I bought a 1961 Cadillac Eldorado GM factory custom off craigslist

Sputniks! What a great name for those!

 

I slapped them on the car to see how they look, and they look alright, but even now with only 7 blades instead of 14 they still weigh about 4 lbs. I have A friend who does stainless kitchens and he's looking into making the blades out of 20GA stainless, this will knock the weight right down plus I can weld the pieces together and cut out all the hardware.

The hubcaps do need a 4th ring at the very back and upon closer inspection of the GM factory pictures I can see that they had one originally

 

Dam your at it again looks good brother cant wait for a ride in it

 

Looking good!!

 

Great work! Your "sputnik" caps look,
dare I say it, (pun not intended, but I
couldn't resist!) "out of this world"!
Not sure if something like this was on
the originals or not, but what about
putting a little Cadillac crest ..maybe
a decal, or a small either factory or
aftermarket die-cast emblem in the
center of each cap?

Mart3406
=====================

 

Nads, love the car, and enjoy following the refresh. Looking at the previous photo's, the shadows elude that the hubcaps didn't extend outside the fender lip. Also having owned big honking GM's from the 60's, they usually made the hubcap fit inside the fender lip in case of suspension failure. In the photo above, it may be the angles, but they look like they stick way out. What are your thoughts? Is it just me?

 

It's hard to tell if they were inside the fender lips, it's not easy to get measurements and visuals from photos alone. I think they may have sat about level with the fender lips or stuck out a teensy bit, remember this was not a car that was meant to be driven on the road, indeed the caps were replaced by stock ones when sold.

I'm only keeping the cone and I'm going to get blades cut out of stainless that will allow the cap to sit closer to the rim. I'm afraid this was a failed experiment, the pieces will become wall sconces, which my wife really likes.

 

You are doing an awesome job on trying to preserve a piece of history. So no disrespect meant. I love the sconces idea, and you are close, so don't give up. We're rooting for you!

 

oh man, no disrespect taken, I welcome all inputs and your support means a lot to me.

 

Ditto X 2 on that! A "thumbs-up" on
the build...and two "thumbs-up", an
"'atta' boy!" and a "way ta' go!" to
Nads, for dedication, perseverance
and beautiful work on saving and
restoring a masterpiece.

Mart3406
====================

 

OK, I cut about an inch from the bottom of the cones, I constructed a new blades from card stock, it took me a really long time to figure out where to make the slots for the rings and accurate spacing.

The blades will sit in the flat part of the stock hubcap, it's 13" in diameter.

I'm going to weld the blades to the cone and the hubcap and then cut out the central portion of the cap, which will either become hats or sconces.

After that the rings will be welded on. My friend Josh is going to laser cut the rings and blades for me.

This will work, I'm sure of it.





This is a steel mock up in 22 GA just to see if it'll be rigid enough and light.

 

Really looking good brother

 

You're on it now!! Much closer to the original depth. Excellent work, and perseverance.

 

That looks like a much better solution! Looking forward to further developments!

 

This is what a build is all about, when crazy attention is paid to building proper wheel covers! This year's BEST build thread, by far.

 

Thanks for your encouragement everyone, I just talked to Joshua, he said no problem, I should have the pieces in a day or two.

Talked to Paul's chroming, the bumper's being shipped tomorrow, I hope they stay true to their word.

 

Oh boy. Nad's the wheel cover R & R is pretty cool.

 

Wowza. This thread is awesome. Can't wait to see how the hubcaps come out.

 

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...four-cylinder-beatles-bentley-weidner-condor/

don't know if you knew about this, but i thought i would share it. its not much but i thought it was cool.

 

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/...four-cylinder-beatles-bentley-weidner-condor/

don't know if you knew about this, but i thought i would share it. its not much but i thought it was cool.

 

yeah I saw that, actually my 11 year old son found it.

 

I found this matchbook under the seat when I took the bottoms out to clean them, I also found another SO 50110 number as well as another DuPont comb, this makes 3 combs so far. Was this Walter Hagen's car? The only info I got back from the State of Michigan title search was info I already had.

 

The bumpers and headlight buckets are back from Paul's Chroming, on schedule and utterly superb, the rest of the car is going to look rather shabby up against these pieces, to say I'm impressed would be an understatement. You get what you pay for and I'm glad I put some American people to work, this isn't spray on chrome rubbish, it's the real deal.

I did a great deal of repair work to these pieces, if I had them done outside the cost would have been even more, I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back, I think I deserve it.

 

Keep it coming!

 

Now I've gotta mask, sand and spray most of the bumper except the end fins and central section, it's a shame to cover up all that gorgeous chrome but I have to put the car back the way it was, the bumper would look too heavy if it was plain chrome anyway.

 

Paul's Chrome, seems to be garnering quite the reputation. Looks killer, can't wait to see it in the flesh. Truly believe it will highlight the rest of the car. Especially with the white walls and the soon to be "space-caps"
This car has most certainly stretched your skills to a new level. A wise man once said" if you do not bang your own drum...no-one else will"
JT

 

It's such a shame to do this, but I masked and sanded about 90% of the fresh chrome on the bumper for paint as it was done from the factory. I'll paint and install it this weekend if all goes well.

In etch primer to help the paint stick.

 

That must have hurt, sanding that beautiful chrome off!! The car is stunning Nads, a work of art!

 

Great thread...It's always nice to see a car taken care of with the proper amount of respect for its heritage...I like the comment about putting the top down for an evening drive...In Miami,I only put my top down when the sun went down...