, store those parts, and have to wait years to sell them?   Think it through.   Something we often fail to do thoroughly enough.   Takes smarts to turn lemons in to lemonade.

dochawk

another thought:  there are roughly 50 specimen of 1941 Cadillac hitting the market now-ish from Uncle Phil's collection, most ranging from pretty to perfect.

That creates a demand for parts cars . . .
1972 Eldorado convertible,  1997 Eldorado ETC (now awaiting parts swap from '95 donor), 1993 Fleetwood but no 1926 (yet)

Cadillac Nut

I would not part that car out. It looks fairly complete and isn't that bad from the photos you showed.  I restore cars myself, I do the work, so my opinion is different than those here who just pay shops to do stuff.   The car has survived 81 years already.  A 41 Fleetwood is a popular and desirable car, even if 'fishnjim' doesn't care for it.    Everyone has their opinion of what they like and that has no bearing on what you asked.  You asked what you should do with it and what to check over.   A lot of that depends on if you can do any of the work yourself and also if you want to and enjoy that sort of thing.  Or if you will have to pay someone to do everything.
As for what to check over: Check the undercarriage and lower body, frame, floors, etc.  Looks for structural rust and rot issues ( that rusted out tire well is really common, that's not scary).   Check the lower parts of the doors, sills, rockers etc.   Structural rot would make it a parts car.  Is the dash complete, the trim, is the pot metal all extremely pitted? Is anything too broken to be restored?  Are seat frames rotted?  etc etc.  PM me if you want me to make a list of what I would evaluate. 

barrettn

I was able to get back and catalog all the spare Cadillac parts stashed away, unfortunately I didn't budget my time well, and ran out of time to take more detailed pictures of the car itself.  I'm told that my Dad pulled the original flat head 8 from the 41 due to it leaking oil so much, and put a 54 Eldorado (331?) engine in it's place along with a 4 speed dual range turbo hydromatic, and changed the differential as well, probably that from the same 54 car.

So here's a link to where the pictures can be viewed online, there are 50+ pictures so it really isn't practical to post them all here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/1u5dTj9s58qwcDLS6

It might makes sense to keep all the parts talk on the thread, it is posted here at https://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=169039.0

Thanks to everyone for their help and kind words!

Barrett