Projects 56 patina’d Caddy

Hello boys and girls! Im getting this 1956 Cadillac delivered Friday! I’m so excited, I love these cars! It’s a solid car with minimal rust. Need floor pans, but that’s it. But for the purist out there...sorry but it’s got a Chevy 350/TH400 in it. I may put a caddy motor back in it later. But right now I just want to get it running and tackle all the other areas that need attention. The 3 big things it needs are brakes, exhaust and interior and I’m sure a million little things lol.
So the plan is...keep the patina justbthe way it is, get it running and dependable, get it a little lower to the ground. No bags though..too much money. Then lastly, do a really kick ass interior! Luckily, I do custom car upholstery, so this will be a very nice muse for me. I actually plan on building this as kind of a shop car to show off my upholstery skills and put my shop logo on the back glass, John Wayne Customs.
I will have lots of questions, so I’m counting on some help from the amazing folks on here! So my first question is about brakes. I’d really like to do the Scarebird disk brake kit for the front. My question is, will the stock booster and master cylinder support disk brakes on the front?

 

Looks like someone started to do the body work and paint, and lost interest , rather than patina.
Why in the world would you want to spend money elsewhere, but not on paint, on a Caddy???

 

Because I like the way it looks....but thanks for that!

 

Nice car.
I agree, That is not patina.
It’s called unfinished body work.
You’ll tire of it soon. Took me 5 seconds.

 

That has the weird brake booster mounted WAY forward on the left frame rail with a bell crank and LONG pushrod? Good luck with that thing. Obsolete, finicky and trouble prone. I put a firewall mounted booster on my '56 way back in the 80's but it mounted on the heater plenum, not ideal, I wouldn't do it that way now.

 

Nice caddy.

 

Ok, there is a reason I named it Patina’d....yes someone did a paint job trying to mimick patina. That was his intent. As I said I like it, I may decide to repaint it later on. But for now I’d like to get it on the road and enjoy it. Can we please stop bashing the paint now... thank you Brady and Flynbrian! I would love to just mount a modern booster on the firewall where god intended it, that’s for sure!

 

this place has a tough crowd
all post are subject to opinions both pro and con

m just glad the car is on the road and not rotting away

 

There is a group called the modified cadillac forum,not sure of the exact name of it,they have a lot of guys there with modified caddys,they would be a good bunch to help you out. Another bunch is the cadillac-lasalle club,they have a forum too,you have to signup,not a big deal,they however are not really into the modified cars,but a great place for info. Good Luck. Harvey

 

I really like the way they broke the two tone on your car. I know you don't want to here this, but Cadillacs need shiny paint. That car would be awesome with those 2 colors just like that, but done in nice paint. Sorry I just pissed you off. Brian

 

Simple....your car.....so, your way!

 

Fake patina is how I spell poser. Just my opinion. I like the 2-tone and would paint it up nicely.

 

leave the paint... and then tub it and bag it....

 

Not all Caddys need to be shiny, but here is some real patina......

 

Patina.... French for 'I can't afford paint'.....

 

Murray,is that white Caddy a 53 or 54?

 

I will build this car the way I want to. But I won’t be documenting it on here. I appreciate the few of you that actually had something constructive to say. You few understand what this forum should be about...helping each other out. Not ridicule and bashing someone’s project that they are excited about just because it’s not your style. Moderators, you can close this thread

 

I don't care what the outside is,painted patina. primer.....ITS A CADDY BROTHER!!!!
ENJOY!! I LOVE IT!
WISH IT WAS MINE.

 

Nice looking car.
I got the same game plane with my Buick
Get it running and driving, make it a reliable car,
THEN get it all prettied up and fancy !!

Don’t run and hide, stick around. There are some really knowledgeable people here.

It’s your car do with it as you like, have fun with it and drive the wheels off her!

And remember opinions are like assholes, I am one?..... you are one?..... everyone is one........ anyways don’t let the bashers get under your skin.maybe they tried bleaching there assholes and got a chemical burn and are just grumpy.......... anyways mindless ramblings over

 

1953....
Igor, don't go away, I dig your '56, but all that matters is if you dig it! I've seen guys take newly painted cars and sand them down to duplicate "patina", nothing wrong with it if you like it.....

 

approval here is not required to have fun
I drive my "nonpainted" ride every day

 

not sure why everyone's gotta bash YOUR car, i guess that's the hamb for ya, gotta turn everything into a pissing contest. If you like it you like it. not my style but looks like a pretty decent car!

If this is what happens when a car has this paint, I can't wait to see what happen when my car gets painted I've got an even wilder idea.

 

Fellow HAMB'er,
You labeled your own thread Patina-ed. Then you admitted it was "fake patina" when that didn't play well.. (That is an oxymoron, right?)
I can't see any way that this sort of stuff is traditional.
There seems to be a small segment here that wants to turn this place into an R.R forum.
I got my first car (47 Chevy coupe ) when I was 14. It wasn't long after that, I began sanding down the rusty surfaces and black primering it with a vacuum cleaner! Kids in my part of the world would have been embarrassed to drive around in a rusty POS.
Of course, it's your car, your world, and your reality, but I'd stick around it I were you. There's a lot to learn here about what's traditional , and what's not.

 

Or you could grow a set, and stay here and learn something like everyone else did.

 

Caddy engines are cool, but someone did you a huge favor by dropping in that 350 and TH trans. That 350 will make just as much power as the original, and parts are cheap and easy to come by. And the old hydro trans, same situation.

Also, look up "The Corvette Ben" on Youtube. He's got a 56 4 door hardtop like yours and he has made tons of videos on the restoration.

 

The guys were just trying to tell you that given the patina is fake,the car would look awesome with fresh shiny paint.However it is your car and you finish it (or not ) as you see fit.

 

Assum8ng I read things properly, he bought the car like that (RR by someone else?) and wants to get it running right before he does anything cosmetic. Can’t blame him on that front, we all want to drive them.

 

all hot rods were painted.........LOL

driving your ride as you build it is as traditional as the first hot rod ever built
stop calling it patina and just call it a work in progress
my other build will resemble a hot rod that was being built and driven
some call it fake patina, I call it a tribute to the "work in progress"hot rod

I would suggest this to fix the not so great fake look
you can still purchase the old lacquer colors for that car
tape it up and respray, then work the paint to the desired look and logo it up
the stock breaks are not bad and may be economical for now, the booster set up could be swapped to a firewall mount with a little effort. I used a hydro set up on my last ride and love it.

 

Or I'm too fucking cheap to lay out the geets to have ghost flames done...