As we had a nice sunny, dry winter day today I decided to re-arrange the cars in my garage so that I can start doing some work on them during the remaining cold winter nights.

The following work is planed for the next few months before the cars will be put back on the road in May 2012.

1971 Mark III

• new vinyl roof (the original one was damaged during transport and the insurance will pay for a new one)

1967 DeVille

• needs new front wheel bearings (I already have the spare parts)
• will try to find a rebuilt OEM Bendix master cylinder and vacuum booster. These are very difficult to find. Everybody seems to offer Delco Moraine parts only. I have replaced my original booster and master cylinder 2 years ago and I´m not quite happy with the power assist of the new units. It seems that the after market master cylinders from Delco have a smaller bore diameter and therefore you will have to depress the pedal with more force. There is a discussion going on on the topic of finding the correct booster and master cylinder in the CLC forum - check it out for more detail! If you know where I could find a correct Bendix booster and master cylinder or where I could get my original core rebuilt, please let me know!! The parts number for the Bendix Master Cylinder is #1489981 and for the Bendix booster it is: #1489071
• re-adjust the gear indicator as it's slightly out of line.

1967 Eldorado

• I will remove the starter motor and have it rebuilt - it sometimes is acting up

1958 Eldorado

• It needs some new front wheel bearings as well. I already bought the parts.

I will of course post the repair progress here on my website

A new garage?

The biggest planned project for 2012 will be to find a solution for my storage problem. I hope to be able to build another garage or to rent one. I will have to find a solution until the spring of 2012. I´m dreaming of building a building which can hold 8 Cadillacs, but I do not know yet if I will be able to afford it...

Car Shows

I hope to attend and visit the „Klassikwelt Bodensee“ from May 17th to 20th and of course the best meeting in Europe - the Cadillac BIG Meet August 25th to 26th. I will also hopefully make it to some local shows here in Austria.

as we had a dry winter day I took the cars out of the garage - they fired right up after some months of sleeping

the Mark III was moved to the back of the garage, so that I can start working on the other cars first

little Elliot loves Daddy´s cars as well ;-)

Tags:2012, Cadillac BIG Meet, 1958, Eldorado, 1967, 1971, Bendix, Master Cylinder, Vaccuum Booster, Delco Moraine, Gear indicator, Garage, Klassikwelt Bodensee, Front wheel bearing, Starter Motor, Rebuild, Vinyl Roof, Restoration

With winter approaching rapidly, today I returned the license plates of my cars and put them into winter hibernation. I did not drive my cars very much this summer due to a mostly very rainy summer. So I did not rack up too many miles on my cars this season. I just made about 200 - 400 miles on most of them...
The cars are now in their cosy garages and will all get a new wax-, lubrication- and thorough cleaning job during the next few weeks. I usually also disconnect all the batteries, give the weatherstripping and rubber a good coat of silicone spray and treat all leather areas with leather conditioner. I also clean the interior carefully and over- inflate the tires to make sure that they do not get any flat spots. I will also park the tires on styrofoam. I really hate winter and snow and I am already looking forward to next spring... Over the winter I will rebuild the starter motor of my 1967 Eldorado and detail the undercarriage. The Lincolns undercarriage will get a very good cleaning as well. The 67 DeVille will get some new front wheel bearings and probably a new wheel cylinder and power booster. The 58 Eldorado will also need new front wheel bearings. So there will be a lot of minor things that will keep me busy over the winter...

Below are some pictures of our very last cruising tour this week with the Mark III

cruising through the scenic landscape of Austria looking down at a lake

the Mark III enjoying the last sun rays...

the whole family in the Lincoln - little Elliot is taking a nap as usual - nothing beats the soothing sound of the V8...

Tags:1971, Lincoln, 1967, 1958, 1996, Buick, Roadmaster, Eldorado, Seville, Deville, Continental Mark III, Winter, Storage

I put my 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville into winter storage today. As I ran out of garage space and have not found a solution for my storage problem yet, my friend Christian was so kind to offer me a cosy place in his AWESOME garage to store the 58 over the winter. So I drove my car to him today and enjoyed the 75 mile trip to his garage, as we had a warm and sunny autumn day.
When I reached Christians garage I refueled the car and put some fuel stabilizer in it. Amazingly the car needed only 18 mpg / 13l/100km. Thats pretty amazing - and I drove it pretty lead footed...

The car will spend this winter in a fantastic garage called “Eldorado Roadhouse“. Christian has an amazing collection of fine Cadillacs and some other classic cars. Among the Cadillacs are a 1956, 1957 and 1960 Eldorado Biarritz and a super low mileage 1976 Bicentennial. All cars are in amazing condition. The garage is second to none - it also features a full size bar and diner below the show room...

I´m glad that my 58 can spend the winter there, while my other cars are safely put away in my crowded garage. I really want to thank Christian for his generous offer!!!!

Below you can see some pictures I took on my last ride with the 58 in 2011. Good night my dear 58 - see you in May 2012.

on the way...


had to stop at an oil pump along the road to snap a picture...


had to stop at an oil pump along the road to snap a picture...


Christians “Eldorado Roadhouse“ - an awesome garage! The 1960 Biarritz once belonged to Cary Grant by the way... Next to my 58 is a super low mileage Bicentennial...


a part of Christians garage - the car under the cover is my 58... then there is a custom corvette and a #1 Mustang GT350...

Tags:Eldorado, Eldorado Roadhouse, 1958, Seville, Winter, Garage

We had a short photo shooting with my cars today. My wife shot a roll of good old medium format slide film through her good old Hasselblad camera. You can find the image gallery with the best pictures from this shooting here. Not in the pictures is my AMC-Pacer which is not running at the moment.

seen from the roof top of the garage



most of my American cars in front of the garage...

Tags:Photoshooting, 1958, 1967, 1971, 1996, Continental Mark III, Eldorado, Deville, Photoshooting

The Cadillac BIG Meet is Europe’s biggest Cadillac meeting - held every year at the last weekend of August.
My wife and I are part of the organization team together with some good friends. At this years addition we had the theme “Cadillac meets Lincoln“ and so we invited Lincolns to the show field. My own Continental Mark III just got ready for the show a couple of days before the show, so I drove it there along with my 1958 Eldorado Seville which was piloted by my friend Tayfun.
On Saturday there is always a cruising tour limited to 40 preregistered cars. When we arrived at the host hotel lots of people were surprised seeing me arrive in a Lincoln ;-)

30 minutes before the tour started, suddenly the 58 cut out and did not want to start again. I once again suspected a clogged fuel line and we blew the line through. Unfortunately it did not help at all - the line was free. With the help of Lucky (a fellow 1958 Biarritz owner) we disassembled the fuel pump and found out that the valve inside came loose and was no longer in its seat. Lucky put it back and the car ran beautifully again. It all was fixed in 15 minutes and the 58 was ready for the cruising tour.

At the show on sunday 133 Cadillacs and 11 Lincolns participated. There were many awesome cars on the show field, like one of the worlds best 1953 Eldorados, a spectacular 1958 Eldorado Brougham, lots of 59 Eldorados and everything else ranging from 1921 to 2011. The show was once again spectacular.

You can find all the pictures of the show here:
http://www.cadillac-meeting.com/english/pictures/pictures.html


My 1971 Continental Mark III just before the start of the cruising tour.


The cars are gathering for the cruising tour


Lucky repaired the fuel pump of my 58 Seville 30 minutes before the start of the cruising tour - Thank you Lucky!!!!


My friends Claudia and Tayfun drove my 58 Eldorado Seville


one of the many awesome cars at the show - 1958 Eldorado Brougham # 535 - my dream car


a small overview of a part of the show field at the Kremsegg castle

You can find all the pictures of the show here:
http://www.cadillac-meeting.com/english/pictures/pictures.html

Tags:1958, 1971, Lincoln, Continental Mark III, Eldorado, Seville, Cadillac BIG Meet, Car Show, Fuel Pump, Restoration

I got a call from national Austrian television that they would like to do a short report for the upcoming Cadillac BIG Meet at the Kremsegg castle. They needed some Cadillacs there to do some interviews and to shoot some footage to promote our upcoming event. Of course we had to use this chance to promote our show on air.
My friends Christl, Christian and Willi and I made it there with our cars, on what must have been the hottest day this summer, and we could do the shooting for a 2 Minute piece at the Kremsegg castle.
We had Cary Grants former 1960 Eldorado Biarritz there, which now belongs to my friend Christian, which was the star of the report. The report aired 2 days before our show on national television.

I drove my 58 to the shooting and while sitting in heavy traffic it suddenly cut out while I was in the left lane. Eventually I made it to the right shoulder and I tried to make it run again without any success. Unfortunately I had no tools with me - so I had to call the automobile service club to help me out. They arrived about 20 minutes later. I asked the guy who helped me out to unscrew the fuel line and blow some compressed air into it, as I suspected a clogged fuel line. We reconnected everything and it ran beautifully again. So I safely made it home again. I wrongfully assumed that everything must have been fixed now and that I should clean the tank soon... (see the report about the Cadillac BIG Meet 2011to see what happened)

stranded at the Autobahn


Cary Grants former 1960 Eldorado Biarritz was the star of the show

the TV team with the show host Simona Pindeus and Willi Hofmann on the steering wheel

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, 1958, Eldorado, Seville, Car Show, ORF

Spring is around the corner and so it was time to go down to the garage and wake up the Cadillacs from winter hibernation. I put them into storage in October last year over the winter. In May I will get my license plates again and I can start driving them for this season.
Before the season actually starts I started to prepare the cars. I checked all fluids, checked the tire pressure, reconnected the freshly charges batteries, pushed the cars out of the garage, pumped the pedal a couple of times and then cranked the engine. One after the other came back to life. Great! I took them for a quick drive around the house and checked all systems.
I´m now starting to clean each one and give them a thick coat of fresh Meguiars wax. The leather seats will also get another treatment with Gliptone leather conditioner. I thoroughly cleaned the cars before I put them into storage and also changed the oil before I tucked them away, so there is not that much to do at the beginning of the new season. I have two more weeks now before I can officially drive the cars again - this should be enough time to make them look absolutely pristine.

Good morning Cadillacs - welcome to the 2011 season.

Tags:detailing

As we had an unusual warm day today with the snow melting in front of the garage, and having a couple of hours of spare time at hand, I decided to drive the Eldorados out of the garage. They both started right up as soon as the fuel pump delivered fuel to the fuel bowl. Both cars idled beautifully and it was a pleasure to see them in the bright daylight again for the first time since last October when I had put them into storage.

While I had the 67 Eldorado out I also turned on the headlights and was once again annoyed by the fact that the right one opened simultaneously, but closed slightly slower than the left one when I turned the lights off. There was a difference of around 1 second in movement between the two headlight doors.
Being a perfectionist I could not stand this, so I began searching for the problem. I already had spent some time in the past trying to fix this, but I did not succeed. The system is driven by vacuum only, so I started to look through the vacuum hoses once again. I had already exchanged a couple of them last year. I found another two brittle ones going through the firewall to the headlight switch from where a slight hissing sound was coming when the lights were on. When I touched them the hissing would become even more noticeable. I then tried to press them onto the connector of the switch and the first hose began to crumble into pieces. So I replaced all the hoses on the switch and rerouted them through firewall through the rubber insulation. There are three hoses . One is the vacuum feed (the one in the middle - I think it was yellow), one is for opening the doors (green) and one for closing (red). I also replaced the red hose behind the firewall going to a T-connector from where the vacuum is fed to the headlight door actuators. I had already replaced the two hoses after the T-connector in the past. With all new hoses in place the doors now perform almost simultaneously and quite fast. So when you run into troubles with your headlight doors, check and replace all the according vacuum hoses first. Its amazing how brittle the hoses going to the headlight switch inside the car can become over the years. It looks like they used a quite different material for these three hoses, as all other vacuum hoses are in much better shape and do not show any sign of deterioration at all.
You can see a video of the headlight doors in action below. On this video they are slightly not synchronic. As it looks like they are slightly different every day, depending on temperature and engine idle...

While the Eldorados were outside the garage my wife used the opportunity to shoot a couple of pictures she had in her mind, which she is planning to hang into the kids room. Cant wait until the medium format film is back from the photo lab. Below you can see only some digital snap shots I took.
Despite the last two unusual warm and beautiful days unfortunately winter is not over yet here in Austria, as some more snow is predicted for next week and the cars are back in the garage desperately waiting for April to come...

the Eldorado is enjoying some sun rays for the first time this year

although she is 7 months pregnant, my wife Afra is still climbing ladders to get the best angle for her shots...

the two Eldorados in front of the garage where the snow has just melted away.

Tags:1967, Eldorado, Headlights, Actuators, Headlight doors, Restoration, Video, Vacuum hoses

Today I could finally fix the issue with the broken wires in the passenger door. Because of these broken wires there were some issues with the power vent windows. You can read about the problem here.
Today I started to repair the broken wires by soldering them together and put some heat shrinking tubes and electric tape around the repaired areas.
You can see some image below. More of them can be found in the restoration section.
Everything now works as it should! Lets hope that the repaired wires wont break again any time soon ;-)

Next up - repair the door jamb switch of my 1967 Eldorado and install a new power seat transmission as the front up/down solenoid does no longer work and therefore does not engage the according seat transmission. This will involve removing the front bench seat which is very heavy... Oh it is so much fun owning these cars! ;-)

I removed the kick panel, heater-box and door sill scuff plates to get access to the broken cables.


they broke at the area where all the bending is taking place when the door is opened. Here the first wire is already soldered together


I put some heat shrinking tube around it after soldering


just to be sure I wrapped some more electric tape around it

all the wires are back together


the wires are back together in the metallic tube going through the door


kick panel and everything else back in place. Everything works as it should now.


as I work as a cameraman I had a good film light at hand to light the working area properly.

Tags:Wiring, 1958, Eldorado, Power Vent Windows, Restoration

A while ago I thought that I had already fixed an issue with the wiring of the power vent window in the passenger door.
Yesterday when I was repairing the 6 way power seat which had a contact problem somewhere at a solenoid - suddenly the power vent window started to close itself when I shut the door. So the problem was back! (At least the power seats do work perfectly now!)
So I decided to spend the day in the garage - rewiring the 58´s passenger door as there definitely was a short somewhere in the power vent window circuit. Thats the kind of work I absolutely HATE! 52 years of bending the wires whenever you open the door took its toll.
The bug was easily found after I removed the kick panel, door sill plates, parts of the heat tubing, and the metal tube which is going through the door to protect the wires. 5 (!) cables were broken and only held together by the original fabric covering around it. The cables all broke exactly at the end of the tube where all the bending is going on when the door is opened. I will now have to splice the cables back together somehow and get them back into the tube. No idea how I will do this - I will have to buy some electric supply material first, but the shops are all closed over the weekend. I´m still stunned that the windows still worked and the only sign of failure was that they started to open or close themselves sometimes when I opened the door, and that the battery was drained at one occasion. I guess I was lucky that the car did not catch fire...

UPDATE - Feb. 8th:
I fixed it - read everything about it above or by clicking on this link!

Tags:1958, Eldorado, Wiring, Power Vent Windows, Restoration

When I came into the garage to take something out of the trunk of the 1958 Seville yesterday, I pushed the trunk release button in the glove box and... nothing happened. I pushed again and instead of hearing the trunk pop open and the sound of the pull down motor going up, there was just nothing happening. This was when I noticed that the interior lights did not come on either... The battery was completely dead.
So there was no other way than hooking up the charger. Two hours later, the battery was strong enough to start the car. I checked all electric components and everything seemed to work - so I was wondering what drained down a fully charged battery over night? This was the moment when I noticed a clicking noise coming from the passenger door. I opened all windows including the power vents . When I opened the passenger door the vent window started to close itself! So even when the vent window was fully closed, the window motor would still draw current. At a test drive with the door closed (of course)- the window would eventually start closing itself again.

So I had to remove all the window switches and unscrew the kick panels. Of course some of the cables behind there were broken or had the isolation coming of at the areas where they had to bend each time the door was opened or closed. I replaced one section of a cable and isolated the other ones.
So far everything seems to be working o.k. now. After an extensive test drive and opening the doors multiple times - everything seems to be well.
It is really a pain to get access to all these cables and trying to repair them. Some smaller hands would be very handy in this cases.

Thats the area behind one of the 1958 Eldorado kick panels where the cables have to bend all the time. After 51 years they seem to get tired.

Tags:Wiring, short, 1958, Eldorado

I just returned from the Cadillac BIG Meet - Europes largest Cadillac Meeting where I am in the organization team together with some friends. Its held in Austria every last weekend in August. This year we had the sixth edition.Thanks to all participants - the 2009 Cadillac BIG Meet was a huge success once again! 140 Cadillacs made it to the show this year. As we celebrated the 59 Cadillacs 50th birthday, we managed to get 17 of them parked side by side. 9 of them were Eldorados, ranging from 6 Biarritzes and 2 Sevilles to the super rare Eldorado Brougham of 1959.Some of the other highlights among all these beautiful Cadillacs which made it to the meeting- were a perfect 57 Eldorado Brougham and 2 1953 Eldorados and many other awesome Cadillacs.Visitors came from Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway.While the driving tour on saturday, which was limited to 40 cars, had some terribly rainy weather, Sunday, the day of the show was just splendid.I took my 1958 Seville to the show. But look for yourself and check the image galleries with more than 800 pictures my wife made this year.
http://www.cadillac-meeting.com/english/pictures/pictures.html

on the picture above you can see the venue - in the front there is my all-time favorite car - the 1957 Eldorado Brougham. This one was in perfect condition.

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, Brougham

Per Rubien from Denmark sent me the following message about his great 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville which is for sale now:

“I want to sell my 1958 Eldorado Seville. The car is 100% complete and in very fine condition. Everything is working and it drives like a new car. The interior is 100% original and in super condition.”

If you are interested please contact Per Rubien in Denmark directly! Phone: +45 98134480 or mail:
He is asking around € 35.000.- - which is a very reasonable price for a car like this!

Tags:For Sale, 1958, Eldorado

The Cadillac BIG Meet 2009 will happen this weekend - August 30th.
Its held for the 6th time this year at the Kremsegg Castle in Kremsmünster in Austria. This is the biggest Cadillac Meeting held in Europe and about 150 Cadillacs are expected.
For more info click on the image below - which was taken at the show. This years theme is “The Cadillac Fin” and the 50th birthday of the 1959 Cadillacs. I will take my 1958 Eldorado Seville to the show, as it is the only Cadillac I own which has fins.

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, Car Show

Today I took the first picture of all 3 Cadillac side by side in front of the garage. Unfortunately it was shot a little too late as the sun already set. Will try another time again.

The Cads lined up

Tags:Garage, Photoshooting

I found some of the missing 1958 and 1967 Cadillac ads and added 13 of them to the ads gallery.

1958 Eldorado Brougham ad

1967 Cadillac ad

Tags:1967, 1958, Ads

There is already snow outside and my Cadillacs are in winter hibernation now, safely stored away in their warm garage. I´m still doing some work with my buddy Tayfun on his Pimperado though.

Here are two pictures of the cars sleeping under their cosy covers.

Tags:Winter

With winter already around the corner - the first snow is already visible on the surrounding mountains-- today I took the 58 Eldorado Seville for its last spin before it will finally go into winter hibernation.
Today was a picture perfect fall day, so my wife and I drove around a little bit. I filled the gas tank up to the brim and overinflated the tires for the long storage period.

I will soon change the oil, give the exterior a fresh coat of wax, clean and treat the leather with a conditioner, remove the battery and then put the car on blocks over the long winter. I only drove the car 640 kilometers (397 miles) this season. Somehow I did not make it to many shows this year and it was a very humid summer and fall.

pretty fall colors


over-inflating the tires for storage


filling the gas tank


There is already snow in the background!

Tags:1958, Cruising, Eldorado

I got my license plate for this season from the insurance company yesterday. First I fixed them onto the Roadmaster and we took it for a spin immediately. (See pictures)

Today weather was perfect and so it was time for the first cruise with the Cadillacs as well. First I took the 58 for a spin - it ran perfectly and it was a dream to drive it once again after almost 8 months in storage.
After the 58 it was time to move the 67 out. Unfortunately the 67s battery is dead after 12 years of reliable service, and the new one did not arrive yet. So I had to jump start it with jumper cables. This worked perfectly and so I headed off with the 67 as well. After a few miles it started to hesitate pretty badly. As I would not be able to restart the car with the dead battery along the road, I got pretty nervous in heavy traffic. Eventually I made it home safely and I immediately started investigating the issue. I was worried that something broke somewhere along the ignition or the fuel distribution. I found out that one ignition cable managed to slip off the spark plug. I have no idea how this could happen - but the problem was fixed easily and I took the car for another spin to the gas station....
Great to be able to drive all my cars again.

the 1958 Cadillac on the shores of the "Traunsee" in Traunkirchen


cruising with the 58 through the countryside


we took the Roadmaster for a spin...

my wife enjoying the "new" family car

Tags:Cruising

My buddy Tayfun once again came on a visit to start working on his Pimperado for the upcoming season.
First we both made a "To Do List" for each individual car and plans for repairs that we want to do this spring and summer.
Also on the agenda was to wake up the cars, which were stored for the last months.

Yesterday we replaced the fuel pump on the 58, which I already replaced last summer - it was brand new but did not work correctly. So yesterday we installed another one.
This work was done pretty quickly within a couple of minutes. It now seems to work flawlessly. I hope it will stay like this.

Tayfun also did a lot of work on his 1981 Pimperado.

Today Tayfun and I moved all the cars out of the garage to clean the floor a little and to do some spring cleaning.
My buddy Richard also helped me last night doing doing some "Garage Pimpin´".
It was pretty funny - with lots of car talk till late in the night.

The 67´s battery seems to be on its last breaths, as it was no longer strong enough to start the car up - I have it since 1996 - so it lasted pretty long anyways, never needing any charge before. It looks like I will finally need a new one.
So I borrowed the battery from my Buick and then the 67, like all the other Cadillacs, fired right up.

Tayfun cleaning the garage

Tags:Garage

A picture of my 58 made it into the daily newspaper "Kurier" 2 weeks ago. You can see a scan below, click on it for larger view! Its an article in the travel magazine - not sure why they selected the image of my car - its not explained in the text at all...

Tags:1958, Eldorado

As we had springlike temperatures today in the middle of winter, I decided to wake my cars from hibernation and drive them around the block. I put the batteries in only to find out that the one from the 67 was quite empty and the car would not start. I wanted to charge it with a battery charger but it also quit working... So I had to use jumper cables and eventually I could start the 67. The 58 also had problems starting up as the fuel pump needs to be replaced. I already have a new one lying around which I will install soon. After some cranking the 58 came back to life and ran beautifully. I took all the cars for a quick spin around the block and after they were fully warmed up they went back into storage for about 6-8 more weeks. Can´t wait for spring to come!
I also installed a new hood emblem on our 96 Roadmaster as a wrong one was on the car when we bought it.
It was great to work on the cars again.

the cars in front of the garage

the Buick´s brand new hood ornament

the Buick´s new hood ornament

Tags:Garage, Roadmaster

I´ve updated my website with a brand-new video of my 1958 Eldorado Seville today.
My wife Afra (a professional cinematographer) shot it as she had to test a new camera for work. As it turned out we wont buy the camera - but she edited the test shots into a nice short 2 minutes clip.
Enjoy!
Click here for the high quality version in Quicktime (30mb)

Tags:Video, 1958, Eldorado

Today was the last evening before I´ll put the 58 into winter storage and return the license plates until next May. As it was a picture perfect evening with a great sunset I wanted to shoot some nice pictures. Unfortunately my wives Hasselblad camera quit working during the shooting and so I could mainly only shoot digital images.
More of them can be found here.

Tags:Photoshooting, 1958, Eldorado

I´m on vacation this week and I´m using my time to prepare my Cadillac for the Cadillac BIG Meet which is coming up this weekend. I´ve repaired the AC on my 67 and cleaned and detailed both cars for the show. My friend Tayfun is also in town and we´ll do the same with his 81 Pimperado as well. We´ve spent around 14 hours in the garage each day so far.

working on the AC

installing the new backup lenses - which had to be custom fitted...

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, Restoration, 1967, Deville, 1958, detailing, Eldorado, AC

Today it was time to do some interior cleaning on both of my cars. My friend Tayfun was in town once again and brought one of these wet cleaners with him to do all of our cars. It really worked wonders and the cars turned out great. I could not believe how much dirt I could extract from the carpets and floor mats.

cleaning the trunk of the 58

Cruising night!

After cleaning we had a nice cruising trip around the lake with friends and our ladies.

Tayfun

on a hill

the ladies

Alex

Tayfun

Richard

I took the 67

Tags:detailing, 1958, Eldorado, Cruising

Today the 58 got a brand new fuel pump. It was a really quick and easy exchange and it now works flawlessly. It was the first time I had to do a repair like this. Luckily the pump is very easy accessible on the 58.
Later we also did some more repairs on my friend Tayfuns 81 Eldorado. After that we had a nice cruising evening with some friends where we did some professional filming for our next video.

Tags:1958, Restoration, Video, Fuel Pump

Looks like the problem my 58 has is fuel pump related. Yesterday I thought it might only be a clogged fuel line (see entry below) - but today I had the same problem as yesterday again. The fuel bowl did only fill up to about half. (see pic below). I blew all the lines through, but it did not change anything... The car runs, but on slow idle it tends to hesitate.
I ordered a new fuel pump today - they are relatively cheap - hope to have it here in about 2 weeks...

Tags:Restoration, Fuel Pump, 1958

Today suddenly my 58 Eldo stalled and would not want to start again. After checking everything, eventually I found out that no fuel was coming to the fuel glas bowl.
My friend Richard towed me to his garage where he has an air compressor and all the tools and we blew air through the fuel line to check if it would be clogged. We were not clever enough to open the gas tank cap before we did that though.
When we removed the compressor from the line of course lot of now pressurized gas sprayed out of the line and into my face...
Well, at least it works again - looks like it really was only  a clogged line. I already suspected that the fuel pump was on its way out, but luckily it wasn´t.
Will check everything again tomorrow and install a new fuel filter as well. I hope that I wont need a new fuel pump.

Tags:Restoration, 1958, Fuel Pump

Today I received a 50% refund for the non working Power Vent Window Switch I won on Ebay. (see entry below) The Canadian gentlemen I bought it from was so kind to refund some money as he did not feel good about the deal as well. He did not do anything wrong at the initial deal as his description was accurate and correct - so this came as a nice surprise. There are still honorable people out there!
Thank you Michael!!

Tags:Restoration, 1958, Power Vent Windows, Vent Window Switch

Today the power vent window switch I won on Ebay arrived from Canada. It came from a 58 Sixty Special that was equipped with power vent windows as well.
When I opened the box I immediately had the feeling that it would not work. The buttons felt sluggish and two prongs were missing on the backing plate. So somebody must have had it open at some point in its history.



So down I went into the garage to check it. As suspected it did not work... Only one button worked in one direction. I cant even blame the seller, as he stated in his ad description that he does not know if it works or not.
As I spent quite an amount of money for it and could not find another switch anywhere, I did not want to give up yet and so I disassembled it. Of course the 2 rusty prongs broke apart when I bent them open... A really good start! Eventually I made a good working switch from most of my old switches parts and the help of the plastic backing plate of the new switch. So I could also reuse the perfect chrome bezel of my old switch. :-)
Now everything works again - it´s not a concourse winning repair, but a solid one I can be proud of, and nobody can notice until he takes the car apart... ;-)
Now the clock is the only non working gadget on my 58 - my next project.

The new Battery

I also had to install a new battery today as my old one died after only 3 years in service. I bought an Exide Maxxima 900 - hope it will do a better job - I´ve heard lots of good things about it.

The new Exide battery - the green knob is a battery shut off switch

Tags:Restoration, Battery, Power Vent Windows, Vent Window Switch, 1958

As weather was really fine I took the 58 out for a little photoshoot yesterday evening.
You can find all the pictures in the 58´s image gallery.
Here is only a little preview:

Tags:Photoshooting, 1958

Thanks found it!

I´m looking for the Power Vent Window Switch with the two buttons on the driver side. It controls the small power operated ventilation windows on the front doors. If you have one for sale - please let me know. Thats how it looks like:

Tags:Restoration, Vent Window Switch, 1958

To keep my 58 Eldo all original I decided that it would be a better idea to remove the pinstriping my friend Marcus did.
It wasn´t an easy decision as I really like his artwork but it just wasn´t the right car for it... So I used some acetone cleaner and it wiped of easily without damaging the original paint underneath. I then used some Meguiars polish and buffed it back to shine followed by a thick coat of wax.
If I ever do have the appropriate car I will ask Marcus again.
Thanks Marcus!

as you can see - no damage occurred!

looking nice and shiny!

Tags:Restoration, detailing, 1958

When I opened the newspaper this morning there was a full page report of the US-CAR-SHOW in Dornbirn. Guess what - they only had 4 images and my 58 was featured with a half page image!! You can click on the image below for a larger version!

Tags:Car Show, 1958, Dornbirn

As we spent a couple more days in Vorarlberg at my in-laws after the show in Dornbirn we had a nice photoshooting at the shores of the Rhein River today.

You can find the gallery of the first digital images here - the ones we shot on medium format slides will follow sometime next week.

This morning I drove the car to a tireshop to have the front tires balanced. As it turned out they needed a couple of weights...

Tags:1958, Eldorado, Photoshooting

Marcus Pfeil is one of the best custom painters in the world. He is featured in about every custom motorcycle- and car publication around the globe. I know him for a long time as we did some BMX-Freestyle back in the days in the late 80s to early 90s. As he was at the US-CAR-SHOW in Dornbirn as well - I had the opportunity to get a pinstripe from him. I was very honored that he was willing to do one on my car - not thinking that an all original 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville with original paint might not be the appropriate car to do such a custom artwork... (I removed the pinstriping a few days later without any damage...)
Marcus did a spectacular job though. His skills are awesome and he drew a perfect pinstripe on the trunk of my Eldo!

Marcus at work!

Tags:1958, Car Show, Eldorado, Dornbirn

The 58 developed some vibrations that could be felt through the steering wheel during the last weeks. As I could not find anything suspicious I drove the car to American Special Parts and they found out that the U-Joint at the drive shaft was pretty worn. So they sent it in to have it replaced and the driveshaft also was balanced. Most of the vibration was gone afterwards, but at 50mph there was still a slight vibration. I will have the tires balanced soon as well.

Tags:Restoration, 1958

Today I got a call from the restoration shop that the 58 was finished.
The 3 dual carburetors were rebuilt completely. The carbs were blasted, cleaned and rebuilt and work perfectly now. I did not think that it would make a difference that big. It´s a real pleasure to drive the car now.
And the best surprise was, that the rebuild cost much less than the initial cost estimate I got.
Thanks to American Special Parts!

during the rebuilding - click on any picture for larger view!

all carbs were blasted and cleaned

the rebuilt front carb

Tags:Restoration, Carburetor, 1958, Eldorado

The 58 was delivered to the restoration shop to have its 3 dual carbs rebuilt.
It made the drive there without catching fire again ;-)
Rudi Kerschbaumer from American Special Parts will take care of the carbs now.
He has the experience to rebuild them.
One of the carbs caught fire last year at my own wedding and since then I could not drive the car.
Also the air cleaner will have to be repainted due to the burnt cover.
Hope everything will be fixed soon and I can finally drive my 58 Seville.

Tags:Restoration, Carburetor, 1958, Eldorado

The restoration shop called and I finally got a date for my carburetor rebuild.
I will deliver the car to them on April 23rd. Looking forward to it.

Tags:Restoration, Carburetor, 1958, Eldorado