1941 Cadillac anew project

I had told my daughter to keep on the look out for a 1940 or 1941 Cadillac for me. In  the meantime I had bought the 49 Hudson and started on it when she  called to tell me she found a 41 Cadillac in a salvage yard that was going out of business in Idaho. My son in law went to inspect the car and send me some pictures and I bought the car that day. We express mailed the money and Bobby made arrangements for the car to be picked up and transported to his storage unit where it now waits for me to go and pick it up, as soon as the weather is clear (no snow or ice) for a week as it is a 2400 mi. round trip.

 Thee car has a clean Washington State title and all the parts are there. The original flat head V8, transmission and rear end are still in the car.

 Bobby was able to pump up the tires on the car to get it moved and said they are still holding air.

 The interior is rough but complete with the dash board intact.

 Here it is in the storage unit where it will be protected until I can pick up. The side windows have been broken out and I did not want it to take any more damage.

 Now that I have a 41 Cadillac project car I needed a donor car for the engine ,transmission and rear end. I found a 2007 Cadillac STS with a 4.6 v8, 6 speed auto transmission, 4 wheel disc breaks and independent rear suspension for a buy it now price of $500.00 at a salvage car auction in Los Angeles CA.

 When we bought the car we paid for the car to be transported to us in Kingman AZ. but the auction Co. could not find a car hauler that would bring it to us with the rear fire damage that it has so we had to go to LA with our trailer to pick it up.

 I was able to get it in the trailer with the wench and help from the fork lift driver at the salvage yard and got it home in a 2 day 1200 mile trip.

 The front 2 thirds of the car is in good condition so the wiring harness and control modules should be OK.

 The left front tire and wheel had been damaged but I found the spare buried in the trunk under the burn debris and put it on the front.

 Had to put car skates under the back tires to get it out of the trailer and move it with the help of a come a long wench.

 The fire looks like it was on the outside of the car and spread to the underside of the car doing a lot of damage to the rear suspension but the gas tank is still there and did not explode.

 Engine compartment is in good condition with no fire or heat damage.

 The interior has some damage from the fireman breaking out the back window and the hot glass went flying inside but the front and back seats, dash and carpets are still in good condition with some scorch burns.

 The trunk and package self area's are burned including all the rear wiring and control devices. I will
have to determine how bad the rear suspension is and if it is repairable.

I proceeded with taking the car apart removing the door's, hood, fender's front grill and light assembly's, dash and interior parts and upholstery. I cut and removed the burned wiring at the back of the car, cleared all the damaged wire's then put a battery charger on and connected the battery.

 

 The car has been taken a part as much as I want to at this point as I will wait until the 41 is home to decide how I will fit all the new components into the old car.

 With the battery connected I tested all the fuses, replaced the bad ones, and found that the seats, power tilt & telescoping steering column worked, A/C system worked, dash & message center worked and the keyless start lite up. The message center shows that it has 192000 miles on so engine and trans will have to be rebuilt but I think that the $500.00 bought a lot of good usable parts.

 We had an appointment to deliver the 65 T-Bird to Armandos Custom Upholstery in San Jacinto Ca. on March 19 and drove to Banning Ca. on Sunday 3/18 and spent the night at a KOA then on to San Jacinto on Monday to deliver the car.

 Armando & George Torres run the shop and were very helpful with the selection of material and colors that will be used in the car.

 Karen picked a electric blue as the main color and a shade lighter blue for carpet, They talked about the design and look of the upholstery and we all came to an agreement.

 The T-Bird in front of the shop reader to get a modern look with a vibrant color.

 We were finished by 10 AM and drove back home that day. On the way home we received notice that the 2007 Cad delivery had fallen apart and that storage fees were be assets at $20.00 a day so when we got home on Monday we repacked the camper and drove to Pasadena Ca. on Tuesday, spent the night at a KOA then went to Copart salvage yard in south east Los Angles early Wednesday morning. We had to wait for them to open and it took another 2 hours to get the paper work done and the car loaded. It was a 7 hour drive home so we spent 28 hours driving and 2600 miles (2 trips to LA) in 4 days I think we will stay home for a while.