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The project began with the purchase of the 1971 Cadillac from a neighbors field for $450. The 1975 Chevy was our “retired” family car. After tinkering with the Cadillac engine enough to know it would run, complete disassembly of both cars began. Literally every nut and bolt was removed from both cars resulting in two bare frames and a very large pile of parts. The frames were cut in half and the front of the Eldorado was welded behind the front of the Monte Carlo. The very large pile of parts was sorted into “might use someday” and “I’ve got to get rid of some of this stuff” piles. The latter was hauled to the landfill over several weekends. One nice part of this project is that rusted body panels, broken windows, and degraded interior don’t matter because they are not reused.
Building the chassis and drive train was fairly straight-forward and parts were assembled in original configuration wherever possible. Two major changes were putting the radiator in back and the gas tank in front. Once the engine/transaxle and suspension was installed, the body foundation was designed to fit the frame and provide the driver/passenger compartment. This foundation was fabricated from plywood and provides the floor, firewalls, dash-board, inner door panels, front and back bumper/light mounts, and mounts to the chassis. At this phase the project looked like a giant go-kart and with some temporary controls, wiring, and plumbing was driveable.
