1960 S&S project begins

C

Clark N. Vineyard

So I love my '72 Superior and my '60 Cadillac Coupe - why not combine them? So I picked up this '60 S&S Victoria hearse last month on Ebay.

Honestly, she needs a lot of work. I'm 24, have 2 jobs and 9 cars to maintain, so finding time/money for her will be challenging but that's part of the fun!

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She has a Caddy 500 and TH400 from a '75 Cadillac, a floor shifter, radiator from a Chevy truck, and a Ford 9" rear end. It may not be a pretty setup but it runs.
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And I suppose I'll need to put all this stuff back on! Also note the orange gas tank that she runs off of...
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Don't get me wrong, I dig the car and its certainly unique, but it's gonna be a real labor of love to get it where I want it to be.

With its modifications, I will no doubt be asking a lot of questions to help get her closer to original! So stay tuned and I'll post my progress, starting this weekend hopefully...
 
That's a sweet coach man. Looking at it as a whole it looks like an over whelming project. Just concentrate on one thing at a time. Personally I'd start under the hood cleaning up all that wiring and getting it mechanically sound. Then I'd do the brakes. I always like to have a car i can drive as i re-do. Nothing like taking it out for a spin and getting thumbs up and compliments to keep you motivated. I find if i have an immobile car in the shop i lose steam easily without being able to enjoy it. Then start tackling other tasks and don't move on until that one thing is finished. I know what its like to be young and impatient and jump from project to project only to end up with a bunch of half done stuff on a car that ends up on Craigs List haha!!!

You got yourself a gorgeous coach there. I WILL have a 60-64 landau one day (preferably 61). Very anxious to see you make some progress on the ole girl.

By the way. Any chance you could send me some pics of the motor mounts, crossmember, trans crossmember? I have a '59 I've considered transplanting a 472 into. I'd like to see how they did yours if possible.

Good luck!!
 
1960 S&S Victoria

Here's a start. I sure miss this car, but having 2 '60's was a bit crazy. Good luck restoring yours. If I find some interior pics of mine, I'll scan and post for you. Tom
 

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Clark

I have a 60 Cadillac S/S Victoria 3way and I LOVE IT !!!

Tom's 60 inspired me to look until I found one after first seeing his in 1993.
Well, it took about 18 years but I finally own one.

The best way to clean those white vinyl panels inside the car is with a electric steamer. You can get ones for floors that come apart and become handheld units. I was totally amazed at how yellow/brown mine were and came back to bright white. I will post photos of the steamer I used to clean them up soon.

One step at a time and keep at it. You will dig that car more and more as time goes on.

Keep us posted in this thread with photos as things progress.

All the best,
Darren
 

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Thanks for the encouragement guys! It's gonna be a long tough road, but I know there's a gorgeous car waiting at the end of it, as Tom and Darren have reminded me! I can only hope to have her looking as good as your coaches someday, and having a matching '60 limo is an absolute dream. In the meantime I'll have to find an electric steamer - great idea

Paul Yates said:
By the way. Any chance you could send me some pics of the motor mounts, crossmember, trans crossmember? I have a '59 I've considered transplanting a 472 into. I'd like to see how they did yours if possible.
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Paul - From what I've gathered so far, the 500 is mostly held in by some chain! I'm going to investigate more tomorrow, but I don't believe the frame had any major modifications done. Will PM you more details/pics soon.
 
Weekend update: Removed the Camaro bucket seats and the CD player, wire-wheeled the floorpan and painted it with some flat black rustoleum. Will put down dynamat and carpet eventually, but will be getting a '59 Caddy bench seat for her in a few weeks.

Next project will be hopefully ditching the floor shifter and rigging the column shift back up so the bench will fit!

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Well progress is slow, it's coming along! I only see her once a week, so planning and gathering parts is my main challenge.

Most recently I re-painted the dash. It might seem silly to be doing cosmetic work, but it was a rewarding one day project. Lesson learned about removing the ash trays - they're a real devil to get lined back up!

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I've also started polishing the miles of chrome on this baby. Fortunately it's really shining up nicely! I'm mostly stalling tackling the mechanicals of this gal under the hood. There's a lot of hours ahead of me straightening things out under there!
 
don't feel silly....when ever I start a new project, I start doing little things that I can do in a day or so....cleaning, polishing, little bit of painting just to keep me interested in the big picture....if you don't....you will get bored and pissed off at the project because nothing is coming together fast enough for you.

the little changes you see will make a BIG difference in the long run.
 
if every time you go out, you do one thing to move it in the direction you need to go then your moving forward. if your interested in going back to the original engine and transmission I can steer you to were one or two set.
 
Progress continues! I've spent the last few work days removing the front clip from another one of my '60s to switch and put on the S&S.

Needless to say, it's been a much bigger task than expected between rusty bolts and cage nuts spinning free. Next step is disassembling and cleaning the wheelwells and core support. Then pick out which fenders to repair, reassemble the whole thing and switch em out!

I've cut corners on other projects and it always bites me. This one I'm really trying to do it right. The flip side is I'm in way over my head!

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Dana Bennett said:
WOW!! some other nice projects you have too!! i LOVE the Nash!! and that COE has lots of potential too!!
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Dana - Yeah those and the two '59 Caddy coupes behind my S&S all belong to my friend. He has 4 "bathtub" Nashes total...


So I did a quick compression check on the 500 motor and found between 70 to 130 psi in the cylinders so it looks like that motor, and leaking transmission will go.

The plan is now to replace the motor/trans with an identical 500 and trans from a '75 donor Cadillac. The '75 might also donate its front brakes and rear axle (to replace the Ford axle in the S&S now)

This picture gives an idea of what I have to work with: iffy motor mounts, butchered frame and radiator hose rubbing a jagged edge. It gets the car down the road, but I want to make a more permanent setup. The more I see, the more work I have ahead of me!

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Keep fighting the good fight, any major car rebuild is not for the weak. These cars seem alittle more challenging probably because of the size. Who says size dosen't matter has never invested time in a project like this.
The picture of the ash tray, made me think its kindda funny that the new cars today don't even have ash trays.
The wacking of the saddle plate diffently needs fix, thats probably the most important support of the whole car. Don't know what would be the best fix, maybe cutting the whole front section out and replace, just make sure it all stays straight or you can't aling the front end.
Its like eating a elephant, one step at a time. Just try to spend a few hours every week, and you will get there. Keep the pictures comming.:)
 
Progress!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but progress has been happening :) I only get to work on the car on Saturdays and I am literally working outside in a field so it's tough!

So…The dubiously installed and poorly running 500 motor had to go. I had access to a 1960 390 motor and trans, or another 1975 500 motor and trans matching the one I removed. Since I had a rear sump pan, and the hearse’s driveshaft and rear axle had been modified to accept the 500, I decided to install the other 500 but in a safer, more permanent and presentable way.

First, I removed the front clip and removed the motor/trans. Much easier said than done - not difficult but a lot of time and rusty bolts.

Then I had to patch up the hacked parts of the frame. The swap can be done without modifying the frame – you just need a different oil pump and remove the fuel pump. For patching, my friend had a stripped ’60 frame that I was able to cut exact fitting patches from, then screw em up with my lack of welding experience! Then I painted the frame and firewall.

Next I removed the motor/trans from the low-miles donor car, and spent a few workdays cleaning the motor, replacing a few gaskets, freeze plugs, removed the smog pump and converted to the rear sump oil pan for proper clearance. Then a fresh coat of paint and she was ready to install.

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Everything seemed to fit well (after removing fuel pump) and I am absolutely thrilled. We’re still trying to figure out the motor mounts, and the exhaust manifolds may be problematic, but it looks like I might have a fighting chance at actually driving her some day!!

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Clark,
I refer you back to your first post on this subject where you give a bit of a bio on your self.
You omitted one important piece of information.
Do you have a wife?
 
I'm lovin the '51 Nash! Ambassador, or Statesman?? Had a really nice '49 30 years ago that I should have kept. I've always wanted a '51 Ambassador!
 
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