Projects KING Caddy - '56 Cadillac Eldorado build.

Thought I'd lump this all into one build thread, you've probably seen some of it before, so bear with me.

Some history first - for years the Eldorado was the top of the line Caddy - the "King' as it were. 1956 was the first year for a closed (coupe) Eldorado -the Eldorado Seville. Only about 3900 coupes were made at a list price of over $6000 dollars - about 2 grand more than a 'regular' Coupe de Ville. The Eldorado got more power, bigger fins, air, leather, alloy wheels and even an optional 'gold' trim package.

So here's mine, I drug it home from Arkansas a few years back, got it up and running then promptly traded it to a Poorboys club member for a Model A coupe. Fast forward about 3 years and another club member has ended up with it. I had to have it back and worked out another trade, this time for a 63 T-Bird.

Shortly after I traded it away:



And when I got it back - with a blown engine:



Bribed the Poorboys with beer and pizza to get the 365 out of the '57 parts car I got in the second trade:







The greasy lump:



Hillbilly (spray can) overhaul:



Into the Eldo. NONE of the accessory items - generator, ps pump, brake booster, water pump, etc. fit without modification. You wouldn't think 1 model year would make so much difference.



The Eldorado originally had the same 365 BUT it was equipped with dual Carter carbs. Unfortunately the 2x4 intake was sold along the way. At least it went to a good home - my buddy Mike (HAMBer earl Schieb) has it now, earmarked for his own sweet '57 Caddy.



Buttoned up - didn't bother to detail it too much, got a lot of work to do to the rest of the car yet:

 

Didn't the Eldo have Gold valve covers????

Anyways, looks great! I have a '56 Eldo engine going in our '54 Chevy. I ended up getting a NOS Weiand Dual Quad intake to replace the one that was originally on there. I paid $250 for the engine and the seller wanted another $3000 for the intake. I said...."um no thanks". So as of right now I am $2700 ahead!!!

 

So at his point it will start and move under it's own power, so time to adress the next big issue withthis thing - RUST. As I said I got it from Arkansas, but I think it came via Conneticutt. The cars is very solid overall but the rear portion of the car had a lot of rust out. Since there's very little rust in the front area of the car I have to assume this is from years of driving on salted roads.

At our last club meet Poorboy Mike (Earlschieb) agreed to take on the task of sheetmetal repair. I told him he could do it any way he wanted and use any parts off the 4-door parts car, which was very solid except fot the floor pans.

Poorboy Junior and my buddy Rick (flamedchevy) helped me get it loaded up on the trailer. Mike's place is about an hour away and I have no exhaust, etc. yet.



Bad pictures I know, but if you look you can see a few amateur attempts at rust repair. There's screen, aluminum foil and 2 inches of bondo in there.



This side looks like they use part of an old gas tank to patch the rust:






The 'good' side haha:



The man, the myth, the LEGEND! You want that fast, cheap, or good? Pick any TWO.



I bought more pizza and beer, we got the Eldo unloaded and in the shop. Here's how I left it when we went back to pick up the parts car.



By the time we got back Mike had already trial fitted the wheel-well portion of the 4-door quarter. I'm sure he'll get it just right.



I'm looking for a pair of factory '57 skirts too.




So that's where I left it with Brother Mike. I forgot to get a picture of the big chunk of bondo he cut off of it, maybe he'll post one up.

I can't say thanks enough to my club mates for all the help, especially to Rick and Junior and most certainly Mike. It's good to have friends to help ya out when you need it.

 

Yeah, good call JJ, the valve covers and air cleaner on the Eldo were indeed gold. The guy that blew the original motor sold the intake, carbs and air cleaner to Mike. I guess he lost the original valve covers cause they were'nt with the original parts when I went back to get them.

I'd love to still have the 2x4 setup but they do bring big bucks. One guy told me that the particular air cleaner that was originally on this car brought major bucks from restorers because it was specific to this one year and different even for A/C equipped cars which this was as well.

This is going to be a mild custom and not a resto, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

Nice pic of me, Gator I'm wanted in several states, ya know....Dog the bounty hunter will be along directly, no doubt....

I think we got a problem with skirts---I don't think there were any for 57-8...at least, not from Cadillac. Aw whatever---we gots sheetmetal and hammers Nothing a couple gallons of bondo won't cure.

I sorta looked at it again, and thought about opening the quarters, 50s Skylark/Riviera-style.....like they did with McPhail's Fairlane.......then I got to studying the shape of the front wheel opening.....naah. Hope you find some Foxcraft skirt, my brotha.

 

Ya know, I've used tinfoil and duct tape to build fender skirts...tape the foil to the opening and slather on lots of bondo...let it harden and file to shape...paint to match...wha'dya need sheet metal and hammers to build skirts for...??? Ain't nothin' but a thing...

With Earl Scheib doing the work, I'd bet that Caddy is going to look "tits" when it's done...

R-

 

another cooool caddy.

 

I love caddy's

 

Great build. You gonna keep this one for a little while?

 

That's the plan man, I gotta get something done and hang onto it.

 

Yiu have to have a plan Gator.. Earl Schieb is a wizard with metal. Hey Earl I will keep Dog off of you.

 

dude its taking shape. man i really like the caddy

 

That is a slick caddy...............

 

Gator, I love that car!

 

Looking good, cant wait to see it done. Any idea on color?

 

Thanks guys, I think Earlschieb is working on it as we speak.

I'm thinking a dark red/maroon metallic, of course I'm still partial to purple. Ya know Elvis had a purple '56 Eldorado.

40Studedude's post has got me thinking about a lighter shade though, like on his engine:

 

And ya know what Gator...THAT color on my engine is a factory stock color...way back in 1955...!!! (Notice I didn't say what factory/manufacturer tho...!!!)

Go back to my thread and check out the moldings and dash painted with the same color...

R-

 

Yep, I'm subscribed to your build, good stuff there.

I was thinking a darker shade of gold (like Phatcaddy's) or copper, or a deep metallic red.

I'm really leaning back toward some shade of purple now though, maybe even some type of two-tone treatment or scallops.

Definitely going white tuck and roll inside.

What do you guys think, color-wise?

 

PhatCaddy's gold was awesome, and deep metallic red wold be nice too. I'm not much of a purple type of person.

 

Purple is the shit!!! I say go for it!!!

 

^^^^^^^^^^

That, to me, is one of the BEST 57-8 GM chops ever The roof rises from front to rear in factory trim, so the back glass always (usually) looks taller than the front when guys chop 'em----but this one--the upper rail follows the belt......perfect

oh...sorry Gator....we were talking about your car..... ooops!

 

I vote for deep metallic red. JMHO.

But ANY of the colors will look cool on that car!

 

On a sidenote, have a closer look at the engine hoist you guys used.
I think you've been lucky it didn't collapse.

Hoists with the top of the cylinder mounted like yours have been known to collapse easily when a heavy weight is lifted.

I would personally move the top cylinder mountingtabs over so there are exactly under the small upright like so;

Current: --------------- Modified:

 

Hey that's OK Mike - I agree with you 100% on the chop!

But yeah, speaking of my heap, any news?

I do dig the gold, maybe with some big ass flake in the same hue on top.

 

Subscribing here!! I am planning on doing some sort of skirts too!!

Bill

 

I'm back on it Wednesday, bro

 

Cool man, I may run up there with Shawn, he was wanting to check out your shop and I finally found a hood latch so I might try and bolt that in.

 

you should put a wankel engine in it and cut the top off.

 

Wouldn't be any more ridiculous than the guy who was gonna run a blown big block with no hood, or the guy building the straight axle gasser Caddy.

Anyways, got a little update this weekend, dropped in on EarlSchieb and he was hard at work on it. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at Mike's shop, but he did give me a couple of souveneirs.

As you can see the rust was as bad as it looked and the previous amateur attempts at body work are even worse! There's screen, angle iron, sheetmetal screws, some type of perforated metal, and lot's and lots of filler.

Here are the pieces - the large curved piece was the wheel well opening.



the other two pics are the area removed from behind the wheel. The bondo is nearly 2 inches thick in places.





ALL the mud and previous repairs are being cut out and replaced with new sheet metal. Fortunately the rest of the car is nowhere near as rusty. The car came from up north and since the rust gets worse and worse further back on the car I believe most of the damage was due to road salt.