I bought a 1961 Cadillac Eldorado GM factory custom off craigslist

Nadfs, I see that you are still having trouble finding someone to re-create the hub caps for your Caddy. If I am not mistaken the XNR concept car which was unearthed a while ago somewhere in, I believe, Lebanon needed to have hub caps made to complete the restoration. The work was being done by the restoration shop in Canada named, I think, S & W, or something like that. The car was just on the cover and a feature in Motor Trend Classic. In any event, someone custom built the hub caps so there is a shop or person around who can do the job. Don't give up! If you can't find the magazine I still have it and will be glad to root around for any further info that I can find. I want to see this car back on the road. You are doing a really admirable job so far. Hang in there...

 

It was RM

http://www.rmauctions.com/FeatureCars.cfm?SaleCode=mo12&CarID=r180

Could try Legendary too.

http://site.legendarymotorcar.com/

None will be cheap...

 

This car fell into the right hands. She will probably be better than new. There are a select few out there with the talent, wherewithall, and give-a-shit attitude to do it justice. Could you just imagine if some goofball T.V. star "custom car" dude had got ahold of it?!?!? The horror.

 

Don't be so hard on Mr. Barris! J/K

 

Yeah, picture this in the "Monkey's-Ass Chop Shop" or some such for "improvement" within a mythical "deadline"...the thought of that makes me ill!

Nads is doing one hell of a job on this beast, and it's a great thing that he happened onto the car. Very, very cool, indeed!

 

Ah yes, RM that is the name. Thanks Virgil.

In addition to being in the Motor Trend Classic, the XNR is featured in the most recent issue of SRP (Street Rodder Premium), Vol. 3, No. 2, which can be found on the newstands now. Good luck Nads...

 

Nads, it's great to see you going through this beauty bit by bit and making it right.

With respect to the hubcaps, I had been pretty impressed by the capabilities of these new 3D printers that create plastic or resin parts. Until you can figure out how to get actual reproductions made (or even better, the real units turn up somewhere), I wonder if you could get them modeled by a CAD system and then fed to one of these fancy printers. You'd get plastic hubcaps that could be painted to match and be great for display purposes. Not sure that they could be securely fixed for driving but even if one got damaged, it would be easy to "print" another.

 

Thank you gents, but believe me this car won't be better than new, and I'm just a step above hack, but I have serious enthusiasm.

 

Headlight buckets are repaired and ready to be shipped to Paul's Chrome, man these were a pain, I got all new stud welded on, I hope they come out looking good, I still don't know how they chrome fiberglass.

 

Great find and great caretaking. As to how they chrome fiberglass, after what my dad spent on his project I think Paul's coats it with cash. But the finished product justifies the cost.

 

nice job on the repairs. Great thread.

 

That is the one the other guys found in Orlando..correct? CL Ad:

Only 1450 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertibles were produced. It is estimsated that only 247 are remaining making this Cadillac a very unique vehicle. It has been stored in a garage since 1973. The exterior and interior are very clean. However, this is a car for someone whom wants to put alot of love and work to restore. Everything on it is original including the tires. It has 38,000 original miles. There is antidotal evidence that this Caddilac once belonged to Walter Hagen, the famous golfer. I will be in Florida from August 26 through August 29, 2012 to show the car. I am an anxious seller but rather firm on the price. It is a great value for the right buyer.

$18,000"


it was a tough call at 18K and very little info..glad to see it in good hands..

 

Great work on this very interesting car... always looking forward to the new updates.

As for chroming fiberglass. I know that those parts can be vacuum plated, the same technique that is used for "chrome plating" plastic model car parts. It is basically a very thin layer of vaporized aluminum that covers the parts.

I did a quick search and found THIS commercial site to give a very good explanation about the process.


I used this technique a lot when I was doing custom car aftermarket model car parts many years ago.

 

... it is also possible to apply a kind of silver coating to all kinds of material.. a friend of mine is doin' actually this job on some of my trim parts which couldn't be rechromed or are to difficult to make a good looking plating on 'em.

here is his demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6dl5lGu3gJ8#!

i know he overtook this system from the US, so you should find some at google..

you can't make out a difference to chrome when it's done right! and btw it's a bit cheaper, too.

 

that's the ad for the car

 

Oops!! "Only 1450 produced..."

How about "only 1 produced" Like watching a successful treasure hunt. I love this thread! Great job so far! Keep the updates coming Nads!

 

Correct...and it was spotted by CLC but nobody jumped on it from the group..the car is like a sema car from the 60's...hard to say what it is worth. I have bought a lot of Sema cars and half of them I just part out...this is pretty cool that the factory made it for the auto show. Either way this show that the boards pay off if your on them every day..lol.

 

Seeing as how I have the front end apart I decided I might as well fix the two small rusted ares in the front fender tips, I'm just going to blend the paint it shouldn't be very noticeable repair because of where it is.

Cody Walls came over and we spent all day talking cars, what a swell guy he is.

 

Looks like the Poncho guys liked the caps too. When I first saw them I thought of these:

'66 GTO caps.

 

OK, I got the bee in my bonnet and found a couple photos, and did some measuring, and I think you're right - it's a standard length rear end. As you noted, it started life as an Eldorado. I think opening up the wheel well breaks the flow of the rear fenders, making the car look shorter and sportier.

And, it occurs to me, this car was the forerunner of one of the best looking Cadillacs ever, the open wheel 1964 Eldorado.

I also applied my crude methods - measuring on the screen - to the front fender, and have concluded the front fenders do not appear to be lengthened as you were wondering.

Keep posting - I'm just a bit obsessed with this car. Magnificent.

 

Glad you like it.

I have the grille in front of me and it's driving me insane, the center bar was bent, I straightened it but it's also bent inwards so none of the vertical strips will line up, it will have to be cut in the middle, veed in and rewelded, it can then be bolted to the vertical spacers, unfortunately some of the vertical bars are bent beyond saving, it's a shame because each bar was stamped by the unknown craftsman, or men that built it and it's sad that I'll have to lose them.

The only way to restore this grille is going to be to carefully take it apart, straighten sand and polish every bar and reassemble, it's going to take a lot of time.

I pored over the pics of the Le Mans version, I blew up the pictures and examined that grille, it is incredibly intricate and gorgeous, maybe I'll slowly try to replicate it.

I'll take pictures and post them.

 

Damn this grille, I cut the bar down the center but not all the way through and had it welded back to it's right contour. Now it will fit the center support properly. Note how bent and tweaked the vertical bars are, there's 17 of them total, I'm thinking of making them in stainless steel so they're stronger than soft aluminum.
Look at how the bars were kept in place by cross drilling across the horizontal bars and driving a pin ins the hole. All complicated stuff.
There's another aluminum strip in a brushed finish that goes over the center bar, the hammer marks will be covered up.

Wish me luck with this piece.

 

Good luck with the grille. The stainless idea sounds like the way to go. Hope to talk to you soon.

 

I'll get it Nate, I have time, i just have to be patient.

 

Nads, since you are on the Caddy site, is there a member with a 61 nearby that you could talk into coming over and comparing?
It would be great for you and all of us to see all the detail differences. Good chance to document it all...

 

I'm gonna pray for your grill, and for your sanity in the weeks . . . months . . . to come.

 

Thanks, I made one vertical bar outta stainless, I've gotta make 16 more exactly the same, ha ha. It actually went easier than I thought, I'm gonna clamp several strips together and cut the slits with my bandsaw.





Marked with Roman numerals so I can remember how they go.

 

Well done!

I've admired the LeMans grill - looks a lot like a '61 grill without the bullets. Very pretty and sleek.

Tough call which I like better. But I'd go with what you've got given that it matches the hood contours, which themselves previewed the '63 restyle. Amazing how GM in the '50s and early '60s managed to get away with introducing new styling themes line by line, year by year.

 

I didn't know you we're Italian...

 

6 FOR $10!?! better cut that back to 5 for $10 to pay for the chrome work...