Sweet Dreams
An article written by Vic Brincat - April 2002.
The pictures above are of my pride and joy, Patsy. Patsy is a black, 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, model number 7059. Patsy was named after my songster idol, Patsy Cline who lived and entertained at about the same time the car above made it’s debut.
Patsy is in the last stages of a 5-year restoration, which will allow her to see open road by early summer, 2002. Her restoration is a year behind scheduled because of availability of parts and materials. The pictures listed here were taken in mid-1998 before Patsy was taken apart. She was stripped down to nuts and bolts and has spent much of the past few years in labeled zip-lock bags, cardboard boxes and on top of shelves in my basement. Every square inch of Patsy was rebuilt, restored or repainted. She is mostly back together again, now. Her motor runs very well and all her features work except for her power memory seats (I am still looking for some relay components to make it fully functional). Patsy is still on her original factory installed air ride system. Patsy’s air ride alone was a grueling 6 month restoration project consisting of actual restoration work, testing, installing, pre-testing, re-testing and then final assembly and (of course) re-testing. (Special jigs had to be designed and built just to test out the air suspension before it was actually installed in the car. . Patsy’s air ride system now holds her up for months and months at a time on a single charge of air. When she first arrived at our house, Patsy had a badly damaged air ride system and hadn’t sat at her proper curb height for many, many years. Now, she stands proudly at a factory recommended 5.25” off the road at all four corners of her bumpers.
Patsy’s Tail fins
Now that we’ve introduced Patsy, allow me give you a little background on her (and maybe a little on me). Patsy was not my first Cadillac: I successfully restored a ’59 Four Window Sedan back in the mid ‘90s. But by 1998 I was ready to for another Cadillac. I knew exactly what I wanted and started diligently looking for a 1959 Eldorado Seville. I wanted something different; the Biarritz was fantastic, but I wanted something less popular, something that was not as well known. The ’59 Seville was the perfect car…it was unusual, it was even scarcer than the Biarritz and not as well known. I found a few candidates and even reached a point where I was making a final decision on a specimen in Ohio….I was making arrangements to fly to Sandusky and see the ’59 when I happened to come across an ad while casually surfing Internet for Cadillacs.
The ad read, FOR SALE 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. Outstanding condition. Quebec. City. Call for details.
Outstanding?? That probably meant it was WAY beyond what I could afford. I called because curiosity got the best of me. The seller insisted it was indeed outstanding and it was within the budget I had. So I flew up to Quebec City to see the car.
When the owner opened the garage door…. my eyes popped out of my head. The car was gorgeous…even stunning. The chrome and bright work was in excellent condition. The interior was beautiful. Something was not right…. this couldn’t be for real…I checked underneath the car (expecting gaping holes and rust spots). I crawled under. I saw a solid clean floor and a frame that barely had surface rust on it.
Where’s the catch? Then the owner started it up. AHH! There was the rub. … It barely ran. Smoke spewed out the tail pipes for the few short minutes it stayed running. As it turns out, her brakes were shot and none of the electrical systems worked. But the body was …drop dead gorgeous. It wasn’t just a makeover paint job. It was the original lacquer paint.!! I could tell because a closer look indicated some areas of the paint had started to “spider-web”..typical of aged lacquer. But all in all, the car body, interior and chrome were in superb condition. The mechanical and electrical could be fixed.
Above pics: Patsy's interior.
This car seemed to fit the bill. It was very unusual: not something you see every day, and it wasn’t a well known model. It needed electrical and mechanical work, which I’ve done before. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagined myself actually owning an Eldorado Brougham. The opportunity would never come my way again. I bought her on the spot.
Since Patsy was going to be the last Cadillac I would own (YEAH RIGHT!) , I decided to do a complete restoration on her, not just a mechanical one. I thought it would be similar to the restoration of my ’59 but quicker since it was a much, much better car to start with. I quickly discovered why I could afford Patsy: because no one else could afford to restore her. Either that or no one lived long enough to locate the right pieces or a vendor that could rebuild her really weird components. Less than 2% of all Patsy’s parts were interchangeable with other ‘58s or ‘57s Cadillacs…including mechanical components.
Note of interest: even
though the Eldorado Broughams of ’57 and ’58 used the same 365 ci engine, their
block was a special casting. They differ from other 365s
in that their oil filter housing bolts directly to the lower end of block on the
passenger side, directly above the starter motor. This was done because the space up front
was needed for the extra large generator and the air ride compressor.
Some history
I learned about the Eldorado Brougham models from a book I bought many years ago called American Dream Machines. The book featured a black '58 model as a centerfold. I bought the book (while visiting San Jose many years ago) because it had some neat pictures of a '59 Fleetwood. I purchased the book at a local Barnes and Nobles that just happened to be around the corner from the hotel where I was staying. Once in my hotel room, I tossed the book on my bed and it magically opened to the centerfold, which displayed a 3/4 image an Eldorado Brougham. I was stupefied. I had never seen a car as beautiful as this ....no other car then and now matches the incredible looks of an Eldorado Brougham. It was love at first site. Ironically, I located Patsy browsing the Internet while I was in the same hotel several years later.
More on Patsy
I contacted Cadillac Historical Services as well as GM Canada and discovered and pieced together some interesting information on Patsy.. She is one of only two known 1958 Eldorado Broughams that were originally purchased in Canada. Patsy is the second one of her kind that was built. She wears body number 402 and serial number 58P000610. She was built along side of her twin sister (body number 401 and s/n 58P000609) on Oct. 23rd 1957. Patsy arrived on Nov. 7th 1957 at GM Canada Head Office in Oshawa, Ontario. She was then shipped out to her first owner (who is suspected to have lived in Quebec). We are desperately trying to find out who the original owner was. Patsy's sister was shipped into the city of Los Angles and has never been heard from again.
Note of interest: There were 400 Eldorado Broughams built
in 1957 and 304 in 1958.. Patsy is a ’58 model, which means that her engine
specifications are a little different than that of the previous model year. This Brougham (like all others of 1958) uses a
Tri-Power carburetion system, which gives an additional 10 horse to the early rating of
325). In the previous year model, the
Brougham (and other Eldos) sported dual quad
carbs. So, one of the very, very few differences between a 1957 and a 1958 Brougham is the
intake manifold and carbs. There are other differences, but they are so incredibly subtle
that they are not even worth mentioning.
Dual Quad (1957) on the left, Patsy’s Tri-Power
(1958) on the right.
Another note. Broughams were typically built (at the
factory) two or three at
time in a separate area (not on the assembly line floor).
The serial numbers were extracted from the main
pool and then applied on completion. The serial number of my car was picked on Oct
17th 1957 and registered to the car when it was completed on Oct. 23rd
1957.
This serial number
would also make Patsy one of the first 1958 Cadillacs to be built. In fact she was the 610th one.
Patsy and her twin sisters were so identical, that the
good folks at GM who were putting them together, inadvertently revered some of the interior panels. Two of the
panels where labeled with body number 401 and two were labeled with body number 402…
After 37 years Patsy resurfaced in Quebec City. She was virtually unchanged but suffered the scars of attempted restorations. She had a new (but wrong) carpet. Her vanity items were missing and the trunk liner was gone. Patsy's engine had accumulated only 21173 miles...but had major problems. Apparently, Patsy did not leave her garage too often, and went for very long periods between outings. Her engine had evidence of a seized valve train. The half-moon shaped hydraulic-lift rods were the tell-tall signs.
Patsy's body is in immaculate condition. After stripping the paint, we found a body that had only the factory-applied lead at the body seams and on her rear fins and quarters. You couldn't have wanted a better body. Patsy didn't have a single dent or an ounce of rust on her..anywhere!....It appeared she was well cared for after all. If only her engine was equal well looked after.
When she arrived, Patsy’s engine would not run for more than 15 seconds at a time and still produced hideous clouds of smoke from her tail pipe. The problem was not at first obvious. Once we performed an autopsy on her engine, we discovered 6 out 16 hydraulic lifters were bent ..oh and one was completely missing. We found it lying to the side, resting in peace against the block wall. The carbs were badly gummed and fouled with tar and varnish formed from very old gas. These two problems accounted for the majority of the trouble. Patsy’s engine now purrs quietly while it guzzles down gallon after gallon of fuel through its three carburetors. (And she hasn’t even left the drive way yet!).
It is with great anticipation that I await the warm days of Summer 2002. Although Patsy’s restoration is still not fully complete, she will be complete enough to drive by this Summer. Other than a quick drive around the block (to test transmission and brakes), I have not yet driven Patsy. I’m very anxious to do so. I hope to bring her out to at least one of our meets this year. Until then I’ll just keep having Sweet Dreams.
Visit Vic Brincat's Eldorado Brougham By Cadillac WEB Site for more details and pictures on the this car and the restorations of these fabulous machines.
