Despite the bad weather the Cadillac BIG Meet 2010 was a great event. We took part with our 1967 DeVille this year as the theme was “The Cadillac Convertibles“. You can find a huge image gallery on the Cadillac BIG Meet website with hundred of pictures. Check it out!
I´m already looking forward to the Cadillac BIG Meet 2011 on August 29th 2011.

the first cars are gathering before the start of the Cruising tour


During the Cruising tour


a special area of the show field was reserved for convertibles only


the 67 at the show field...


A report from the local newspaper “Rundschau“ - click for larger view

Tags:1967, Cadillac BIG Meet, Deville, Cruising

My wife and I used one of the last beautiful evenings this year for a photo-shooting before the 67 DeVille goes back into storage. We took our baby son Elliot with us to get some nice pictures with him, his mom and the 67 DeVille.
Click on the image below to go to the photo gallery with more pictures.

Afra with Elliot

Tags:Photoshooting, 1967, Deville

My buddy Tayfun was in town for a visit and we spent quite some time in the garage detailing the paint of my 1967 Eldorado. We used a lot of Meguiars products for a mirror smooth surface. The original paint is much shinier and glossier now and looks pretty good. Thanks for your help Tayfun !!!!

My friend Tayfun polishing the paint

it took 7 steps for a smooth surface...

Tags:detailing, Paintjob, 1967, Eldorado

As we are having an extremely rainy spring and summer here in Austria at the moment, my wife and I used one of the very few sunny evenings so far to go for a photoshooting with the 1967 Eldorado.
Afra used her old trusty Hasselblad camera which, even in the digital area, is better than any new camera, and shot a roll of good old black and white film and another roll of color slide film. She now scanned the films and the results can be seen here!

at the photoshooting with the light meter

Afra giving her best to avoid any reflections in the chrome

the sun is setting

click on the image to see all the images from this shooting

click on the image to see all the images from this shooting

Tags:1967, Eldorado, Photoshooting

I neglected my garage a little bit during the last time - and as I had a day off today, I decided to give it a good spring cleaning.
I cleaned the entire epoxy floor - and now everything looks clean and tidy again. The Cadillacs like it clean... I will rent a floor polishing machine soon - for the extra shine

the garage floor before cleaning - the Eldorados had to wait outside

after cleaning-still wet

clean and dry - the 67 Deville stayed in there...

Tags:Garage, Epoxy floor, Cleaning

After my last repairs at the car - read below - the right headlight door would no longer close properly. Only if I wiggled on the vacuum hose on the actuator which is responsible for opening the door (the green hose), the door would eventually close. So I thought that the actuator was shot and I ordered one from a 1969 Camaro RS which looks almost identical with the only difference being the rod ends which are completely different on the Camaro. The original mounting pins on the Eldorado are screwed on and can be removed pretty easily from the rod, which has a thread on the end. On the Camaro actuators, the rod end is pressed in place and the rod has no thread at all... So one would have to find a way to switch the rod ends and modify the reproduction actuators...

The instructions on the reproduction part mentioned that one could use silicone spray to lube the internals of the actuator through the vacuum inlets - this would also make the rubber parts in there soft for a better sealing. So I thought it might be a good idea to spray something in my old part and really soak it...
I had the impression that the rod was easier to move after application. I also put some gasket sealant around the vacuum inlets, just to make sure that there is no leak anywhere.
So I installed the old unit once again and it still did not work properly - but it worked fine if I only installed one vacuum line at a time. Suddenly this rang a bell. There are some T-connectors which also act as a valve going to each actuator. They do vent the system on one side when the doors are operated.
I cleaned the connector valve and reinstalled one hose going there and suddenly everything was back in working order! It now works like it should again!
Looks like I bought the new actuator for nothing... It cant hurt to have a spare though, as they are pretty fragile and even failed when new in 1967... In the meantime I might also find a way to install the original rod ends... Let me know if you have an idea!

on the left the original actuator - on the right the reproduction unit from a 1969 Camaro RS


The different rod ends - the original one on the left - the headlight door mechanism is installed in the center of the rod end with a pin.
On the Camaro unit one could probably install it on the side using a bushing.
I´ve heard that this worked fine for some Eldorado owners as you can see on the picture below.


This is how it worked for another Eldorado owner - he installed some bushings on the new unit.
I found this picture on ebay at the auction for a 1967 Eldorado recently.

Tags:1967, Eldorado, Headlight Actuator, Headlight doors, Restoration, Camaro RS, Vacuum hoses

Our son Elliot was born on May 15th! Mum and the boy are both healthy and everything is fine!
Of course his first trip in a car was in a Cadillac - I used the 1967 Eldorado to drive him home from the hospital. You cant start early enough with the Cadillac education!

Our son Elliot on the way home from the hospital in Cadillac style!


Elliot and his mum at the first visit in the garage...


The Cadillac Mobile we made for his crib...

Tags:1967, Eldorado, Mobile

I brought my 67 Eldorado home from the restoration shop yesterday only to find out that the AC compressor died and leaked the fresh refill it got. Everything is new except the compressor and of course it died at the first usage. The system was pressure tested at the shop and worked like a charm. When they let the car idle with the AC on, the compressor started to leak. They tried to fix it but had no success. So I will need a new compressor and a new charge.
The right headlight door actuator also suddenly no longer works correctly. All hoses are new and it worked perfectly until recently. I can now only make it close if I jiggle on the actuator. Is there any way to rebuild them? A source for new or rebuilt ones? I have heard that the ones from the 1969 Camaro is very similar and only needs some minor modifications to work on the Eldorado as well. So I went ahead and ordered one. But the worst thing was that the freshly rebuilt carburetor made strange ticking noises and sounded like a tractor while accelerating. It worked well though, but the sound was unbearable. Could it be a defective gasket? It was also idling quite badly. Acceleration was superb though, its much more powerful than before, but still something was wrong... The ignition also was completely rebuilt. So I played around with the ignition first, but the ticking sound did not go away, no matter in which direction I changed the timing... Almost sounded like an exhaust leak, but there seemed to be none... I´ve uploaded a soundfile of the carburetor while idling. http://www.speedometerfilm.com/carb.wav It was recorded with my phone, so the sound-quality is not the best, but it should give you an idea. The phone was about 20cm away from the carburetor while recording. It was LOUD! Before I had the carb and ignition rebuilt, it was extremely quiet and idling smoothly but had misses while accelerating.
I got some very valuable tips from fellow Cadillac aficionados and the previous owner of this Eldorado even called me from the USA to give me some tips to solve this issue, and he was spot on with his diagnosis...

With a hose held to my ear and the other end to the carburetor, I was able to locate the source of the noise. It came from the carburetor below the choke assembly. So I took the freshly rebuilt Rochester Quadrajet out again, only to find out that the gasket and the metal shim were installed the wrong way around. This burned a hole into the brand new gasket where the exhaust gases from the heat crossover passage could escape and make this noise.
Of course I did not have a new gasket at hand, so I carefully removed the old one from my spare engine, which was in pretty good shape and installed it.
No more ticking - no more noises, no more bad idling.
The car now drives amazingly good and is silky smooth. It could not be any better.

the shim was installed first and then the carb - thats wrong! The gasket has to go on the intake manifold first - then comes the metal shim.


here you can see the burnt gasket and the metal shim


putting everything back together again


test drive after the repair - perfect!

Tags:1967, Eldorado, Restoration, Carburetor, Rochester, Quadrajet, Headlight doors, Headlight Actuator, AC Compressor, A6