Grandpa's "new car" - 55' Cadillac - did not get the 55' Buick

[Guest Shaffer]

Some of you may remember me saying that my grandpa may get another 55' Buick Special, but a 4dr sedan, rather than a 4dr hardtop Riviera like he had before. Well, that did not pan out and he got a 55' Cadillac Series 62 4dr sedan instead. It is a very nice car, with 80K actual, 1-owner miles and is still 100% rust free. My uncle bought this car about 5 years ago from the original owner here locally. He took it back to North Carolina and sold it. He recently had the chance to buy it back and at that time, he had a brand new paint job put on it (the original paint was faded) and had the original carpet removed, because it was getting tattered. The seats still had the original plastic on them until a few days ago. He was going to leave it on there, but it was getting very discolored and brittle. Suprisingly, EVERYTHING still works on this old car- which suprised me. I am not sure how many "options" these cars had, but it does have power windows- which was optional rather than standard this year. It also has power brakes and power steering, but I am guessing that it is safe to assume that this was standard on Cadillac for 55'?

I think I heard my uncle say that the 2nd set of original keys were also in the car and the "plugs" had not even been removed. Also, when they recovered part of the door panels (lower parts had slightly curled) he said that they found an old ink pen that appeared to be accidentally dropped in there while the car was on the assembly line. It said something like "GM for 55'" on it, but I will have to check for sure.

There is a slight problem with the generator now, which I will post in another topic, because we are at a crossroads.

No, its not the 55' Buick, but it reminds me a lot of his old 55' Buick, because there are a lot of similarities between the two. Most noticable are the massive "bullets" on the front bumpers.

Attached are photos of the car (still on the trailer at the cruise).

[Guest Shaffer]

Attached photo #2.

More better photos to come later. We have to get the chrome installed on the LF fender.

[K8096]

Very nice car. Those bumper ends are worth their weight in gold. All 1955 Cadillacs has power steering & brakes, and almost all had power windows, but those did cost extra. The most common options you see are the fog lights, altronic eye & wonderbar radio. You'll have fun replacing all the heater hoses at some point. They run up & down both sides of the firewall & the heater boxes are way up under the fenders on each side. It must have 40 feet of heater hose!

[Guest Shaffer]

Thanks for the compliment. I cannot believe all of the looks that the car gets. We were at a family reunion tonight at a local restaurant and there was about 10 people out there looking at it when we went out. I think grandpa is really pleased with it. You are right about the heater hoses. There are a bunch under there. They look to be original too. Hopefully they are OK for a while longer. The car still has NC plates, because it was my uncles car and it has not been re-registered yet.

My only complaint with it is that the tranny shifts are not that smooth, but from what I have been able to gather, that is just how the 4-speed automatic is on these cars. The shifts are quite firm, but it may be where I am used to the silky smooth shifts from the turbo 400 transmissions that are in my 73' Grand Ville and 69' Caprice.

Here is another photo I took of the Cadillac tonight (at least it is not on the trailer this time). Photo of the dash on the next post.

I do not think I have ever posted a photo here of my grandpa's old 55' Buick Special 4dr HDTP. I really wish he had of kept that car. I will attach a photo of it on the next two post.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Very nice car. Those bumper ends are worth their weight in gold. All 1955 Cadillacs has power steering & brakes, and almost all had power windows, but those did cost extra. The most common options you see are the fog lights, altronic eye & wonderbar radio. You'll have fun replacing all the heater hoses at some point. They run up & down both sides of the firewall & the heater boxes are way up under the fenders on each side. It must have 40 feet of heater hose! </div></div>

[Guest Shaffer]

55' Cadillac instrument panel. The new carpeting has not yet been installed. The original carpet was not that bad if I recall, when the car was last here in 1999. My uncle wanted it in new shape though. I personally would have left the plastic on the seats though. Everytime my cousins get in the car, jumping around on the seats , it makes me cringe, because I think about those seats not even being touched for the past 50 years. I do not think they will last long like that. It is not my car, so.... My uncle tells them not to jump around, or put there knees/feet in the seat, but they do not listen. That is why they do not ride in ANY of my cars.

[Guest Shaffer]

Finally, here is a photo of grandpas old 55' Buick Special Riviera 4dr hardtop sedan. It has the "dial" speedometer option, power steering, power brakes and AM radio, but I guess that was about it. It also had trip odometer. I am guessing that was an option too.

This photo was taken in July of 2002 on top of the lake dam. That is grandpa setting in it. I miss this car.

I personally think it had an even better ride than the Cadillac. The Buick had a different type of rear suspension. It may be where the Cadillacs original air suspension was bypassed and standard shocks were installed. The Caddy has leaf springs on the back too. When new the Caddy probably had a better ride, or about the same, but now, I think the Buick rode smoother, but it bottomed out more often. It had those "knee action" shock absorbers and they were leaking.

[jaxops]

Quite a beauty! It's in great shape. My 56 sat for 30 years, so I am in the midst of restoration. We "lived" through the replacement of those heater hoses. I still have the AC to do (OI!). I liked how the car was double-parked at Ryans Steak House. A very wise idea. A fun car to drive, as you said, it is an eye-popper!

[Guest Shaffer]

Thanks for the compliment. Right you are about the heater hoses! I was wondering why it had so many heater hoses. We are still waiting for the carpeting, so we can install it.

I finally got some better photographs of the car (off of the trailer).

[Guest Shaffer]

More of the interior:

[Guest Shaffer]

Close-up of the original rear seat material.

[Guest Shaffer]

Another of the rear interior:

[Guest Shaffer]

Engine (after viewing these photos aren't the best quality).