This was my own personal car (Brian Grams). I purchased it as a
nice stock 1959 Cadillac with an older frame-off restoration and
turned it into what you see today.
It features an L92 Cadillac Escalade engine rated stock at 403 HP
and 415 lbs of torque! The car was dyno-tuned to produce even more
power. It's backed by a 4L60e automatic overdrive transmission and
tied into the stock 3.36 rear end. The car cruises comfortably at
80 MPH and gets about 22 MPG. I have driven this car on several
long distance trips and it is a dream to drive. It has an e-Level
air ride system that automatically adjusts to keep the car level.
It has programmable ride heights but is also able to be manually
controlled. It also has the i-Level so it can be operated by your
phone. The air-ride provides a much nicer ride than the factory
springs and is fully adjustable to your liking. While the car did
have an older frame off restoration, I did have almost the entire
front and rear suspension rebuilt, replaced the steering box and
updated the brakes to disc with a dual master. The car is tight as
can be and can be driven with 1 finger on the wheel. One thing that
separates this car from other LS swaps is that while most people
opt for aftermarket gauges, I wanted to retain the classic original
dash. All of the gauges and idiot lights, including speedometer
were modified to work with the new swap. No ugly modern gauges. The
car is also a factory A/C car, it was updated with all new modern
A/C components connected to the factory controls and duct work to
retain the factory look and function. The heater core, control
valve, hoses, vacuum pods, etc. were all rebuilt to work
flawlessly. The engine install was done in a way that mimics a
vintage style so it doesn't scream "modern" when you raise the
hood. The engine was painted blue, custom coil covers were
installed to look like factory valve covers. Car is cooled by a Be
Cool radiator with twin electric fans, the car will never overheat
on you! A $2300 custom exhaust was specially made for this car, it
snakes through from front to out below the bumper without touching
anything, even when in the lowered position. No exhaust rattles or
banging!
Visually, it does not get any better. Everyone from old to young
love this car, nothing beats a laid out big Caddy! I've taken it to
high-end restaurants where the patrons would walk right past the
$300k Ferrari or Lamborghini to check out this car! It even caught
the attention of Cadillac Official who highlighted the car in their
social media, the only vintage car known of them to share. The
cosmetics were done by Montoya Kustoms, who is responsible for
building numerous World of Wheels show winning cars! The car was
dismantled for a professional paint job. Hundreds of hours were
spent blocking the car out to make it as close to laser straight a
big panel car like this can get! Its a factory Ford purple color,
easy blend or repair, with a purple Kandy fade. The roof was
paneled and flaked, do not look at it in the sun without sun
glasses! The car received a lot of tasteful pin-striping before the
entire car was cleared, it will not fade or rub off! Montoya also
reupholstered the car from headliner to carpet and added some nice
details like a custom cup holder (a necessity for long trips) and
the Angry Orchid seat plaque. The dash is still the original dash
pad in great shape with only light cracking near the defroster
vents. To truly finish the car off, they had notched the frame and
raised the drive-shaft tunnel to get the car to sit all the way on
the ground when aired out. The trunk was finished in black carpet
which highlights the professionally installed air-ride system.
The pictures are current with the exception of the pictures that
show the car with hubcaps, those are some cool custom pics that
were taken previously that we thought we would share. The car does
not come with hubcaps.
One thing I learned from doing this car is how much more expensive
and difficult it is to build a Cadillac then a Chevy! You could
build a Chevy for about 1/2 of what a Cadillac costs! I have well
over 6 figures in the car and put about 10k miles on this car since
it was completed. It is not a trailer queen but it dominates the
local car shows almost always leaving with a best of show
award.
Air ride suspension
Air conditioning
Power steering
Power disc brakes
Power windows
Power seat
Flaked roof
Kandy fade paint
Supreme wheels
Radial whitewalls
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