My New 1953 Fleetwood, AKA, "Long tall Sally"

The literaly 'Screwed' pieces are 3 of the rear drivers door fins, and the the tip of the p***enger front door spear, im pretty sure the door spear is S.S., but the fins i think are chromed pot metal. So basically if you find them that would be pretty cool. haha.
Now for the ordament, if you had a better one id be inclined to acquire it one way or another.
And thank you for the insight, honestly didnt know this stuff could be fixed. My buddie who had been a chrome plater his whole life died befor i got to learn a thing or two about the trade.

 

Toomer, I finally signed up to the HAMB because of this post. I have the exact same car and have been working to get it on the road for longer that I care to discuss. Have you had any luck with your hydro-lectric windows? I got mine working a few years ago after finally picking up a shop manual and checking out the exploded diagram of the pump. If your door cyliders are in good shape it shouldn't be that hard to get the system working.
You don't happen to have an extra set of fender skirts do you?

 

Well alright, good to see something good came from one of my buckets.
The windows are a little strange, the door cyliders yes have been replaced, and the front two windows came up when my dad pulled on them while i hit the switch, which makes me think maybe im not getting enough power through the switches, because the back ones dont even work, im probally going with a cheap *** electric system if i cant get them to work soon. but in al honesty id like to have the hydro ones work properly.
Sadly no, i have an extra chrome cover for the drivers side skirt, but that entirely does not help in this situation.
I hope things fall into place on yours, if their is anything you need to reference, i'll be more them willing to get some pictures and describe the set up.
On another note, If things go right the trans will be getting rebuilt this week. Untill then her is some simple ****.

I dont want to have the sombreros on the car yet untill i know its not going to be sitting for a long time, so i just tried and saw what my monte carlo rally trim rings would look like, i really like the look it has, cant beat the som's, but eh, good enough.

Then the bakelite shifter knob broke today when i tried to move the car back a bit, so i got creative, my dad has a piston out of his Suzuki he trail rode in the early 70's, he was going to toss it today but i thought id get creative, yeah pounding the writst pin out and drilling a hole in it after using the bench grinder to flatten the sides was harder then going to autozone and buying one, but in the end they are both made in japan, one just cost less.


It was either that or the '7' pool ball.

 

just another few pictures.
Another shot of the rims w/trim rings.

the trunk the day it was towed home, anything you see you need, is most likely for sale.

original spare im guessing, its a Uniroyal Laredo, never heard or seen anything like it befor.

 

After going throught the phonebook and getting a mixture of hung up on and told to "Call this guy" about 10 times, I found a place that will rebuild the Hydramatic. With weather permitting this weekend will be when it gets torn out and moved.
I'd like to rebuild it myself, but with the compleat lack of space and knowlage to do so, its not happening like that. After i get it back and in, "HOPEFULLY" i can get a video and pictures of that first drive.

 

Good luck on the Hydramatic!
The weather looks like it is shaping up pretty nice for the weekend up here, hope it's good down your way.
I had just moved back in the fall and my car is still full of all it's parts that were stored in the garage and got dumped back in her for the move. I'm hoping this weekend will let me open up the garage and start getting things organized again.
My car has been in the family since '62 but never driven more than a few blocks. My dad and his buddy used to start her up every year to keep the engine from getting too bad but nothing more was ever really done. When I was a kid I used to sit in her and pretend I was driving her out of the garage and down the street etc, I was always moving the shift lever and steering. So one time when my "ride" was over I didn't put the gear selector back into neutral and the next time my dad went to start her up she wouldn't crank because the selector was in drive. They eventually crawled underneath and jumped it right to the starter, that got her running! But now it was idling and being reved up in gear with siezed rear brakes! They used to let it run for close to an hour. I remember we were in the ba*****t of the house when the Caddy stalled and my dad and his buddy ran like mad up the steps to see what had happened, they were always scared of fire and I was prying everything was ok. When we got to the car they must have finally seen the car was in gear because they kept making me bend down and listen to the transmission fluid boiling!!
I **** you not it was gurgling!! After that my dad didn't think it would ever move again without a ****** rebuild but it has so far and at the new house I'm in an old part of town where I can eventually cruise it around the block a few times to check things out. Good luck with yours.
When you get back to the windows I can post a exploded drawing of the pump if you like. There is an internal valve that turned out to be the problem with my pump, all it took was a good cleaning.

Now I need a beer!

 

wonderful story man, reminds me when i was a bit younger, hell i think everyone did that. haha.
Yeah, like the guy told me, the car ran and drove when it went over to the house it was being stored at for a while, the kid that had it did the body work and then one day called saying the trans was acting funny. Now im not saying for sure being that im not a compleat ***hole. but chances are that kid was doing exactly what 302GMC said, making that 331 sing through the rear tires, and after enough abuse anything will wear out. but who knows, it will be taken care of and fixed. whatever had been already done is the past.
I would really apreciated that too with the diagram, its probally the same problem with mine, electric motor works, cylenders are brand new, switches are getting power, only leaves a few things to be wrong. and i mean hell the seat's hydros even work.

 

Toomer, how about a little tutorial on posting pictures.
I have the exploded drawing of the Hydro-lectric pump scanned and ready to go for you but I can't figure out how to post it!
Can you help a FNG out!

 

id say your best bet would be to start a photobucket account at photobucket.com, they host pictures and then after you get it on there copy the 'IMG' link and paste it in your post. at least thats how i do it.

And Now for a bit of news! After i busted my *** covered from shoulder to finger tip in 50+ year old road crud and tras fluid, The trans is out and is in the rebuild shop as we speak, guy cant touch it till monday because of ordering parts and brushing up on the diagrams for it one last time befor diving in. Took me from 7:30 AM - 1:15 PM in Auto shop to get it out, for the first two hours it was me and 5 other kids in shop untill they had to leave for their other school, i stayed and bashed out as much as i could by my loansome, then i had my dad come in, and me and him got it down and out. sorry no pictures of befor i tore it out because as soon as i started my arms were black and covered in rank-*** trans fluid. it was just so hard getting at most of the bolts let alone getting them to turn after 50+ years. but, hard parts over and the monday after this comming one, it will be put back in. (The shop is closed for spring break all next week and the cads up in the air on the hoist, cant get back in to touch it till then) So im excited, only D.O.A. part was a bolt for the driveshaft, the head was stripped.

Buisness as usual. (That oil collector was empty befor i started.)



A possible 40 bolts held the torque converter to the flywheel, wish id a known that befor, haha.

Once i get it back in, and it works, im gonna take care of the drivers turn signal and fog light, fix my back windows, then drive the whole summer away.

 

very cool.looks like a great new project.good luck.

 

Thank you Javier.

And a plus, heres a bit of a rendering James D did for the cad, im pretty sure im going with this route, possibly just adding spotlights and a pinch more scallops.

 

Naw forget the spotlights...a "kustom" doesn't need them...if anything just nose and deck it...

R-

 

I see what your saying. I dont really know how i feel about them on it yet actually.
Id have to mock them up and see, but i dunno.
its just everyone in the club has them, and its such an simple thing. time will tell.
As for N/D, i like the trunks look a lot and other then the flying lady being pitted to ****, the hoods got nice lines.
I'm thinking i might just get it like that picture, enjoy the **** out of it untill i not only have a better image in my head, but also the skills.
Its going to be a long time that this car will be mine, so i know a LOT of things will change as time goes on.

 

Weeelllllllllll ****,
Just got back from the rebuild shop and sure as **** discovered the problem with the trans, The front pump's 4 screws came loose and the pump split in half. Thus making it have NO internal pressure. And subsequently, from the pump opening up it ground a nice bit of area off of the housing and the main cap, however even with the lack of fluid and the dry towing, all the hard parts look and perform well, since getting parts for the ****er will be a *****, all salvageable parts will be salvaged, and only seals and that which need be will be replaced, keep in mind the transmission was rebuilt within the last 10 years, its just 8 ago that the 4 screws decided they would loosen being that the last place that rebuilt it, (who shall remain un-named), forgot to lock tight them. So within the week it should be ok and sorted. Trans actually looked good, a little black from the heat and smelled like some kind of nastyOh What Joy.

 

Toomer...if you need parts for that ******, I may have a source here in Denver...we just had my brother's '54 Caddy Hydramatic ****** completely redone by a local guy that knows everything about them old ******s... he told us he has a ton of parts for 'em...

R-

 

Holy cheese on a cracker.
If he has a washer/bushing/seal type rebuild kit, and i stress kit because the guy who has all the parts up here has them all individually.
I swear my year will be made.
All the gears, bands and pumps are ok, clutches havent been apart yet but im thinking they are ok, there were no chunks or grit in the fluid when it came out.
The guys just now getting the parts for it, he talked to the guy who supplies them today, but who knows how long it will take to get them.
Even if he already ordered and got the parts, it would be nice to have a spare kit & the hard-parts i didnt replace, just in case.

 

Toomer! I PM'd you to send you some info. Check your messages!