Fleetwood Meadow
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Posts posted by Fleetwood Meadow
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I have always liked 4-door cars over coupes, which puts me in the out-crowd. The bigger the car the more important I feel driving it. All of the most important figures in my life alway drove big cars. I own a ‘52 Cadillac 75 series to prove that. The nada value of this car is right where the guy is asking. However they don’t have great qualifying tiers: just low, average, and high. With an engine that is acting up it’s hard to consider that average, but I can’t consider it low either based on the body. I emailed the seller again and asked for specific pictures. He hasn’t been good at providing those things but we will see what he comes back with. If I didn’t have to cross 3 states I would just drive there for a day trip and see what it looks like but that distance requires some previous planning.
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I agree with you Greg. The main reason for the post is to see what to look for. With a Mopar of this age I know what I’m looking for because I know what wears out. With Ford products I know nothing. I also wanted to see where the conversation goes in terms of experiences, price, and parts availability. And with the engine issue I’m trying to figure out what am appropriate price is for the car so I am not overpaying and also not insulting the owner. I think the unique face of the car is what has made me always like them. The closest I’ve seen to the grill of a 1958 is the Alfa Romeo grill.
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Here is the issue with this car. I should have mentioned it in the original post. This car does not have the Mopar All Weather system in it. The heater core is on the firewall with a blower motor on the inside of the firewall. It has no name on it and it uses a cable to move the lever in the housing to push it from floor to defroster. The only thing on the inside of the engine bay is really just a hose going from the grill to the firewall. The hose from the blower motor to the defroster track is 2.5” in diameter. I’m not sure when this heater was put in or if there was never a heater from the factory but it does not appear to be something that would have come out of the factory.
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I hate to ask this vague of a question on here, but the question has been brought up internally. I have always liked the quirky style behind the 1958 Edsel. My wife thinks they are ugly as sin. I have found one that is about 4 hours from me and priced at $9500. He states there are no rust holes, but I think I see one beginning on the passenger’s front fender. It isn’t anything I couldn’t handle. Other than that the body seems to be in pretty great shape, based on pictures. I have not seen the interior although he says that the front seat is ripped. A 3 year old picture shows the dash to be in good shape and the knobs not broken. I see no broken glass. He stated in the ad that the engine was rebuilt a couple years ago but runs rough and stalls. He said it is based on low compression in 2 of the cylinders. Based on the rough engine I believe $9500 is a little high. However I do not know how many of these cars are out there or what their value is. Before I travel the 4-5 hours in both directions to look at this car what are these cars known for in terms of issues and what do I look for on them? This would be my first Ford vehicle so I’m inexperienced with their quirks. This car has a column shift, not the push button in the steering wheel.
I hate that I have to say this but I have been disgusted many times on here by people bashing what others like. I like the style of the car, I do no care if you don’t like the look of them. And I do not want to hear “run, don’t walk” like I have in the past. We are grown ups and I am asking for grown up information.
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In my ‘51 Dodge the defroster works absolutely terribly. When I took the vent cover off that runs from one side of the windshield to the other I found 11 slots, each about 2” long, spaced along the windshield. The defroster channel is made of metal. The inlet from the blower motor is on the passenger’s side I am assuming that the purpose of the design is to get large amounts of air flow spread evenly across the front windows. That is not the case. The passenger’s side windshield starts to defrost after about 30-45 minutes. The driver’s side never gets clear. So the question arose, if I found a way to close off half of each slot, making them all 1” long, would that build pressure inside the defroster channel and push the air out of the smaller holes more powerfully actually defrosting the window? I noticed that when I put tape over every other slot the air movement was felt across the windshield to the other side of the car.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but the electronic solenoid version with the 2 low speeds and 2 high speeds was called the gyro-matic and the 3-speed was called the fluid drive. Or is Chrysler and Dodge different at that time? My ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook is a 3-speed fluid drive. It uses no electronics in shifting. It has a very low, 0-10mph gear, a 2nd, 10-25mph gear, and a high, 25+mph gear. You need to shift from gear to gear but that is the only time for the clutch. I generally shift to 2nd when I stop but I can leave it in 3rd gear all day without using the clutch. I find it has the pick up of a manual with the convenience of an automatic. And the luxury of not being able to stall it.
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It’s the sedan so it has no division window and the seat is adjustable but the seat pulls away from the wood wall that the jump seats are attached to.
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In my ‘52 Cadillac Series 75 the front seat frame is made of wood, along with the wood on the trim. Is the wood in the front seat structural to the cabin and frame or is it just structural for the seat itself? When I restore the interior I do not want to weaken the car if the front seat wood is used to strengthen the car.
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This is in a hole-in-the-wall museum up in New Hampshire.
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Sorry, didn’t mean to stop this thread. I just thought if we could get back to the original topic the thread would be better.
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Since this topic has taken up way too much of another thread where it hardly belongs, here is the conversation:
Do you need to drive a Model A or T up steep hills in reverse?
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So let’s put this to rest already because not everyone cares so much about Model A’s and T’s and are more interested in the topic that the original poster stated. If you want to talk about a car going up a hill create another thread. Almost 2 pages about whether a car can or cannot go up a hill. Come on folks..
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I need to look into purchasing one of those books that lets me see which parts are exchangeable. A Buick or Chevrolet part is much less money than a Cadillac part in many instances. Since this was an item that is hidden in the door I wouldn’t have cared if it was Cadillac or not.
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Try to spot which one is the left and which one is the right. Spoiler, they are both for the right door. After spending much more than I wanted to spend on this item that I was assured was for the left hand, I went out into the cold and disassembled the driver’s door to put the regulator in. I get it right to it and the crank wont go through the hole. It is on the wrong side of the regulator. I took off the passenger’s side regulator to compare and as you can see they are the same. I attempted to put the passenger’s side regulator on the driver’s door and sure enough the crank was on the wrong side, therefore confirming my assessment. Luckily for me there are no returns for this item. However I will keep it in a box for when the passenger’s side wears out. And the good side of this is I have taken the passenger’s side regulator out so I can clean it and make it smooth too. I did find another one that will have the crank on the correct side. It’s the same amount as this one and has a slight crack on the top where the window slot slides into, but it shouldn’t be a problem because the window bolts into the slot. Funny enough, the one that will work is listed as the passenger’s side regulator because people aren’t all that smart when it comes to fact checking information before they list it. Just another fun struggle in this pursuit of restoring the big green beast.
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Post was deleted when I just looked for it
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I’m in Connecticut. Left the snow belt and apparently moved into another one. Had 15 inches of snow last week
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My new vent window regulator has arrived. My driver’s side window regulator had 2 missing teeth. They decided to make the crank gear out of steel and the window gear out of aluminum. Naturally over time the aluminum wears away. My parts car didn’t have one that was good either. So I finally found a NOS online and bought it. I got it and it was tough to move when I tried it so I soaked in in Super Clean and worked it. It ate the grease off and then I sprayed it with RV silicone lube used for RV sliding side tracks. I’m not sure if I love it but that might because it’s clear and when you think of grease it’s white. Either way it moves so smoothly and easily I can rotate the gears with my fingers. I’m looking forward to putting it in the car and trying it out.
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Unfortunately my ‘51 Dodge Meadowbrook has to deal with the weather too. I have to do some serious work to her before she starts to rot. The Cadillac is just shy of 20’ long and uses 3 driveshafts.
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Since the car is going to be painted the Empress Blue #2 that was available by GM in 1952, I found this color scheme and design in a ‘53 Cadillac that is for sale right now. I like the two-tone color scheme of the dash and seat and it looks to be able to withstand the elements better than the beige-ish broadcloth that is in it right now. This car came with a wood grain painted dashboard and brown steering wheel. If the colors won’t clash I would keep the brown steering wheel or I will have to paint it to be a solid blue instead of the pictured blue and white.
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The newly rebuilt Hydra-Matic 4-speed transmission ready to be installed when the engine is finished and the front end is torn down.
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I hooked up a battery in August and ran a wire to the ignition so I can cycle the hydraulic windows and front seat. They recommend monthly cycling of all the windows to keep the seals in good working order. After months without an engine I hooked up the battery and pressed the switches and the windows and seat moved perfectly. The only trouble I have is with the wiring going to the driver’s side rear door. The switches will not activate the window. I intend to diagnose that issue in the spring and have plans to rewrite the entire car sometime. Sadly a family of mice made the car their home and the smell in the ceiling is terrible no matter what I do so I will probably have to have it removed since it is also discolored.
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It’s new home is under a wonderful lean-to. We got a foot of snow and only the front and rear fenders saw any snow.
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I’m glad to hear there is some interest in my little giant of a car. In March I sent the engine out to a local rebuilder in the area that is very knowledgeable with these 331 engines. At the same time I sent the transmission out to be rebuilt. I got the transmission back about 8 weeks later. In May we moved so the old parts car got hauled away and this one went on a trailer. 2 months later it got dropped off at the house. I wanted to punch the friend that was helping my cousin deliver it. He looked me straight in the eye and said “I really don’t like this car. It lacks style. There is nothing exciting about it.” I smiled and thanked him for coming by and that was the last I said to him. Since the engine was out of the car I decided to take the front fender off and clean it up a bit. It was then that I discovered that the bottom of the fender was hidden under an inch of body filler. I should have known since that same side’s rear door was the same. So I spent a while hammering it out the best I could. But then it got cold and the garage is unseated so my body work has stopped. My intention is to remove the front end and fix it, then put the engine and transmission in while it’s easy and accessible, and then reassemble the front end. I’m glad to hear that people want to see the story because I was telling my wife that I wasn’t going to post anything else since nobody seemed that interested.
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To Buy An Edsel?
in General Discussion
Posted
Thanks kind of where I keep leaning. But I don’t want to overpay and I’m no haggler so based on everything said where do I stand on price?