1963 Cadillac Deville 1 Owner CA. OG Black Plate

1963 Cadillac DeVille -- Description

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I'm selling this for a friends dad (Bill, now 80) who bought it new off the show room floor in Culver City in 1962 and gifted it to his wife who worked in Van Nuys and commuted from their home in Encino which was 3 mile jaunt one way. In the early '70's they moved to Calabasas, and she left the job to became a full time house wife raising their one child. In the early '80's, she lost her battle with cancer so the caddy was left in the garage. Eventually Bill remarried and his new wife liked the Caddy and had the seats re-upholstered plus a new top with the hopes that Bill would enjoy it. Instead Bill enjoyed driving and tinkering with his corvairs, so the caddy remained in the garage. In 1994 the Caddy suffered earthquake damage, when items from the garage rafters fell, breaking the windshield and dinged up the hood and fender. Bill had it professionally repaired then brought it back to the garage to again sit. Through the years Bill would start it for good measure, then occasionally take it out for a spin to stretch it's legs. Bill finally realised it was time to let someone enjoy it and this is when I came into the picture. Restoring cars has been a 40 year passion and hobby, so I seemed to be a good choice to help out.

In a effort to be thorough here is the GOOD, the BAD & UGLY:

The 1994 Body shop receipt shows 53,912 miles, when I first laid eyes on her 2 months ago she had 54,428 on the clock.

After flushing the the gas tank, replacing the fuel filter, rebuilt the OG 4 jet carb, gave it a full tune up, put mystery oil in the crank case, had new muffler installed then cycled 3 tanks of fuel with a lot of driving, and now she runs excellent. It has a good feel while driving like it was never abused. Has a very tight overall feel.

STEERING: On 3 occasions it had momentarily groaned while it was cold. Aside from that it has a effortless feel - over all it works well.

BRAKES: Solid pedal, very touchy. - Works well.

ENGINE: In 1976 Bill had over reed the engine so new heads were installed at the Cadillac dealer at 34,398 miles. - I would imagine that unleaded valve seats would have been installed since in 1974 unleaded gas was law - I did a dry compression test and all cylinders were 140 which was good news. - Fast idle works well - smooth idle once warm - smooth acceleration with no hesitation from stand still and up to 80 MPH.

TRANS: Shifts as it should. Has a front small front seal leak - Bought a seal hydrating additive that may fix the issue. If not can drive for a while but would recommend installing new front seal.

POWER WINDOWS: They all work well with no binding or slow operation.

CONV TOP: Vinyl is good - has pliable feel - not stiff from age - Glass back window in excellent condition - Ribs black paint good - Chrome arms no signs of pitting - minor surface rust that will polish-up just fine. - Latches work excellent and have very nice chrome.

BOOT: Being original, it is a bit stiff. No cracks. It can be made soft again with GOOP. - Google it.

POWER TOP: Works very well - goes up and down faster than normal.

POWER SEAT: Operates as it should, but seems slow.

ACCESSORY LIGHTS: They all work. That never happens.

VENT WINDOW FRAMES: Have some pitting where it meets the weather striping on the A-Pillar. It's not visible with the door closed. Will clean-up to driver quality at best. Driver winder mechanism works but doesn't close tight, tight. It will not leak water, but it whistles over 55 MPH. Passenger winder pops out when trying to open. I'll fix this before the car goes. My instincts say it's something minor.

WINDOWS: Over all no scratches. Windshield is new - All side windows are good along with the chrome frames. Glass back window excellent.

SIDE VIEW MIRROR: Minor surface rust. Will clean-up to driver quality at best.

CHROME BUMPERS:They are in unusually good condition. - No pitting - They need some elbow grease.

BRIGHT WORK: Over all driver quality. Better than usual. Nothing need rechroming. Just cleaning. The grill needs the most attention with a lot of elbow grease, mainly the horizontal pieces.

DOORS: Nice gaps, function very well.

TRUNK: As it left the factory all the way down to the tire chalk. Even the trunk light works.

HOOD: Works as it should.

A/C: Needs a charge. I'll see if I can recharge it before selling it.

VENT CONTROLS: The Floor vents work as well as the defrosters. The A/C vents don't blow, and need attention. I'll do some research on this to see what's involved. Before committing to fixing it. Being a vacuum system it's a bit foreign to me.

CARPETS: The originals were faded so I dyed them back to black and now look new.

DASH: Excellent condition - No cracks.

VISORS: Excellent condition. The chrome pivots have minor pitting, but will clean-up with elbow grease.

STEERING WHEEL: Very good condition - Driver condition.

HUBCAPS: Excellent condition - To be picky the Cadillac crest in the middle could be repainted on all the caps.

TIRES: Michelins - Being over 6 years old should be replaced. Honestly - they drive nice with no flat spots. - Rubber isn't cracked anywhere plus they all have deep tread.

LIGHTS: One very unique light needs attention. With the headlights on it gets activated when the right turn signal is clicked on, at that point it lights up the lane to the right of the car. So I think the bulb needs a shake or needs t be replaces.

CLOCK: Bill put a digital one in in place of the original one. The original one comes with the car. Older clocks quit working because they're dirty. Usually a degreaser will revived 99% of the clocks.

EXHAUST SYSTEM: New muffler - pipes are good from stem to stern. Has a deep tone at idle - and has no exhaust note once you get rolling.

INTERIOR: Seats are black vinyl - the front leather armrest is original with the embossed Cadillac crest.

HERE ARE SOME BULLET POINT FACTS:

1 Owner.

Female driven since new.

Always in SoCal

OG CA. Black Plate for the entire life of the car.

OG Paint.

OG Carpet / Redyed.

OG Chrome from stem to stern.

OG Dash - No cracks.

OG Dunlop spare with sticker / Jack / and tire chalk.

OG Trunk liner.

OG Factory owners AND top manuals.

OG Rebuilt Rochchester 4 Jet carb.

OG Hubcaps.

Receipts going back to the early 70's.

Power Top.

Power seat.

Rebuilt engine.

Freshly tuned.

Runs excellent.

New muffler.

Since the car is listed for sale locally, I reserve the right to end the auction early.

If there are any other pictures beyond what I posted beyond photo bucket, or any questions please let me know.

Best of luck.

Chris