The Restoration Has Begun

On Wednesday, Kyle & I took my 73 Cadillac M&M to the body shop in Owen Sound to begin the restoration. This is the same shop that did my 46 Cadillac Miller back in the early 80's. The owner is now 82 years old and still spends every day in the shop. As this is a small 3 man operation, it is anticipated that the car will not be finished until the spring of 2012. This is a "filler job/winter project" which will fill the slow periods in the shop.
Kyle , a friend and I spent the last 2 days removing all the exterior lights, chrome, etc. Found some interesting things as we were stripping the car:
1/ THE ORIGINAL COLOUR OF THE FRONT CLIP WAS BLACK ( NOTE PICS OF THE HOOD WHERE THE CENTRE MOULDING WAS AND THE UNDERSIDE OF THE HOOD.
2/ THE FRONT SIGN WAS LITE BY A 33 INCH FLOURECENT TUBE.SINCE THIS LIGHT HAS NOT WORKED SINCE I GOT THE CAR AND THE FLOURESCENT TUBE APPEARED BURNT OUT, I HOPE IT IS THE TUBE AND NOT THE 12 VOLT INVERTER BALLAST.
3/ THE BLACK PAINT ON THE HOOD AND THE ORIGINAL BOLERO RED THAT WAS HIDDEN BY TRIM ON THE SIDE OF THE VEHICLE WAS STILL LIKE SHOW ROOM NEW AFTER NEARLY 37 YEARS.

When we removed the lower body moulding, we found that the rocker panels are in much worse shape than originally thought. May have to look for a donor car. Will return in 2 or 3 weeks to remove the bumpers and hopefully by then the upholstery shop has dropped the headliner so we can complete the removal of the moulding above the sidew emergency and ditch lights. With the body shop being 4 1/2 hours away, we won't get back often, particularly during the winter.

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Hints

Thanks for the pics Dean. Any other hints for removal? If all goes well, mine will be heading to the body/paint shop in April.

Bill
 
Good luck, Dean! Doing restorative work such as this can be expensive and frustrating, but in the end you will be glad you did. I don't know what your complete plans are, but this might also be a good opportunity to change out the timing chain and sprockets in the engine, and install hardened valve seats. Tom
 
How so very exciting Dean and Kyle. Looks like you are doing it RIGHT! Congrats! (no comments from the peanut gallery located somewhere in Woodstock).

Kyle, bring me more pictures when you come for a visit.
 
So the headliner has to come out in order to remove the outside upper trim? What about the chrome crosses?
 
you don"t need to remove the headliner if you not going to change it. just pull the sides loose and you can reach up and take the nuts off. here is a picture of one out in the yard at french lake showing the lay out of the t bolts. the lower set was plastic plugs on this one the upper t bolts if I remember right. see the water streaks coming down form the holes. the headliner is stapled at the glass and rear door. then used the tooth strip over the side doors. what they did on this one is just cut it off at the trim leaving the fringe you see on the back glass shot
 

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This is a well-optioned rig that will stand proud again following the restoration. Keep up the great work, guys, and please do keep us informed of the progress. Don't forget to protect her "birth certificate" (data plate)!
 
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