There is already snow outside and my Cadillacs are in winter hibernation now, safely stored away in their warm garage. I´m still doing some work with my buddy Tayfun on his Pimperado though.

Here are two pictures of the cars sleeping under their cosy covers.

Tags:Winter

Today my wife and I removed the front bench and the back seat from the 67. The leather still is in excellent original condition with no real cracks or tears but it is showing its age on some areas. I found a shop which is specialized in leather repairs and detailing which will do some work to bring the interior back to like new condition. I have seen some of their work and the results were absolutely spectacular. I will deliver the seats to them sometimes next week. It will take them about 2 weeks to do the detailing. Looking forward to it!

this is one of the areas which will be restored - its showing some surface age cracks.

my wife Afra helped me removing the seats

the removed seats

I had to drive the car back into the garage sitting on the floor...

Tags:Leather seats, detailing, 1967 Cadillac Repair Tip

With winter already around the corner - the first snow is already visible on the surrounding mountains-- today I took the 58 Eldorado Seville for its last spin before it will finally go into winter hibernation.
Today was a picture perfect fall day, so my wife and I drove around a little bit. I filled the gas tank up to the brim and overinflated the tires for the long storage period.

I will soon change the oil, give the exterior a fresh coat of wax, clean and treat the leather with a conditioner, remove the battery and then put the car on blocks over the long winter. I only drove the car 640 kilometers (397 miles) this season. Somehow I did not make it to many shows this year and it was a very humid summer and fall.

pretty fall colors


over-inflating the tires for storage


filling the gas tank


There is already snow in the background!

Tags:1958, Cruising, Eldorado

When driving home from our holiday we found the best diner I ever saw before.
The owner took care of every little detail, like a working V8 at the bar, lots of old cars on the outside, a pickup truck as salad bar and much, much more.

I have added a gallery with some pictures - check it out!

Check it out if you are near Innsbruck in Tirol/Austria!

The “Oilers69” in Tirol - click to go to the gallery!

Tags:Diner, Roadmaster

The Cadillac BIG Meet took place for the 5th time this year. I´m part of the organization team.
At this years event 115 Cadillacs from all over Europe attended. Everybody had a great time and it was a huge success once again.
Watch out for next years Cadillac BIG Meet which will be held on August, 30th 2009.

You can see hundreds of pictures of this years event by clicking on the picture below!

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, Car Show

The new video of the last „Mostkost Kustom Meet“ which was held 2 weeks ago - is now online. You can watch the high quality Quicktime movie by clicking on the image below. I´ve also added some new images to the photo gallery.

Tags:Video, Car Show

Today the national Austrian TV station ORF shot a short event promotion report for the upcoming Cadillac BIG Meet on August 24th. We had some nice cars on the venue like a 57 and 59 Biarritz, a 76 Bicentenial, a 81 Biarritz Custom, a 58 Sedan, and my 67 Deville. The report will be aired on August 21st on ORF2 at 7 PM. Below are some impressions of the shooting.

The ORF team at work


Willi´s 58 and Christians 57 Biarritz and 76 Bicentenial


my 67, Tayfuns 81 and Willi´s 58


the cameraman at work

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, Car Show

During our last trip we had bad luck with the transmission of our Buick Roadmaster. (See entry below)

Finally, after 2 1/2 months in the shop we got the Buick back yesterday. The shop had problems locating all the parts for the rebuild. As I lost patience and they still could not find the parts, eventually I found the parts myself without a problem. Anyway, the car now is back home in the garage and drives beautifully again. The transmission was completely rebuilt, including all internal parts.

we could follow the repair on the webcam of the car dealer - this is a screenshot of the final day.

Tags:Restoration, Roadmaster, Transmission

Due to a lot of work going on in my job, I missed most of the car shows I wanted to attend during the last weeks and also did not find the time to drive my cars a lot.

Today my wife and I finally visited a nice small meeting which is held only 40 kilometers from our home. Its a small gathering of US-Car enthusiasts. One of the organizers is collecting and building great Ratrods which he is always showing there. Its a very nice and relaxed atmosphere with nice cars and great people. Looking forward to the next edition.
We took the 58 to the show. My wife shot lots of great images which are available in this gallery. Some black and white images will also be added soon - they first have to be scanned and prepared for the web.
I also did some filming which still needs to be edited, but should follow soon as well.

A great ,all original Hudson Hornet. More pictures can be found in the gallery!

Tags:Car Show

My wife and I visited the "Klassikwelt Bodensee" in may during our holiday. It was held in Friedrichshafen in Germany. The „Klassikwelt Bodensee“ is a very spectacular classic car exhibition with hundreds of high profile cars on display and for sale.
You can find a picture gallery by clicking on the image below.

Tags:Car Show, Pictures

My wife and I were on the way into our holidays. Of course we took our Roadmaster for the roadtrip. Suddenly the "Service Engine Soon" lamp came on while driving on the highway.
We stopped on the next rest area, but I could not find anything wrong with the car. So we continued our journey and stopped at the next specialized dealer to have the error code read out. Code "P1886" showed up - which is transmission related. The 2-3 upshift solenoid seemed to be defective. So we decided not to drive any farther, as it turned out that the car only ran on second and third gear. Finally the car was delivered to the next national automobile club service station of the "ÖAMTC" to be towed to the dealer I bought the car from. I still have 6 months warranty left, so he has to repair the transmission at his costs. Worst thing was that we just could not continue to enjoy our trip with the Roadmaster and had to borrow a tiny Suzuki Jeep from my wifes mom instead...

UPDATE: In the meantime a transmission specialist took over my car and is completely rebuilding the transmission now... At least I´ll have a like new transmission!

suddenly this lamp showed up...

delivering the car at the national automobile club "ÖAMTC"

checking the Buick´s digital shop manual we had with us...

Tags:Roadmaster, Restoration, Transmission

Today a small, but very nice car show for US-Cars and other classic cars and bikes was held in Altmünster at a museum. As this is located only 10 minutes from home, I drove both Cadillacs to the show.
I have added a picture gallery here: CLICK
Below is a little preview.

overview

the 58 at the show

the 67 in the background

Custom Cadillac project

Tags:Car Show

I got my license plate for this season from the insurance company yesterday. First I fixed them onto the Roadmaster and we took it for a spin immediately. (See pictures)

Today weather was perfect and so it was time for the first cruise with the Cadillacs as well. First I took the 58 for a spin - it ran perfectly and it was a dream to drive it once again after almost 8 months in storage.
After the 58 it was time to move the 67 out. Unfortunately the 67s battery is dead after 12 years of reliable service, and the new one did not arrive yet. So I had to jump start it with jumper cables. This worked perfectly and so I headed off with the 67 as well. After a few miles it started to hesitate pretty badly. As I would not be able to restart the car with the dead battery along the road, I got pretty nervous in heavy traffic. Eventually I made it home safely and I immediately started investigating the issue. I was worried that something broke somewhere along the ignition or the fuel distribution. I found out that one ignition cable managed to slip off the spark plug. I have no idea how this could happen - but the problem was fixed easily and I took the car for another spin to the gas station....
Great to be able to drive all my cars again.

the 1958 Cadillac on the shores of the "Traunsee" in Traunkirchen


cruising with the 58 through the countryside


we took the Roadmaster for a spin...

my wife enjoying the "new" family car

Tags:Cruising

I did some filming when my buddy Tayfun was on visit on the first weekend of April 2008.
I edited it into this short clip which is now online. You can see some repairs going on, and Tayfuns first cruise 2008.
Quicktime 7 is required to watch the high quality file which you can find here.

You can also watch it as a flash movie by clicking on the image below!

Tags:Video

My buddy Tayfun once again came on a visit to start working on his Pimperado for the upcoming season.
First we both made a "To Do List" for each individual car and plans for repairs that we want to do this spring and summer.
Also on the agenda was to wake up the cars, which were stored for the last months.

Yesterday we replaced the fuel pump on the 58, which I already replaced last summer - it was brand new but did not work correctly. So yesterday we installed another one.
This work was done pretty quickly within a couple of minutes. It now seems to work flawlessly. I hope it will stay like this.

Tayfun also did a lot of work on his 1981 Pimperado.

Today Tayfun and I moved all the cars out of the garage to clean the floor a little and to do some spring cleaning.
My buddy Richard also helped me last night doing doing some "Garage Pimpin´".
It was pretty funny - with lots of car talk till late in the night.

The 67´s battery seems to be on its last breaths, as it was no longer strong enough to start the car up - I have it since 1996 - so it lasted pretty long anyways, never needing any charge before. It looks like I will finally need a new one.
So I borrowed the battery from my Buick and then the 67, like all the other Cadillacs, fired right up.

Tayfun cleaning the garage

Tags:Garage

A picture of my 58 made it into the daily newspaper "Kurier" 2 weeks ago. You can see a scan below, click on it for larger view! Its an article in the travel magazine - not sure why they selected the image of my car - its not explained in the text at all...

Tags:1958, Eldorado

Our beloved cat "Max" passed away today at only 9 years of age. He suffered from an aggressive tumor.
He was the cutest and nicest cat one could have. We will miss him very, very much! :-(
Rest in Peace!

one of the last pictures we took of Max

As we had springlike temperatures today in the middle of winter, I decided to wake my cars from hibernation and drive them around the block. I put the batteries in only to find out that the one from the 67 was quite empty and the car would not start. I wanted to charge it with a battery charger but it also quit working... So I had to use jumper cables and eventually I could start the 67. The 58 also had problems starting up as the fuel pump needs to be replaced. I already have a new one lying around which I will install soon. After some cranking the 58 came back to life and ran beautifully. I took all the cars for a quick spin around the block and after they were fully warmed up they went back into storage for about 6-8 more weeks. Can´t wait for spring to come!
I also installed a new hood emblem on our 96 Roadmaster as a wrong one was on the car when we bought it.
It was great to work on the cars again.

the cars in front of the garage

the Buick´s brand new hood ornament

the Buick´s new hood ornament

Tags:Garage, Roadmaster

I´ve just finished a new video and uploaded it to the video section of this website.

Although I did not film very much during the last 2 years, from the little material I have, I edited a short video. I also used some footage that was shot on real old fashioned Super-8 film.
It features both of my Cadillacs and the cars of my friends like Alex´s new 1963 Buick Riviera, Tayfuns 1981 Pimperado, Richards 1965 Impala and some local cars from Gmunden like Shorty´s Cougar, a great Torino, 2 Camaros and more. There is also some restoration work featured that was done in Richards´s private workshop. You can also watch some burnout action going on on a park deck of a shopping center...
The video is 15 minutes long and 100mb large - so a broadband connection is recommended. Quicktime 7 required to watch it.

Click on any screenshot below to go to the video.

Super-8 Material

1981 Pimperado cruising

Burnout action - Shorty´s Cougar!

Tags:Video

As my buddy Tayfun was in town for a new years party, we decided to start detailing our new Buick Roadmaster. The temperatures were way below freezing outside and only slightly warmer inside my old garage, so we really had to work hard to feel comfortably.
The paint on this 1996 Buick Roadmaster was pretty much neglected and a lot of cleaning, buffing, polishing and waxing was necessary to bring it up to like new condition.
It took us 2 days to just do the paint properly. We worked more than 20 hours in reviving the paint job and the exterior chrome.
We´ll do some more detailing work on the car later - it is now in winter storage anyway.
The car looks really good now - the white paint job is very bright. I have the impression that the shade actually changed...
Next up: Interior, engine and engine bay, rims and everything else...

My buddy Tayfun with the buffing machine...

more polishing....

and more...

Tags:detailing, Roadmaster