Who recognizes this kustom? I NEED to know more.....

Looks like a Caribou.

They've been made from 1954 until the 70s (maybe a few after that).

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1745175&postcount=6

~Jason

 

I like it. GM made an edict for the '59 lineup that all makes would share the cowl and door from the Buick concept. So the front sheetmetal from the Cad should bolt right up to the Elky. It looks so good, and so natural, that it makes you wonder why this swap isn't more common. We've all seen a bunch of Edsel Rancheros... lol....

 

Hey, what if you're "dead on" ?

 

That Hingis soo Rad. Spotted he hearse quarters a mile off. Now that I don have my coach anymore I could find myself lusting after that till it comes on h market....here's dreaming anyway....though to be honest I would like to see a little more of the sixty in the front treatment.....

 

That has to be one of the most impressive conversions I've ever seen. Whoever did that has some mean autobody skills. I would like one of those. I didn't know about the flower car, that is very cool.

Dave.

 

it's pure GENIUS in my opinion

 

It's neat. Almost as pretty as a '59 Chevy, but different.

 

Im liking it!

 

Here's a '60:

http://zumann.com/photos/cadillac-el-camino/09/

 

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jalopnik/147792252/" title="CADAMINO3 by jalopnik, on Flickr"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jalopnik/147792251/" title="CADAMINO1 by jalopnik, on Flickr"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jalopnik/147792252/" title="CADAMINO3 by jalopnik, on Flickr"></a>

 

Hey,

Any idea who the professional car conversion builder was for the flower car Kustom7777 pictured?

Thanx

 

What's the story on that one?

Rich

 

The white 60 has a 4 door hardtop back glass, it looks like the whole car was once a 4 door and they just welded up the back doors and moved the roof forward. It doesn't work with short doors and I bet it's a bitch to get in and out of.

The black one is perfect.

1961 front sheetmetal does not match the 59-50 cowls, I'm still trying to figure out what they did.

 

Lou's in his 80s, and still owns Caribou Motors.

Louis O. Schorsch
935 So. Fourth Street
Grover City, CA 93433

You should look the guy up and ask him. He's been making these since 1954.

He holds a couple of patents.

 

I agree with Kustom 7777 verry nicely done looks real clean !! some other just don't flow very well ....

 

Uh oh.... Kustom7777 is getting distracted from what he SHOULD be doing..
Turn off your computer...

Go sit in Telstar now... immediately... make engine noises...

Now don't you feel bad?

 

Found these pics of it on http://lowtechblog.blogspot.com.au/

 

Pretty cool machine!

I can add some general clarification here. Flower cars were all built on the (very) long wheelbase commercial chassis- much longer than this baby. Try a wheelbase of 156" for circa 1960 (vs 130"). All the hearse/ambulances were 4-drs; while this certainly could have had the rear door seam welded up, it otherwise would show here. Superior -the chief Caddy coachbuilder in this era- only built 10 '60 flower cars, and they too are 4-drs. In my careful opinion, these were Coupe deVille quarters; only they have enough length ahead of the rear wheel and these appear to be the right length for the CdV (too short for the commercial cars). Fin lengths are the same in either case :



Front fenders look like a careful mating of '61 front halves & '60 rears. Lower skeg is gone, and rear upper fender corner matches with the '59-60 Vista-Vision windsheild, not the '61-62 glass with the sheet metal kick-up at the A-pillar.

 

Everything sure lines up well .

 

It's just bitchin.

 

Roger O'Dell has it right and I think this was a pretty old kustom...probably done in the '60s. John has some cool stuff and this one has to be seen in person to be appreciated. There are signs of gas welding and lead work on the rear fenders on either side of the tail gate and tail light areas. There were two '59 El Caminos nearby at Santa Maria when John showed me this car and the only thing that confused me in terms of fabrication or customizing was the tail gate. You can see inside where the '59 El Camino tail gate structure was, but the outer skin has been replaced with something else...and it blends into the rear fin/tail light areas very well. It also looks like it had a frenched gas cap right above the driver side rear fin. The work on it was done very well and knowing John, it will be finished off nicely. I think he was trying to figure out if it was built by a Barris employee or not...definitely not a flower car!

 

thanks for all the great info guys........learned a lot more about the car. i absolutely LOVE it..the proportions are perfect, and it has the potential to be even more stunning than it already is.....if it were mine, i'd paint it a light metallic color, like you'd see on a concept car.....possibly 1960 caddy persian sand,,,i LOVE that color, but have never had the right car to pant in that color,,,i think it would look amazing on this one,,,no time to post a color sample at the moment,,gotta get to work,,,maybe later

 

The original owners put the car in storage for $60 a month, the next owner did the same. John was trying to add up the cost of keeping it safe, till he bought.

 

persian sand..........

 

Persian Sand is indeed an awesome, never-seen color.
ALso check '59 Buick's Lido Lavender...

 

Persian Sand and Sienna Rose always photograph shitty, and end up looking just alike.

Here's the paint codes.



~Jason

 

'61-'64 commercial chassis (and '65 limo) all utilized '59-'60 commercial windshield and cowl. '61-'62 CC front clip sheetmetal and '63-'64 CC front clip sheetmetal differ from passenger car counterparts. Hence, '61-'62 CC front fenders were used with bolt on skeg moldings removed.

Not often one has opportunity to teach well-versed Nads.

 

Corrections:

-Not all flower cars were built on commercial chassis. McClain produced their very first flower car in '60 on a passenger car chassis, which not only exists but is owned by a HAMBer. 2 door, not 4.

-Not all hearses/ambulances were 4 door. Many builders of this period produced on 2 door wagon platforms.

-According to Superior: The Complete History by Thomas McPherson, there were 23 flower cars made in '60, not 10.

-Hearses and ambulances used CDV quarters. Some were further modified but that is the base.

General clarifications:

-Superior was but one of four coach builders that utilized Cadillac commercial chassis of this period. Any "chief" claim is subjective. Miller Meteor records do not exist yet in all likelihood produced more total units given surviving numbers.

-See above response on fenders.

 

&#8226; The 'commercial car front fender' theory makes total sense.

&#8226; I sourced 'Professional Cars' by Merksamer for the '10 Superior flower car' figure.

&#8226; Hearses & ambulances undoubtedly used CdV quarters, but look where the hearse/ambulance rear door seams were; not where the SdV seams were, but not as far forward as seen on the 'El Cadimino' that we're talking about here. Coach builders needed a bit extra sheet metal for the (almost always) longer wheelbases, but this car has the full CdV quarter with no signs of being welded up (unless done decades ago).

&#8226; yes a few coach builders built on 2-dr wagon chassis's... but that's not going to be found at Cadillac. Cad had their own dedicated chassis. Yes, an occasional standard-chassis Cadillac got converted, but in this era at least (late '50s - early 60s), a 2-dr pro Caddy is strictly an anomaly. I'd like to see a period, commercial chassis, 2-dr pro Caddy; never have (well... except a one-off convertible '54 flower car 2-dr).

 

XX2, next thing the Telstar will have an Elkie roof and caddie quaters (reversed and inverted of course).

Scotty