1958 Buick Caballero

I googled and saw a really wild custom '59 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham WAGON was also in the show. A lot of customs at this show apparently.

https://autoweek.com/article/classic-cars/meet-cadmad-your-2019-detroit-autorama-ridler-winner

 

"When he saw all 3 proposals together on the car, Earl said ' "That's what we're going to do." '

Naughty Harley!

 

I had never heard that story before. I thought it was pretty entertaining.

 

Absolutely AMAZING! Thank you very much for sharing your journey bringing back this beautiful wagon to the caliber that you did. Just AMAZING!

 

Well not to beat a dead horse, but you mentioned the category ‘58-‘67 “restored”. Don’t know what you lost against, but even though that ‘59 Cadillac was a stunning “custom” I certainly hope cars like that and the redone Chevy II were not your competition. To me restored is Factory spec, car sold new category. I’m sorry I’m such a defender of your car, (not really) lol, but I just can not imagine there was another “restored” car that was there that was better than yours. And that’s not just because it’s a wagon. Like I said it’s stunning, and will bring you and your family years of joy. That’s one of the reasons I’m not a fan of judged, or people’s choice car shows.

 

Do I smell graft here? Crypto currency makes Payola possible. The question now is which judge took the palm grease

 

Thank you so much for sharing every detail of your journey, and for the detailed photos of each step along the way.
If there's an award for blogs, you should win it.

 

Thanks for the kind words, but there were at least 4 cars in my class that I thought were "more perfect" than my Caballero.

My car has a re-coated fuel tank that does not look like a new tank and the rear liftgate glass has some scratches.

Those 2 items are more than enough to drop my car below the 1958 Bonneville, the 1966 Chargers (2 of them) and the incredible 1965 GTO that took the awards in my class.

It's all good.

 

That makes me feel much better knowing the field, and that you’re ok with how the judging was conducted. A ‘58 Bonneville is not bad company. It must has been cosmic as far as it redo. I’m sure the chargers and the GTO were also quite something.

 

It is a bummer that there were others who were judged better, as everyone sees the astounding amount of work you've put into your wagon; but if all you need is to finish the last details and source a better gas tank and polish the rear window, it'll definitely garner those awards when the next round comes around.

 

I'm so glad to see the finished product, and in such a prestigious venue. My Uncle Dutchie and Aunt Nell had a black '58 Special four door sedan up until they bought a new '65 Le Sabre Custom four door sedan. They loved both of those cars very much. Yours is just so perfect, in spite of the "flaws".

 

Wow, 3 months since my last update here!

Immediately after the Detroit Autorama show, we left for a well-deserved vacation in Arizona.


Then, I made a couple of improvements to the car before heading to the Cincinnati Concours on June 9.

I installed the seals to close out the outer wheel wells to the quarter panels.
They were installed with stainless steel staples and sealed with a heavy bodied sealer between the seal and the wheelwell.
This picture shows the first 2 staples installed on the left side seal.
It was a tight environment and took some creativity to figure out a way to crimp the legs of the staples in a very small space.


Here's the completed installation:


I also applied undercoating to the floors and under-body as it was applied by the factory.
To begin, I masked off the frame and other areas that did not receive the factory undercoating.
In this photo, you can see the masked areas and some of htre undercoating already applied to the floor pans.


Originally, the underside of the tire well was undercoated, but the floor pans were undercoated only to the back of the rear axle and not above the fuel tank. Go figure...


I also added the 6 sets of seat belts. I chose contrasting, brown belts with the chrome lift latches.
Here, I have attached cords to the belt anchors to assist with inserting the belts between the seat cushion and the seat back.


I also used a piece of harness wrap to help push the cord through the gap


Then, bolted the belt anchors to the underbody anchor plates that were installed when the metal work was completed
It's a nice, clean look.




Installation of the rear seat belts was s little easier, since the cushion and the back can be separated.


I also wanted to improve the appearance of the rear liftgate windlace. It was very wavy and didn't fit snugly against the liftgate opening. Every time I opened the gate, the windlace looked like it had been pushed out of position by the upper liftgate frame.

I removed the windlace, tore the stitching out of the cloth cover and slit the foam core to accept a plastic reinforcement:


I re-stitched the cover to the reinforced foam core, while adding a 3mm thick foam rubber "gasket" to tighten the fit of the windlace to the upper liftgate opening.
The gasket won't be visible when the windlace is installed because it is trapped between the metal garnish molding and the liftgate opening in the body shell.


Much better!!!
The windlace is held tightly in place. It flexes "down" when the upper liftgate is closed, but it does not move out of position. It's straight and neat.


In the circled area, you can see that the trim cover on the front seat has begun to pucker. The cover was too loose on the cushion.


I pulled the front seat out of the car to re-pad the seat cushion.
I removed the top 2 layers of cotton/poly padding and foam and replaced them with a thicker, firmer layer of bonded foam.
The cover is much tighter and the seat holds a more defined shape at the perimeter.


Ready for Cincinnati!




The Caballero was placed in a Featured Class, celebrating Mid-Century Modern design.
It was in a group comprised of 1958 to 1965 closed cars.
"Best in Class" (Blue Ribbon) went to a beautiful, silver, fuel injected 1963 Corvette coupe.


We got "First Place" (Red Ribbon) in the class. Essentially, first runner-up.

 

Well congrats Joe. That is such a pretty car. The red ribbon really matches the paint very nicely. Looks great tucked up under the windshield wiper. Had lunch with Bill and Anthony this weekend. Drove my ‘49 Chrysler. Your name came up, and we had a nice time. Next time you and the Mrs. Find yourself on I 40 headed west look us up. If you get back to Arizona with some time on your hands, may even supervise a project or two on the ‘38 lol.

 

Sounds great, Mercman!

 

You should just about be done. I can’t imagine there is much more of anything that Buick needs. It’s so stunning.