Projects Moss, mold, and mice garbage... 1954 Cadillac gets a new lease on Life.

Moss, mold, and mice garbage... 1954 Cadillac gets a new lease on Life.


In 1971 a light blue 1954 Cadillac was purchased and driven to a remote hay field in Sheridan County, Wyoming. It was supposed to be torn down, and the motor used in a farm equipment. That never happened.

It sat outside for the next 39 years until (with chance and generosity of the land owner) It was saved... by me.


The first year out of the field, the car saw no improvement. I didn't have the time, space, or money to start work on it, and even then I wasn't sure I was going to keep the car.

I have some awesome friends and club members, and with help, the title issued where solved and now the big blue Cadillac is inside a building for the first time in 40 years.



The Cadillac is pretty rough, by most standards. There are rust issues, completed destroyed seats and interior from 40 years of rodent occupancy, and even nice patches of moss. The interesting thing is that the car is nearly complete. Minus hubcaps, skirts and the radio, the rest of the car is there... including the original keys that were laying on the seat.

When I inspected the engine bay, I removed the factory air cleaner and was stunned to see very clean carburetor. Lets hope as I dig deeper that the rest of the internals of the mill look just as good. The previous owners did a great job of plugging all the vitals before they let it sit, obviously because the engine was the most important component for them to save.

Heres how it looked the day after we pulled it from the field more then a year ago.

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And not much change but...


This carb looks pretty damn clean for 40 years of sitting.



The inside is a different story....

Mice are little, harmless and even cute when in cartoon form, but in the real world, when it comes to automobiles and time the damage they cause is astonishing.

Heres the interior fresh from the field




After a light cleaning before it was in my shop the interior was a touch more bearable.



I dont really have words for how uncomfortable it was to remove the seats... lets just say it was ....well, uncomfrotable.

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Feeling fairly proud of accomplishing the "removal of the doomed seats" I decided, why not get that headliner out while I'm at it.

Guess where the rest of the backseat padding was...



The picture doesn't really this mess justice. It about 6 inches deep and prolly ten pounds of grass seeds, mice shit, and mice carcasses.



That was about all I could handle at that point so I called it a night.

I dont think that I have any desire to use the factory seats, they are just to gross and I think I want to take the interior in a different direction when i build it back up. Maybe a nice seat of 60's cadillac buckets.

Never the less, the rest of the interior is still savagable and Im happy with that fact. There is a long road ahead on this project, so I will keep updates coming as they happen, but heres a few more pictures of the car and it's "friends" that will be keeping it company.






Again, I'll will try and update as I can. That's all for now.

 

I love reading these stories about farm/barn/woods finds. I really like the wear pattern/spots on the hood and body. Really neat start to a cool car there!

 

Oh yeah, thats gonna be a good one. I hope to have a Caddy one day.

 

As of now... My plan is (which could change) a nice mild custom cruiser. Lowered, nosed, decked, handles, but leaving a couple key cadillac signature V's. Full Skirts and 56 Cadillac caps (which I have). Factory powertrain and undercarriage. I love Purple and Both my current cadillac projects will have purple in some aspect. I think I may have a few surprises along that way, but I will save them for now until the time is right.

 

Real cool story. Hopefully that engine is as clean as the carb looks.

 

one thing ive been wondering is the possibilty of converting one of these into a 2 door sedan by using some buick parts and craftyness

 

Well, after 40 years in a Wyoming field, compound that with 40 years of Wyoming winters/summers/neglect...it actually doesn't look bad...

As for the interior, sandblast it...that's the only way to get rid of 40 years of mice smell...I know, I retreived a '48 Cadillac sedanet from a Kansas creek bank...

except it was home to pack rats...the interior was full - level to the bottom of the windows with pack rat anything and everything...it smelled bad. I stripped the interior and the whole car and had it all sandblasted...then epoxy sealed everything...it don't smell now...!!!

Anyway, good luck on the rebuild...nice to see another Caddy undergoing work.

R-

 

My caddy also had a lot of mouse destruction, and what appeared to be some raccoons or cats in the car. When I got the car I couldn't see the gas pedal, because the mice had built a fort of insulation from the glovebox over it! I found several mice, and all of their "presents" in the car. I ripped out the carpet as a result. I also found what appeared to be the remnants of a wasp nest, and a bunch of paw prints on my back seat...oh the stories our Caddy's could tell. Good luck with it! Nothing like a Caddy found sitting

 

wow, very cool story, this will be a good one!

 

I've found that mice love to eat wire insulation be sure to check yours. Nice ride!

 

I agree with Roger, not to bad for sitting outside all that time. The mouse stuff is disgusting.

Looks like you have the worlds largest black dog in picture #2!

 

One of my favorite cars...
Congrats on the find and good luck

 

mouse poop can be fatal, wear disposable coveralls, shoe booties and resperator, throw coveralls and booties away from children and scrub yourself clean!

 

I remember the weekend we took the interior out of my 50, it only sat for 10 years, but 5 or so of those was with a land slide up to the drivers window sill, boy that mouse didn't know what hit em when we took out the back seat.. lol cool caddy, x2 on protective stuff, the hanta virus only comes from one breed of field mouse, but still better safe than sorry.

 

Way to go saving another one! If you need any parts, let me know. I have 2 '54's and a bunch of spare parts. I remember pulling the seats and headliner of my coupe deville that was sitting since '76. By far the nastiest thing Ive ever had to do! You mentioned you're missing hubcaps, skirts, and radio, I have all three of these, If you're interested shoot me a pm and we can work a deal. Good luck on the build!

 

Stutz,

6 months to get that thing on the road for Takeover 2011. My 52 Pontiac was alot like that, seats, headliner and doorpanels. I've had fresh coffee grounds spread on the floor since I cleaned it out.

 

Have you had a chance to get it running?

 

I love the Caddy, but DAMN, HOW BIG IS YOUR DOG???

 

Pretty nice Cad! Hope you're wearing your respirator while dealing with the mice problems!

 

LMAO!!! Almost made me spit coffee on my keyboard.

I think he was sitting on the dogs back when he took the pic.

 

rofl!!!!!

 

That's a good ass story! I love these stories. BTW... The comment about the size of the dog made me laugh hard!

 

Like Verbal Kint said, we'll be looking forward to seeing your caddy at the run. I'll probably be driving my Thunderbird Ranchero. It was also a mouse house. I've got to pull the heater defroster completely apart, and replace the headliner. Seats and carpet have already been done. Luckily they didn't get in the doors. You find very few 40's Chevy trucks that aren't rusted out above the windshield because of mice. Nasty little critters.

 

you guys are all right about the mouse droppings...you can die from that stuff....it's actually the mouse pee...that is the killer....

cool story about the car....

excellant find.

 

That car looks pretty solid by Wisconsin standards.

 

All this talk about mouse droppings, Now I imagine I can actually smell it! I installed a set of '69 Chevelle buckets in an O/T '70 El Camino I had, And they always smelled like mice! They were in pretty good shape so I just installed them. I figured the mice were long gone! About a year after I installed them, I had left a pizza crust on the passenger floor, and the next morning it was obvious that mice had eaten it! The little buggers had been living in my seats while I drove it for over a year!

 

and a picture of unloading into the shop. I love rollbacks !

 

cant wait till you fire that ol caddy eng

 

what he said...extremely dangerous...

 

Great find, let us know how things progress.