At the beginning of June, the story of the ’69 Cadillac was posted on the blog telling the history of the old Fleetwood. For almost 18 years the car rested in a garage untouched and unfortunately uncared for. It has been the desire to get this car out of the garage and into the outdoors so that it sees daylight after many years.
To be honest the task of getting the car out of the garage seemed overwhelming and while I had the best of intentions, something always came up to convince me to push it off for another weekend. Bob and I looked at the situation and with some encouragement from Bob we planned to move the car, and then enjoy the sight as it first sees daylight.
Since the car had been placed on dollies many years ago, the issue of moving the car from side to side was already taken care of. So, we made room to move the Cadillac to the middle of the garage. The big question was would it roll on its own tires or were we going to be dependent on the dollies alone. Many times, after a car has been sitting for an extended period, the brakes seize up and the wheels will not turn. This is just another potential obstacle in our way and another example of what happens to a car that has been neglected and left idle.
To determine whether the wheels would turn we jacked up each corner of the car and rotated the wheel to ensure that it was free, and the car would roll. Fortunately, there were no issues with seized brakes, so we were on to the next step.
A car cannot not roll very well on tires with little air. So, we added air to all the tires. It was not only interesting that each tire still had some air, but it was even more interesting that each tire had the same 14 lbs. of air pressure. Tires losing air over time is very common, it is also common to have those tires refuse to hold air once deflated. This was not the case with the Cadillac (Mrs. Edna). The tires were one of the newest items on the car, as I aspired of moving the car 10 or so years ago so I put four new tires on the car but never did anything past that.
The car was moved to the center of the garage on the dollies, the wheels freely spinning, and the tires filled with air we began to plan to push the car out of the garage. At this point, we were no longer in need of the dollies. Once again jacked the car up and removed the dollies for all for wheels.
With the car in neutral it was pushed the car out of the garage and into the driveway. As the car began to roll, it was necessary to periodically tap the brakes to keep the car from picking up too much speed. There was always a fear that if this heavy got away on us, the two of us would not be able to stop it on our own. The brakes were pressed with much hesitation, as there is always the fear that they would not work or equally as important, we would press the brake pedal and the brakes would lock up leaving the car immobile.
The was rolled out perfectly and was situated in the middle of the driveway just right to be loaded up as it sees daylight for the first time in years and brought back to my house to rest. As we begin to take steps to not just get her out of the garage but to get the car running and driving on her own.
The car arrived back at my home and the tow truck driver was able to place the car perfectly in a space where the car would reside for the next few months. Once the dust settled, the car was given a quick wash or two so that it could be covered until the next steps.
While we have walked around the car for the next steps in the revival of the ’69 Cadillac at this point the car was covered up until the next free weekend when we will work on getting her started.
Jamie Pappas
