Fealings Of Guilt

This car is going to take 4 white door panels to make it saleable for any amount of money. It might take years to find a good set of white door panels and I am not one to do a half-@$$ed cover-up on those door panels with white sheet vinyl. Also, the right front door is needing what would probably be a $500 dent repair.

I would prefer to find the parts elsewhere. The problem is that sheet metal in this condition just does not exist anywhere outside of the desert states. You might find fenders in Western South Dakota or Colorado with minimal rust, but they will need some work and they will cost $400 each plus shipping(based on a past purchase from Moore's Auto Salvage in Rapid City, SD). For that $400 you get just the outer fender with no trim, no inner fender, etc. I am sure that Desert Valley Auto Parts in Phoenix would be equally high priced or higher.

I don't get any kind of thrill out of taking this Sedan deVille apart. I will continue looking for sheet metal elsewhere as this isn't going to happen in the next 6 months anyway. I just seriously doubt that anything will turn up based on my own scouring of salvage yards throughout the Midwest over the past 20 years. I have purchased many project cars just to see them saved and placed with owners who will restore them. I just see my '75 Superior 54" ambulance(with a significant provenance) as a far more deserving project than this '76 deVille.
 
Hey man. A pro car is 1000 times more rare then any standard coupe or 4 door caddy.. I would not hesitate to cut it up to save your ambulance.. Hell i was planning on cutting up a very solid 73 Fleetwood to put panels on my 73 ambulance.
 
This is actually a rare example of a sedan deville as is appears to have most of the factory options. I see tilt tele, delay wipers, split bench seat don't know if it is power on both sides, remote right side mirror, trash bin,and cruise control. Can't tell if it has auto dim headlights and sentinal. If it does this would be a choice auto.
 
I have done some checking around with vendors that would have rust-free sheet metal. Cadillac King in California gets $1000 for a pair of '75/'76 fenders. NO inner fenders, trim, mirrors, antenna, etc. included in that price. Desert Valley Auto Parts gets $650 for a pair of stripped fenders. Then you get to add a significant amount of money to a pair shipped. This is beginning to look like a no-brainer. As has been stated earlier, this '76 Sedan deVille is "just worth more dead than alive"!
 
I bought a similar condition 75 or 76 DeVille at the auction in like 1990. As it came to the block.....it died. It was a 30k actual mile car in silver with white top/ white leather. It needed fillers (as so many do). The junk man bid $50 for it since it was non running and I hit it for $75 and won the bid.
I came back after the auction with a gallon of gas and it started right up. After a weekend of detailing and new fillers this became my daily driver for a few months until someone made a stupid offer on it. It was one of the smoothest riding regular Cadillacs I ever owned. :D
 
Kurt,
How about putting the car up for auction and buy your needed items ??

Seems there is some interest in it already...:thumbsup:


Kyle: Sounds like you need this Caddy !!
 
truth is they are not that hard to find but if one was willing to come up with a rust free front clip you could bring up to trade for the car? I'm betting the man would talk. parts in hand are worth more then parts some were else. but don't let me speak for him.
 
I am not interested in selling it prior to finding the parts that I need. Find me that rust-free front clip and we can talk.
 
'76 deVille Reprieve

Well, the '76 deVille that I purchased to part out has been issued a reprieve, thanks to our friend Dan Scully. Dan found me a beautiful pair of rust-free fenders near him at a very reasonable price. The deVille will now be offered for sale. Got it home, cleaned it up, and will be throwing it on Craig's List around March 1st, if no interest here. I will also post it in our "For Sale" section. Thank you Dan!
 

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Thanks Dan!

You don't find fenders like this in the Mid-West!
 

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part it out

I bought a 75 Coupe DeVille for parts. The owner had done a bizarre interior restoration, painted the outside mint green and got overspray on the cabriolet roof. He ruined the roof trying to clean it. I got it for 2500 and it has saved me thousands of dollars. Here in the south, you just put a Caddy motor (472 or 500) on Craigslist and ask $700 for it....and an air boat owner or builder will be right on it. The rear quarter panels on the coupe deville were actually longer than the rear quarter panels on the ambulance. Look at my site and see how it turned a red car into a green car.
If you were closer, I'd take the front doors - I'm told they are basically the same as the rear side doors, which I need two of.
Be real careful with the glass. I put ads in Hemmings and got fair response. Craigslist brought a lot of attention and of course the usual online stuff.
Good luck- you'll be glad you got this car!!!!!
I even parted out the trunk release.
Kevin
www.thisoldfiretruck.com
 
SOLD!!!!

Well, I never thought that it would be this difficult to sell a rust-free '76 Cadillac Sedan deVille from Arizona! It took a full 6 months to sell it. The market for these cars must have really tanked! It was all that I could do to get $2500 for this car, which is what I would consider parts car pricing on this car. For all the fuss about my possibly parting this car out, there sure weren't many interested buyers!!
 
Gone Cad

And off it goes to its new owner in Chicago!!
 

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all the time and effort put into saving this car they better start calling it lucky.

cause I think I know someone that not going to do this again.
 
Kurt Arends said:
Well, I never thought that it would be this difficult to sell a rust-free '76 Cadillac Sedan deVille from Arizona! It took a full 6 months to sell it. The market for these cars must have really tanked! It was all that I could do to get $2500 for this car, which is what I would consider parts car pricing on this car. For all the fuss about my possibly parting this car out, there sure weren't many interested buyers!!
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Kurt, Ive been trying for almost 2 years to sell my 88 Lincoln Town Car, rust free with 88,000 miles with no takers. As you said, the market for these cars has tanked.
 
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