Well, I wasn't sure if I was going to do this one here, but since we're going to have a lot of at home time now (the coronavirus thing is currently going on for future reference to new members of a different generation. Look it up.), I figure I'll start a thread on my newly acquired 1960 Coupe Deville. Plus I joined a Cadillac forum and I can already tell I'm not going to spend much time there and I kinda like 99.9% of you guys. Anyway, to make a long story short, I've wanted one of these for a very long time. When I turned 40 in October I figured I would finally get one for myself, and sold my very loved 1963 Riviera "Black River" (we only get so many days on earth to get what we want) to fund most the purchase. I found the car on Craigslist and had fellow member John (Waterboy) graciously go look at it for me. Should mention I'm in Missoula, Montana, and the car and John were both living down in Florida. (I'll post links to related threads on my computer tomorrow, doing this on my phone in between leather treatments on the door panels). John gave the car two thumbs up so I went and got a loan, and between that and the Riv money I bought it. Thread: http://v8buick.com/index.php?thread...t-car-is-over-thanks-to-waterboy-john.355136/ Had it shipped up about a week and a half later, and here it is. It's an Arroyo Turquoise 1960 Coupe Deville. Has some pretty good options from the factory, and a few tasteful mods. Really super solid car and drives great. Paint isn't show car, but really nice, and the interior is great with a mix of mostly original and some new. The engine is the supposedly original 390 that runs great, looks decent, but is not show car detailed, and is stock with an aluminum radiator, Pertronix ignition conversion, Flamethrower coil, and a stock carb converted to electric choke. Trans is the original 4 speed Hydra-Matic auto that shifts great and doesn't leak. The car is lowered 2 inches, has Kelsey Hayes Saber wheels off a mid 50s Eldorado, aftermarket A/C, and the roof is painted white. That's about it for mods it came with. Not planning on a lot of changes, just going to make it better and "mine". Here's a few pics of it and I'll start detailing the little bits I've already done and the rest from there. Enjoy hopefully.....
Some pics from the CL ad and pics of it getting loaded up in Florida the nice (and oddly sexy according to John) 84 year old lady former owner Tina sent after I bought it.
Got the car home and acquainted with it's new spot next to the number 1 favorite. This thing is low. First thing I did was pull the 4 blade fan and swap on a flex fan I had sitting on the shelf. This is only a temporary thing. I'll be swapping to an electric fan and shroud later on. I know all about flex fan issues and dangers, but this one hasn't been spun about 5,000 rpm and this Caddy won't see 4 grand in its life that I own it. Except for maybe 1 burnout for Mike (Gallagher) and myself. Because it is a rear drive V8 and that's what you do. Once....anyway, pulled the old one off and on it went the first night. Painted the pulleys I could get to and a little more semi gloss black here and there and a pretty nice difference. Also when driving it home it felt fantastic but slightly heavy steering. Upon checking the tire pressures I found the old guy had them set according to the factory sticker at 25 psi (bias ply spec) so set them at 34 and test drove. Mucho better.....really stressful first day projects, I know, but hey, only had about 45 minutes to burn.
Ohhh...it's just killer Lucas. But what we were really waiting for were pics of Tina! How many DB's you figure will fit in that trunk?
Last night and tonight I started treating the leather. Hard to tell in the pics, but the door panels are original and the armrests were dry and pretty cracked. It's coming along nicely, all is much more supple and soft feeling. Few more treatments and I'll move on from the driver's door. I'll get better pics this weekend.
Sabre Spokes, sooo lovely! Was at a farm auction a few years ago; there were 2 SS’s there I just could not leave behind for the dumpster. $10 for the pair, and I don’t even have a Caddy to put them on (they aren’t that great a shape).
Lucas!!! Thank you for this thread! I'm glad you're happy! It is a BEAUTIFUL car!!!!!! I wish I had pictures of Tina! Oh sheet!!!!
Thanks guys. I was going to change the wheels and tires, but seeing the car in person I've decided to keep the wheels. They are classy and fit it. I'm going to change to 1 1/2" whitewalls, though. So these basically new 235/75-15s are going to be for sale cheap. I will post an ad in parts for sale..... forgot to pay proper homage to the Black River and for future generations, here is my Riviera I sold, and it's build thread here: http://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/my-63-riviera-custom.316125/ .....yeah, I really wanted this Cadillac...
Lucas, Thanks for sharing. Cadillac is my dads other brand. He got rid of most of them, but still has his ‘75 Eldorado convertible he bought in ‘88 and his ‘04 Sedan Deville. I sent him some pictures of your car and he loved it. Looking forward to the progress!
Lucas, Your new Caddy is awesome! But I have to say the Riv is also one beauty! Your attention to detail is amazing too. That has made it a top notch car. In my opinion, all the Caddy could use is your touch on the detail stuff. I like the wheels it has, they just look right! The 1-1/2" whites will make it pop!
I'm used to Autronic Eye being to the left, tho I know by '63-64 it was center-mounted. I know '59 Buick mounts it to the left.
Yup, exactly what I was thinking. I know that pretty much everything has room for at least some improvement but it would be hard for me to mess with that Caddy very much. I love it just the way it is.
I owned a 60 Coupe De Ville for about 24 hours a few years ago...never made it off the trailer. A 60 is on my bucket list...I just love them. A more refined version of the 59.
Last night I continued working on the leather armrests until I got bored with that....decided to find out if the cheesy chrome door edge trim would come off, as in the original cl pics it doesn't have the trim in some of them. I HATE the trim. Looks like it's going to come right off thankfully and I'll have to do a little adhesive removal is all, so that's on today's list. Going to pull the wheels and check the brakes, maybe a buff and wax today if it gets in the 50s like it's supposed to.