With the front end of the 41 Cadillac bolted together it was time for the hood.   All of the hood trim brackets and screws were put into the bead blaster to remover the rust.  The side vent grills and top center hood chrome (with the "Flying Goddess") were cleaned up and the rusted screws were drilled out and holes rethreaded. The hood ornament is also the hood latch/opener.  The hood brace was assembled & installed with the hood opening springs. I used the overhead hoist & straps, to get the right angle that matched the support brace, to move the very heavy hood into place and installed.  The support bolt holes are slotted the allow adjustments to be made, however the hood still has to go back another 1/2"  With the hood on I could not see over it when I sat in the drivers seat & determined that the seat should be raised 4". The front of the seat goes into slots and the rear is bolted down. 4" heavy boxed tubing was cut 4 ...

The front of the 41 Cadillac still needed to be assembled and I started with the front fenders, gravel pans then the grill and bumper. The grill has parking /  turn signal lights in it and the fenders have head lights that need to be repaired then wired in to the 2005 wiring harness.  The parking lights were not into bad of condition at least all the parts were there. They were put in the bead blaster to be cleaned up the housings were painted with the chrome and glass scrubbed clean. the gaskets are destroyed but I will worry about then later.  The light sockets are usable with bead blasting, paint and heat shrink tubbing on the existing wire. The socket base spring loaded terminals were frozen and had to be soaked oil overnight to get them worked free. Then the wires were extended to be long enough to reach the 05 wire harness.  The 05 wire harness wires were tagged for the hi/low beam,  parking light and turn light by turning them on at the dash swi...

The doors are next on the things left to do on the 4105 Cadillac and the 41 door latches, handles and hardware were not in good condition or missing parts. After trying to fix the original latches (that did not work) I decided to install after market latches.  After doing some research I found made in the USA Bear Claw door latches at Dakota Digital and bought a pair. I need 2 pair but only got one to make sure they would work in the space in the 41 doors.  The drivers door was marked and cut out where the old latch was.  The bare claw latch was tried in the cutout opening, and found that the glass channel was in the way.  The latch couldn't be removed with the window channel in the way, after the edge of the door was welded back into place.  The window channel was cut and a section removes where I could get a welder in.  I drilled and tapped the holes where the spot welds were at the bottom of the channel then made a tab with a drilled and...