Holiday greetings to all the visitors of my website!

This year the 1967 Cadillac DeVille is featured on our traditional seasons greetings card together with my beautiful wife Afra and my son Elliot.
We have been doing these cards for quite a few years now with different cars-. You can see some previous cards here.READ MORE...

Tags:Season Greetings, 1967 Cadillac DeVille, Photo shooting

I miss summer! I had some left over 4k resolution video footage from this summer which I put together for this short clip. It features my 58 Eldorado Seville, my 67 Eldorado and my 67 Deville. Enjoy the sunny and warm images from last summer!

Make sure to watch in HD or even better in 4k!

Tags:Video, 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville, 1967 Cadillac DeVille, 1967 Eldorado

I found an awesome NOS part which arrived today! If you have a 67/68 Cadillac with T&T column you know that these are super hard to find and even repaired ones are pricey if you can even find one. I got this one at a good price! I have been looking for a spare switch since 2007 and out of nowhere I was contacted by a very nice …

This switch is almost impossible to find GM #7805676 ACD# D6230. It is for 1967&68 Cadillacs with Tilt and Telescope column.

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Tags:1967 Cadillac Eldorado Repair Tip, 1967 Cadillac Repair Tip, Turn Signal Switch, 7805676, D6230, Tilt and Telescope, 1967

This are my two winter projects for the 2018/19 winter:😞
The Mark III has a leaking fuel pump if it was parked for more than an few days... (It stops leaking after its running for 2 minutes...).
The 1978 Eldorado needs both CV boots replaced ( the original ones just came loose but did not rip after only 40 years slinging grease everywhere). The 78 will also need some minor exhaust work (welding) and either the EGR valve needs to be replaced or the accelaration pump in the carburetor has a problem... it won’t get boring in the dead car season… I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to spend any…

The two "patients" in the shop

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Tags:Restoration, 1978 Cadillac Repair Tip, 1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, 1971, Lincoln Mark III Repair Tip, CV Boots, Fuel Pump

Every 3-4 years I am working on a relaunch of my website which is always a LOT of work unfortunately. Some pages might not work perfectly at the moment yet - so please be patient.
If you find errors please let me know and I will fix it asap. I wont update all my old articles to the new design as it would be too much work, but they will still be available.

I did the first version of my website around 1997, so it is around for a very long time now… I have lost track what version the new website will be. Maybe 8.0? You can find some old screenshots of my websites here.

This is how it all started. Built in Netscape 4.9 IIRC

Tags:Website News, Relaunch

My wife and I were asked to photograph a very special Cadillac in Graz/Austria. Its a super nice 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville which is allegedly linked to Marilyn Monroe. (no hard proof or documents - the story came from a previous owner). My friend Christian is the owner of this beautiful car, and as he got a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz just recently, he wants to sell the Seville as he cant keep them both. If you are interested in owning a great 1959 Eldorado Seville just contact me …

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Tags:1959 Cadillac Eldorado Seville, For Sale, Photo shooting, Photoshooting, Marilyn Monroe

The Cadillac BIG Meet is Europes biggest Cadillac Meeting. Its held every second year and it draws visitors from all over the world into the old Austrian city of "Kremsmünster".

I am part of the organisation team consisting of a few good friends who all got the Cadillac bug.
The theme this year was the "1967 - 1970 Eldorados" which we featured in a special exhibition at the venue. So it was clear that I would ….

The special exhibition for 2018 was about the 1967 - 1970 Eldorados.

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Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, 2018, Kremsmünster, Cadillac, Elvis, Video, 1967 Eldorado, 1974

My wife and I did a quick photoshooting with the 1967 Eldorado since it was finished a while ago.
I think they came out great. I especially like the night shots.

You can see all the results in the image gallery for the 67 Eldorado

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Tags:1967, 1967 Eldorado, Photo shooting

The Cadillac BIG Meet is Europe´s biggest and best Cadillac Meeting. Its held every second year in a small town in Austria. More than 100 Cadillacs are always attending, among them some very high quality and super rare Cadillacs. ALL Cadillacs are welcome and you do not have to be in any club. If you have never heard about the meeting you can find A LOT of info, pictures and videos on the Cadillac BIG Meet website. My wife and I are part of the organisation team. We just finished the new TV-spot for this years event which you can see below. My 1967 Eldorado is playing a big role in this video ;-) as this years special exhibition features the 1967-1970 Eldorados.

The 2018 Cadillac BIG Meet spot

My wife and my son Elliot during filming

Tags:Cadillac BIG Meet, 2018, 1967, 1967 Eldorado, Video

My friend Christian is a fanatic Cadillac Collector like me.
A short while ago his newest car - a fantastic 1970 Eldorado - arrived. The car is a completely all original, unrestored car with only 8k miles on the clock in one of my favorite colors…READ MORE...

Tags:detailing, 1970 Cadillac Eldorado

Today was a pretty sad day for me as the new owner of our old Roadmaster picked up the car. I sold the car to a fellow car aficionado in Italy where it will be appreciated and loved. My wife and I owned this car for more than 10 years and enjoyed every mile we could drive it. It was our holiday cruiser and we only drove it during the summer months. I had planned to restore the car when I "accidentally" found our new Roadmaster in the fall of 2017.

Me and Remo, the new owner of our old Roadmaster.
I could not keep both of my Roadmasters as I already own too many cars and I do not have the necessary funds to keep it alive. I'm glad that I found a great new owner for it.
With tears in my eyes I took a last video of the car departing. I know - I'm way too much attached to my cars and I hate seeing them go…

A short video of the Roadmaster driving away.

Tags:1996, Buick, Roadmaster, Video

Today I welcomed a visitor all the way from Australia in my garage.
I have been knowing Dermot since around 1996 through the internet where we were members in one of the first Cadillac Mailing Lists - the CML. I´m quite sure that the CML was like the first social media platform for Cadillac Enthusiasts. Over the years I had the opportunity to meet some of the members of the CML in real life. I always enjoy…
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Tags:1967 Eldorado

I detailed the undercarriage of my 1996 Buick Roadmaster over the last winter. Its always difficult to keep ones garage clean during such a big project.
Especially after a project the garage is always a mess unfortunately . As the car …

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Tags:Garage, Cleaning

A project that kept me busy for the last few months was to bring back our "new" Roadmaster to its former glory. The car has only 23k miles on the odometer and in many areas still looked like new. The undercarriage was not protected very well from the factory and like on all cars had developed some surface rust over the last 2 decades although the car never was stored outside nor regularly driven in the rain. It also never saw road salt or snow during its entire life. Below are some before pictures where you can see the fantastic condition the car was in before I started cleaning it up.

This is how the car looked like after dry ice cleaning.

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Tags:Underbody, Undercarriage, Undercoating, Video, Undercoating Removal, Restoration, 1996, Buick, Roadmaster, Dry Ice Blasting, Dry Ice Cleaning

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me.
The restoration shop let me know that my 67 Eldorado was finished and ready for pick up.
After work my wife and I jumped into the car and drove 2 hours to Radstadt where the restoration shop is located.

I saw the finished car for the very first time.
The job Bernd Preussler and his small team did is amazing. The paint job is the best I have ever seen. Their commitment to details is outstanding.

The small team that restored my Cadillac. Thank you so much for your great work! You are my heroes!
Michael Hammer, Bernd Preussler, Angela Steiner (from left to right)

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Tags:1967, 1967 Eldorado, Restoration, Radio, 1967 Cadillac Eldorado Repair Tip

I visited the restoration shop to deliver the newly rechromed rear bumper to finish the restoration of my 67 Eldorado. Unfortunately the quality of the chrome job is not good at all. The chrome shop didn't do an acceptable job. Still I will install the bumper now to get the car home and will try to find a better shop to do it once again. Most people probably would not notice the problems in the chrome, but they are just not up to my standards :-(
The restoration shop on the other side did a fantastic job so far. There are some minor details they still want to address and the car should be ready for pick up sometimes in May.

Here is a short video I took with my phone at the shop when I delivered the bumper, showing the almost finished car. Make sure to watch in HD to see all the details

The almost finished car still in Bernds Restoration Shop

Tags:1967 Cadillac Eldorado Repair Tip, 1967, 1967 Eldorado, Repaint, Video, Atlantis Blue Firemist

LONG POST AHEAD!

Whenever you restore a car you can learn a lot about it. The ongoing restoration of my 67 Eldorado is taking a little break now, and here is a summary of things we have learned so far during the restoration process:

There seems to be a design and/or a problem at the front windshield which causes rotten floors and rust in the A- pilar:
Although my car is a low mileage car (28k miles) with no other real rust issues, the front floor of my car had to be replaced as we found out when the carpet was removed. I have heard some similar stories from fellow Eldorado owners who had the same problem with their cars. Some of them owned very low mileage texas cars and had rotten floors and/or rust in the A-pillar. The water seems to enter at the A-pillar and often causes rust through holes there. It can then seep into the car, where it ends on the front floor, from where it cant evaporate due to the rubber insulation used underneath the carpet. When the windshield on my car was re-installed, we made sure that it seals perfectly and we used some modern material to make sure there wont be any future issues. The front floor on my car had to be replaced as you can see on the pictures of my restoration gallery.

The cut out front floor.

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Tags:1967, Repaint, 1967 Cadillac Eldorado Repair Tip, Restoration, Decals, Front Floor, Trunk Cardboard Kit, Atlantis Blue Firemist, Weatherstripping, Taillight Cover, Front bumper filler, Cowl, Hood, Trunk to bumper cover, Carpet, Trunk lining, Rocker Panel Extension Clips, Moldings

Evenings are very exciting for me since last November… The reason for this is because the restoration shop, which is repainting my 67 Eldorado at the moment, is always uploading pictures of the days progress to a web server after work.
Today was especially exciting. I saw the Eldorado in its new paint for the first time!
Doesn't she look spectacular in its fresh coat of "Atlantis Blue Firemist! ?
Bernd and his team did an awesome job so far as you can see in the restoration gallery.
There is still tons of work left - but everything looks very promising so far.

In the paintbooth with fresh paint.

First time in the sunlight, with the first trim parts already installed.

Tags:1967 Cadillac Eldorado Repair Tip, 1967 Eldorado, Restoration, Paintjob, Repaint, Atlantis Blue Firemist, Repaint

I was a little shocked today when I saw the pictures the restoration shop sent me of my 1967 Eldorado Repaint Project.
While the exterior of the car did not have much rust I was surprised that the front floor of the car had quite a bit of rust.
Some of the previous owners seems to have tried to stop the rust on the floor sometimes in the past by applying a good amount of rust converter, or whatever the black paint was , he applied over the rusty floor.
It seems that it did not help but just made the sheet metal oxidize underneath this sticky mess.

The restoration shop now started to remove this paint just to find some weak metal with some holes in it.
This is when they decided to cut the entire front floor out and replace it with some fresh metal instead.
They had to make a patch panel from scratch as no new panels are available for this car anywhere. The new custom made replacement floor was now welded in.
Like on the factory rubberized undercoating was reapplied underneath the car and the welding seams were sealed with seam sealer.

You can see all the detailed pictures in the restoration gallery here.

I hope this was the last unpleasant surprise for a while…

This showed up when the carpet and the seats were removed…

After removing the black mess, the weak metal and some rust holes showed up.

Unfortunately the original floor had to be cut out…

Big hole in the floor.

A new custom made patch panel is fitted and will be welded in.

The new custom made patch panel as seen from the underside.

The new panel is completely patched in.

Seam sealer was applied like it was done at the factory. In the factory they just painted over the seam sealer. We will do the same here.

This car came with factory applied rubberized undercoating which was re-applied over the patched floor.

Tags:1967, 1967 Cadillac Eldorado Repair Tip, 1967 Eldorado, Repaint, Restoration, Rust removal, Floor, Sheetmetal, Patch Panel

In August 2017 our Roadmaster was due for its annual technical inspection and unfortunately it did not pass… It needed brake work and there was some corrosion in the rear wheel wells. To make things even more fun, it also decided to develop a leak in the heater core…
So we decided that we wanted to restore our beloved car during the winter to get it back onto the road for next summer. Then we accidentally ran into our brand new low mileage 1996 Roadmaster…

I now had to decide what to do with the "old" one.
I had already bought all the spare parts before we found the new one, and my dear friend Lucky was so kind to offer me his help and let me do all the work in his fantastic workshop…
The plan now is to sell the old one, but of course nobody wants a car with all these things that need to be fixed. And to be honest I do not want to sell any car in this condition.

My friend Lucky helped me for a full day to fix the Roadmaster.

First we started to replace the heater core, which is a huge pain in the a** to replace on these cars. Everything is hidden away and access to the heater hoses and the heater core itself is very limited and tight.
The heater core is hidden behind the glove box and the two hoses going to the heater core can only be un-tightened with a special hose clamp plier I had to buy. We then did not get the hose off the heater core… Several hours later, after lot of cursing, twisted and bloody fingers and a sore back, the heater core finally was out and the new one in. We pre-filled it with fresh coolant and it works perfectly again. No more fogged up windshield.

At the technical inspection the inspector noticed that the front brake rotors needed to be replaced, as they were slightly vibrating during hard stops. So I ordered new ones from AC Delco. We replaced those as well and cleaned up everything and re-greased the wheel bearings as well.
In the front wheel housings we cleaned up some corrosion and welded some fresh metal in.
So we managed to fix a lot of things during this long day at the shop.

Next time we will rebuild the rear brakes, replace the wheel cylinder and a brake hose. Then the car is back in perfectly working order again technical wise. We will then fix the corrosion the rear wheel well and I can then do the technical inspection again and it should pass it without a problem.

I will then offer the car for sale and drive it until a new owner takes over… If I would not need the money I would just keep this car, as it drives beautifully and I like it verrry much…

Unfortunately I did not take many pictures of the heater core removal process, but there are a few videos on youtube showing how to replace the heater core on the 96 Roadmaster.

Thanks again for a great day in your shop Lucky!

The old heater core is out - it had a small leak. Luckily the coolant did not drain into the car but escaped through the drain hose on the firewall.

My friend Lucky working in the wheel housing…

Tags:1996, Buick, Roadmaster, For Sale, Austria, Europe, Heater Core