I looked for three years for a restored or excellent original Brougham to no avail. So I decided I would build one just the way I wanted. How hard could it be? I found this car in December 2001 and had a local club member inspect it. Airfare was too expensive to fly and see it, and the price was reasonable enough that I could sell it at a small loss if it was too far gone. I don’t know the full history, but it was originally sold in the Baltimore - Washington DC District. It spent time in New Jersey, went to Boston then to Winston Salem NC before I bought it. It turns out I had passed on this car a year earlier for $500 less. When it arrived it was as tired and used as described except for the rear roof panel which had extensive rot under the vinyl top and there was moisture in the trunk. I inspected the trunk and the floor under the rear seat and was surprised to find that the floor was not rotted from the leaks. The water was just beginning to get inside the body. I decided that it was worth restoring and focused on the drive train first.

Working at my friend Frank’s shop over the next 18 months, the engine, transmission and suspension were completely rebuilt. I also removed the interior and most of the trim. The engine rebuild was maddening. I mixed replacement parts with original bolts. One of those bolts was hitting a reinforcement rib on the block making a horrific noise. The back of the bolt protruded through the thinner web of the replacement cam gear in a way that was not visible when assembled. It took five complete tear downs before we found the telltale scratch on the block and remedied the problem by grinding a fraction off the length of the bolt. This was not a promising start.

Before bringing it to the body shop I removed the rest of the trim and interior. Eastside Collision did the metal work and paint. The owner, Kenny, is a young guy with infinite patience. He allowed me to work in the shop restoring the dash, window mechanisms, vacuum and electrical accessories. The car has eight power windows and every option Cadillac offered. Kenny was an amazing teacher, showing me all the tricks of the trade that take years to learn on one’s own. At this point, every nut and bolt had been disassembled except the six that hold the body on the chassis. This was the determinant when the car arrived. I had no intention of taking the body off the chassis because it would have required specialized equipment and another order of magnitude in work and complexity. It took another 18 months, part time, to complete the metal and paint work before the car came home.

During that time I restored all 64 pieces of stainless trim that had been badly damaged when the car was previously painted. Whoever sanded the car hit the trim with the grinder leaving deep gouges and dents. There’s a reason why stainless trim restoration is so expensive. It is time consuming, requiring nearly 3 months full time work to achieve that brilliant shine on straightened pieces. In the process I found out that stainless is flashed chromed to produce a uniform color and brilliance matching the chromed pot metal and steel trim parts. I had to have the parts stripped before I could metal work them and flashed chromed afterwards…….Don’t ask the cost. I also installed a heat and sound barrier throughout the interior, doors, and trunk of the car; and jute fillers to level out bumps and lumps in the floors so the carpet would lay flat. This wasn’t an added nicety on my part. Fleetwoods were higher priced because of the extra hidden build quality. The car then went back to the body shop where we installed the finished trim. Attaching sharp edged chrome trim to a car with finished and polished paint is much like bomb disposal….You do everything very, very slow with forethought of every action.

Next stop was the upholstery shop, Tom’s Auto Upholstery. The owner, Rodger, was another young man, who shouldn’t have known much about these cars, but he was a fountain of knowledge. He started in the trade as a teenager when these were used cars. My car has the biscuit style seat with embroidered seat backs which was a no cost option to the standard three pillow design. The fabrics used with my style were more subdued than the other, the style a banker or executive would select. After searching through all the usual suspects I couldn’t find the gray, silky finish Delmont Cloth my car was built with. I decided to use gray wool broadcloth, which was another available option. A quick trip to Bill Hirsh and I had the material. I made new door panel cardboards for Rodger and a new package shelf and restored all the interior wood trim. This was the last year for real wood trim and the Black Walnut pieces came back to life with careful wood restoration techniques. Rodger rebuilt the seats like fine furniture and tailored the fabric like a fine suit. I couldn’t have asked for more meticulous craftsmanship.

After six years of work I thought it was done. It looked beautiful if I do say so myself. However the car had other ideas. I spent the next six months debugging problems and making adjustments to get things the way I thought they should be. The task was twice as hard because everything was finished and required get care when working in and around the car. I finished all of my check list items the day before the Cherry Hill GN and drove it there on its maiden trip. The First Place win was a proud moment, but the real joy was questions, comments and recognition of the work by other Cadillac enthusiasts. Since then it received a First Senior at Hershey and a first at the Monmouth County Concours.