The 1956 caddy

I traded for the 1962 Pontiac Catalina while we lived in Akron Ohio. I felt the payments on the 67 Galaxy were too high. The Catalina was a four-door sedan, however it had a 389 engine with tri-power. The car would get up and go and was a lot of fun at the traffic lights. It was a real sleeper.

In 1967 we moved to Atlanta, Georgia. While in Georgia I traded for a 1963 or 64 Oldsmobile 88. In 1969 or 1970 I bought my second new car, which was a 1970 Plymouth Duster with the slant six engine with a standard transmission. My wife did not drive so the three on the column was not an issue. Overall the duster was a nice car although very basic.

In 1972, a new job brought me back to Ohio. Someone at the store I worked at gave me a 1955 Oldsmobile. It did not run, I was going to fix it and drive it as I liked old cars. It made a very nice yard ornament as I never had the time nor money to repair it. Another car I could not afford which I would love to have was a 1939 Lasalle sedan. The lady who owned it worked for Buckeye Mart and said the car once belonged to Gov. Bricker. I did not buy the car because I could not afford it.

In 1974 or so we moved to Jackson, Ohio. My wife had learned to drive and we bought a second car. It was a 1957 Plymouth four-door sedan. My wife loved the car, it had a push button automatic transmission. Another interesting fact with the exhaust manifold leak, giving it a unique sound. At some point the torsion bar broke making the car another junkyard candidate. Also while in Jackson I traded the duster for a 1965 two door Thunderbird. I really like that car. In 1975, we bought a new Pontiac Catalina. We sold the Thunderbird. We bought a car to replace the Plymouth because I was traveling, we bought a 19 something Vega. I think it was a 1971 station wagon. I drove that car round trip Jackson to Athens for about eight months. The engines in those cars were aluminum and were crap. I sold the car to a guy who needed a good body for his Vega.

While in Jackson, I bought one of my dream cars. I just liked the styling of the early 50's caddy's. A friend of the family had a 52 when I was younger and I always wanted a car like it.  It was in 1956 Cadillac sedan. It needed a lot of cosmetic work that never got done.  The car drove well and was a lot of fun. I owned this car from about 1977 to sometime in the 80s. I drove the car from Washington Courthouse,Ohio to Sandusky, Michigan. Eventually the car needed some engine work which I could not afford, so I sold it to a local car lot.

The next blog will continue the car saga.

1976 Cadillac Eldorado Bumper Fillers

I have this 1976 Cadillac convertible that I bought a few years ago. My son Steve gifted me the money to buy it. It was missing front bumper fillers. I thought it should be an easy fix. I found out later that Cadillac = neither easy nor inexpensive.

So after years of missing bumper fillers I bought the replacements thinking it should be an easy fix. The original material the fillers were made were of poor quality rubber like stuff, and are not reproduced. If you can find new old stock of these parts more than likely they rotted right in the box. So you have a choice of fiberglass or ABS plastic. Neither fit as they should, the molds these company use are at best poor.

After lots of research I found that the fiberglass were less expensive but most owners preferred the ABS. The fiber glass ones are sold by one company in Alabama and the ABS are made by one company and sold by many vendors. I found one ABS seller recommended by others at a reasonable price. They were slow to ship and left out two pieces. They quickly shipped the missing pieces after I called them so no problem.

The installation process was a real pain. I looked on line and found a very helpful source for instructions to install the rear set but nothing for the front other than you need to remove the front bumper. The rear fillers I got installed after hours of fiddling and cutting brackets and dremeling the fillers to make them fit.

The front required removal of the front bumper , parking and headlights. The access to the bolts to attach to these fillers do not accommodate these huge hands I inherited. So thanks to my daughter and grandson for their help. Then bumper removal is not a one person job. Thanks to my oldest son for his aid..

I now have the replacement fillers on the car. Moral of the story Cadillac bumper fillers are a pain, not cheap, not easy to replace.