Last year, I shared my friend Laurie Kraynick’s relationship with her 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham. While the Caddy looked great in the pictures, it needed refurbishment. New top, new headliner, some metalwork and eventually, a repaint in the original factory color of Lucerne Aqua Firemist. Such things take time, but progress took a huge jump forward this winter! If you missed the original Broughamtastic post, you can find the link right here! Read on, in Laurie’s own words. -TK
And now for something really important… The Ark is done with Restoration Phase 1 (vinyl top removal/sheet metal work/vinyl top replacement/NOS script installation/new headliner/restored original visors/painting of trims exterior and interior). Phase 2 is next winter, proper paint color and body work. The receipts have been tallied and the cost for Phase 1 exceeds what some folks make in a year, and it was a bargain at twice the price. The top of the car, in and out, looks like its 1970 again. Blisteringly extraordinary work performed by the best in the auto restoration business, you get what you pay for.
I supervised the shipping of The Ark yesterday from Paul’s Upholstery in Chatham back to the world famous Hyannis Vintage Auto so Car God and The Ark’s crew chief Michael Amster can apply the lipstick and final spray of perfume to this make over. The Ark should be home to KKBTS in a couple of weeks. There will be no car shows in April, May – October are turning into complete chaos. When the dates are finalized of where The Ark and I will be, I’ll post them, probably in a month. As always, if its raining, or a threat of rain, we’re staying home.
Now here’s the pics of the new and improved Ark, its only money.
Before:
In-Process:
Damn, that’s a lot of moldings!
Before and after. “I” did this work, never again, that fucking HALO paint job on the roof trim!
Roof trim was taped after a bench buffing to get all the scratches out, then bathed in paint thinner, THEN taped for 2 coats of paint.
When the tape came off, there were multiple areas of stainless steel and black paint that had to be touched up. Total time on all trim, 60 hours.
And After!
I put a lot of elbow grease into those lights! Polish, cleaned the lenses, new bulbs, touched up the script, cleaned the electrical contacts on both sides with DeOxit.
Factory correct! I wouldn’t have it any other way!
A whole lot of work, but damn, The Ark looks good!