I bought a 1961 Cadillac Eldorado GM factory custom off craigslist

Amazing find.

 

My favorite part of this is who ended up with the car.

Not a flipper. Not an investor. A genuine fan of the era, the marque, customs and history.

 

I can't tell you how much that means to me.

I have been getting some very serious huge money offers for this car that would be enough for me to buy that Facel Vega I always wanted, but there are many of those, there is only one of this Cadillac. If I sell it, it'll be gone forever.

My water pump came in yesterday, I'm gonna put it in when I get home and hopefully I'll be able to drive up to the gas station this weekend.

 

Am I seeing things, or are the double whitewalls and the valve stem on the back of the spare tire? If they are, are all five wheels the same?

Congrats on a huge score!! Your car looks great, and will look fabulous with a little TLC.

 

Double whitewalls, the stem is on the right side, 60 Caddy wheels look backwards but that's how they're made. It was shown in 1962 with double whitewalls but was built with single stripe Uniroyals.

 

You want a Facel Vega ??????????????????. Which model ? Drop me a line when you get time and I 'll fill you in on the do's and dont' s on these . Did a multi year frame up on a FV4, awakened a low mile HK and am currently finishing up another frame up HK.

But hell they are not as neat as the Caddy !

 

Stick shift HK500, but it'll have to wait now

 

Nice score!
I guess i am not a big Cadillac guy,but a friend of mine is.He has a nice collection of 59's.
I think this is his kind of thread,so i'll pass it to him.

 

Say Larry, who do you think could make me wheelcovers for the Caddy? I called LMarr but no response, I heard the owner's very old and not doing so well.

You guys are a pretty serious restoration shop.

I see you guys are redoing the InaMae Cosmopolitan

 

Holy crap what a neat ride.

 

I just put in the rebuilt water pump and took her for a short drive, couldn't go far, rainstorm a brewing............what a thrill, indescribable, I'm one lucky SOB, right time, right place, right under my nose!!!!!

 

I hope you have insurance on that thing!

 

excellent score!

 

I don't, it's not tagged or insured, I live on a very quiet street. I gotta get it legal soon.

 

Early morning gas fill up, first real drive in decades. She ran great, all the gauges work, the tires are shot, they're unused but they've been sitting for so long they're gone.

 

Congrats on your Score.. would this be classed as a Concept Car.? beings its a one of a Kind Factory Model? Im not much into big 60s Caddies.. but yours is Sweet... Beautiful car..

 

Nads, that is so badass, it's gotta be illegal! Of course, I see you are running non-matching plates, so I guess it IS illegal!
I bet you had a big S-eating grin as you were cruisin down the road.
HamD had it right; the right guy got this one!

 

Concept? I don't think so, it's one off but it's not utterly unique like the Le Sabre, it occupies a strange place that's hard to describe. It was pulled off the production line then customized by GM and then somehow it ended up in private hands. I don't think it was ever meant to be sold but I'm glad it was otherwise it would have likely been scrapped.

 

Cadillacs of this era always looked a bit awkward to me. They seemed to have a lot of "gingerbread" on them that looked like it was added as an afterthought.

Someone at GM put a lot of thought into this project and with some simple mods really cleaned things up to my eye. The design flows much better, a lot of the distractions are gone and it still looks like a Cadillac. This is what I would've hoped the production model looked like.

 

Nads, are we going to see it anytime soon down here in the Tampa area? Gary

 

Nads, Ya wanna bring it up here for the Detroit Autorama?

Folks would really dig it!

PM me.

 

Road trip!!!!

 

that's a good idea, it would be a very cool homecoming, I'd have to trailer it though, it would cost tons.

 

Could you post a couple of good pics of the front and back side of the wheel cover ? Need to understand how they made it to make another. I'm sure someone here on the HAMB knows how to solve the cover problem.

Yes I get very serious with my work but I'm not one of those heavy hitter shops . I have a deep love for the old customs .

 

I don't have the originals Larry, I'm sure they were stamped stainless steel, I image the best way to reproduce them would be to make them out of aluminum on a CNC machine. These are stock hubcaps on here now, they're held on by a serrated ring like and other cap.

 

Palm Springs Automobilist posted this on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=417519994963616&set=a.354692944579655.78858.352149531500663&type=1&theater

 

Guess I should have paid attention follower Nadeem

 

EVOD Industries in California is making me a set of stock appearing wheels for my Brougham.

I'm sure he could make a set of wheels for you that looked identical to the hubcaps but it is rather expensive.

 

Very cool, I'll look into it, thanks.

I just got a quote back to recast those eyebrow moldings, 2gs!!!!!!!

 

I guess we can all only imagine how much it costs to restore some of these Show Cars, that guys like Joe Bortz found in near graveyard condition.
Ouch$$ Just go for it. The collector car world will be a better place when it's all done.
JT