In the early 80's (yeah, I'm that old) I built this '56 Caddy convert. I was selling used Fords, one of the other salespeople had a customer that he said had an old Cadillac convert he wanted to sell for $250. Naturally, I left the dealership immediately to go look at it. When I got there, it wasn't a convertible at all, but a Sedan de Ville 4 door hardtop. The guy did, in fact want to sell it though, so badly that I ended up buying it for $200, when, in what seemed to be an act of desperation as I got in my car and shut the door to leave, he offered to deliver it AND throw in a grocery bag of sweet corn. How could I pass that up? I looked at it beside the garage for a couple of weeks, and decided since I thought it was a convertible, that's what it should be. A neighbor had a rusty '69 Catalina convert with a good running 400, so there was my top, and an engine to replace the seized original. I cut the top off, stood back and thought it was too long, so I rolled it into the shop, cut it in two, took 16" out of the middle, cut the inner panels partially out of the doors, shut 'em, and brazed the skins to the quarters. I pushed out, stood back, and decided that now the windshield was too tall, so that got a strip off the top (I forget how much, but it was a lot), and set back on the car. However much it was, it was the perfect amount, and I set to work dropping the Pontiac engine in the car. It was a fun car, if a little on the crude side. That changed a couple years later when I painted it in PPG Candy Brandywine and put a grey leather interior in it from a totaled Cadillac from my buddy's salvage yard. Then it looked like there had actually been some thought involved in the build. The crowning moment of owing it was at a show in Marshall, MI, when some guy with a 50's style Pompadour walked up to me and said "You've got some balls to cut up a hight dollar car like that convertible." I said thanks, but it's a $200 4door." He asked who painted it for me, and I said, "I did, in the garage." He stuck out his hand and said, "My name is Gene Winfield, that's a great car." Just about the high point of my car building career. View attachment 4886416 View attachment 4886416
Great skills, as we have seen before, and great eye, which we have seen before also. Thanks for sharing this.
send me a pm with your mailing address and I will put the photo in an envelope stick a stamp on it and mail it to you..... how's that for traditional !
positive i took a photo of the same pose at that show @Moriarity but from the rear as I was focusing on the boat Kimmy Sue. I gave a copy of that photo to Brian in the past
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