1957 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

[JC316]

Over the next couple of months, I am going to be finishing out one of my dad's long running projects. We officially started building this car 4 or 5 years ago, but shit happened that I talk about in the video and she's been sitting over 3 years. I've given up making her a show car and I will settle for a decent driver. Will be posting updates on a weekly basis at minimum if people want to follow along.

[BLAKE]

Haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but this sounds bad ass.

[JC316]

Haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but this sounds bad ass.

My mom bought it years ago as a running driving car, but a tree had fallen on it's roof. Took it to a body shop to get it fixed, but he preferred doing insurance work and wanted to do the top in his spare time. Estimate went from 2 weeks to "I will get to it when I can, might take months".

My dad tore it apart and started repairs, but got sidetracked on my moms dream car, a 64 T-bird convertible. He is a perfectionist that takes years to finish a project. I know that this caddy will never be perfect, due to a lack of aftermarket and the level of damage on the roof, but it will make a damned fun driver.

I have pics of it before I started, but photobucket is being a bitch and won't load. Here is what I have..

[line-em-up]

It's ironic that you'd post this on Aretha's death.

"Freeway Of Love"


Knew you'd be a vision in white
How'd you get your pants so tight?
Don't know what you're doin'
But you must be livin' right, yeah

We got some places to see
I brought all the maps with me
So jump in, it ain't no sin
Take a ride in my machine

City traffic's movin' way too slow
Drop the pedal and go, go, go

We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
Wind's against our back
We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac

We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
Wind's against our back
Ain't we ridin' on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac?

Never you mind the exit signs
We got lots of time
We can't quit till we get
To the other side

With the radio playin' our song
We keep rollin' on
Who knows how far a car can get
Before you think about slowin', slowin' down, yeah

City traffic's movin' way too slow
Drop the pedal and go, go
Come on now, go

We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
Wind's against our back
We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac

We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
Wind's against our back
Ain't we ridin' on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac?

Here we go, one more time

With the wind and your fingers in my hand
Kind of think we are going for an extended throw down
So drop the top, baby, and let's cruise on into
This better than ever street

City traffic movin' way too slow
Drop the pedal and go, go
Come on baby, go, do it for me now

We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
Wind's against my back
We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac

We goin' ridin' on the freeway of love
Wind's against my back
Ain't we ridin' on the freeway of love
In my pink Cadillac

And what I want you to do, baby
Get over in the left lane
And let's merge with peace, oh, yeah
Take the love exit, and then make a right turn
Go on over to love and satisfaction and joy
Well, ain't we ridin' baby
Ain't we cruisin' down?
Free, free, free, freeway
Go on out to, ow
Let's be good to each other, scream
Freeway! Well
See that little landmark over there
A whole lot of kisses and sweet stuff
We'll be just about ow, ow, ow!
And satisfaction roll down
Satisfaction, yeah!

[orphan Shelby]

Stay motivated. 6 weeks will come up fast doing body work

[JC316]

Stay motivated. 6 weeks will come up fast doing body work

I have a lot of time on my hands, plus I don't have the daily grind of working on cars, so I can actually have fun with them again. Already have both rear quarter panels sanded, hoping to have the whole car sanded by the end of week one. The 6 week deadline thing is me hoping that I can get it ready to drive to Oktoberfest in Addison in late September. If I make it, fine, if I don't that's fine too.

[JC316]

Progress. Damned Husky brand DA pads suck. Broke two of them in 30 minutes.

[46Tbird]

Good luck man! Believe me, it's not always fun building a car with ZERO aftermarket support. It takes a lot of effort to rebuild / restore what you have as opposed to ordering it up. But the car looks like a great start!

I also have a gigantic orphan project car, a '57 Chrysler.

[cool cat]

I also have a gigantic orphan project car, a '57 Chrysler.

I think I saw you cruising the 57 in Hurst recently.

[46Tbird]

Might be, but there are hundreds of them out there

[JC316]

Good luck man! Believe me, it's not always fun building a car with ZERO aftermarket support. It takes a lot of effort to rebuild / restore what you have as opposed to ordering it up. But the car looks like a great start!

I also have a gigantic orphan project car, a '57 Chrysler.

Yeah, it was a great base to start with. Would have been a $10K car if not for the top getting bashed. I was looking at some of these that were restored, and you can see the dents and waves in that piece of chrome that's screwed up on mine. Everyone bends it and no one makes a replacement piece.

My mom would love that 57 of yours, she has a real thing for all of the 50's cars.

[46Tbird]

A good stainless trim guy can probably fix that. If not, you might give a call to a few of the local old car junkyards to see if any of them have it. I bet you know these guys already. I wouldn't expect it to be cheap!

https://www.facebook.com/Browneautosalvage/ (my suggestion, though I don't recall any coupes last time I went)

https://www.honestjohn.com/

http://www.ctcautoranch.com/

I started a thread on the HAMB for my old car, the most recent pics are at the end.

[JC316]

A good stainless trim guy can probably fix that. If not, you might give a call to a few of the local old car junkyards to see if any of them have it. I bet you know these guys already. I wouldn't expect it to be cheap!

https://www.facebook.com/Browneautosalvage/ (my suggestion, though I don't recall any coupes last time I went)

https://www.honestjohn.com/

http://www.ctcautoranch.com/

I started a thread on the HAMB for my old car, the most recent pics are at the end.

Do you know a good stainless trim guy? I've got a few sources I can try, will add those to the list if it comes down to that.

[JC316]

Progress. I hate rust with a passion.

[JC316]

Update.