Modern Art Monday: 1956 Cadillac Coupe "Resto-Mod"

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So last weekend, this olelongrooffan was up in the World Center of Racing to attend the SCCA Spring Track Days with my younger brother, thejeepjunkie. As this was his first time to attend a track days weekend (yeah, I know) he was rather excited about it. Me? Other than the fact I would be attending the deflowering of another virgin at the Daytona International Speedway, not so much. Well, I arose Saturday morning to clear and sunny skies and jumped on Florida Highway 9 to head to points north. About 50 miles south of my destination the skies clouded over and opened up with near monsoon like conditions. As I was aware track days tended to be hit and miss when inclement weather showed its ugly face, I was interested to see what would be up this day there on the infield course. Well, I arrived, contacted thejeepjunkie and was informed his son, the Kid, had slipped off an Interstate on ramp and landed in a flooded swale alongside said ramp and thejeepjunkie and a bunch of Florida’s finest black and tan car driving dudes were on their way to rescue him. As was this olelongrooffan.

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Now this olelongrooffan is confident my fellow Hoons are wondering how in God’s name does any of this pertain to to a 1956 restomod and more specifically, Modern Art Monday?

Well by the time we were able to eradicate the Kid’s black Ranger from said swale, stand around chatting it up about how lucky he is to have his pop’s friends being who they are and make dang sure you don’t let your mother know this has transpired, most of the morning was spent. Once all of the assembled vehicles (about 15 or so) had made it on their way to a new destination, thejeepjunkie calls his Neon driving buddy out in the yellow garages at my former local track. Turns out the NeonDrivingDude was calling it a day as he wasn’t all that keen on catching one of those SAFER barrier walls in the rain. “Let’s hook up tomorrow,” was his response to thejeepjunkie. Well, we chatted it up a bit and thejeepjunkie was gonna head by theracedude’s garage for a few cold pops. He inquired if I “would like to join or you gonna head to the track?” Well, as this olelongrooffan is a reluctant teetotaler these days, a few cold pops didn’t sound like much fun nor did, for that matter, hanging in the rain watching some fast cars go slow around a rain soaked track. Yeah, this olelongrooffan is jaded as heck these days.

I decided to just head on back down Highway 9 and did just that. On the way up that morning I had seen this super honking Osh Kosh truck parked just off Eisenhower’s Highway System and wanted to check it out on the way back to TheStuccoBox. So I headed out and just about where I thought that truck would be, I exited off that Highway System in search of that elusive truck. I never did find it that day but it is okay, I have an adventure in reserve.

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In the meantime, I was headed down US 1 up there a few towns north and spotted a 55 Chevy Belair restomod sitting in front of a car lot along with a whole dang bunch of other lead sleds and the like. In their defense, they did have a bone stock sweet 61 Cadillac coupe along with a couple GTX’s of the same vintage as I had seen at theBarrett-Jackson show a few weeks ago. But those cars are not what this Modern Art Post is all about.

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It is about this 1956 Cadillac restomod. Now, this olelongrooffan has gone on the record, more than one time, about how I prefer my Hoonable vehicles to be stock and my opinion has not changed with the sighting of this Caddy. Prior to this sighting, a majority of the restomod’s this olelongrooffan has seen were mmerely slammed with huge wheels installed and a ubiquitous SBC installed under the bonnet of it. Of course there have been a few exceptions but they have been far and between.

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This one falls into the latter category. In addition to the modern Cadillac interior with the correct number of pedals and speeds on that console mounted shifter, also had a CTS-V LS2 engine installed under that bonnet. SBC? Forgetaboutit. This thing is beautiful, for what it is. Not only that, every nut and bolt was brand new and the tone of the exhaust when CameronTheMan started it up sure tripped my trigger.

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I will say this dude, who badged this creation as his own sure does some fine work and overall, this thing would work well as a member of my livery, even though it would not get quite as much drive time as that Cabellero longroof I shared last week.

But it is well put together and stay tuned for some other sweet stuff from CameronTheMan’s place.

Oh Yeah, asking price for this Work of Art is $199 large, trades considered.”

Image Copyright Hooniverse 2013/longrooffan

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30 responses to “Modern Art Monday: 1956 Cadillac Coupe "Resto-Mod"”

  1. julkinen Avatar

    The interior looks better here than in the CTS. I actually like this thing a lot.

    1. calzonegolem Avatar
      calzonegolem

      I agree. It looks well put together.

  2. Alff Avatar

    Harumph. If ever there was a car that deserved not to be adorned a modern interior, wheels or low profile tires, this is it. It's well done, though.

    1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
      Peter Tanshanomi

      I will inform young Master Ford to never play on your lawn again.

  3. nutzforautos Avatar
    nutzforautos

    GULP! OMG! This thing is incredible! Want it! Can't afford it! Hate myself right now!

  4. $kaycog Avatar
    $kaycog

    As I've said before, I'm not a purist, but this Caddy should have been left stock.

    1. Batshitbox Avatar

      Sometimes that's just not an option. When you've got a squirrel infested interior and an unredeemable engine/transmission the only way to keep what's left in active service is something along these lines. Either that or keep it in the barn while you try to track down all the 'correct' bits.
      It's only a Cadillac.

      1. $kaycog Avatar
        $kaycog

        I bet it can be done. http://www.modifiedcadillac.org/forum/index.php/t

      2. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar
        FuzzyPlushroom

        Agreed. I'm all for restoring basket cases to drivable status, but what you do from there, when many of the original parts are missing, is entirely up to you. I'd like to think it was either this or rat-rod status, and while I wouldn't knock either, this is a sweet build.

  5. Wil Avatar
    Wil

    I know this car well. I know the place this car was photographed well. I know that this car well enough to know what faults this particular conversion has.
    But no wordplay concerning my father's name….interesting.

    1. longrooffan Avatar

      Wil: Met the old man up there on that Saturday and we chatted it up about you. Glad to hear you are well and it appears a F150 may be headed to the pothole laden Motor City to take over daily driver duties for that SVT. Stay tuned for more on Pops, that well known car lot and CameronTheMan. This olelongrooffan is honored you check in on my posts.

      1. Wil Avatar
        Wil

        Maybe, but my old man is still trying to sell me on that mod-blcok 4.6 versus my chosen sbc. I will keep checking in. Glad to see someone else fell in love with that car as well. I saw it first up at Mecum in January. And no need to be honored. I will check back soon.

  6. Rust-MyEnemy Avatar

    This is very nice, nicer than I'd have thought. But I want to see the CTS that's out there cruising around with a '57 Cadillac interior.

    1. buzzboy7 Avatar
      buzzboy7

      I'm more interested in it having an 331(?) and a Hydramatic

      1. Vairship Avatar
        Vairship

        Or a manual tranny on the column?

  7. TurboBrick Avatar
    TurboBrick

    Love it. Great concept, great execution, just one question… how do you get in the back seat?

  8. Scandinavian Flick ★ Avatar
    Scandinavian Flick ★

    I bet the interior creaks and rattles less in here than the car it came from…

  9. BЯдΖǐL-ЯЄРΘЯΤЄЯ Avatar

    Sitting in an old shell and looking at a new dash is not my cup of tea. Can go with modern suspension, modern engine and well hidden modern sound system and airco´s but a dash like that in this car looks stupid.
    This was the way it ment to be:
    <img src="http://www.chubbcollectorcar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/Gallery_Image/1956%20Cadillac%20Coupe%20De%20Ville%20Interior.jpg&quot; width="600">

    1. Mad_Hungarian Avatar
      Mad_Hungarian

      This man speaketh truth. There are ways to do this that are completely stealth, and then there are ways to do this that make me wanna puke. I needed a couple of barf bags for that.
      BTW, I think that abortion started out as a '55 rather than a '56, at least the grille and front bumper are '55.

      1. longrooffan Avatar

        It seems like I remember it being called a 56 but they are so similar that you are probably correct. When you have a chance, drop me an email will ya?

    2. FuzzyPlushroom Avatar
      FuzzyPlushroom

      Likewise.. and even new seats and power options, but the classic dashboard and gauges are a major part of the old-car driving experience. I figure the dash in this one probably looked like a dry lake bed, and the CTS interior was a 'why not?' replacement… in that context it would make sense.

  10. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    For the most part, I like it, but I would choose a more subtle color, and stock CTS-V wheels instead of those DONKs. I can't get over how the dash fits. But, does it have a functioning defroster?

    1. Peter Tanshanomi Avatar
      Peter Tanshanomi

      The wheels make me wretch. Other than those ugly, out-of-place hoops, I dig it all.

  11. Devin Avatar
    Devin

    I appreciate some of it – totally fine with the engine, since it's a Cadillac unit – but I didn't even like that dashboard in the CTS.

  12. I Think Not Avatar
    I Think Not

    Well, it certainly seems excited to be there.
    //bumper bullets FTW.

  13. Van_Sarockin Avatar
    Van_Sarockin

    Nicely done. But I hope the car was so far gone that this was the reasonable way to resuscitate it.

  14. CABEZAGRANDE Avatar
    CABEZAGRANDE

    <img src="http://image.hotrod.com/f/featuredvehicles/hrdp_1112_1949_cadillac_sedanet/35240842/hrdp-1112-08-o%2B1949-cadillac-sedanet%2Bpikes-peak-hill-climb.jpg&quot; width="600">
    Reminds me of this fine beast, which has a an LS9 under the hood and a modern chassis underneath. http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hrdp_1112_
    I for one love the restomod movement (on non-rare cars like this). Have you ever driven one of these stock? They're an attrocity. They're only fun at 4 mph driving through a cruise night. With the modern running gear, they still do that, they're just pleasant to drive everywhere else too. I don't like the dash however. It was ugly in the V and it's ugly here. Sticking with the old school dash would have made this much cooler.

  15. Wolfie Avatar
    Wolfie

    That is some seamless transition between old and new. Well done.

  16. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
    C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

    I think the problem most of us have with this is the interior.
    Disc brakes, at least up front, are pretty much a necessity in a DD should you live where there is traffic.
    This said, all which needs to be done to this to make it a reliable DD can be done without impinging on the style, both inside and out.
    BTW, whoever put these wheels on it should have one shoved up their ass.

    1. nutzforautos Avatar
      nutzforautos

      Agree with that comment about the wheels. Everything else about this car I LOVE, however.
      Besides, the zenith for Cadillac dashboard styling is in the 67/68 Devilles; That old 50's dash is as butt-ugly as these donk wheels.