1952 Cadillac Series 75

[Fleetwood Meadow]

[GARY F]

Glad to see you are back at it.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

Over the winter the garage was 35 degrees. It’s hard to work on metal in that type of temperature. But since it’s getting nice out and my engine should be back soon it would be nice to have it ready to be moved around so I have to get going. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

Took the headliner out. Found 2 large mouse nests in it, one in the front and one in the back. 

[Bleach]

Make sure you number all your headliner bows when you install the new headliner, it will save you a lot of grief. You will also want to see how it installs around the doors and what hardware was used. Most likely your original material is a cotton flannel. Most of the material used in the upholstery was natural. The seats were usually done in wool. The driver's seat may be leather.

You might still have a good pattern under the cover of your rear seat. They were different from year to year. I included a photo of the rear if you are looking for authenticity. Once done correctly, it's very inviting and comfortable.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I can’t speak for the rear seat’s condition but the front seat looks to be in pretty good shape. It’s interesting because the spots that were hidden are gray but the exposed areas of fabric all look tan. I will be sending the car out to be re-upholstered. That is way beyond my precision work. 

[Bleach]

I'm wondering if it really was tan and maybe it got dyed later? Did you post a photo of the data plate? It can tell you what trim was used. Mostly it was either tan or grey though in '52 they did expand the material choices.

It could probably be saved it's not torn up too bad or maybe has some split seams. There's a chance a good shop could redye it back to an even color. Some shops will let you order the material on your own. I found a guy locally who taught upholstery at a college. He was very reasonable and did it in a reasonable amount of time. He did my '51 Cadillac coupe about 25 years ago. I found the the right material at SMS fabrics. I think the wool might have cost around $100/yd in 1997. I think he charged me to do the entire car for about $1800 to $2500 which included the labor to install most of it. I just had to install all the trim and small parts. He told me how much material I needed to buy for the carpet, fabric for seats, doors, visors and headliner. I don't recall what all the material cost.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

The bulk of the inside and outside are stripped. I need to figure out what to use to get the corners and areas my tools can’t reach. I found two Ls on the inside of the wheel well. I don’t know what they mean because it’s the right fender. 

[John S.]

Very nice work on the Caddy. John

[Bleach]

I used a torch to get at tough spots like this. I'd heat it just enough to make the paint bubble and then quickly and carefully scrape with a hard piece of wood with a chiseled point.

[Andy J]

Fleetwood Meadow,I am really digging your build! After church today,I intended to work a little on my '51 Pontiac.The temps here are in the high 90's,down from 101 Thursday,so I decided to look at a few build threads instead.I looked at and read your entire build and I'm glad I did.I am really into what you're doing.Keep up the good work and keep your chin up.I understand getting frustrated at a task and moving on to another for a change of scenery before you finish with a certain task.I agree that a small win will keep your spirits up even though that might not be the best way to go about it.

 

Keep posting,I am loving it.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

Took a week off while waiting for some primer to arrive. I finished preparing the fender tonight and applied the primer. I found a dent I didn’t like on the top of the fender so I have to fix that before finishing the primer. It’s looking good so far and I only took a little damage when the grinder I was using decided to jump. I am going to paint a color layer onto it before I put it back on the car. My thoughts on that is that it will have protection where the metal joins the rest of the car, and it will add to the completeness of the car rather than having it just in primer to get ruined by the weather. I have been bouncing back and forth on what I want to use. This won’t be the final paint but it will be closer and I found a Rust-oleum Custom Lacquer in gloss navy that caught my eye. I don’t have any experience with today’s lacquers so I don’t know if they are the same as the old ones that didn’t like the sun’s uv rays and had to be buffed constantly but it says it’s “50% more durable.”

Edited June 23, 2022 by Fleetwood Meadow
Correction of quotation. (see edit history)

[Fleetwood Meadow]

[Fleetwood Meadow]

First coat of primer on the outside. It’s almost ready for a little color.

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by Fleetwood Meadow (see edit history)

[r1lark]

No car gets restored without a little blood-letting. Glad it wasn't worse. Thanks for posting your progress!

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I tend to think that without a little blood how do you know you did anything? I applied a little blue to the inside of the fender. It’s about what I want it to look like so I ordered some paint and it should be here soon. Then I’ll finish the inside of the fender and move out to where it will show. In the meantime I have begun cleaning up the rest of the wheel well that gets bolted into the inside of the fender. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

4 coats of paint using my spray gun. Looking pretty good but I haven’t seen it in the daylight yet. Looks like the color I was looking for. Not bad for my first time using a spray gun. 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Fleetwood Meadow
Added picture (see edit history)

[GARY F]

Looks good. If you sprayed lacquer you will have to compound it to bring out the shine.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I didn’t like the texture of the paint so I had to wet sand it per instructions and did it again. And something landed in it so I will have to touch up a spot but it’s smoother now. The instructions call for clear coat for shine so once I get the other piece of the fender painted and attached I’ll clear coat it and hide it somewhere so it won’t get damaged while I work on the other fender and hood. 

[Laughing Coyote]

What type of gun are you using and what's the air pressure set at?

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I was using way too low of a pressure in my hvlp gun. Once I put it up to 30 it started working beautifully. I just sprayed the inner fender piece and after 2 coats it looks as good as the main fender that had 5 coats.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

The other fender is off and on the bench. I know the car was in an accident but the fenders are like night and day. The passenger’s side had a huge repair with undercoating in the fender well. The driver’s side had a small repair with no undercoating in the fender well, with the exception of the rear piece of the fender well that had undercoating on the inside and out. And the paint was under the chrome belt on the passenger’s side but as you see in the picture they didn’t paint under the driver’s side chrome belt. It’s black but the car was never black so it makes me wonder if maybe this was a replacement fender prior to it coming off the road in the early 1970s. With no undercoating on the inside it makes things easier except I’m battling major rust scale. The bracket on the fender is for a vacuum brake booster that had failed. 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Fleetwood Meadow (see edit history)

[Fleetwood Meadow]

My temporary hot rod.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I have finished the bed liner protectant on the underside of the fender. I had put 2 coats on a couple of weeks ago and then stopped working all together on it until tonight when I put the third and final coat on. It looks pretty great and should be protected from rocks and mud. The rear piece really completes the fender. I will cut the bolts that are used to attach it to be more flush with the welded nuts that show on the inside and then paint the final color coat on the outside. Then it’s on to the other fender that I had started working on. The heat and humidity has made it impossible to work, the shop being 80 degrees and about 70% humidity. 

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Fleetwood Meadow (see edit history)

[Fleetwood Meadow]

The damn mice won’t get out of this car. I got rid of the headliner thinking it would help with that. I added an electric mouse repellent and they laughed at it. So I decided to remove the seats to keep the mice from them. I took the bottom seat out of the rear seat and put it in the garage. Now my garage smells like the mice so I had to spray it. And look at the mess they made under it.  I will continue to remove the seats and that will allow me to rewire what needs to be rewired and hopefully the mice will feel no need to be in there.

[neil morse]

Until you rodent-proof your garage, you will continue to have problems with Micky and his friends.  I've found the only way to cure the problem is to make it impossible for them to get inside whatever structure it is, and then make sure you kill all the ones that are already inside.

 

Good luck with your project!

[Barney Eaton]

Make friends with a cat

[Fleetwood Meadow]

If I could start the car and move it they wouldn’t be inclined to get in it. However, my engine rebuilder is giving me excuse after excuse to give me no information. Month 15 of him having it. When I rebuild my Dodge Meadowbrook engine I will have someone bore the cylinder and do the machining and then I will do the rest. It’s gotten a little frustrating waiting. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

Look at the mess they did to the coils. Pretty much doomed the upholstery.

[RealEllenSmith]

I look forward to seeing it!!!

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I went to see the engine rebuilder. He has moved to another building. I didn’t see any work done personally but the work order states that they cleaned it and bored the block. He also said that the parts should all be in and they will begin steadily working on it as they get the new shop up and running and claim that it could be finished in December. The carburetor has to be sent out to be rebuilt. My Dodge Meadowbrook has been battling me lately so I have been focusing on that. But as the winter comes along and the process on the engine begins hopefully it will start to motivate me to work on the car more.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

Four months later and the engine rebuilder is “waiting for electricity in the shop to be repaired.” Almost two (2) years after I sent it to him and the last thing I heard was they had machined the heads. That’s all I know that has been done. This is why I hate relying on others. I will have another conversation and listen to his list of excuses about why it’s taking so long. In the meantime it’s been too cold to work on metal in my garage so I’m at a standstill with everything. I keep vacuuming the interior to keep the mice away while I wait. Once it gets a little warmer I will repaint the engine bay before I put the engine in. I also plan to rewire it so everything is new. 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Fleetwood Meadow (see edit history)

[Fleetwood Meadow]

What to do… might need to make a checklist. Interior-wise, I need to rewire the car. Might be time to clean it out and start wiring. The engine should be back sometime soon. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I spent some time in the garage tonight and got a lot of the green paint off of the outside of the fender. This is the driver’s side fender and the paint is a little odd. The base coat is black, then green. The other fender was red then green. It would appear that the top of the fender needed to be repainted when the whole car became a different shade of green because the top of the fender had a brown layer over the patchy green with the new green over that. I could probably get away with wet sanding the black and the brown layers and then painting over them but I feel I should remove all of it and start fresh. I knocked out a couple of dents and creases in the front under the headlight and near the antenna hole. Luckily the inner side of the fender doesn’t have the undercoating like the other fender did so that will save a lot of energy and time. 

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

You have made a great choice as the brown coat is most likely red oxide primer. It’s more work, but will give you a better finished product in the end. Mike

[Fleetwood Meadow]

After months of spraying and fighting the frozen tumbler finally freed and I was able to get it out. Now it’s getting cleaned so I can put it back in and turn the ignition system on.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

Was looking back at early pictures of Ricardo. This was taken when I was waiting for my wife and friend to get out of the gym. The fog/parking lights looked cool in the dark parking lot. While I’m still waiting for the engine to come back I have been fixing the fenders. With them off it will be easier to put the engine and transmission back in. Then I can put them back on and the front end will be rewired and finished. I ordered the new wires, well a large amount of the wires to rewire the whole car. At that time the engine, transmission, and electrical will be all set. The brakes are still good and working. I was rereading this whole story and I really appreciate all the comments and help, even when I sounded upset and frustrated. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

I was looking at the headlight buckets and I couldn’t understand what this round thing was at the end of the wire. It was only on one headlight assembly. So I removed the black tape and what do I find.. a spare key. Apparently Mr. Lincoln Fung hid a spare key on the car. It seems like a someone ingenious idea; you lose your keys somewhere and you reach under the fender and remove the tape attached to the wires and you have a key to get back into the car. 

[Fleetwood Meadow]

The first headlight pigtail has been rewired. A before and after of the wires. The ones I replaced were bare.

[Fleetwood Meadow]

After using some rubbing compound on my wife’s car I decided to play with the paint on the Cadillac. It’s amazing how the paint comes back after some buffing. Too bad the paint on the car is not good.