It´s time to open an “official restoration thread” for my ‘69 SDV, as someday it may help to someone who have similar car / similar problems. First I´m gathering up most pictures posted in different threads along the forum.
I bought the car from a man who seemed to be a compulsive collector of classic cars. He had a piece of land and a warehouse where he stored about 20 classics, Mercedes, Bentley, Cadillac, Lamborghini, Ford, Lincoln… In the past he had about 100 vehicles in this land, some inside and others outside the building. Now he needed some money and had to sell some of the cars. This one started easily, engine run very well, transmission worked apparently well (afterwords I discovered relevant trans fluid leakage) and brakes were apparently well, just some humming in transmission that did not worried me at first. The price was cheap and we made a deal. The car title was not very clear as he confessed but he bound himself to get everything solved so I was inscribed as the car´s owner and the car was ready to run legally. I advanced part of the money and the rest would be paid when I picked up the car. Doing the paperwork would take 1-2 months (Finally it turned to be 3 so I had to wait what it seemed to be an eternity for me).
Finally, on December 29 2010 I went to pick up the caddy, that was about 280 miles from home, with some paper still not ready but which I received some days later. The travel was a hell as I could check steering was very loose and front tires about 40 years old (and warped). The result was a horrendous trembling every time the car speed was over 25 mph and the road had any slight unevenness. Then I discovered that if I drove at more than 45 mph such effect did not take place. Later on, when I changed front tires the problem disappeared. I also changed tie rod ends, idler arm and drag link and since then, the car drove like heaven. Distributor timing was too advanced so when engine was hot at idle the car stalled when I turned the wheels to top right or left. Apart from that there was no incident (except for the red brakes light on but braking was good enough) and I managed to park it in my underground parking space not without some effort. It stick out near one meter, what aroused some complain.
A pic of the night travel:
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Some weeks later I took it to mi girl´s mum country house. It has no garage but I bought a good exterior car cover that is preserving it perfectly. Before that 55 mile travel I changed engine oil, oil filter, gas filter, air filter, sparks, spark wires, distributor cap and rotor. We tried to change points but with new points the car wouldn´t start. When I took the car to an experienced mechanic, he realized that there was not a good ground contact with new points installed. He solved the problem just with a file touch.
First pics of the engine: Dirt everywhere
wordpress image upload
Distributor cap off and very worn tie rod ends:
wordpress image upload
hosting images
hosting images
This plate is the original one. Registered in Madrid (Spain) on july 31 1969
I know: What are those lights doing in the rear bumper? Requirements to adapt the car to the european car light regulations. I´m planning taking that out, changing back up lights for turn lights (just an orange bulb and wire change) and looking for the original moldings (not very easy to find)
Rear view is spectacular. I love it! Original trunk lock emblem and "V" were broken. They were changed thanks to the help of Sven914
Rear fenders "Sedan de Ville" and trunk "Cadillac" badges were missing but later I got them back to its place.
There was a lot of work to do with chrome but I´m making it shine... These headlights were not OEM but an adaptation that former owner screwed on the headlight frame. New OEM type headlights would be installed later on. Left turn light would be also changed for another one in better condition the seller gave me with the car… Cracked but not broken.
I bought the car from a man who seemed to be a compulsive collector of classic cars. He had a piece of land and a warehouse where he stored about 20 classics, Mercedes, Bentley, Cadillac, Lamborghini, Ford, Lincoln… In the past he had about 100 vehicles in this land, some inside and others outside the building. Now he needed some money and had to sell some of the cars. This one started easily, engine run very well, transmission worked apparently well (afterwords I discovered relevant trans fluid leakage) and brakes were apparently well, just some humming in transmission that did not worried me at first. The price was cheap and we made a deal. The car title was not very clear as he confessed but he bound himself to get everything solved so I was inscribed as the car´s owner and the car was ready to run legally. I advanced part of the money and the rest would be paid when I picked up the car. Doing the paperwork would take 1-2 months (Finally it turned to be 3 so I had to wait what it seemed to be an eternity for me).
Finally, on December 29 2010 I went to pick up the caddy, that was about 280 miles from home, with some paper still not ready but which I received some days later. The travel was a hell as I could check steering was very loose and front tires about 40 years old (and warped). The result was a horrendous trembling every time the car speed was over 25 mph and the road had any slight unevenness. Then I discovered that if I drove at more than 45 mph such effect did not take place. Later on, when I changed front tires the problem disappeared. I also changed tie rod ends, idler arm and drag link and since then, the car drove like heaven. Distributor timing was too advanced so when engine was hot at idle the car stalled when I turned the wheels to top right or left. Apart from that there was no incident (except for the red brakes light on but braking was good enough) and I managed to park it in my underground parking space not without some effort. It stick out near one meter, what aroused some complain.
A pic of the night travel:
image hosting
Some weeks later I took it to mi girl´s mum country house. It has no garage but I bought a good exterior car cover that is preserving it perfectly. Before that 55 mile travel I changed engine oil, oil filter, gas filter, air filter, sparks, spark wires, distributor cap and rotor. We tried to change points but with new points the car wouldn´t start. When I took the car to an experienced mechanic, he realized that there was not a good ground contact with new points installed. He solved the problem just with a file touch.
First pics of the engine: Dirt everywhere
wordpress image upload
Distributor cap off and very worn tie rod ends:
wordpress image upload
hosting images
hosting images
This plate is the original one. Registered in Madrid (Spain) on july 31 1969
I know: What are those lights doing in the rear bumper? Requirements to adapt the car to the european car light regulations. I´m planning taking that out, changing back up lights for turn lights (just an orange bulb and wire change) and looking for the original moldings (not very easy to find)
Rear view is spectacular. I love it! Original trunk lock emblem and "V" were broken. They were changed thanks to the help of Sven914
Rear fenders "Sedan de Ville" and trunk "Cadillac" badges were missing but later I got them back to its place.
There was a lot of work to do with chrome but I´m making it shine... These headlights were not OEM but an adaptation that former owner screwed on the headlight frame. New OEM type headlights would be installed later on. Left turn light would be also changed for another one in better condition the seller gave me with the car… Cracked but not broken.