Thank God It Was the Fairfax!

[speedqueen]

Since I decided it was best I not further hijack Dustin's Prius thread with more on my Cadillac and considering what just happened when I decided to vacuum the interior since having to take a few pictures for those interested. I also have been putting off cleaning it. Now with the story...

So I decided to vacuum the caddy so I might get a few more shots of the interior for you guys and was going to drag out my Fairfax to do the job but almost reconsidered and used my 1205 for sake of convenience. So I set to work and after 5 minutes of vacuuming the front footwells it lost suction and I stopped to find the problem. I pulled off the "power dome" to find every filter and the bag soaked in water. Yesterday was a rainstorm and the windshield happens to leak on the passenger side. All is not lost because of the fact that the Fairfax has a full bypass design like Water Matic and no harm was done. I cannot imagine the damage done if I had chosen my 1205.

I hope I put this in the right place considering it is not directly about my cadillac or my Fairfax.

 

[tolivac]

Fairfaxes can be used for wet pickup after the "ball" watervalve is put into the machine inplace of the filters and bag.Becuase of the full bypass motor the Fairfax has,Watermatics have the same design-no harm really done -just a nuisance.If that happened the the 1205 it could have been fatal to it or even you as water gets into its motor.

 

[vacerator]

re; your Cadillac

has the merlin plaid upholstery option. It was standard on the base model Calais, but was also on the door panels.
The DeVille being an uplevel car, kept the leather and plastic wood trim on the doors.
Other choices were a corduroy velour, full leather, or Mahraja cloth in a brocade design.

 

[speedqueen]

Thanks thats good to know

Does that mean that the original owner downgraded the car to Calais (series 62) base trim to save money? The fact that they did not upgrade the windshield wipers to intermittent and the lack of an autronic eye makes me believe that this person wanted a Cadillac for the name when their budget would have went further with an Electra or Olds 98.

 

[vacerator]

No Richard,

but no delay wipers? Really? I thought those were standard accross the Caddy range.
GM had several no cost trim options to appeal to any taste.
Although it seems like a downgrade, it wasn't. Say a buyer liked the merlin plaid, but wanted the DeVille, they had a choice. Plaid on the door trim may have also been a bit too much for some, so they had to level up to a DeVille to only have it on the seats.
Maybe they offered a delay wiper delete for older buyers who didn't like new features.
Well heeled buyers tend to be eccentric, so rather than lose sales to Lincoln, or Imperial, anything was possible.
Mercury offered a heater delete in southern states until about 1965, and most had a standard AM radio delete option for those who wanted to add an aftermarket sound system.
Chevrolet offered a sport cloth interior in the 70's, but it was a coarser fabric than Cadillac used. Standard cloth on an Impala custom was a damask brocade which held up for about 6 years before tattering to shreds.

 

[speedqueen]

Worn after 6 years...

There is a reason I had shown the passenger side only if you get my drift... with about 40 years and about 100,300 miles I presume it held rather well for being mere trim cloth. Do you happen to know what would be a safe way of cleaning the seats without damaging them? I really appreciate your knowledge.

Speaking of non-upgraded features the Cadillac has the standard, non signal seeking radio as well but it is as good as anything to me. Do you know anyone locally who repairs car radios?

 

[brando_husky]

I think you should look into pulling the radio from the dash and checking out any vintage audio/radio equipment shops. We have several around town here in Omaha. Have had a few pieces redone like our '47 national ham radio receiver. New caps and tubes and a general run through. Some music gear shops might be able to help if any of them specialize in vintage gear.

 

[vacerator]

Richard,

Yes, you may be able to find someone who can test and repair the radio.
Those old Delco radios were great for AM reception, but the FM multiplex stereo reception was just ok. The windshield areal embedded in the glass didn't help much.
The next time GM did that early last decade, they put one in the back light glass also.
If it has an 8 track tape player, it adds to the vintage value in my opinion.
If your efforts to find anyone to repair it leads nowhere, you can get a new radio with a factory look alike face made for classic cars.
Does it have the nice chrome knobs with the wreathes around the edges?

 

[floor-a-matic]

I use the Rainbow for vacing the car

 

[rugsucker]

8 track?

After about 71 the optional 8 track moved from under the dash into the radio.If yours has it I may have the original tape that came with new Cadillacs.From at least 74-79 they were labeled 19xx Cadillac.First windshield antenna was 70 after first being used on the all new 69 Pontiac Grand Prix.After complaints the power antenna returned at least by 73.

 

[vacerator]

power antenna

yes, was an option in 1973, as was cruise control, tilt and telescope steering wheel. I think also still on a Calais in 1973, the 472 cu. in. engine was still standard. By '76, the Calais was gone. By 1978, Olds was using the name Calais for the top level Cutlass Supreme instead of the Salon. The Salon was the base aero back model Cutlass in '78.
Another asia pacific GM subsidiary used the DeVille name for it's executive car series along with Caprice. Holden Statesman. They used the same hood ornament, wreath emblems, and DeVille script as Cadillac. They even sold cars to Mazda minus engines. A twin rotary went into the rebadged Roadpacer.
Engines were a 253, 307 Holden built V8's, or a Chevrolet 350.
John D. Rock from Oldsmobile headed Holden in the early 80's.

 

[jmurray01]

My Peugeot it starting to get like that!  Only noticed the other day that after giving it a jet wash there was a steady drip of water coming from the top of the passenger front door, and I dared not open the sunroof cover for fear of there being a pool of water inside. 


 


It's little things like that though that make these older cars special and unique.  If it was 100% watertight then it wouldn't be my car!

 

[kirbysthebest]

GM cars are notorious leakers

I will no longer own a GM car, but of the ones in the past-I never had one that didn't leak.  Usually from the poor fitting windshield, the poor fitting rear window, or the wrap around side windows that don't completely close.   


 


 

 

[vacerator]

Holden

also used the Calais name on a 1980's Commodore uplevel model.
Soon enough, a GM car will differ little from a Chrysler or a Fiat.
The writing is on the wall. They already share a car platform and some parts in the Delta platform, and small FCA Dart, etc.
Holden is ceasing Australian production next year, and all will be imported from China. Ford also, and Toyota. With still under 30 million citizens, the Australian market is too small to sustain any production there.