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1973 Cadillac Deville Base Hardtop 2-door 7.7l on 2040-cars

Year:1973 Mileage:141388
Location:

Catonsville, Maryland, United States

Catonsville, Maryland, United States

 Hello, and thanks for stopping by!

 I have a 1973 Cadillac Coupe DeVille for sale that needs very little to be 'complete'. It started out as a pretty involved project (as shown by the last three pics) to build a nice, old school Cadillac, and while it's pretty close to being what I envisioned, I don't have the time anymore to continue with it...I have other projects that I really want to address, so this one needs to go.  It has a 472 with functional A/C, and while it runs pretty good, I think the new carb would make it easier to start and idle a bit better as the original carb seems to need a rebuild...for the money it cost to have that done, a newly rebuilt one seemed to be the better buy, so that's what I did, I just haven't put it (and the adapter plate for it) on the car yet. It also has a brand new power steering hose (high pressure side) as it burst due to age about 3 mos. ago. It has color-matched (powder coated)  spoke wheels with 17" Vogue Tyres (about 65-70%) all the way around. The car has a basic stereo...Alpine i-Pod ready head unit and four speakers, but is wired for a large stereo and A/V system; power cable, turn-on cable, RCA's for sound and video are already run to the trunk, and a ground cable is back there as well. The trunk pull still works on the car which I thought was pretty cool as they seem to rarely work on cars this old. The brakes were replaced about 6 mos. ago, and have very little wear as it's not an 'everyday' car; at the most it was driven about 10 times a month.

 If you're in MD., the car does not need to be inspected or tested for emissions if you get Historic tags. I would strongly recommend this as getting any car this old to pass emissions and a MD. State Inspection would be quite costly. The car has actually been painted twice since I have owned it. The pics shown first are the first paint job, and while it was 'ok', I wasn't happy with the clear coat, so it was sanded back down, and re-shot  basically using the sanded paint job as a really expensive primer as it was only on the car for about a year before the re-spray; the pic right before the body shop pics is what the car looks like after the second paint job. Both paint jobs were done using Deltron DBC 2000 base, clear, and hardener.

The current color is Ford's 'Dark Copper Metallic' and is most commonly seen on Super Duty and King Ranch trucks. Also, the current paint job is about 4 mos. old. The wheels are powdercoated spokes that are really close to the color of the current color of the car, though if powdering another another set (spokes or otherwise), you would want to go with an RAL 8011 as it more closely matches the color of the car now. If you choose to go the actual paint route, the paint code is Ford T5 or M7133A. You'll need to tint it a bit darker to get a perfect match, though the shooting it straight would give the wheels a subtlety custom effect by way of the complementary contrast of the same color in two shades...do some spray-outs to get it right where you want it, then have at it. Make sure you shoot at least 4 coats of a high quality clear if you go the paint route on any wheels...they get hot, rocks hit them, etc., so you want to get as much protection for the basecoat as you can the first time out. It has an upgraded, 100A alternator (one wire), and it has been converted to an HEI ignition via a Petronix under cap kit...it looks like a points setup, but is really HEI. The headlights have been converted to true HID, and are 6500K...clean, clear light; no weird colors. The tag lights are 6500K LED. Also, all of the interior lights have been upgraded to 6500K LED bulbs, and the dashboard has an received LED lighting upgrade as well; the dashboard numbers are now visible at night when they were really dim before. All four windows are power and are tinted with 5% 3M tint, but the driver's rear, front, and passenger front could stand to be redone as the doors were taken off the car when it was painted, and in the process of re-installing the door cards the tint was nicked and lifted in a couple places.

The transmission shifts and goes into gear smoothly. The steering wheel has been upgraded to a real, Nardi wood wheel. There is a monitor installed in the location where the factory clock used to be; it can be used as an entertainment screen (as seen in the pic), or a back up camera (would help as this is a very long car), or both if a switching unit is installed by the new owner. It is now in 'sleep mode' via a momentary switch that is tied closed so that it isn't just a white screen due to there no longer being a video signal being sent to it. The mileage is 141,388 which breaks down to 3,448 miles per year. The car has a new battery (July, 2014) with a 2 year warranty.

The areas that I know of that need to be addressed are as follows:


* The suspension, like the rest of the car, is 41 years old...it could stand to have the bushings and shocks replaced, though it does still track pretty straight on the highway and rides pretty smoothly...I just think it could be smoother if the the shocks and bushings were replaced.

* The HVAC (heat and A/C) system works, but could be made to work better. The doors in the control box seem to open and close as they should, but I think there may be an issue with the ducting...you can feel hot or cold air, it just doesn't seem to blow as hard as I think it should, but that being said, they do work. I have re-charged it and again, it blows cold, it just seems like it should have more 'pressure' as it blows.

* The exhaust system needs to be re-done. When I bought the car, it already had a Flowmaster on it...apparently someone had a strange idea of what a Cadillac is supposed to sound like...anyway, my goal was to put all of the silencers and mufflers back on the car so that it would be as quiet as possible...you know...like a Cadillac is supposed to sound. The previous owner 'made' the Flowmaster fit, so it hangs too low and really needs to be taken off...it makes the car 'bottom out' on the exhaust which has produced an exhaust leak which is just annoying. Simply correcting the exhaust will make a world of difference and may or may not be done by the time it sells; it all depends on how much spare time I can 'eek out'.

* The front lower bumper is pushed in. Most people rarely even notice this on a car that is 19 feet long (longest production Cadillac that wasn't a hearse or ambulance), but I noticed it when I bought it, so I'm mentioning it now.

* I've replaced the passenger side exhaust manifold gaskets (real PITA), so the driver's side should probably be addressed as well, though I don't know that they absolutely have to be done immediately.

* It could stand to have new carpet installed. Overall, it's 'ok', but the driver's side is pretty worn. If I were to keep the car, it would be one of the first things I'd address (after the exhaust) as the interior is really nice, so simply replacing the carpet will go a long way to freshening things up interior-wise.

I have priced the car keeping in mind not only what I have in it this far (way too much for me to even think about), but what someone else would have to put into it after buying it to get it 'finished'...you could drive it just fine (once the exhaust issue is addressed) the way it sits, yet it could just be so much better if it were 'finished'. As I said earlier, this is one of projects that has to go, but I'm not looking to give it away; I WILL entertain offers, trades, money and trades, etc. (email me), but please...be realistic. The car is also for sale locally, so I reserve the right to end the auction early. I am not interested in international sales; if you are not in the contiguous United States, please DO NOT bid; I will retract your bid if you do so. This would be a lot easier for everyone involved if the buyer is in the MD/ DC/ VA area, or if not, has a trailer or flatbed to transport it back home; I really don't know if shipping this thing is going to be cost effective, and I've seen/ heard plenty of horror stories about shipping companies scratching or damaging vehicles, plus the cost would be at least about half of what the starting bid is. The vehicle is being sold as-is with no warranty expressed or implied, and there are no refunds. The winner needs to pay via PayPal within 24 hrs. or the car is going back up for auction, so please...please bid seriously. More pics can be seen by typing 1973 Cadillac Coupe DeVille in the search box under the category 'Collectibles'.

Again, thanks for stopping by!

PLEASE NOTE: In previous listings, I mentioned that the windshields needed to be re-sealed;  this has been done, though the new buyer may want to go over it.


On Aug-01-14 at 07:41:56 PDT, seller added the following information:

 The original steering wheel and Cadillac hubcaps are included in the sale if anyone is interested. Also, please note that shipping is NOT encouraged; I can offer absolutely NO help with shipping and STRONGLY encourage interested buyers to be local to the MD/DC/VA area, or be willing to drive here with a trailer. If you have bid and are not local and not willing to drive here with a trailer, rollback, etc., please contact me and we can retract your bid with no negative repercussions. PLEASE ask as many questions as you can think of; as I said in the ad, once the vehicle is sold, there are no refunds. It is honestly represented, and considerably under-priced. As the asking price is less than what the paint and body materials & labor cost, you could think of it as paying for a nice paint job and getting the rest of the car for free. It's not perfect, nor is it represented as such, but it's also not 'beat', 'rough', or 'clapped out'; I'm willing to work with people on the price, but making derogatory comments about the car simply for the sake of trying to get a lower price is not going to work...I know you never get what you spend back out of these, but I'm nowhere near that in what I'm asking for the car, and anyone that has put an older car project together will know that and see that the price is more than fair . It's a car that once the exhaust is addressed can be driven anywhere and will turn heads in a good way wherever it travels with nothing else done to it...put another $3-4K into it, and could be a car that you'd have to think twice about driving because it may be too nice to risk damaging...that being said, again...thank you for stopping by.


On Aug-01-14 at 16:01:37 PDT, seller added the following information:

 The other listing under 'Collectibles' has been removed; please feel free to inquire directly to me via ebay messages  about other pics should you feel the need to do so.

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