some pics for now... background story soon. stock as arrived (from Pamona swap meet): clean floors so we painted them right away to protect them: lowered rear 4" right away: started cutting: 3" out of the pillars = 1.5" approx roof drop up front, rear until it matches more later... gotta go for now thanks Ian for the info Yaril
hahahah hey Mike! yeah i get sleep now and then. did all that on Saturday only! ill have it a bit more finished by next saturday for you to see. back to work now! its going to be a long day... 4-link install on a 48 Pontiac today.
I just started looking into 1960-1964 Cadillacs. I like them a lot. They make great customs, and ride like a cloud.
If this turns out half as nice as your Shoebox it will be fucking rad! Looks good so far. How did you lower the rear? Thanks!
So you're telling me there are chop top 61's going down on the HAMB right now? This is good stuff my man. I loved your last ride and I can't wait to see what you do with this one.
thanks so much everyone for the more than kind words. im glad i can share this with you all. so here is the story... this local guy bought a "flat black chopped top 61 Caddy" im sure we can all use our imagination his front windshield cracked or broke... talked to everyone he found in town and all fingers pointed at me to fix him a new glass. i told him quite frankly that i will not work on his car it was not my cup of tea plus the chop was terrible and welds where not even finished. he kept insisting on me working on his car, i kept insisting not to. so we decided to use his as a donor for a better stock car and i can start from scratch. so thats what we did, Leo found this solid 61 at Pamona swap and a few months later Leo went cross country in his truck with 2 car trailer to bring it back. the funny part is that the owner has not even seen the car!!! i have almost full range to do what i want so long as i stay within the tiny budget i have been given, but somethings you cant help yourself but do anyways. so it wont be as extravagant as my shoebox (body off or detailed motor) or half as kustomized as Ian's 61 he is building now, but it will be nice and he will love it; as will i. the rear was lowered simply by heating the coils. got a few things done on it this morning... started making the filler parts for the rear, im liking the thicker C pillar as opposed to stock that it was pinched, now its even and more surface for paint... found quite a bit of lead on the top of the A pillar, ill have to melt that off and re-lead it later, i took the chop off the top of the pillar so that my glass would not have issues, its all the stock frame minus the 3 inches from the very top... ill be taking a few days off from this project... so no real updates until February, going to start the chop on a 32 4 door, ill be sure to start a thread for that soon. see ya!
its been a while but the caddy has progressed. wrapped up the chop work and the rust repairs, even shaved the door handles, antenna, hood & trunk badges as well as the front fender to hood trim. i disassembled the car, bumpers trim and such, the car is currently sitting at the body shop where it will be fine tuned and painted. then we will swap it over to the frame of the "other" caddy. more updates from the body shop soon.
finally got to the paint shop and snapped a few pics of the major progress. they got both doors aligned and body worked most of the car sides. the driver side is already in high build primer with a heavy guide coat. more soon, i hope! in the mean time i took all the trim and chrome and sorted it out so the owner can go have that polished and plated in the mean time.
it is looking good but I'm just curious as to why you are waiting until after the paint work is done to swap the body over to the other frame? It seems like it would have been better all around to swap frames before the final fit and finish was done.
here is an update, went to the paint shop to drop off the "other" caddy. to my surprise the caddy was in the booth and they had just applied high build primer to everything else (but the hood). its looking very very nice i think the owner will be more than happy with his new Caddy. the paint shop will also handle the body swap, being that they have 2 lifts. the frame will be cleaned and sprayed in a black epoxy, while the original Caddy motor / trans will be left on the frame (to save some time / money) and it will be painted dark blue similar to a factory motor. we will / might chrome valve covers and air cleaner for some pizaz. this is what the owner drove to my shop on our first meet, and this is what i did not want to work on / with, hence starting from scratch: this is only part of the fab work the builder did, the roof (cant see in pic) was split front to back in the middle and is about 1 or 2 inches V shaped down, so the top was filled with who knows what. a-pillars are not lined up or fully welded just a few tacks hold it, but the guy did cut all new side glass for it? go figure... the car is so much easier to look at know in all gray primer with a guide coat... so... lets look at COLORS! since the begining of this project i have wanted to do the body in a sky blue and the roof in a darker micro metal flake blue. owner's favorite color is, yeah blue. so i figured he would dig that. the roof might be a white surround with dark blue inserts or all dark blue with some fades... he is open to some custom paint work on the roof. i want to however keep it very classy. we will run wide whites and eventually if his budget allows some Caddy wire wheels (for now og hubcaps). inside im also thinking a traditional caddy all blue, seats, carpet, headliner ect. i looked into JJ's Merc for reference on the inside. post up pics of blue cars / roofs / interior if you got them! Thanks! Yaril
The Jalopy Journal
