This summer my wife and I were asked to shoot a film about the Austrian Mopar Nationals. A DVD is now available from the organizer of the meeting, and here you can find a trailer for the DVD we produced. We had quite some fun shooting this video.

My wife Afra during the video shooting out of the pace car...

You can see the videotrailer on the video page of my website!

Tags:Mopar Nationals, DVD

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

My wife and I did a quick photo shooting of the Mark III today. As we shot the pictures on good old analog medium format slide film it will take a while to have the film developed and scanned. I will post the pictures here as soon as they are available. Below you can see a few digital ones we also shot.

my wife Afra with her good old analog Hasselblad camera


Little Elliot with his mom

the Mark III

rear view



what a nice interior!

Tags:1971, Photoshooting, Lincoln, Continental Mark III

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

The newspaper “Oberösterreichische Nachrichten“ brought a short article about my hobby in their “Oberösterreicher des Tages“ column (Upper Austrian of the day).
I just wanted to promote the Cadillac BIG Meet and sent them a press release when I got a call and was asked to do an interview with the editor.
The article below is what came out - click on the image for a larger view. You can also read the online version here.

Tags:Various, Oberösterreicher des Tages

After a - what it felt for me - endless time of waiting it was finally time to welcome my newly acquired 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III to Austria.
It arrived today - very unexpectedly when I got a call from a lady I know who is the manager of local gas station. She called me and asked if I would expect a Continental. She explained that a truck just stopped at her gas station to ask for directions to my home. Luckily I was still at home and so I jumped into the car to get to the truck driver and show him where I live, as he did not speak our language at all.
I then guided him through town and we started to unload the car close to my home.
When the car rolled of the truck I was shocked! The once perfect vinyl roof was badly damaged. It was immediately clear that it was damaged on the truck of the long journeys last leg.

Problem was that I could not really talk to the driver and write something down. I took lots of pictures immediately though. So I called the trucking company and they said that I should send them the pictures. The next day they called and asked why nothing about the damage was written down on the papers when I received the car and that they probably would not pay because of this!!!

Looks like I will need a good lawyer now to fight with the insurance company.
I got a raw estimate from a good upholstery shop here for the repair which is for 60 hours of work + material.
You have to remove almost the entire interior of the Mark III, including the rear window mechanism with the glass and most of the weatherstripping to get access to the fasteners which hold the moldings in place. Most of the plastic fasteners also are no longer available - so you will have to be very carefully when you remove them.

The original top material of the Mark III was called “Cavalry Twill Vinyl“ and the only company which can offer a correct replacement top seems to be SMS Auto Fabrics http://www.smsautofabrics.com/blog/2010/03/we-now-offer-factory-match-1969-73-lincoln-mk-iii-vinyl-tops/

The material alone costs 475.- + shipping.

Besides the damage to the roof during shipment- the car is really nice. It drives beautifully and everything works as it should.
I already delivered the Mark III to my restoration shop to prepare it for the inspection for the Austrian license. We will have to convert the lighting system to go with Austrian law.
The first inspection showed that I will also have to install 3 new brake hoses, 2 upper ball joints and both outer tie rods. Got most of the parts already from rockauto.com - only the front brake hoses seem to be difficult to get and very expensive. Luckily I found a shop on ebay where they are available for half of the price of what most Lincoln specialists are asking.

Here are some pictures of when the car arrived - it got extremely dirty from the transport unfortunately.

as you can see it was squeezed in pretty closely into the truck - watch the beam just above the vinyl top...


The damaged “Cavalry Twill Vinyl“ roof


my first ride in the Lincoln


at home - saying “Hello“ to the Cadillacs


in front of the garage


in my old garage - together with our Roadmaster


first sunset in Austria


dressed for the first night...


at the restoration shop - awaiting inspection

Tags:1971, Lincoln, Continental Mark III, Cavalry Twill Vinyl, Hödlmayr

I have a new toy - it's a AMC Pacer. I will eventually try to bring it back on the road. My friend Andy had it stored in a building for over 8 years and it had to get out there now. As he no longer was interested in this car I took it over and it's the newest addition to my collection. It will need A LOT of work though and I will try to get it going again sometimes in the future. First I will have to find a new garage for it...

The Pacer - out of 8 years of storage - it still ran when it was parked - but it no longer does now...

rear view

on the tow truck

70s interior at its best...

Tags:Pacer

A 1967 Eldorado with sunroof?

A while ago I was contacted by fellow 67 Eldorado owner Mark Bristol. He owns a very rare 1967 Eldorado with a sunroof done by ASC (American Sunroof Company). He asked me if I knew anything about it.

I had never heard anything about a sunroof in a 1967 Eldorado unfortunately, and so I could not help him out with any kind of information.

So Mark Bristol did a lot of great investigation work and found out the following:

“ I have found quite a bit out from my research.  I spoke with Christian Prechter, President owner of ASC West on the phone.  He was brought over from Germany when he was 19 in 1966 to help his brother Heinz Prechter do installs at the ASC West location and stayed there doing custom installs when ASC opened the Southgate Factory in Michigan.  He told me that he did over 50 1967 Eldorados that year for various Stars and VIPS.  He recalled doing mine for William Morris and even told me what color it was without me volunteering it to him.  He said it was the only Marina Blue one he did!  I quizzed him several times in a cross examination method to make sure he was not just telling me what he thought I wanted to hear.  He said he is 100% certain he did it personally as he was actually doing the installs himself back then.  The conversation went like this:  „Hi I am Mark Bristol from Tomball, TX sorry to bother you at your home residence.  I have a 1967 Eldorado with a sunroof.Did you ever install any sunroofs in 1967 in Eldorados?“.  Prechter, " I installed over 50 for people like Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and William Morris.“ „Wow that many?“  Prechter "Yes it was very popular that year."  „The car I have was William Morris' car do you recall doing it?“Prechter, "I sure do it was the only Blue one I did that year"  „So you did a Marina Blue one for William Morris.  That was a long time ago and you remember specifically doing this car, that is incredible are you sure?“  Prechter "I am 100% certain I did it"  „So your division didn't get sold off to Inalfa.“  Prechter "Yes, I kept the custom install portion ASC West as it is the most profitable segment."„How involved are you with the actual operation of the company?“  Prechter  "ASC West is still doing custom installs daily and I personally over see the operation." „Christian,  Thank you for your time, you have been very helpful in understanding how these sunroof Eldorados came to be.“ It was a fairly short conversation I'd say 3-5 minutes with a very revealing content.  I intend to mail him a packet with a photograph of "Elle" to autograph and several pictures to review and a certificate of authenticity for him to sign.  Hopefully he will take the few minutes it will take and return it to me in the mail. A former President of the Cadillac Lasalle Club lives here in Tomball.  He was president from 2004-2008.  He stated he has seen 2 sunroof cars in person mine would make number 3.  So they are floating around out there somewhere 50+ of them.   My rule of thumb is 10% left in any condition after 40 years. That would mean there are 2 more out there some where!!!“ Mark Bristol

Mark Bristols - Ultra rare 67 Eldorado with sunroof.

Thank you Mark for providing all this information! Mark allowed me to post his info here, to help other 67 Eldorado fans with what he found out. Some more pics of his car can be found here:

Tags:1967, Eldorado, ASC, sunroof

It looks like that pictures I, or my wife made from my Cadillacs, seem to be pretty popular by music bands. Another picture of ours made it on the cover of a CD. It`s an EP called “Road Rash“ by the hardrock band “CornFed Bruiser“

CornFed Bruiser is a four-barrel, full-throttle rock and roll flame-thrower out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.Congealed from the primordial ooze of the underground dirt-rock scene, the Bruiser combines heavy riff-driven guitars and fat grooves, topped-off by a soul-shredding vocal.Late 2010, CornFed Bruiser set out to record its first EP entitled “Road Rash” scheduled to be released early 2011. Feature tracks “Road Rash” and “Fu Man” are just two of the tracks that define a new sound with an old school vibe.

With a beautiful Cadillac like this on the cover nothing can go wrong ;-) I think it is about the 6th picture that made it on a cover of a CD which I´m all proudly displaying in my garage.

Tags:1967, Deville, Photoshooting

With winter already throwing cold and damp weather against us, the cars are in winter hibernation now and are looking forward to the spring of 2011. They all got an oil change and the tank was filled with fresh fuel to the brim. I cleaned and waxed them, put a thick coat of Gliptone leather conditioner on the leather seats, overinflated the tires and put their soft and warm covers on them. There is not much to do during the winter months while they are stuffed into the cosy and dry garage.
I will eventually put some new rear shocks and front wheel bearings on the 67 DeVille, do some minor detailing work like putting on some new decals in the engine bay and try to safe as much money as I can, to hopefully be able to afford a new concourse grade paint job for the 1967 Eldorado next fall.
This season I did not drive my Cadillacs very much - all in all a tank of fuel on every car... We had a very wet summer, my job was very demanding and our baby son Elliot was born in May, so I did not have much time to enjoy my cars as much as I would have liked.

Miles driven in 2010:

• 1967 Eldorado: 275 miles
• 1967 DeVille: 189 miles
• 1958 Eldorado: 187 miles

Looking forward to the 2011 season with some great shows coming up. In June 2011 the US-CAR-SHOW Dornbirn will be held again and of course the Cadillac BIG Meet on August 28th 2011 will be my personal Cadillac highlight again.

the cars are in storage now - a picture before they were covered.

the cars are in storage now - a picture before they were covered. Sleep well!

Tags:Winter

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 friend Christian owns some spectacular Cadillacs, but now he opened one of the greatest garages I have ever seen...
He made his dream come true and built an awesome home for his car collection including a private dinner below the garage. The whole building is just amazing. On his 50th birthday he invited some friends for the grand opening of his new building. Congratulations Christian!!!
He also has his own website for the „Cadillac Roadhouse“ - check it out!
He built the whole garage including the diner with his own hands with the help of his family - an enormous task, and perfectly executed. You can see pictures of the construction on his website as well.

a panoramic picture showing his showroom - the cars and the building are just spectacular!

The private diner below the garage.

the birthday party had a 50’s theme - so we dressed up accordingly. Elliot was only 3 weeks on this picture.
The car on the left is Cary Grant’s former 60 Eldorado Biarritz btw....

Tags:Roadhouse

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 got a nice mail from Scott Thrower, who found some of my pictures on Flickr. He wrote:
“Hi, Gerald....I saw your photos on Flickr. I snagged one of the photos of your 67 and made a Photoshop creation of it. Be looking for it.”

And here is the picture he sent - my 67 under palm trees, something I have never seen before as those huge palm trees are not existent over here in Austria! Great - I love it What a great photoshop creation and idea - Thanks Scott!

Tags:1967, Deville, Various

While my wife and I were on holidays in Vorarlberg, we shot this music video for the local band “MAGUAMS”.
We shot this „no budget“-production on a rainy sunday morning in a storage facility - the cars in the background were the perfect backdrop for the band. The musicians are a great bunch of guys and we had lots of fun during the shoot. Our Buick Roadmaster also served as a background props for the shooting - thats why I´m posting this video on my website.

the shooting location with our Roadmaster in the background


click on the image to watch the video

Tags:Video, Roadmaster

When driving home from our holiday we found the best diner I ever saw before.
The owner took care of every little detail, like a working V8 at the bar, lots of old cars on the outside, a pickup truck as salad bar and much, much more.

I have added a gallery with some pictures - check it out!

Check it out if you are near Innsbruck in Tirol/Austria!

You can also find a link to its website in the Links category.

The “Oilers69” in Tirol - click to go to the gallery!

Tags:Diner, Roadmaster

We took the Roadmaster to go on holiday this year. On our last attempt in May the transmission failed and it had to be towed home.
We drove it over some high alpine passes this time and suddenly the “Service Engine Soon” light came on once again. The car still drove nicely and eventually the light went off again.
After some more highway driving it came back on and went off again.
When we returned I had the error code read out which was “P0137” which indicates a faulty oxygen sensor. I will replace all four soon.

The RMW at the Arlberg Pass.

Tags:Roadmaster

During our last holiday trip we had bad luck with the transmission of our Buick Roadmaster. (See entry below)

Finally, after 2 1/2 months in the shop we got the Buick back yesterday. The shop had problems locating all the parts for the rebuild. As I lost patience and they still could not find the parts, eventually I found the parts myself without a problem. Anyways, the car now is back home in the garage and drives beautifully again. The transmission was completely rebuilt, including all internal parts.

we could follow the repair on the webcam of the car dealer - this is a screenshot of the final day.

Tags:Restoration, Roadmaster, Transmission

My wife and I were on the way into our holidays. Of course we took our Roadmaster for the roadtrip. Suddenly the "Service Engine Soon" lamp came on while driving on the highway.
We stopped on the next rest area, but I could not find anything wrong with the car. So we continued our journey and stopped at the next specialized dealer to have the error code read out. Code "P1886" showed up - which is transmission related. The 2-3 upshift solenoid seemed to be defective. So we decided not to drive any farther, as it turned out that the car only ran on second and third gear. Finally the car was delivered to the next national automobile club service station of the "ÖAMTC" to be towed to the dealer I bought the car from. I still have 6 months warranty left, so he has to repair the transmission at his costs. Worst thing was that we just could not continue to enjoy our trip with the Roadmaster and had to borrow a tiny Suzuki Jeep from my wifes mom instead...

UPDATE: In the meantime a transmission specialist took over my car and is completely rebuilding the transmission now... At least I´ll have a like new transmission!

suddenly this lamp showed up...

delivering the car at the national automobile club "ÖAMTC"

checking the Buick´s digital shop manual we had with us...

Tags:Roadmaster, Restoration, Transmission

Our beloved cat "Max" passed away today at only 9 years of age. He suffered from an aggressive tumor.
He was the cutest and nicest cat one could have. We will miss him very, very much! :-(
Rest in Peace!

one of the last pictures we took of Max

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

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

While my friend Tayfun was on visit - we also worked on his new website.
The old one was way outdated - so we did a new one.
Check it out:

My friend Tayfun was on visit once again for a couple of days which we spent in the garage.
We finally managed to fix the problem with the ECM and sorted out most other issues. Another big point was the total rebuild of his rear brakes which worked out fine as well.
Over the last 6 month we could fix 35 points on the repair checklist.
Now there are only 11 points left which need some attention - but no more severe repairs - only a couple of details.
Tayfun is happy that after owning the car for over 11 years he finally fixed the electronic issues.
His Eldorado will be like new soon!

My friend Tayfun visited me once again to try to have his 1981 Eldorado back in working order. He was trying to fix an electronic problem that plagued him for years and nobody could find a solution so far.
All ECM´s he installed went up in smoke. (See picture on the left)
Finally with the help of Martin - a guy who is the owner of a custom autosound store - we could find a defective solenoid which was causing all the trouble.
Finally his car is back in working order!

Martin at work

we worked till late in the night

This evening I met some friends and we had a photo session on the parkdeck of the local shopping mall.
All the pictures can be found here.

Tags:Cruising, Photoshooting

My buddy Tayfun was on visit for a couple of days and we were trying to repair his 1981 Pimperado. The car has a problem with its ECM which is constantly burning through. As the new garage was not finished yet we had to work in the old garage. Unfortunately we did not find the cause for this issue yet, but the search will go on.

As weather was really fine today - I woke up both of my cars and took them for a spin after the long winter hibernation. Both cars started right up after 8 months of being in storage and ran beautifully. It was great to drive such land-yachts once again.

Just picked up the plates from the insurance. I can now drive my Cadillacs again after the long winter break. Of course its raining...