View Full Version : 1960 Cadillac Sedan de Ville


Dave A
06-08-2017, 06:32 PM
It's mine! I did the handshake today. Check/title/insurance is a few days. It will join my 1959 Cadillac 6229. The tv collection gets a rest while the checkbook recovers.

It is in great shape. I could drive it anywhere. New or repaired everything. Converted to alternator. I may move that back. Dealer air that works beyond great. No rust. One chrome signal lamp surround pitted on the bottom. For later. Side panels repaint. Cloth good. Dash has the usual crack. Comes with the territory. Brakes are so much better than my 1959. The 1959 is a safety distraction on the road with so many lookers not watching the road. This is a more sedate distraction that I would go anywhere with.

Car started in Ohio and wandered east. I may be the 5th owner.

The sad thing is not the car but the collectors moving on with age to 60's/70's cars. I see so few of these at the shows I go to now. No '59's visible in my local shows now. They are gone...somewhere. Kinda like kids not collecting vintage tv sets now. I may be alone on an island but the ride is nice.

Celt
06-08-2017, 06:41 PM
Nice! :yes:

dishdude
06-08-2017, 07:59 PM
Oh my, those fins! Sharp ride.

Electronic M
06-08-2017, 08:42 PM
A real beauty! :thmbsp:

The two categories of collector cars I most want once I get a better winter vehicle are something with fins, and a 40's fastback. Of the finned cars I've always liked 59-60 caddys most....The 61 imperials and forward look mopar running a close second (57 Lincolns 3rd).

Sandy G
06-08-2017, 10:16 PM
When a Cadillac was a CADILLAC...One car parade. My Papaw had a tan '60 Sedan DeVille..Which he kept til '68. He got another SDV, it was that AWFUL "Avocado" color, inside & out. It was sorta gold, sorta brown, & sorta medium green, they shoulda calle it "Babyshit", 'cause that really described it perfectly. Nothing but the size said "Cadillac"-No fins, precious little chrome, no sex, no nothin'... Gawdam thing was little more than a ginormous low line Chevy. But the '68, is sober, NOBODY will be offended.... Yeah, but that's part of the point of a Caddy- They're SPOSED to be a tinch over the "Po' White Trash:" line..The 1959 program cars actually lived on til the 1966 model year That was when the series 75 cars had a "Road to Roof" restyling The series 75 cars-Limo. & 9 passenger sedan had had decent sales ever since the 1959s went on sale.

Jeffhs
06-08-2017, 11:46 PM
My mother had always wanted a Cadillac, ever since our next-door neighbor in my home town got a canary-yellow one. My dad finally got my mother a 1957 Caddy, white, with maroon interior, for around $600 from a man who lived a couple of streets over from us. The fellow apparently told my dad the reason the car was being sold so cheaply was the ashtray was full (as a joke popular at the time had it), and it was. I remember seeing that ashtray so full cigarette butts were falling out of the back of the dashboard. It was a nice car (I have 35mm slides of it), but gee whiz, it had more stuff wrong with it than you could shake a stick at. Dad had the transmission overhauled to the tune of $180 (in late-'50s-early sixties dollars; such an overhaul would cost double or triple that, or more, these days) when the transmission started shifting either too early or too late, the power steering and power brakes went bad, and a whole host of other things went wrong. However, I guess that's how it is with a Cadillac. I understand even the hood ornaments on those cars cost around $250 or more.

Sandy G
06-09-2017, 09:19 PM
I got REALLY scared once in the '60... We all got cleaned up & went to eat supper in it. Tennessee, in the summer, the weather is subject to quick change. We were on our way back home, & the "Heat Lightning" was putting on quite a show. Went around this bend, & it started HAILING like there was no tomorrow. Fritz, my papaw was driving, my gran was riding "shotgun", & I trying to hunker down as much as I could. Finally got home, next morning went to look at the damage, & miraculously, there was none.. That wild & wonderful turbo-compound windshield came thru w/flying colors. I have a theory as to WHY those cars were SO tough-This was before they designed everything w/a computer, they had to increase the strength of stuff,w/the old "Eyeball" method.

Jon A.
06-10-2017, 09:42 AM
It's mine! I did the handshake today. Check/title/insurance is a few days. It will join my 1959 Cadillac 6229. The tv collection gets a rest while the checkbook recovers.

It is in great shape. I could drive it anywhere. New or repaired everything. Converted to alternator. I may move that back. Dealer air that works beyond great. No rust. One chrome signal lamp surround pitted on the bottom. For later. Side panels repaint. Cloth good. Dash has the usual crack. Comes with the territory. Brakes are so much better than my 1959. The 1959 is a safety distraction on the road with so many lookers not watching the road. This is a more sedate distraction that I would go anywhere with.

Car started in Ohio and wandered east. I may be the 5th owner.

The sad thing is not the car but the collectors moving on with age to 60's/70's cars. I see so few of these at the shows I go to now. No '59's visible in my local shows now. They are gone...somewhere. Kinda like kids not collecting vintage tv sets now. I may be alone on an island but the ride is nice.
Yet another benefit of driving a less popular classic car! Those are the ones that I notice. If I see a tri-five Chevy drive by I won't give it a second look. Any Cadillac other than the '59 2-door or convertible isn't held in high regard by most. Actually I watched a video of a crash test, most likely rigged, between a 1962 Cadillac and a much newer one designed to crumple like a pop can in a relatively minor impact. I don't think the front seat was even bolted down in the '62.

I'm guessing this car has been fitted with front disc brakes. The reason for going back to a generator is a mystery to me, but I don't really know anything about those.

tsmith1315
06-10-2017, 11:42 AM
Wow, that's fantastic! And in such good condition! If I brought that home, I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off it- I wouldn't sleep for days. Both styling and technology of the 1950's are pinnacles of mankind's efforts. Notice I didn't say "arguably".




The sad thing is not the car but the collectors moving on with age to 60's/70's cars. I see so few of these at the shows I go to now. No '59's visible in my local shows now. They are gone...somewhere. Kinda like kids not collecting vintage tv sets now. I may be alone on an island but the ride is nice.

Unfortunately, that's a lesson most of us don't learn until it's too late. When I was a kid in the 70's, the most expensive collector cars were Duesenbergs, Packards, and Rolls Royces from the 20's-30's. Cobras and Ferraris could be had for less than $10k.
One fellow in my tiny home town had an aluminum-bodied (aka factory-built racer) Ferrari from the 50's with a chevy motor in his backyard. My dad, who loved cars, said it wasn't worth dragging home.

IMHO, those who can appreciate and afford a '59 aren't likely to do local shows anymore. Muscle cars have bragging rights at local shows, classics like yours are for folks that have a better understanding.

-Tim

davet753
06-10-2017, 02:15 PM
I had a '63 about 8 years ago. I would recommend checking the fuel pump, and if it's the original one, replace it.

Mine developed a leak, and (unknown to me) was pumping gas right into the crankcase as I drove it. One morning, it turned over slowly...followed by a loud "bang". I opened the hood to find my once detailed engine bay covered with oil and gas; the air filter top was blown off and laying on top of the radiator. When I pulled the dipstick out, gas and oil ran out of the tube. I since learned that is a common problem with those particular fuel pumps one they got some age on them.

Also, I would not recommend allowing anybody not familiar with early 60's Cadillac's to service the A/C system. They use a two-way vacuum assisted suction throttling valve to regulate the pressure, and adjustments by someone not familiar with that system will throw everything off. After a half dozen local mechanics gave up on my A/C, I invested in a copy of the factory service manual and followed the directions step-by-step for adjusting the pressure. To my knowledge, it's still working.

Titan1a
06-10-2017, 06:53 PM
One of the highlights of my life was driving, then owning, a Cadillac. Still no other car like it.

BigDavesTV
06-16-2017, 08:44 AM
Wow! What a beauty! I was a new baby when that car was brand new!

Electronic M
06-16-2017, 10:30 AM
IMHO, those who can appreciate and afford a '59 aren't likely to do local shows anymore. Muscle cars have bragging rights at local shows, classics like yours are for folks that have a better understanding.


Last year there was one at a big local show. A white 4 door 'bubble-top' sedan. It was one sharp example of a 59'. I was rather impressed to see a car longer than my Lincoln Mark V, and with a bigger trunk.....You could park a 'smart' car in the trunk of a 59' caddy and STILL have room for luggage.:thmbsp::drool::D

Sandy G
06-16-2017, 02:06 PM
There were 2 models of Caddy in this era- the 1957 model & the 1965 that were relatively important. The '57 got a whole new frame that was "Wasp-Wasted", & then in '65, when they returned to a standard frame. The "Wasp-wasted" design allowed the designers to lower the overall height, but they weren't quite as substantial as they could have been.

Olorin67
06-16-2017, 06:08 PM
those GM X frame cars were a bit flexible, a friend in high school had a '59 Buick electra convertible, when you pulled into a driveway you would see the front fenders and hood of the car flex relative to the dashboard.

Sandy G
06-16-2017, 09:24 PM
My father & uncle both said that '60 wasn't much of a car in a lot of ways.In '68 when Papaw traded if for the Babyshit special, it only had 90-100K miles & was pretty well shot. And no, it never had been abused or treated roughly. My papaw, if anything, tended to REALLY "Baby" stuff like cars. I DO remember that it was practically "Pristine" looking, & while it was almost 10 yrs old, it NEVER smelled like an old car. I got onto Daddy & Karl about why they didn't keep it, because even at a relatively young age, the '59s & '60s were starting to increase in value.By the early Seventies, when I started fooling w/cars, a '59 or '60 Cad almost always got a laugh. I guess that all that was wrong-AND right were pretty much ALL manifested in those 2 years, more so than virtually any other model of American car.

zeno
07-09-2017, 08:31 PM
Very nice to see a real car. I had a '76 CDV & there was nothing like
driving that on the HWY. No noise, no feel of the road, just
a cloud like ride. God I love land yachts !
BTW is the Crown Vic a P71 or LS Sport ? I got a 04 LS Sport.
they seem to be very rare, I only seen 3 others in the 12 yrs
I have had mine. One at the dealer, one in Nashua with an old
lady driving & another at the local gun store.

73 Zeno:smoke:
LFOD !

ISawItOnTV
08-26-2018, 12:49 PM
Nice Caddy! It is kinda sad that the vintage car market moved so much towards muscle cars in the past few decades. At one time, I had a vintage car parts business (mostly Cadillac and other full size GM cars). Sold a number of dash pads for the 59/60 models, and lots of chrome/stainless trim. While I love muscle cars as much as most people, I still have a fondness for the bigger family cars from the 50s/60s/70s. Right now, my wife and I have a '79 Coupe DeVille that we take for an occasional spin when we want to ride in a real car.

Dave A
08-26-2018, 01:29 PM
ISaw, how hard is it to change the dash pad? Both of mine are cracked.

ISawItOnTV
08-26-2018, 06:17 PM
ISaw, how hard is it to change the dash pad? Both of mine are cracked.

It's been a few years since I removed one Dave, but here's what I remember:

The headlight switch at left-hand side has to be removed. There's a metal protrusion on the switch body that has to be depressed to remove the switch knob. (That spring-loaded protrusion is typical of GM switches at the time for headlight knob removal)

Remove outer ignition switch nut.

I think there's a few screws near the windshield defrost vents.

There should be some screws just above the vent/heater/ac controls (may have to crouch down to see these).

At passenger side dash overhang, there's a few screws to remove (will also have to crouch down to see these).

When the dash is ready to be removed, it needs to be gently slid backwards (away from windshield, towards seat). The lower dash pods (where headlight and ignition switch are located) may have a fastener-clip that will pull away during the removal process.

If vehicle has clock and optional cruise control switch at left/right dash pods, those can be removed once dash is slid back for clearance.

I don't remember if the speedometer assembly is mounted to the dash or not.

Overall, these dashes are not as bad as some to remove.