1967 Cadillac EldoradoGERALD´S CADILLACS - NEWS

Website update

I updated and relaunched my entire website today. Most things were done “under the hood” of the website, so you wont see many changes besides some new cool banner images. The website should be more reliable and compatible with the many browsers now. Whats completely new is the video gallery This may be convenient if you do not have Quicktime installed on your computer. I still recommend to watch the movies in Quicktime though. The quality is slightly better and it's not that CPU intensive on your computer. Please let me know if you run into any issues with my site, as this was a major update I did to it.
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Cadillac BIG Meet 2009 - The Video

Today I finished a short video clip of the Cadillac BIG Meet 2009. This is Europes largest and best Cadillac Meeting held every year at the last weekend of August. The next one will be held on August 29th 2010. More info about the meeting can be found here.
I did some filming at the 2009 event and posted the video in the video section of the Cadillac BIG Meet. Enjoy this nice short clip with some fantastic cars.


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Cleaning the 1967 Eldorado´s Engine Bay

I spent quite some time during the last weeks in the engine bay of the 67 Eldorado. I tried to clean everything in there as good as possible. After cleaning and degreasing everything I also gave all the metal parts a fresh coat of wax. I also cleaned all the rubber parts and cables and applied some vinyl and rubber conditioner. Everything is sparkling clean now. I´m now thinking about painting some of the parts where the paint has some imperfections or is worn off. I will have to find the right correct paint first. The engine looks quite presentable now. What will get a new paintjob first will be the airfilter housing, which looks pretty worn. It will be stripped to bare metal before painting of course.
Below you can find some pictures of the now clean engine bay.

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As seen from the passenger side

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From the front
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From the left

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The 67 Eldorado´s Automatic Climate Control System is back in working order

Today I managed to solve the issue with the partly non working Automatic Climate Control of my 1967 Eldorado. As described in the entries below, the blower would only come on in full heat modes when the car was accelerating. The AC of the Eldorado is very similar to the one from the DeVille btw.
I suspected a vacuum leak somewhere in the system. Troubleshooting began with going through all the vacuum hoses. I replaced some which were a little worn out at the connectors. I also cut off the ends of most hoses, as they were all becoming a little loose during the last 40 years. I then plugged them in again.
Not much did change though.
When I came to the hose of the hot water valve and the delay relay, I had the first success. At least the blower motor would stay on in all “Auto” modes, even when the car was idling - but would still go off in “Fog” and “Ice”. I then suspected a leak in the power servo or in the dash controller. So I installed the power servo from my 67 DeVille where everything works perfectly, to be able to rule out any problems. Nothing changed though - the blower would still come on and off depending on the throttle position.

I then soon found the culprit of the whole issue - it was the master vacuum switch - which seems to have a problem with the internal electric switch. As I had a spare one around I installed it - and voilá - everything worked as it should. It always looked good when I checked it before.
I´m very happy that everything is back in working order. The only thing which I still have to repair is the fast idle diaphragm which completely dried out and is no longer functioning. Fortunately I do have a spare 429 engine in the garage from where I can grab and use this part - so I will repair it soon.
I then need a new condenser which is already on the way across the Atlantic coming from Old Auto Air.
By the way - Cadillactim has an excellent trouble shooting guide for the ACC on his website.

The evaporator had to be replaced as well along with the heater core. This is a pretty big task as you can see on the pictures below. You even have to remove the hood to get access to the whole unit. The fiberglass AC enclosure had to be repaired at my car as well as the previous owner tried to repair the evaporator and missed a screw and made a tear into the enclosure. The restoration shop repaired this professionally and it looks like new now.

The best troubleshooting guide for 1967 and 1968 Cadillac´s Automatic Climate Control Systems I got today from Gary Sisk - owner of a 1968 Cadillac.
This is a very easy to follow explanation which will save you a lot of time and you do not even need any special tools.
It was written by Lynn Nicholls and can be found on Stampies Cadillac page - here is the direct link to it.

Below you can find some pictures of my system:

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The whole AC unit has to be removed to get access to the evaporator and heater core... The slight surface rust that showed up where the gaskets were, was removed as well of course...
The big hole on the left is where the blower motor is installed.

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This is where the AC box usually is installed

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You can see how much has be removed just to get to the evaporator and heater core...

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I discovered the first issue at the hot water valve
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The hoses around the time relay delay were leaking a little bit
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For testing purposes I hung a spare master vacuum switch into the car - this solved the problem
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The old fast idle diaphragm was leaking and brittle and was replaced with a better one...
1967 Cadillac Automatic Climate Control Vacuum diagram
The 1967 Cadillac Automatic Climate Control Vacuum Schematic from the shop manual -
1968 is almost identical BTW... Click on the image for a larger view!


Here is a video about the Master Switch that a gentleman posted on youtube

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The 67 Eldorado´s vacuum hoses - Blower issue

The 1967 Eldorado is now back home from the restoration shop. They wanted to recharge the AC on the day before I wanted to pick it up only to find out that the condenser is also leaking badly. I´ve ordered a new on from Cold Air Products in USA in the meantime which I will install later. The recharge will then take place in spring.

During the rebuild of the whole AC system I found out that I´m also having a little issue with the blower which does not always come on at full heat. So as a first step I started to go through the numerous vacuum hoses in the car yesterday. I soon found some old and brittle ones which fell apart when I just touched them. The two hoses that fell apart were the ones going to the right headlight doors.
Original color coded hoses seem no longer available anywhere. Thats why I had to buy regular black ones and paint the red and green stripes on them. Looks almost perfect - I did not think that it would turn out this nice.
Will go through the rest of the hoses soon. With the replaced hoses the headlight doors now work 100% simultaneously, whereas before one was slower.
I still have to find the issue with the blower motor - but I now suspect either the AC controller or the power servo. It works perfectly in full cold - only when I set a higher temperature the blower will cut out. Another problem to solve over the winter... I had almost the same problem with the 67 DeVille before which I could successfully repair.
BTW - if you know of any source for the GM OEM style color coded vacuum hoses please let me know.
You can find a vacuum diagram for the headlight doors here!

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There are lots and lots of vacuum hoses in the Eldorado to check - here are only a few going to the storage tanks...
I will also give them a good cleaning during the winter.

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The new hose with the painted red stripe is already in place - looks some kind of original...

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The 67 Eldorado passed the inspection

Just got the news from the restoration shop that the 67 Eldorado passed the state inspection and has now all the necessary paperwork to be driven on Austrian roads! YEEEHA!!!! It is now "typisiert". (thats the german word for this inspection procedure which privately imported cars have to go through to get a license for Austrian roads)
The completely rebuilt AC will get a recharge next week and I can then pick up the car and put it into winter storage together with the other Cadillacs. Can´t wait for the next cruising season.

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These are the documents which now allow me to register the car in Austria.

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Visiting the 67 Eldorado at the restoration shop

Today I visited the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado at the restoration shop where some crucial work is done to it to get it back on the road. The guys are doing a lot of progress. I snapped a couple of pictures with my cell phone while I was there.
Here are some pictures of what is going on in the shop. You can also see all the restoration pictures here!

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The 1967 Eldorado at the lift - the trunk is full of parts

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Look how clean the 429 engine looks inside - it only has 27k miles on it - the valve covers will get a repaint and new gaskets will be installed


The radiator is out for re-coring

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The left front disc brake is sticking a little - it will be completely overhauled as well soon.


Some of the parts - the old ball joints are out. New brake hoses and brake parts are waiting for installation.

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New H4 headlights had to be installed as the original T3 headlights are not street legal in Austria

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A short in the 1958 Eldorado power vent window wiring

When I came into the garage to take something out of the trunk of the 1958 Seville yesterday, I pushed the trunk release button in the glove box and... nothing happened. I pushed again and instead of hearing the trunk pop open and the sound of the pull down motor going up, there was just nothing happening. This was when I noticed that the interior lights did not come on either... The battery was completely dead.
So there was no other way than hooking up the charger. Two hours later, the battery was strong enough to start the car. I checked all electric components and everything seemed to work - so I was wondering what drained down a fully charged battery over night? This was the moment when I noticed a clicking noise coming from the passenger door. I opened all windows including the power vents . When I opened the passenger door the vent window started to close itself! So even when the vent window was fully closed, the window motor would still draw current. At a test drive with the door closed (of course)- the window would eventually start closing itself again.

So I had to remove all the window switches and unscrew the kick panels. Of course some of the cables behind there were broken or had the isolation coming of at the areas where they had to bend each time the door was opened or closed. I replaced one section of a cable and isolated the other ones.
So far everything seems to be working o.k. now. After an extensive test drive and opening the doors multiple times - everything seems to be well.
It is really a pain to get access to all these cables and trying to repair them. Some smaller hands would be very handy in this cases.


1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville door wiring
Thats the area behind one of the 1958 Eldorado kick panels where the cables have to bend all the time. After 51 years they seem to get tired.

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The 67 Eldorado is now at the shop to get an Austrian license

All cars imported into Austria have to pass a technical inspection to get a license. Its an inspection done by state inspectors where they are checking every car thoroughly.
The cars have to be safe and in very good condition. They check the brakes, all the suspension parts, rust, emissions and everything else what is important. The regulations are very strict - so basically everything has to be in perfect order. We even have to change the lighting system. Its obligatory to have amber rear turning signals, which makes it impossible to keep the rear lighting system in original condition (at least for the time of the inspection...). Often there is no other way than to install additional amber turn signals somewhere on the rear bumper or trunklid. (!)

1967 Cadillac Eldorado and 1971 Lincoln Mark III
The 1967 Eldorado is now at the restoration shop - here it is on the side of a nice low mileage 1971 Lincoln Mark III.


As I finally want to be able to drive the Eldorado on our roads, today I delivered the Eldorado to my restoration shop, where they will do some of the necessary conversions and repairs. They already helped me with my 67 Deville and the 58 Eldorado.
The Eldorado will now get a new radiator as the original one is leaking badly. Actually I will have the original one recored and repaired. The front disc brake will get an overhaul due to a partly sticking piston, together with all new brake hoses. The fuel line will be replaced as it started to leak as well. The lower ball joints and the idler arm will get exchanged along with some rubber bushings. Besides of this list of repairs the rear lights will be converted for the inspection.
After the Eldorado is back in perfectly working condition, the inspector will check the car and hopefully approve it... Unfortunately until all this will be done it will take some time, and the winter is just around the corner - so it will go right back in winter storage after this procedure.


The 1996 Buick Roadmaster - new rear wheel cylinders

As our 96 RMW did not pass the technical inspection 3 weeks ago I had to order new rear wheel cylinders which were installed today as well. It then passed the annual inspection and can be driven for another year.


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My 67 DeVille under palm trees...

I got a nice email from Scott Thrower, who found some of my pictures on Flickr. He wrote:
“Hi, Gerald....I saw your photos on Flickr. I snagged one of the photos of your 67 and made a Photoshop creation of it. Be looking for it.”

And here is the picture he sent - my 67 under palm trees, something I have never seen before as those huge palm trees are not existent over here in Austria! What a cool photoshop creation and idea - Thanks Scott!

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1967 Eldorado - the headlights and the ALC work again

Yesterday I finally found the time to spend a couple of hours in the garage and deal with the problem of the non working headlights and the defective ALC of my 67 Eldorado. I got some great tips from Glen (see a couple of entries below). With his great expertise I could solve all the problems. I installed a set of new original style spring clamp battery cables from Antique Auto Battery and repaired the blown fusible link for the headlights. The new battery cable comes pretty close to the original cables that came with the car. I would say they are 98% correct.
I also got a new control valve for the ALC compressor from Arizona Vintage Parts (a company I highly recommend). With this new valve the ALC is back in working order and the car is now raising its rear to the correct riding height again.


the new original style spring clamp battery cables

a new used ALC control valve is also in place.

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A night photoshooting with the 67 DeVille

My wife and I had a great night shooting with my 1967 DeVille. She took some brilliant pictures with her Hasselblad 6x6 camera. The pictures were shot on good old Fuji Provia slide film and scanned afterwards.
I also took some "making of" pictures of her in action.
Click on the image below to go to the gallery with all the pictures.

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The Cadillac BIG Meet was a huge success!

I just returned from the Cadillac BIG Meet - Europes largest Cadillac Meeting where I am in the organization team together with some friends. Its held in Austria every last weekend in August. This year we had the sixth edition. Thanks to all participants - the 2009 Cadillac BIG Meet was a huge success once again! 140 Cadillacs made it to the show this year. As we celebrated the 59 Cadillacs 50th birthday, we managed to get 17 of them parked side by side. 9 of them were Eldorados, ranging from 6 Biarritzes and 2 Sevilles to the super rare Eldorado Brougham of 1959. Some of the other highlights among all these beautiful Cadillacs which made it to the meeting- were a perfect 57 Eldorado Brougham and 2 1953 Eldorados and many other awesome Cadillacs. Visitors came from Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway. While the driving tour on saturday, which was limited to 40 cars, had some terribly rainy weather, Sunday, the day of the show was just splendid. I took my 1958 Seville to the show. But look for yourself and check the image galleries with more than 800 pictures my wife made this year.
http://www.cadillac-meeting.com/english/pictures/pictures.html


on the picture above you can see the venue - in the front there is my all-time favorite car - the 1957 Eldorado Brougham. This one was in perfect condition.

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A great 1958 Eldorado Seville for sale!

Per Rubien from Denmark sent me the following message about his great 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville which is for sale now:

“I want to sell my 1958 Eldorado Seville. The car is 100% complete and in very fine condition. Everything is working and it drives like a new car. The interior is 100% original and in super condition.”

If you are interested please contact Per Rubien in Denmark directly! Phone: +45 98134480 or mail:
He is asking around € 35.000.- - which is a very reasonable price for a car like this!

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The Cadillac BIG Meet - This Weekend!

The Cadillac BIG Meet 2009 will happen this weekend - August 30th.
Its held for the 6th time this year at the Kremsegg Castle in Kremsmünster in Austria. This is the biggest Cadillac Meeting held in Europe and about 150 Cadillacs are expected.
For more info click on the image below - which was taken at the show. This years theme is “The Cadillac Fin” and the 50th birthday of the 1959 Cadillacs. I will take my 1958 Eldorado Seville to the show, as it is the only Cadillac I own which has fins.


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The first 1967 Eldorado parts arrived

Last week the first parts I will need to get my 1967 roadworthy arrived. Some more are on their way to me from the USA. I ordered them from Rockauto, Antique Auto Battery, Coopers and Arizona Vintage Parts. When everything finally arrives I will start working on the Eldorado again.


The first few parts that arrived - belts, filters, gaskets, caliper repair kits, dryer, pitman arm, air filter and some other stuff....

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1967 ELDORADO HEADLIGHT ISSUE - ONE STEP FURTHER

As my headlight suddenly stopped working recently, (see two posts below) I spent the afternoon in the garage for troubleshooting. I got a very good troubleshooting guide from a fellow Cadillac enthusiast from the USA.
Glen wrote the following:
“If you take the panel under the steering column off I think you can reach up and disconnect the connector from the light switch. Or you maybe able to get a meter probe up there to check voltage. The battery connection to the switch for the headlights is on the 14 gauge yellow wire. This only supplies the headlights and front parking lights. If you have 12 volts there then your problem is in the switch. There is a circuit breaker in the switch and it may be bad or the contacts in the switch are bad. IIRC these switches have a vacuum switch on the side that operates the headlight doors. This makes them hard to find. They do not interchange with the 68 Eldorado because in 67 the parking lights only come on when the switch is pulled out to the first position while in 68 the parking lights come on with the headlights also. If you do not have voltage on the yellow wire then you should check the fusible link on the starter. It is an 18 gauge dark green wire that changes to a 14 gauge red with white tracer before it gets to the connector. Check for 12 volts at the connector and check the contacts in the connector. “

Glen was spot on with his diagnose and it turned out that the green 18 gauge fusible link was the culprit for my headlight problem as it came apart for unknown reasons.

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the green wire once was a fusible link - it fell into pieces when I slightly pulled on it


As a follow-up Glen recommended the following:

“You might want to look closely at the break in the link. See if it is melted or did was it broken by mechanical means. If it was just pulled apart or cut then you have to check what caused that. To trouble shoot this if it was actually melted due to over current, I would unplug the headlights and front parking lights, and temporarily connect a headlight or other big light bulb, in place of the fusible link. You can then try things without blowing fuses. With the troubleshooting light in place it will light up brightly if there is a direct short. With the headlights and front parking lights disconnected the test light should not light up at all under any condition. You should be able to move change the position of the headlight switch, switch from high to low beam (light switch in the headlight position); wiggle the wire harness anywhere and not light up the test light. If it does you have found the short.”

I did this procedure today but it did not show any shorts. I then reconnected the front lights and everything did work again. I will now have to find a replacement fusible link which is very uncommon over here in Europe. I will replace it together with the positive battery cable where the clamp is almost falling apart. I hope the issue wont come back. It looks like the fusible link maybe only fell apart due to age as it did not show any signs of burning. Its located very close to the starter and the exhaust manifold - so maybe 42 years of dirt and heat just made it crumble into pieces....

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the completely removed positive battery cable harness
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the original battery clamp - its already missing the spring part

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The starting circuit diagram is showing the battery cables - Click for larger picture!


The Iginition and Starter Circuit Diagram for the Eldorado (693) and the other Cadillacs of 1967.
Click for larger version!

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New pictures of my 1967 Eldorado on my website

When I drove the 67 Eldorado home from the shop last tuesday (see report below)- I stopped at the park deck of the local shopping mall to shoot a couple of quick pictures.
You can find them in the Eldorados gallery.



You can find more pictures by clicking here.

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1967 Eldorado Inspection - ALC issues and dead headlights

I took my 67 Eldorado to my restoration shop yesterday to have it checked for the Austrian registration.
When I arrived there the headlights did no longer work. They did not have any problem before.
When the inspector wanted to turn them on - the headlight doors did open but the lights did not come on.
Also the parking lights and high beams do no longer work. The taillights did come on though and the cornering lights and turn signal do work as well.
Very strange… Checking the fuse panel I found out that there is no fuse for the headlights. My guess is now that it must be the headlight switch - can this be repaired? The shop manual mentions a 25amp circuit breaker in the switch but it does not mention how to repair it or check it.

The other thing which stopped working yesterday was the Automatic Level Control. The vacuum operated compressor in the engine bay seems to work as I can hear a ticking noise, but the car does not raise. I also added some pressure (100psi) to the service valve at the compressor but the rear of the car did not raise at all. When I depressurized the compressor the car did not come down any further either. Very strange… I really need to get this fixed - non working parts are making me crazy!
The car lost the yellow plastic cap which is located on the top of the regulator valve while driving it into the shop. Unfortunately it landed directly below one of the tires and was crushed to tiny little pieces. I will have to try to find a replacement. I have no idea how this could have come loose.

The car did not pass the inspection for some other reasons as well , like a sticky front disc brake, worn ball joints and pitman arm and some other minor things . It will keep me busy repairing all this for a while. Whats worrying me most is the headlights and the ALC as I do not have any clue at all.
On the positive side - the car was a pleasure to drive the 60 miles to the shop - its so much different to the “regular” Cadillacs - Big, silent and powerful and no big boat ride ;-)


in the shop

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67 DeVille Brakes finally fixed

Today I once again tried to fix the low pedal issue on the 67 DeVille´s brakes. I recently replaced the booster and master cylinder and had a low pedal problem then. The brakes worked fine, but the pedal travel was way too long. I first suspected air in the lines, but we really thoroughly bleed the whole system multiple times. I then thought that the push rod of the new master cylinder might need some adjustment, until I found out that the Delco Moraine boosters are not adjustable, whereas - the also used - Bendix boosters had an adjustable rod.
As I replaced the complete front end including the entire front brakes last year, I did not think that the drum brakes might only need a simple re-adjustment. As it turned out the front brakes were out of the range where the star-wheel can adjust itself while driving the car backwards and applying the brakes.
I now adjusted the front brakes pretty tightly and the pedal is now pretty firm again. I hope it will stay like this. If not - there must be something wrong with the automatic self adjuster, but I´m very optimistic that the problem is now solved. I also gave the rear drums a check - they turned out fine. I just wished the DeVille had front disc brakes like my 67 Eldorado...


checking the rear drums - crappy cell phone picture...


the rear drums

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Music video with our Roadmaster in the background

While my wife and I were on holidays in Vorarlberg, we shot this music video for the local band “MAGUAMS” where my wifes cousin played bass.
We shot this “no budget“-production on a rainy sunday morning in a storage facility - the cars in the background were the perfect backdrop for the band. The musicians are a great bunch of guys and we had lots of fun during the shoot. Our Buick Roadmaster also served as a background props for the shooting - thats why I´m posting this video on my website.


The shooting location with our Roadmaster in the background

The finished video

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1967 DeVille got new brake booster and power cylinder

While my friend Tayfun was in town to help me with my Cadillacs, it was time to exchange the still original brake booster and master cylinder of my 1967 Cadillac DeVille.
Everything went pretty smoothly at first - only bleeding the brakes was a little complicated and it did not help either that I spilled some brake fluid into the engine bay. Some harm was done to the black paint which had to be repainted immediately. So it took us some unplanned time to get everything back in working order. As it was raining heavily we could not even test the brakes. In the meantime I did a test drive and found out that the pedal travel is way too long. Looks like the push rod in the booster needs adjustment... D*mn this means removing the master cylinder once again... I hope I will find the time to do this soon.



the removed brake booster - the hole in the firewall

the new booster needed some paint before installation

painting the master cylinder

Tayfun painting the primered booster

reinstalling the whole unit

Tayfun bleeding the brakes

finished - looking good

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1967 Eldorado detailing

My buddy Tayfun came to visit me for three days to help me with detailing my 1967 Eldorado and to exchange the brake booster and master cylinder of my 67 DeVille.
The Eldorado got a wet cleaning treatment of the carpet and trunk and a full detailing of the interior - which looks like from a new car now. We also started to clean and polish the original paint but ran out of time. We only finished the hood - but the before and after difference is amazing. More work will be done soon.




The Eldorado is lurking out of the garage

washing and brushing the original rubber floormats...

...they turned out as if they just left the factory - awesome - this Meguiars rubber treatment is more than fantastic!

Tayfun - wet cleaning the carpet and trunk - looks like new now as well - the low miles are showing on the interior pretty well

My buddy Tayfun polishing the hood

Tayfun at work

The hood´s paint came out really fine and smooth - unfortunately we ran out of time and could not finish the rest of the paint

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1967 Cadillac Eldorado radio replacement attempt

My 1967 Eldorado originally came with an AM radio only, which is basically useless in todays world. The seller of the car put an FM/AM unit in the trunk which he had for the car but never installed it.
Today my wife helped me trying to replace it. It is always a pain to get the old radios out, as the electrical connectors are pretty hard to reach if you have big hands like me... After some fiddling and lots of bad cursing, the radio eventually came out. During this procedure I found out that somebody messed around with the speaker cables which go to the rear speakers and installed new ones - which were connected directly to the front speaker. They cut the wire going to the front speakers and spliced in the rear speakers. Not very well done...

When I finally managed to install the “new” AM/FM radio I found out that it does not fit at all... It either comes from a 66 or a 69 Cadillac?

So I installed the old AM radio coming from my convertible where I did the same procedure 2 years ago - only to find out that non of the 2 speakers seem to work anyways...
I now have to find a good used 1967 AM/FM radio and 2 speakers - the list of things I need is getting longer everyday. I will also have to repair the wiring of the rear speaker back to original.
Thanks to my wife Afra for helping me!


removing the dash

the removed dash

removing the radio buttons was the easiest part
1967 Cadillac Eldorado radio repair
Afra repairing the wiring of the old radio








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US-CAR-SHOW Dornbirn 2009 - Film online

The US-CAR-SHOW in Dornbirn is held every second year and is Austrias finest car show.
I always exhibited one of my Cadillacs at the indoor show in the past years, but this year I decided to take the Roadmaster for the trip and just take part as a regular visitor.
The show itself is a class of its own. You can find hundreds of Hotrods, Classics and Muscle Cars there which you do not see at any other shows in Austria. We really had a great time there and are looking forward to the next edition of the show in 2011.

I shot 2 hours of footage at the 2 days of the show, which my wife Afra and I edited down to a 11 minute film, which is now available.
It features some great Cadillacs like a 53 Eldorado, 57 Biarritz or a 1959 Biarritz and many other great cars.





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Cleaning the engine bay

Today I started cleaning the engine bay of the 1967 Eldorado with its mighty 429cui V8. Amazing how much dirt could collect on a car with only 27k miles on the clock. Its a pretty dirty job and will keep me busy for a while. Surprisingly, below the thick, oily and dirty surface there is still some shiny paint appearing!
I hope though, that I will ever be able to get my hands clean again as well... I guess I should wear a pair of gloves next time...

1967 Cadillac Eldorado 429cui engine
This is how the engine bay of my 1967 Eldorado looked before cleaning - I will also have to install the new evaporator later, reinstall the blower motor, connect all the AC hoses and recharge the AC... lots of work ahead
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The engine degreaser is pretty aggressive on the oily gunk and dirt.

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Time to change the engine oil

Today I started to change the oil on my cars. The 67 DeVille was first and now has some fresh oil in its engine. Next up was the Roadmaster. Unfortunately I did not have the correct oil for the Roadmaster at home but I eventually found out when I already had drained the old oil... The RMW its now stuck over the pit until I buy the correct 5W-30 for it... So the 67 Eldo and the 58 will have to wait for a couple of days. Stupid me - I should have checked which oil it needs before starting to drain it... BTW: The 1967 Cadillacs need 5 quarts of oil at an oil-change when you also replace the filter and only 4 quarts without a filter change. Considering the displacement of the engine this is not that much oil...


I had to drive one after each other over the pit...

somehow its always a mess to change the oil...

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The first pictures of all 3 Cadillacs side by side

Today I took the first picture of all 3 Cadillac side by side in front of the garage. Unfortunately it was shot a little too late as the sun already set. Will try another time again.



The Cads lined up

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The 67 Eldorado arrived!

Today was a big day, as the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado I bought in March finally was delivered to my door after its long journey from North Carolina. It crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a ship coming from Charleston, SC and landed in Rotterdam where it was unloaded from the container. It was then transported 1000 km to my home in Austria on a truck.
The truck arrived at 3 pm with the 67 Eldo and the 69 DeVille which I bought for a dealer here in Austria. Both cars had empty fuel tanks and dead batteries so we could not start them and had to push and pull them from the truck, what took as quite a while. This was very exhausting work, but eventually we had the cars parked in front of the garage. I poured some gas into the tanks and installed batteries from my other Cadillacs. I then turned the keys and the cars roared back to life without any problem. The 67 is a very nice survivor with only 27k miles on the odometer. It drives like a dream - I´m very impressed. The biggest surprise for me was that it has disc brakes on the front - I always thought it would come with the basic drums and not with this very rare option.
The cars got a quick wash and were then parked inside the garage.
Tired and exhausted, but very happy I finally went to bed thinking about all the work I will do in the upcoming weeks. Stayed tuned!
If you are interested about the cars history and how I found it visit my history page!

Here are some pictures of when the car arrived:


the truck as it arrived

the 67 proudly rode on top...

the old Cadillacs watching the new one arrive...

finally unloaded

after a quick foam bath

looking a little cleaner

yes - they all fit in...

nice sight in front of the original 1967 Cadillac banner

its narrow - but they do fit in

looking into the garage - nice view...

the mauve 69 was picked up by its new owner - a dealer in Austria - it will be for sale there soon. Its a really nice car which I would like to keep if my funds would allow it. Whoever will buy this car, will get a nice Cadillac in a stunning color combination!

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Dornbirn Car Show - Picture Gallery

The US-CAR-SHOW in Dornbirn is held every second year and is Austrias finest car show.
I always exhibited one of my Cadillacs at the indoor show in the past years, but this year I decided to take the Roadmaster for the trip and just take part as a regular visitor.
We met with some friends and drove there in a 7 car convoy. It took us a 7 hours to get there as we also stopped at a very cool diner along the route.

The show itself is a class of its own. You can find hundreds of Hotrods, Classics and Muscle Cars there which you do not see at any other shows in Austria. We really had a great time there and are looking forward to the next edition of the show in 2011.

You can find a huge selection of pictures of this trip in the image gallery. Most pictures were taken by my wife Afra as I did the filming part this time. The black and white one were shot on real "old fashioned" analog film with a medium format camera. Afra also shot two roll of slides which were scanned after development.
Enjoy! A very cool High Definition film will follow in a couple of weeks. So stay tuned.


a great 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

Sepps Lincoln Zephyr - Aweseome and rare car. Click on the images to go to the gallery for more images like this.

Alex´s 1963 Riviera shot during the night cruising on Saturday

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The 67 Eldorado arrived in Rotterdam

Last week the new Cadillac arrived in Rotterdam. In the meantime it was unloaded out of its container and the custom declaration was done. The car is now waiting in a warehouse to get picked up by the car hauler and get trucked to my home. This will be done by the end of this week. The car will then be delivered to my home in the first week of June. Cant wait to finally see it in real life. As soon as it has arrived I am going to snap a couple of pictures and upload my brand new website which will feature this new car in great detail.
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Details about the 67 Eldorado shipment

I finally got all the shipping details of my 1967 Eldorado. It will leave Charleston on the the 4th of may and should arrive in Rotterdam on the 16th of may. It will sail on board of the cargo vessel “Star Evviva”. (Live tracking)


the ship my 1967 Eldorado will sail on across the Atlantic Ocean

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The 67 Eldorado was picked up

Today the car was picked up from the seller in Wilmington North Carolina and trucked to the harbor of Charleston South Carolina, where it will be put into a container and shipped to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I do not have a sailing date yet, but I do hope that it will be here by the end of may.

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I bought a 1967 Eldorado

Today I officially bought my new 1967 Cadillac Eldorado from a collector in North Carolina. Its a beautiful survivor with only 27k miles. The car is in grecian white with black standard interior.

More details when the car arrives!



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1967 Cadillac banner installed

Today my wife and I installed the original NOS 1967 Cadillac dealer banner I won on ebay earlier this year. It never was out of its original box since 1966...
It looks great!


building the frame with my wife


mounting the banner on the frame


finished

edge
here is a picture of how these banners were used from 1966 to 1967. This pictures was taken sometimes in the fall of 1966 or in 1967.

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Detailed seats are finally back in the 67

Last weekend I finally found the time to reinstall the detailed leather seats into the 67 DeVille. They look like new now and the interior is one step closer to perfection.
If you compare the new pictures to the “before” pictures below - you can clearly see the difference.



Thats the area which showed the most wear - looking perfect now!


the same area before detailing


the interior is back together and now waiting for the cruising season

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Cruising 2008 - The Video

Last year I shot some video footage with my friends while we were cruising with our American cars. I also had the camera with me while we spent some time in the garage repairing our cars. I just finished editing and the result can be seen on my website now. The new video “Cruising 2008”. Enjoy!


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Very cool new garage decoration arrived

Today I received a very nice parcel from the USA. On ebay I won an all original NOS 1967 Cadillac announcement banner, which dealers used to decorate their dealership with when the new 1967 models arrived at their showroom.
Its unused and still in the original box. Its almost 7 meters long.
I do not yet know where in the garage I will hang it, but as soon as it is getting warmer I will take care of this cool new decoration item. The best thing is that I got it pretty cheap.


the original box from Cadillac


The original box coming from Cadillac

1967 Cadillac Dealer Banner
the banner is pretty long


cool banner

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Leather seats are back from detailing!

The leather seats of the 1967 Cadillac are back from detailing. I will reinstall them into the car soon. Everything looks like new-- I hope it will stay like this for a very long time. The detailer had some problems with the vinyl area at first, as the dye started to peel off right after the first detailing attempt, so I had to bring the seats back to his shop once again two weeks ago. He redid the whole vinyl area and I hope it will last this time.
They look like brand new leather seats now!



the front seat before

the front seat now - before installation


the rear bench before the repair

after the repair - all the tears and cracks are gone!

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New 1967 and 1958 Cadillac Ads

I found some of the missing 1958 and 1967 Cadillac ads and added 13 of them to the ads gallery.



1958 Eldorado Brougham ad

1967 Cadillac ad

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