Sometimes, the best part about an ad for a project car is what else is in the background of the photos. In this case, the seller of this 1960 Cadillac Series 62 coupe also has a website featuring his extensive collection of rough-around-the-edges cars and trucks. It made for some fun day-dreaming, especially when I came across the Caddy here on eBay in a lot full of other potential projects.
The Cadillac reportedly ran before it entered the seller’s private salvage yard, and he even claims to have all the necessary paperwork (I’m assuming that means a title). However, the tires are flat and some of the glass has been broken out, which I’m sure didn’t do the interior any favors. What cars can you spot in the background?
It’s hard to resist the Series 62 cars when you spot those iconic tail fins. This Cadillac does have plenty of surface rust, but whether that translates into corrosion beneath the surface will be determined by an in-person inspection and/or a few phone calls. The rear glass looks sound and from miles away, the chrome looks serviceable.
With the Caddy stuck in Louisiana, I’m sure the interior has been suitably soaked. From this vantage point, the driver’s side glass has been smashed out, but I can’t tell what state the passenger side is in. This would make for a killer rat rod, and could be easily acquired if you have a Porsche 911 sitting around, as the seller will trade for one of those. What else do you see in the background that could make for a more compelling project than the Cadillac?
I’ll take the conversion vans and motor homes instead. Out of all of them, there’s three solid ones to be made roadworthy from all of them.
So, this guy thinks someone is going to offer him Porsche parts/cars for his junk? I guess I know a few mobile homes I will trade him for a brick ranch house.
I don’t think the entire field is worth the average trade value of a 911 these days LOL.
Well I will certainly take him up on it. I have a 1973 911 parked 30 years ago in my garage. Take the cad if he ships it to me and…..about $134,000 cash.
To state that the car reportedly ran before it entered the seller’s salvage yard seems pretty obvious…wouldn’t it be safe to assume the car ran for probably 30 years before that happened?
Another obvious thing is that there should be no question that this car will have rust underneath, as it appear to be sitting on the ground, and probably has been for years. Just saying.
Ya know, I have some thoughts on this, your mileage may vary.
Despite the negative comments, that’s not a terrible price for that car.
I owned the 1960 Cadillac Superior hearse that later became the Thundertaker SEMA show car, which just sold for nearing 200k. It was in about the shape of this car when I owned it. It ran and drove, and drove very nice actually, but was SUPER rough.
And yet, someone made a car that became the centerfold of Hotrod Magazine out of it.
This car is pretty neat to me. I’d love to see someone get it safe, roadworthy, and reliable, and then drive it more or less as is.
There will be people who balk at this. There are people who will put new tires on their project and then let them rot out from under it due to something simple like a stuck carb float, or a squeak in the front end that they don’t feel like fixing, and yet you have people out there like my buddy with the 60 Dodge Dart Phoenix who made it safe, reliable, and running in top form despite the rust, Bondo, flat black paint, and missing trim, and who is daily driving that car back and forth to work, and who has put thousands of miles on it since last summer, the first time that car had been on the road since the late 90’s. He loves nearly every minute of it.
Lot of people here will see this car as over priced junk. It’d part out for that asking price, but that aside, this car is an easy way in to a hobby that is sorely lacking in fins. I wager that a lot of the people who dislike stuff like this and don’t think it’s worth their time, are the folks that grew up around these cars and saw their rise and fall in value and assume that it’s simply an old car. Why would anyone fix that up? It’s not a 57 Chevrolet, or a Cobra, or a Corvette in some rare color.
I think it’s great that shows like Roadkill are encouraging people to go out and drag home things like this and to do something silly like drive it as is, and to like, enjoy the thing. People wonder why the car hobby seems to be dying, and the negative attitude towards people who don’t have show cars may be part of the reason.
To the contrary the car hobby is not dying. The old form factor of it being based off what you saw only in magazines and at car shows is dying, since now we have the internet for parts, online viewing and showing of projects and finished cars and communication amongst fans. Sure, it seems like people are not doing that old style car culture any more, because car culture has been evolving and the most vocal of the people complaining about it did not keep with the times and found themselves falling behind in the hobby.
You want people to be into old cars, don’t sh*t on things they enjoy and find fascinating. Encourage everyone in their car hobby, and in turn you will find encouragement in yours and very likely will learn things you never thought to try.
I hope someone buys this, drags it home and restores it. Or ratrods it. Or fixes it up to be a driver and cruises it around town enjoying the hell out of it.
I’m tired of the negativity towards different parts of this car hobby.
All the variants of auto culture are simply different facets of the same gem, and a project like this has the potential to be any one of them.
I would love to have an old car like this to do exactly as you said. Drive it, enjoy it. But… the frame is probably in poor condition. Hard to fix on the cheap, which brings me to that. I absolutely love cars. Most of them anyway. Would love to have an oldie to play with. But getting to a point where the poor shmoe like me just can’t afford it. No matter how fun and seemingly important it seems to be to save such. I doubt this car will get what seller is asking and it may just continue to rot. I don’t think it should be free, but let someone have it that will do something with it.
You wrote a book, but it was a good book.
I’m glad you mention Roadkill, because I really enjoy the personalities driving that show and the premise that a couple of guys can find something, drop a couple of thou into it, and hoon it around, Zero F.G., and have a hysterical giggle at the result.
It’s funny that you talk about people that drop their projects, though, since the Roadkill Crew have many shows that are truly “real”, in that they end with the cars *not* running and the project not finished. *Pffft*, that’s the end of that. I just re-watched one of the latest ones last night (Ep. 53), where they picked apart a couple of old Corvettes, pulled a ’56 buick hull out of a Cleveland TN junkyard, and ended up abandoning the project before seeing any variant of the projects they enthused about on that episode actually run or drive… Which is ok, because that’s how a lot of my projects end up. It kind of epitomizes the enthusiasm versus reality. With what they are picking up, though, they should, as they say here, “Get into it Right”.
If he gets his price, and somebody just Had To Have This One, more power to him. But a quick scan of the ebay Sold listings for recent sales of rough Cadillac coupes of this approximate vintage convince me there is quite a bit of negotiating room between the current Ask and the Offer I’d start with. As to not liking the car, I’m a big fan of excesses in fins and whatnot, and there’s several things to be said to having an erstwhile elegant classic in Hemmings #4 Shaggy Dog/MadMax condition:
·Lurch it through freeway traffic on slightly bad springs and let *other* cars be as concerned as you are about your classic. You can’t easily do that in the preservation class sweetheart headed for another trophy at Pebble Beach.
·Park it anywhere, even in front of your favorite rib shack in a part of town known for Colorful Native Folkways that can be Distressing for the owners of far more presentable cars.
·You are in a busy shopping mall, and Expensive New Car has quaintly parked over the line in the last available slots? Slide in anyway, and exit on the other side. Your move, Biff.
·Take the friend and her dogs out with you. You can let the squad track mud in your car if most of it is going to fall through the floorboard anyway.
·NOBODY calls you to hitch a ride in the heat of summer or in the cold of winter, as climate control in your drafty monster is a distant memory.
·You can fix it with *any* kind of part whatsoever and nobody will even blink, a la the cars of Cuba, and it’s too old to require the annual emissions fiddlefart in my state. You can pry stuff off and make mistakes and not bat an eye. Corrective bodywork with a sledgehammer. Put a LS corvette engine in it. Or whatever that engine was, that was still running in your uncle’s old flatbed before the driveshaft fell out. It’s a diesel, you say? Bring it over with a case of beer, the swap’s still on. Wrap the seats in swimming pool liner and never bother getting the side windows to roll up–it can’t possibly matter, it’s a beater. However much you want to spend on it, time/$$ wise, and whatever gives you permagrin. ps: Someone mentioned cars in the background: the old wagon beside the vans might be a ’57 Studebaker Conestoga, but the picture is pretty potato.
Hey Jay,
Is there gonna be a test? Can I just read the Cliff Notes?
:-)
jaygryph, I enjoyed every word of this. Thanks.
Love the body style and oh those fins. Couldn’t help but wonder though if that branch is growing up through the back floorboard?
The branch… it might tell a lot about this car. If only we could see where it was growing from.
Haters gonna hate, but a restomod with a Cadillac North* engine (to keep the Caddy-ness pure) would be cool. Same with some interior upgrades as well.
I’d build a 500 c.i. Caddy engine for it.
Jaygryph, I remember being 20 years old in 1977 and proudly entering my ’41 Ford street rod in a car show. Two old codgers were looking it over, and I overheard one of them say one word : “Bondo…” Things like that stick. I’m rapidly becoming an old guy myself, but you won’t hear me tearing down someone elses ride. I know how much blood, sweat and tears goes into every project.
“WE ARE LOOKING FOR PORSCHE 911s AND PARTS”
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I wonder how many Porsche 911s I’d have to trade him for it.
I have a Porsche I can trade… its a little rough around the edges… a dent puller will pull that right out..
My wife had a minor fender bender… to make a long story short, I’m gonna miss the car, the wife not so much…
So whatta ya say? We got a deal? ;-)
Sorry, that’s not a 911, it’s a 986. Boxster. Is it really for sale?
WRT the Cadillac: I just do not see the return on investment of putting a modern engine in a 1960 Caddy. They already have a LOT of power. 90% of engine conversions have poor engineering. The original engine everything works perfect.
I’d put suspension parts and brakes, clean it up, Patch the frame if you have to, but mostly make it a driver. These are quite good cars. I had a 1957 Sedan deVille and it was great. If I had one today I’d pull a small travel trailer and take it across the country.
Al
Hello to all the members on bf id like to tell you ive ben to jerrys , brought a 1955 buick roadmaster off him for parts that i needed at that time , he wanted $1,000.00 for what was left on the car i didn,t need the rad or the ac pump his helper took these parts off and i got the car for $500.00 you can work with this man all you have to do is talk with him , theres so many cars trucks there that your not seeing in the pics not to mention hes got over 100 vintage harleys in the shop plus many vetts and so on , he was asked to be on tv show with mike and frank pickers but he said no i think you can understand why he passed on this as hes a old man alone there . this place is really something to be seen if you have the time to go there , jerry will even drive you around the yard if you like. id go again if i needed a car or parts car hes 750 miles from me 1 way . here is his address 1455 highway 15 west monroe la 71291 cell # 1-318-348-3041 hm# 1-318-396-1988
Oh Dude, you didn’t!
In what universe is it okay to put a man’s phone number and address on the internet?
He didn’t want the pickers there and he surely doesn’t want their entourage that follows… so you tell them exactly were to go?
Please someone delete this information before this old man gets robbed.
There is never a time when its okay to post another person’s personal info… not without a signed release from the person.
daCabbie jerry is a dealer he sells on e-bay and local he hands out bizz cards no big deal why dont you give him a call ?
98% sure I know this Jerry. I agree, a good seller and very knowledgeable. I bought Corvette parts from him over 40 years ago. Back when Hemmings was the only resource in the world for car guys.
Al
The Caddy would probably need a CF number and a county building permit! This car needs to be saved in some way, PLEASE! Problem being most of these cars have little or no replacement parts, so the hunt begins. Find another parts car or swap meet and pay the high price or walk! Young people won’t take that journey! They will buy a factory performance car and wax it and think they restored it! Finding parts at swap meets with your Pops was awesome because little repro parts were around. Sad to think these cars may never be repurposed again!
Too bad the Hard Rock Cafe’s have fallen on hard times – we cut up a lot of 59/60’s Caddies for them that brought in a lot of money to our little salvage yard….but .think the ride is over.
I think that it’s too bad that he doesn’t realize that this car is really a Coupe deVille.