1954 Cadillac Coupe deVille

Description

You are looking at a rare piece of automotive Americana. In 1954 Cadillac manufactured only 96,680 Cadillacs (compared to approx. 2,330,000 of all GM models) and only 17,780 were Coupe de Ville’s. The car was originally purchased at Lindburg Cadillac in St Louis MO for $5,605.99. The car was purchased with radio, two heaters, Autronic Eye, EZ eye glass, power brakes and of course factory air conditioning (see attached original invoice). The son and his wife of the original purchaser inherited the car making them the second owner. I bought the car from his widow making me the third owner. As far as I can tell the car is all original with approximately 45,000 miles. The car lived in St Louis for a few years and then the owners moved to Las Vegas. They returned to St Louis sometime in the eighties and last licensed the car in 1987. It has been garaged ever since. It had a respray somewhere along the line and is blistering in two places on the roof and the trim was poorly masked leaving some over spray. The first problem of the restoration was a gas leak from the tank so I removed it and had it repaired and cleaned. The carburetor had set with gas for 30 years so I had it professionally rebuilt and installed a new fuel bowl filter. I removed all the sparkplugs and filled the cylinders with Sea Foam over a period of several days. I turned the engine over by prying the teeth on the flywheel. Next I installed a new Delco battery and was able to turn over the engine with the starter. The spark plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, rotor and points and condenser were then replaced with new. After priming the carburetor the engine started and ran very smooth. Then I replaced the engine oil and changed the filter. The car started and I let it get to operating temperature and notice oil light was coming on. Installed manual gauge and found it to have 25 lbs idling. Replaced the oil sending unit. Noticed an oil leak from the inspection hole in the bell housing. Must assume it is the rear main seal leaking. Next I exchanged the transmission fluid with new. The HydraMatic transmission in this year did not have a transmission filter or cooling lines. After changing fluid I brought up to operating temp and found a transmission fluid leak from the bell housing inspection hole. It was dripping about a large drop every two seconds. Last obstacle was getting the brakes to function. I replaced all wheel cylinders, master cylinder, and all three brake hoses (not OEM). The brake shoes were like new. I also replaced the ¼” brake line from the left rear hose to the right rear wheel cylinder. Now we are ready for a road test. Backed the Caddy out of the garage under its own power, but the transmission slipped when I tried forward gears. So after all the work and expense I have Coupe de Ville whose engine runs good, stops good, but will not go forward. Before I go through with time and expense of pulling the engine and transmission I thought I would see if anyone in eBay Land wants a project partially complete except for a transmission that will not pull and a rear main that leaks. The only rust through that I found was a hole through the right inner fender the size of ahalf dollar (see picture). The floors are solid the trim is all there except the left front fender spear is severely damaged. The driver door arm rest (in the trunk) was removed to install a manual window regulator. The four way power seat operates as well as all windows except the driver’s which is now manual. The master window switch on the driver doors works intermittently. Radio powers on but I did not diagnose why it would not play. Exterior lights, turn signals and brake lights function. Antifreeze was changed along with 28.5 feet of 5/8” heater hose. No attempt has been made to service AC or heaters. Please contact me with any questions you may have. This vehicle is being offered locally for sale so eBay sale could be halted at any time. This vehicle sold as is, where iswith no guarantees expressed or implied. Underlined items above indicate they were replaced with new. I can be reached at 314-277-6010 for further info. Paypal for deposit only.