Hi All,
About a year and a half ago, I became the proud owner of a '56 Superior 3-way Landau funeral coach with ~51K miles. This is my first adventure with a professional car, and also with an antique car, although I'm handy with antique Harleys and Triumphs.
Since I bought her, I've rebuilt the brakes, upgraded to a dual-chamber master cylinder & 9" booster, with a ~4.75:1 pedal ratio (in a completely bolt-on and fully-reversible-to-stock way), and rebuilt the original engine and transmission. She starts, runs, shifts and stops like a champ!
Now it's time to turn my attention toward body work, paint, and (the part about which I'm most excited,) restoring the interior. I want to do the most faithful restoration I can achieve (and afford). So far, I have found "parts and service" manual reprints from Faxon covering '50-'53 and '57-'58 Cadillac Superiors, but nothing for '54-'56. Any photos, parts/service/sales literature, etc. that you can provide are well appreciated! If you're working on a similar coach and need pictures of something in particular, let me know and I'll post them here.
I know I'm missing a few bits and pieces on the interior. Most notable are the entire casket table and hardware, which I'm told are mostly the same for Superiors from the mid '50's into the '70's. Some less common I'm missing are the curtains and any associated trim/hardware, and the interior catches for the side doors (attached to the mound).
I'm taking the car to my painter tomorrow to have the roof redone...its dented pretty badly (as though some kids, goats, or something trampled all over it), and has some surface rust, but the texture of the original krinkle paint is still visible.
The main body of the car is pretty solid overall; the only really bad rust is in front of the rear wheels. The rear door and both rocker panels have some pinholes that will need some patch metal, too. There's one large dent/crease in the left rear quarter panel, and probably a dozen or more assorted small dings.
I've come to know that the dark green body with dark green & gold interior is a rare color scheme, and it may be a shame to change it...but I picture the body in glossy black, and the interior dark grey & dark red / burgundy. Does anyone know what interior color options were available for '56 Superiors? I'm not planning on selling the car, but does changing the colors hurt the value, or is it just a matter of preference?
Now a little history: the coach has "City of Tripp" on each side door in red & white; it's is a small town (only 630 people today) in South Dakota. There's also plus-sign-shaped cross on each door, which might indicate that it was used by the city coroner / M.E.; I guess it could have served in some ambulance duty...but it's configured only a hearse and not a combination.
I found a South Dakota registration receipt from 1974 in the glove box, so maybe that's about the time it was retired from service. It ended up in California at some point, and was last registered there in 2003. Then it somehow found its way up to my hometown in Wisconsin, where I found it in October 2012 while visiting for a wedding. After a couple months of haggling with the seller, I still paid more than I wanted to and had it shipped down to Texas. It arrived in my driveway New Year's Day of 2013, and I've been ate up with it ever since!
Now a few pics!
As found:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbh7ukzg03taszb/IMG_0010.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xrxm88hnttqxv0k/IMG_0011.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5fhghbfbenilsvz/IMG_0014.jpg
A few of the interior, trying to make an assessment of what was there, and what is missing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rjwy8cyp058fxc/IMG_0715.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7p8decau11yivk6/IMG_0719.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xbhkjbt8t20hr7o/IMG_0720.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3cxes3jbnn8h7j/IMG_0722.jpg
Not shown, but I have what I believe to be all the aluminum trim pieces and window bezels.
Here's the brake upgrade:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0192.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0193.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0196.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0199.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0202.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0206.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0207.jpg
The engine before rebuild...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejesamlvx4t2pqj/IMG_0016.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5hpmt5jsut8mzzn/IMG_0017.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kbppkt4m3ii2266/IMG_0018.jpg
...and after (I know, I still need to paint the air cleaner cover!):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gno0g95r533p5zx/IMG_0410.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xlrgw44xydux778/IMG_0411.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a33w32reue6kbid/IMG_0412.jpg
Finally, here's the location of one of the door catches I'm missing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4gc2tofkcu5l648/Missing door catch.jpg
Thanks in advance for all contributions to this thread; I hope it will be a great learning experience for myself and others!
About a year and a half ago, I became the proud owner of a '56 Superior 3-way Landau funeral coach with ~51K miles. This is my first adventure with a professional car, and also with an antique car, although I'm handy with antique Harleys and Triumphs.
Since I bought her, I've rebuilt the brakes, upgraded to a dual-chamber master cylinder & 9" booster, with a ~4.75:1 pedal ratio (in a completely bolt-on and fully-reversible-to-stock way), and rebuilt the original engine and transmission. She starts, runs, shifts and stops like a champ!
Now it's time to turn my attention toward body work, paint, and (the part about which I'm most excited,) restoring the interior. I want to do the most faithful restoration I can achieve (and afford). So far, I have found "parts and service" manual reprints from Faxon covering '50-'53 and '57-'58 Cadillac Superiors, but nothing for '54-'56. Any photos, parts/service/sales literature, etc. that you can provide are well appreciated! If you're working on a similar coach and need pictures of something in particular, let me know and I'll post them here.
I know I'm missing a few bits and pieces on the interior. Most notable are the entire casket table and hardware, which I'm told are mostly the same for Superiors from the mid '50's into the '70's. Some less common I'm missing are the curtains and any associated trim/hardware, and the interior catches for the side doors (attached to the mound).
I'm taking the car to my painter tomorrow to have the roof redone...its dented pretty badly (as though some kids, goats, or something trampled all over it), and has some surface rust, but the texture of the original krinkle paint is still visible.
The main body of the car is pretty solid overall; the only really bad rust is in front of the rear wheels. The rear door and both rocker panels have some pinholes that will need some patch metal, too. There's one large dent/crease in the left rear quarter panel, and probably a dozen or more assorted small dings.
I've come to know that the dark green body with dark green & gold interior is a rare color scheme, and it may be a shame to change it...but I picture the body in glossy black, and the interior dark grey & dark red / burgundy. Does anyone know what interior color options were available for '56 Superiors? I'm not planning on selling the car, but does changing the colors hurt the value, or is it just a matter of preference?
Now a little history: the coach has "City of Tripp" on each side door in red & white; it's is a small town (only 630 people today) in South Dakota. There's also plus-sign-shaped cross on each door, which might indicate that it was used by the city coroner / M.E.; I guess it could have served in some ambulance duty...but it's configured only a hearse and not a combination.
I found a South Dakota registration receipt from 1974 in the glove box, so maybe that's about the time it was retired from service. It ended up in California at some point, and was last registered there in 2003. Then it somehow found its way up to my hometown in Wisconsin, where I found it in October 2012 while visiting for a wedding. After a couple months of haggling with the seller, I still paid more than I wanted to and had it shipped down to Texas. It arrived in my driveway New Year's Day of 2013, and I've been ate up with it ever since!
Now a few pics!
As found:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbh7ukzg03taszb/IMG_0010.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xrxm88hnttqxv0k/IMG_0011.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5fhghbfbenilsvz/IMG_0014.jpg
A few of the interior, trying to make an assessment of what was there, and what is missing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rjwy8cyp058fxc/IMG_0715.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7p8decau11yivk6/IMG_0719.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xbhkjbt8t20hr7o/IMG_0720.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3cxes3jbnn8h7j/IMG_0722.jpg
Not shown, but I have what I believe to be all the aluminum trim pieces and window bezels.
Here's the brake upgrade:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0192.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0193.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0196.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0199.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0202.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0206.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k6y4qbk01nm2dge/IMG_0207.jpg
The engine before rebuild...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ejesamlvx4t2pqj/IMG_0016.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5hpmt5jsut8mzzn/IMG_0017.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kbppkt4m3ii2266/IMG_0018.jpg
...and after (I know, I still need to paint the air cleaner cover!):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gno0g95r533p5zx/IMG_0410.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xlrgw44xydux778/IMG_0411.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a33w32reue6kbid/IMG_0412.jpg
Finally, here's the location of one of the door catches I'm missing:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4gc2tofkcu5l648/Missing door catch.jpg
Thanks in advance for all contributions to this thread; I hope it will be a great learning experience for myself and others!