Of fins not purchased

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile) 07/20/2016 at 09:24 • Filed to: None

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Went to see this yesterday with posse (pic from CL ad), a ‘58 Cadillac Series 62 Coupe for $1500. The verdict is - probably not, because I do not have BiTurbo’s endless lineup space. More detailed breakdown below the fold:

The good: The fins are straight, the rear quarters are pretty straight, the front fenders are mostly as they should be with no forward edge rust-through, the rear glass is cherry, the rear seat is nearly 100%, the firewall appears to be pretty good (with the gauges), and most trim is present. Frame - what I could see of it - was pretty good. Mechanicals appear to have been pretty okay when it was parked the first time.

The bad: no floors, some mauling of the sides, rust-through in the hood and a couple of places in the engine compartment, bad rust damage on the trunklid edge and where it fits to the body, rust holes through the trunk, iffy repairs to the right fender, iffy rockers (worse on left), broken windshield, rough front seat and most interior vinyl peeled, driver’s door with rust damage to top edge, surface rust and pitting over most of body. Some trim missing, some merely damaged (trunk badge). Bumper rust too bad to buff off - needs rechroming, paint, or electrozinc. Engine has had the carb off for unknown time.

The equivocation: floors are cheap for this. I mean, REALLY cheap. As are headliner, seat skins, and probably the rest of the interior vinyl. If the objective were to slap in a junkyard engine and have a rolling eyesore with nice interior, that would be windshield + vinyl+ door repair + seat skins + floorboards - probably only ~$1500 in parts, plus the car, plus the engine/trans, plus wheels and tires. From that point, a lot of the remaining body repair could be done piecemeal.

Ultimately, I and my consortium (with no rollback) would need to capitalize for wheels and tires, negotiate somewhere on the premises to eyesore store (hard), and project out all the reanimating work. We’re not done expanding storage at my place, and the project seeker probably can’t swing this much of a project this soon. Au revoir, you big beautiful boat. Probably not this time.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 09:49

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Bummer :S could have been a cheap little fixup-bowl around-sell jobby.

I think the only way I’ve managed to stare as many cars as I have is that the vast majority are only <5ft wide by <12ft long. I could probably fit 3 Spitfire shells in the space that 1 Caddy takes up!

Also, I like 'Eyesore' as a name for a car :)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/20/2016 at 09:57

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Believe it or not, the dead tires were the biggest dealbreaker for me short of the windshield, as it would have massively complicated the grab. The windshield is a complication because it reduces the equity in the car and makes it harder to keep closed up once the floors are done. The rank rusty ugliness was what killed it for my dad letting it on the property - that and my existing projects slate. :| Got some leverage out of that, though - we’re permitted to stick something on the property if it’s significantly less ugly and less work.

This one definitely has potential. You can get a whole floor pan for one for some $300! It would just seem that since I can’t get it in the queue for working over right off, it’s off the table.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/20/2016 at 09:59

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This lunk is a full 6'8" wide and only 6" shorter(18'5"+) than my Lincoln. A compact it is not, alleged coupe qualities notwithstanding.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 10:05

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Get you being all sensible with your project choices!

Fingers crossed you can use it as leverage:

‘Well dad, this one’s not quite as bad as that Cadillac we went to look at’.

Speechless as although the car you’re looking at now is also a rusty hulk, technically you are right...

Also, how come you can get a floorpan for one of those for $300 when half a Spit floorpan costs about the same and it's about 1/6th the material cost!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/20/2016 at 10:21

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I wouldn’t be so sensible if people weren’t making me, I swear. Though, actually, there’s a four door Cad in south Georgia that beats this one all hollow for $2.5k.

https://tallahassee.craigslist.org/cto/5678832349…

I think the trouble might actually be the availability of reasonable Spits for low cost - as soon as everyone’s gone as mad as you and started dragging them out of bogs the demand for floor stampings will probably go up, spur less bespoke production, and prices will go down. These Cadillacs haven’t gone price mad quite like an early Mustang, but there’s a booming revival business for any that are halfway straight.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 10:27

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It is even a two door... That would look pretty good next to the Lincoln

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 07/20/2016 at 10:31

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I wanted to, and the long-term spendiness wasn’t completely horrible, but the victim project car taker-on-er wasn’t really in the position to do anything this hairy and storage was at issue. The Lincoln is in a good number of ways better off - particularly interior vinyl, doors, trunk, engine compartment, general finish.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 07/20/2016 at 10:31

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Also, check this out:

https://tallahassee.craigslist.org/cto/5678832349…

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 10:34

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In that case I hope I stay as the mad one! It’s the only way I can get them for under £200 each!

That 4-door does look much nicer, although I feel it breaches the ‘so ratty it looks good’ barrier into ‘nice enough to not be ratty, not nice enough to be nice’ territory. Saying that, nothing wrong with that either tbh :)

I think my trick is buying cars all secret-squirrel and then apologising when I turn up one day with another rusted hulk on the back of my (now quite surface-rusty itself) trailer...

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/20/2016 at 10:43

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I’ll be turning in some time this weekend working on better economies of space around the shop and trying to get the trusses started for the extension space. Roughly 30'x40', or in Land Barge Units (LBU), about 3.5. :D

At any rate it’ll make a space for me to have the Lincoln on subframe blocks next to the LWB Series landy under cover and free the car tent space for whatever mad thing my cousin and I grab next... like a 1958 Series 62, for example. Also will get a lot of the stray parts rubble out of the shop and shelves, and if my dad ever gets a top coat on the W123 Benz that’s been squatting in the paint booth, that’s even more space.

The desired outcome of ‘57/‘58 Cadillac purchasing is to have a black on black with black Cadillac, so an oxidized baby blue could soon be set to rights. :D

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 11:04

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Hah :) I like the division into LBUs. Metric equivalent would be SSUs (Small Sportscar Units). About 0.5 LBUs per SSU.

This Friday hopefully we’ll be concreting the remainder of my dad’s garage floor and the odd triangle bit on my parts shed. Once both of those are done we’ve got our own game of car musical chairs going on.

1. As soon as my parts shed slab is down the yellow spit goes on the base as it frees up the trailer and I can build the parts shed around it.

2. Once my dad’s garage is done both Maseratis, the 914/6 and the MG TC go in there, freeing up 4 spaces.

3. Once the parts shed is done I can strip the dead Jag and my mate’s rusty 106 GTi can fit in, freeing up another two spaces.

4. Once the little hoist mechanism in the parts shed is done then the Blue spit can go above the yellow spit freeing up another space

So loads more space for more junker cars! I’ve promised my sister’s boyfriend it’s his turn next though. He’s looking for an MX-5 or RX-7 but was waiting for a space to come available, whereas I tend to just buy things and find the space afterwards ;)

I love the idea of a black on black on black Caddy :) an idea I’ve just had, based on someone’s furniture design over on Garage Journal. He blackened the steel box section table legs, then sanded the edges for a bright silver outline then hit it all with matte/satin gloss.

That would look killer on a finned black Cadillac :)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 07/20/2016 at 11:20

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I’ve only given you the simplified version of my own shuffle - it ends up involving - in part - a load of gravel, a culvert, a new storage building for some of the Land Rover parts, a lean-to roof, and a motorhome that needs to be moved around.

I wonder how hard it would be to replate or augment existing chrome plate with sealed black nickel? Black nickel trim on black-top black car with black interior...

There’s probably some kind of thinned black lacquer wash that one could put over the interior zinc trim to make it match up as well.

CaptDale - is secretly British > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:11

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10/10 would do a twin turbo big block and manual trans drag car

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CaptDale - is secretly British 07/20/2016 at 12:16

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It’s pretty sweet, ain’t it? One thing that impressed itself on me was how thick the body panels were compared to some other ‘50s rides, because some of the panels were rusted enough to have surface pits like you’d see on a casting and still be quite solid. This thing gets restored, it’s going to eat a *lot* of filler primer.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:21

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Well there is always next time. How is the Ranchero coming along?

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:21

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Post says it was removed

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 07/20/2016 at 12:25

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It was up just minutes ago. Probably standard CL dickery of disgruntled shopper or competitor. It was very very similar to this one, which if that price is right, EEEK

http://classicvehicleslist.com/cadillac/11394…

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:28

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Holy shit that looks like a steal

CaptDale - is secretly British > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:32

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Why restore it? Just make it structurally sound and do a “rust bucket” drag car.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 07/20/2016 at 12:32

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Slowly on the Ranchero. I did get the headers finally bent and chopped and mutilated to the right shape, but I think these will have to be the starter headers and not the ones I use long term. At least they’re a pattern now. They’re also now the lowest point under the car - lower even than the unmodified oil pan would be. Next step is the Z-bar for the clutch and the relay levers for the shifter, then (or soon after), the engine and trans should be able to come out for more ease with body work. Body welding is a little bit stalled by extra things being in the shop and in the way, but I also dialed in the fit of the A-pillar steel.

This weekend (planning to take Friday off), we’re going to try to stage a lot of things, including moving the car tent to a better and drier location, and starting to build the trusses for the shop extension. Once that roof’s up, I can get the Lincoln in there on subframe blocks for the rocker R&R. Oh, and I just got a spool gun welder with my cousin, which allows for welding a longer way from the base unit than the normal MIG and has more adjustment settings, though the big reason for that is aluminum welding.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 07/20/2016 at 12:35

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The extended decks are better because they have a long trunk that’s closer to the lines on the two-door. Definitely a steal, I’ve emailed it to myself. It’s prettier than the other one, and easier to recover, though much further off.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CaptDale - is secretly British 07/20/2016 at 12:39

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There’s something to be said for doing the whole thing in black epoxy primer and running it that way, I admit. Dull satiney, some existing visible lesions. The trouble is, in person, the rust is just a bare extra step too far to make a *good* rustbucket. The “rusty race missile” fades through to “rusty POS” once you close within 15 feet. Some fixes and more evenly distributed rust would fix that just as well as slight rust reduction and fixes - it’s between categories, awkwardly.

CaptDale - is secretly British > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:45

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Ah oh. Yeah well maybe a patch whats needed, sand down the other rust and give it a patina look? Meh I mean you aren’t buying it anyway.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CaptDale - is secretly British 07/20/2016 at 12:49

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I’d liked to have. Not *my* purchase decision, though.

CaptDale - is secretly British > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 12:52

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Ah... I can understand that

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 13:10

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Sounds like you have an interesting weekend ahead. Nice headway on the Ranchero too. Having the headers complete even if only temporary is a big step.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 13:11

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Hey that didn't stop you with the Lincoln why should it stop you with this?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 07/20/2016 at 13:47

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It only stops me with this because Ranchero and Lincoln. Sort of a sins-catching-up-with-me thing. :P I’ll be able to do silly things like this somewhat more freely when I finish my atonement, I mean reorganizing parts and working on the extra space.

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 16:42

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TIL there are cars that you will walk away from. If this was West of the Rockies I’d drag it to my father-in-law’s place up in the Sierra foothills and sit on it.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench 07/20/2016 at 16:50

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That’s the trouble, actually. My place-to-drag-and-sit-on budget is spent - both the political budget and the actual space budget. This one came up as kind of a surprise; my cousin’s best friend fell in love with The Look when said cousin was bumming on Craigslist and sent it to her, so we had to at least investigate and game it out. She helped out with random jobs during his Rover build, so she’s been around a build before.

This one’s pretty much a paint by numbers fix list with very vew individual parts requiring shenanigans (unlike certain *cough Lincoln* cars will be), but it’s a big job overall.

I’ve got an ad I spotted for one that’s better, though...

RallyWrench > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/20/2016 at 18:28

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Yeah, don’t want to wear out one’s welcome. My FIL’s place is available, though he’s not a car guy at all he kind of wants an old car around up there just to look cool. I am a little worried about it getting shot at though, because that’s the kind of thing the locals do in them thar hills.

It might be a shitload of work, especially with the Lincoln already around, but damn that’d be cool.

Speaking of which...

http://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/5678012858…

http://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/5665664294…

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > RallyWrench 07/21/2016 at 09:05

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I’m glad to see the deals are marginally better on these on the west coast, so there’s a fallback. I think there was a lot of like for this one (as a coupe), so the first priority on projects will probably be for a coupe, but followed closely by a extended deck sedan.

Spridget > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/24/2016 at 11:39

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He’s dropped the price by $500:

http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/5689444137…

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Spridget 07/25/2016 at 08:57

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Now says deleted - someone must have bought it or something. I’ll let you in on a secret, he actually dropped the price more than that much when we were there, but my associates still concluded it was a little too much of an undertaking.