| Lou's 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special Restoration Page |
| Heres an introduction to my latest project. A 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood Sixty Special with A/C and a rust free body. The car is a low mileage original car (original hoses, clamps and original coil lead me to believe that the mileage is accurate). This car was the unfinished project of the previous owner. A fresh high quality basecoat/clearcoat paint job was left unpolished. A re-chromed front bumper was left uninstalled, the interior and trim work is in disarray and there was a trunk full of parts. She was built on Feb 7,1956 with the following factory options, A/C with roof ducts, Six way power seat, Power Windows, Tinted Glass, Heater, Door guards, Fog lamps, Wonder Bar Radio with rear speaker, Whitewall tires & Antifreeze(it was an option in 56). The color is Arlington Green Metallic with corresponding "Lt. Green Bombay" interior. The Fleetwood has some unique features found only on this body style. For example, the spear like 1/4 panel molding, the Stainless trim surrounding the upper door frames, 133" Wheelbase, F L E E T W O O D trunk lettering and lavish interior upholstery. Slowly over time she will be restored to her former glory. |
| Here she is the day we brought her home. We named her Daisy |
| The work begins (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| Nothing beats a highly polished finish. These pics show the before & after |
| Paint finish is show ready 11/18/06 |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| As of 12/04/06 |
| A little TLC goes a long way |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| I spent some time dealing with electrical issues. Thanks to the shop manual, lights, horn & heating system all work perfectly. Next update: Engine detail |
| View a reproduction invoice for this car |
| I have begun some of the engine compartment detailing. Some fresh paint work, correct spark plugs,wires and belts were also installed. |
| The moment I have been waiting for! Front bumper & trim installation. With a little ingenuity I was able to install it by myself. Take note of the spare tire. It was just the right height to support the bumper assembly. |
| Interior work begins Seats and door panels are out. Carpet & Dash are next. Check out the bucket seat :) |
| Exterior work is near completion Wipers, windshield trim, fog lights, fender badges, A/C scoop grilles & front license plate were all recently installed. Rocker molding & Fender script will finish off the rest. |
| As of 01/22/07 |
| Interior work continues Carpet is out. No surprises under the rug. Floor boards are solid. Some light surface rust in the front foot well area was addressed with POR15. I decided to pull the entire dash out so I could repaint all of the factory painted areas. The original front & rear speaker was still in the car! Dash removal was a little tricky but it will be worth the end result! |
| As of 02/19/07 |
| Click on the pics to see the before and after disassembly |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| As of 04/01/07 |
| Interior work continues Dash has been repainted(including dent removal), a total of 16 metal interior trim parts have been repainted in their correct colors. The rug is installed but the cold weather is effecting the install. I'll have to wait till we see some warmer temps to get a good fit. Seat track is installed. Note the electric seat motor cover. When the seat is installed this part is barely visible but Cadillac saw to it to cover it and color match it! A/C condenser,dryer & lines are installed. Rear of car awaits the rear bumper from the chrome shop. I should have the bumper back this week. Can't wait!! |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| As of 04/06/07 |
| Rear Bumper install The Rear Bumper is back from the chrome shop. Wow it came out great! Bumper reassembly went together nicely. I would like to thank Sandy's Bumper Mart in Syracuse NY for another outstanding chrome plating job. Take note of the first picture on the left. This picture shows the end result of a poor chrome plating job. The recently done plating(by previous owner) did not adhere to the steel properly. The plating peeled off exposing the bare steel, which began to rust quickly. |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| Correct White Wall tires are mounted & hubcap medallions were refinished. Rocker panel trim installed |
| As of 04/24/07 |
| Headliner removal & installation. This was a very labor intensive job. Overall not that difficult but it sure did take a lot of time(2 solid days)! |
| As of 05/20/07 |
| (click on photo's for a larger view) |
| Here's what I started with. |
| Headliner out. No surprises. Wind lace must be installed prior to headliner |
| The new headliner gets put into position. The headliner support rods make this part of the installation easier than it looks |
| Pull, tack, glue & cut .... Oh my!!!! |
| The finished job. Overall I am very happy with the outcome. There is a wrinkle here and there but in time it will flatten out |
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Questions or comments? E-mail the webmaster
The Long Island Dreamboats Inc is not affiliated with the Cadillac Motorcar Division or General Motors Corp.
Questions or comments? E-mail the webmaster
The Long Island Dreamboats Inc is not affiliated with the Cadillac Motorcar Division or General Motors Corp.
| The seats are finally back from the upholstery shop! It was worth the 5 month wait. Check it out. Seats are installed . Next update will include seat trim, belts & door panels. Stay tuned She's almost ready!!!!!! |
| As of 06/26/07 |
| Before |
| After |
| As of 06/30/07 |
It's all coming together now. All of the seat trim is installed as well as the weather
stripping on all four doors. A few more items were installed/detailed under the hood.
stripping on all four doors. A few more items were installed/detailed under the hood.
| Reupholstering the door panels Another labor intenisve job. You don't need a lot of tools for this. A sewing machine, spray glue, straight edge ruler, scissors & pliers to remove door panel trim hardware. |
| In this row of pics you will see the pile of material need to complete four door panels. Plus my basement converted to an upholstery shop. The last pic is what the original 50 yr old panel looked like. |
| The work begins. The armrest is 3 pcs. I pulled the original apart piece by piece this way I could trace out the pieces to the new material. After the original panel was stripped, I used the original board & traced it to the new cardboard. |
| Sewing the pleating was very time consuming. Almost 12 ft in length!!!(1st pic). Assembly once all the parts are cut and sewn together goes quickly. |
| She is finished!!!!!!!! Ok , Ok . I know they are never done but she is road/show ready. Only a couple of little things to address over the summer. Yippie!!! |
| Interior is almost done! |
| The pictures below are from the previous owner. Pictures were taken from the warehouse where the car sat for many years |
| Once the car made it home. I began to unload the trunk. This took hours to split up the parts based on what part of the car it belongs to |
