Projects 1963 Cadillac "Taxi"...BIGREDTODD is back in the saddle

Every once in a while I get the notification that I haven't posted in a couple weeks. Let me tell you, it hasn't been that I haven't been busy. Finally sold the last of the cars I needed to (from a total of 20 to 6), a '59 Imperial soon heading to Miami:





So, now I'm finally able to get to the task at hand. Refreshing, reworking, and doing my damned best to breathe some life back into the cars that my dad & I bought over the years.

First up is this 1963 Cadillac, which I plan to keep as a family cruiser. Dad & I bought this original CA car from the 2nd owners about 20 years ago out of a pole barn. It's equipped like a taxi cab, which I love. P/S, P/B, and manual EVERYTHING else. seats, windows, you name it. No A/C, really bare bones. Pretty well preserved car, with mostly original interior. Needed a lot of cosmetic TLC, particularly with the grill/bumper & paint. Pics aren't the best--sorry.


Last shot before stripping the majority of the trim off:

 

A fairly naked '63 Caddy. A couple of gold colored items (fender skirt & hood valance) replace the rough original items:





I decided to leave the belt trim (by the windows) on, as well as the back bumper. The paint shop is pulling the front/rear windshield and installing new Steele weathering. They will also be shooting the door jambs, trunk & hood jambs.

 

About 3 weeks has passed since I pulled it into the garage at Casa De BIGREDTODD to pull the brightwork, and I took it to the shop for body & paint last Friday (March 1st). Here's the progress as of this morning. I'd estimate about 50% complete with the body work & blocking on the sides, and about 25% done with the strip (to metal) & body work on the top surfaces. The whole car will be reprimed, blocked, shot with DuPont base/clear, and cut & polished in the original color.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures...

 

More progress next week...I'll bring a better camera if I can remember!

 

One that take's picture's I hope!

 

BTW, thanx for the compliment above...hope you get Photobucket to work cuz I'd like to see your "taxi"...!!!

R-

 

Yep, lookin' good. Thanx for making it work...The Caddy should be sweet when you're done...

R-

 

Looks like I learned (again) how to get my pictures loaded at last

 

Ya know...I think you missed on the car...ya shoulda painted it red and named it the BIGREDTAXI...!!! LOL...!!!

R-

 

A little more progress...kinda hard to tell, but the top surfaces are all stripped, with some additional progress on the sides. The back window is out also, and glad to see that there isn't any corrosion hiding in the gasket area.

 

can't wait to get mine worked on in a few weeks.

 

So, DuPont doesn't have the color formula anymore. After a couple hours of paint chips and test panels, we came up with an unlikely candidate that is amazingly close. From 1963 Cadillac "Cardiff Gray" to 2003 Audi "Dolomite Gray".

Nonetheless, it's finally in paint...all the jambs got done today...under the hood & trunk also. Once again, crappy cell phone pictures.













I work Friday-Monday, so the suspense will be killing me over the weekend. Final blocking, and base clear over the weekend...then it's ready to come home!

 

What a nice specimen, she looks great.

 

Looking good. Loved the old Imperial. I had one in college. Hemi than ran on regular. She'd fly on the freeway.

 

Thanks guys, I was in Salt Lake City for a week, then worked over the weekend...so I was pretty anxious. Stopped by last night, and the car is completely painted.

They said a couple more days for wet sanding, cut & polish, and for the glass guy to come buy and re-install the front/rear glass. It was dark (so no pictures). I couldn't get a real feel for the color, but it's shiny & looks pretty straight...getting pretty excited now.

 

Went by today, and checked it out. More cut & polish to do, but the glass is back in. Pretty happy with how it looks, and it should be done tomorrow afternoon/Friday morning. Here's a couple little peaks:

 

cool man, cant wait to see it polished out and put back together.

 

Looking good Todd! Should make the girls happy. I still like the T-Bird myself.

 

That makes at least 2 of us...

Don't worry, the 'Bird isn't going anywhere...Corinne likes this one (other than the fact she'll be parking outside for the next few weeks while I put the Cad back together)

 

Man, that is sweet. Same color as my 64. Love seeing one come back to original. Throw on some wide whites, maybe drop 'er a tad, and cruise like crazy!

 

Thanks...well, as much as some narrow (2" or so) WWW tires are tempting, narrow were the deal by '63. While I do have a set of '54 caps for it (I HATE '63-'64 hubcaps) I believe I'm gonna stay narrow. Also, I have a lot of other projects that can benefit from not spending $800 on tires.

May lower it 1-2", but very, very subtle. It's a little high in the rear, just want to level it out.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

OK...one more picture. Might give a better color impression:

 

I would have to agree. NOT a fan of my caps. I am looking to do something different for sure. I need new tires as well, so I am going to go WWW.
I was super subtle on my lower as well. Just took 1 coil out of the rear. That, combined with age, it sits perfect.

 

Well, got her home today...very satisfied for the $$ spent on this one. A couple of small trim/fillers will be going back to fix a bit of thin/dry clear coat, but won't prevent any further progress.

Leaving the body shop this morning:


And finally home...very happy with the color. Just the slightest blue hints, very difficult to capture with a POS cell phone.

 

Sweet! Looks very nice! BTW........ Happy Birthday!

 

Man, she turned out nice. Roll on those tires till they are bald, then buff out some lower profile white walls to 2". I bet that caddy rides smooth.

 

Very nice! I don't often say this, but your 4-door is cooler than mine is.

Then again, mine is a late model.

 

Hahaha...thanks

Thanks, I'm still torn on the whitewalls. It has a set of (really old) American Classics on it right now, and they sat dormant for quite a while and are pretty wobbly. I can get a set of Cooper 1" whitewalls for $400 installed, which is roughly half of a set of another American Classics.

If I hadn't just blown a chunk on a complete front bumper, I might think a little differently. Fortunately, I have plenty of time to think about it during reassembly...

 

As I mentioned...I took a huge plunge on chrome. Some may not realize it, but Caddy's really live up to the reputation for having lots of chrome. Behold, the 7 (!) pieces that make up the rechromed front bumper to my '63 Cadillac:

 

Nice.

My brother's got a '63 4-window too.....but it's the same cream colour as the HAMB background. Looks crap.