Mary Lee and I traveled down to Mark’s Cruise Night in Granby, Connecticut on Monday. Mark’s is one of the largest around and draws anywhere from 600 to 1000 cars, unfortunately we picked a bad day. 
With temps hovering around 100 we only lasted about an hour before melting down completely. Any other day it would have been perfect, what with the live entertainment, cookouts, etc., but that blazing sun in those fields and only 2 lonely trees for shade it was unbearable. Seems all of the owners had their chairs under those trees and few people were actually by their cars, it was quite the sight to behold, scores and scores of people jammed under those 2 lonely trees. Speaking of sights to behold, I did happen across this great looking Auburn Boat Tail, what a cool car 1935 or 1936 I believe, first one I’ve seen in person.
I know it’s not a Cadillac but Santa, if you are listening, one of these would be really cool with a red bow on it this Christmas, hint-hint.… Once again I was amazed that out of hundreds of cars, there was only one lonely Cadillac, a late sixties convertible.
This searing heat has turned the garage into an oven, so my time there has been limited to early mornings. With both doors open (it’s a drive thru) there is always a nice breeze but when its 100 degrees it just feels like I’m working in front of a heater vent. Frustration is the word of the week, jobs that seem so easy quickly turn into long drawn out marathons and while I now have all of the body chrome trim installed down the passenger side of the “Gray Lady” it was not without major aggravation. After painstakingly aligning, shimming and installing the front fenders after painting, I found myself having to remove the fender to install one dumbazz screw holding one of the stupid windshield trim clips, I thought I was going to explode. Once I regained my composure, I chuckled to myself, called myself an idiot put it all back together and then proceeded to take the other side apart, put its screw in and then assemble it too. I spent 2 hours making new custom clips for the front fender and things went well until yesterday when I was installing the front fender side moulding and got to the rearmost clip stud and realized that with less than 1″ of clearance that GD fender was going to have to be pulled out once again to install the nut!!! Naturally, that means that the other side will have to be pulled out again too!!! For those of you that are counting, this will make the third time that the fenders have had to be installed and re-aligned. The Caddy Gods are not smiling down on me.….……
Adding insult to injury, the driver’s side rear fender blister bead moulding had been damaged decades ago in a minor mishap and had about a 2 foot flat spot in the middle of its 70″ length. I thought I might be able to hammer it out, but quickly realize I was in over my head and so decided I would take it over to Mickey at D & S Platings custom shop. He looked it over, said “no problem” should only cost a couple hundred. I actually thought he was kidding since we were only hammering out a dent and not replating it, Jay Leno can afford his prices, but not me, so I took my moulding and left, talking to myself the whole way home. On a whim I called Gary at Cadillac International he had a nice one on hand and it’s on the way to me at less than half the cost of Mickey’s repair. When it arrives I will finish the driver’s side trim. Finally, I have been struggling with trying to attach the crown moulding to the top of the front fenders, most of the clips were bad and I have not been able to fabricate a suitable replacement, so just today I ordered some oversize T-bolts and will find a way to alter them and make them work. They should be in on Friday.
Try to stay cool.….….….
