My 1959 Cadillac 4-Door Convertible Boat Puller

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Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.

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My 1959 Cadillac 4-Door Convertible Boat Puller



Here’s the 1959 Cadillac I cut the top off of and used to pull my drag boat to the lake and the races.

1959_Caddy_4_door_001.jpg




If you look carefully, you'll see this is a 4-door. Cadillac never made a 4-door convertible.... but I did. This was a 1959 Cadillac Flattop that was heading to the salvage yard. The salvage yard was going to yank the motor and transmission to resale and then CRUSH what was left.

It ran great but I didn't want a 4-door Flattop, back then I thought they looked ugly. I figured, if they're going to crush it, I can't make it any worse by cutting the top off? I paid $165.00 for it and drove it home. I still have the check today. I carefully marked the top for re-attaching before carefully cutting it off and in a couple of hours I had a 4-door Caddy Convertible. I would take the top off in May, usually about this time of year as I would always take my boat to Foster or Green Peter reservoirs for Memorial Day Weekend.

Usually in October, at the very end of summer in Oregon, I would re-attach the hardtop and drive this car all winter.


I don't have any pictures from back in those days, my friend David recently found a picture he had and then took a picture of the picture and sent it to me.


:)
 
That is amazing. I get that you cut the top off. The impressive detail (to me) is that you did it in a way that it could be put back on and driven. What attachment mechanism did you use? Was it as simple as some steel sheets or plates and screws or something more sophisticated? Was it relatively water-tight when you put the top back on?

Love the fins on that thing.
 
LSNAutoDetailing said:
Very cool Mike!
Click to expand...

All my friends, family and co-workers told me I was stupid and crazy to cut the top off.

For some reason when I told them the car was going to be crushed, that didn't sink in? The couldn't figure it out that I wasn't ruining it any more than it was going to get ruined.

THEN - after I cut the top off, everyone wanted to go for a ride in the big fin, Caddy convertible!



LSNAutoDetailing said:
I take it the Caddy is no more?
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When I lost my leg, I owned 9 cars, a Yamaha SECA 750 and the Sanger Drag Boat. I had to thin down for a few years and the Caddy was sold to my buddy David. He later sold it to one of the band members in 1950's rock-a-billy band in Salem, Oregon, I think they were called Johnny Limbo and the Lugnuts.


But yeah... I could have let it go to the salvage yard and get crushed...


Lot of great times and stories with that car.


:)
 
I gotta say i am impressed, do you have some body shop experience.

That doesn't look like it was your first to cut on a car.

Very cool
 
RippyD said:
That is amazing. I get that you cut the top off. The impressive detail (to me) is that you did it in a way that it could be put back on and driven. What attachment mechanism did you use? Was it as simple as some steel sheets or plates and screws or something more sophisticated? Was it relatively water-tight when you put the top back on?

Love the fins on that thing.
Click to expand...

Wondering this as well.......... C'mon, Mike. Spill the beans! Lol
 
If it was April 1, I'd say this was a joke...I don't know how you can cut the top off a hardtop and put it back on so you can drive the car in the winter...I guess unless you are Mike Phillips. The interior is beautiful on that thing, from what I can see in the second picture...was that original or did you have it re-done?

You are a car guy's car guy, Mike.
 
Strong66 said:
I gotta say i am impressed, do you have some body shop experience.
Click to expand...

Painted a few cars, actually don't know much about real body work.


Strong66 said:
That doesn't look like it was your first to cut on a car.

Very cool
Click to expand...

If you look closely, I cut the top off of this 1971 Chevy 3/4 Ton 4x4.

That's a half-cab soft top on the truck and that's the beach in Seaside, Oregon

This has 3/4 running gear, posi-track front and rear. A Turbo 400 short shaft, divorced 2 ton military transfercase, 402 Big Block Chevy, I-beam bumpers and those are 44" Swampers on Slotted Mags.

BigBlue001.jpg






Here it is before I cut the top off and swapped out all the running gear, engine, transmission and transfercase.

FosterMudFlats012.jpg






I like to turn wrenches and do my own work.


:)
 
Mike Phillips said:
Painted a few cars, actually don't know much about real body work.




If you look closely, I cut the top off of this 1971 Chevy 3/4 Ton 4x4.

That's a half-cab soft top on the truck and that's the beach in Seaside, Oregon

This has 3/4 running gear, posi-track front and rear. A Turbo 400 short shaft, divorced 2 ton military transfercase, 402 Big Block Chevy, I-beam bumpers and those are 44" Swampers on Slotted Mags.

BigBlue001.jpg


FosterMudFlats012.jpg





:)
Click to expand...

Those are super swampers? Can't see them very good but I thought they were 18-44-15 Monster Mudders. I knew they were 44's when I saw the picture. I mounted and ummmm...balanced?? quite a few of those in my day.

That look was so much cooler than what they do today with the 22 and 24" wheels IMO.
 
Nice story! And fun to have old pictures of the cars you have owned. Awesome with a 4doors cabriolet :)

/Tony
 
DaveT435 said:
Those are super swampers? Can't see them very good but I thought they were 18-44-15 Monster Mudders.

I knew they were 44's when I saw the picture.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong on the name, I'd have to go up to Interco and look up the tread design to be sure, I thought they were called Super Swampers. This would be back in the early 1980s.

When 40" tall tires were first introduced, my friend Eric was the first guy in town to have a set and back then, that was real bragging rights. I was the second guy. Eric went nuts and built an even bigger truck, (the one with the road grader tires in the picture), and never messed with the smaller tires again. He still owns that huge truck to this day.

When 44" came out I was the first guy in my home town to get them. After wearing out the first set I purchased a second set and that's the set you see on the truck when I took the picture of it on the beach. Those are 16.5" rims too, not 15" I think the 10.5 inch wide. Super hard to find now days.


DaveT435 said:
That look was so much cooler than what they do today with the 22 and 24" wheels IMO.
Click to expand...


I agree.

I recently sold my 1987 with the 40" Toyos. While I liked the truck I don't like trucks this new. It's 31 years old as I type and I much prefer Chevy trucks from the late 1960's through the 1970s. The Silverado in the picture below had TBI or Throttle Body Injection. It was the first fuel injected truck I have ever owned. All previous trucks had carburetors and HEI ignition systems and that is my preference. As soon as you go fuel injection... EVERYTHING about the truck gets more complicated. I like my trucks simple.

Rupes_Coating_Monster_Truck_042.jpg



The requirements are, I have to be able to pull into Autozone, buy any part off the shelf and bolt in on in the parking lot. Can't do that when the fuel pump is located in the gas tank. So no more complicated systems for this guy.


:)
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Is that what did your back in?
Click to expand...

I'm sure it had a lot to do with it. Back then there weren't lifting procedures, etc. and of course being a 20 something male full of testosterone you had to show that you could do them by yourself. Those things are pushing about 150 a corner, which isn't that bad, really awkward to pick up.
 
Mike Phillips said:
I could be wrong on the name, I'd have to go up to Interco and look up the tread design to be sure, I thought they were called Super Swampers. This would be back in the early 1980s.

When 40" tall tires were first introduced, my friend Eric was the first guy in town to have a set and back then, that was real bragging rights. I was the second guy. Eric went nuts and built an even bigger truck, (the one with the road grader tires in the picture), and never messed with the smaller tires again. He still owns that huge truck to this day.

When 44" came out I was the first guy in my home town to get them. After wearing out the first set I purchased a second set and that's the set you see on the truck when I took the picture of it on the beach. Those are 16.5" rims too, not 15" I think the 10.5 inch wide. Super hard to find now days.





I agree.

I recently sold my 1987 with the 40" Toyos. While I liked the truck I don't like trucks this new. It's 31 years old as I type and I much prefer Chevy trucks from the late 1960's through the 1970s. The Silverado in the picture below had TBI or Throttle Body Injection. It was the first fuel injected truck I have ever owned. All previous trucks had carburetors and HEI ignition systems and that is my preference. As soon as you go fuel injection... EVERYTHING about the truck gets more complicated. I like my trucks simple.

Rupes_Coating_Monster_Truck_042.jpg



The requirements are, I have to be able to pull into Autozone, buy any part off the shelf and bolt in on in the parking lot. Can't do that when the fuel pump is located in the gas tank. So no more complicated systems for this guy.


:)
Click to expand...

If they are Interco they would be super swampers. I believe Interco did end up buying out the company that made Monster Mudders and Ground Hawgs (I believe that was the spelling)

I couldn't agree more with wrenching on the older cars. A 12 pack and a few tools and we could fix most things. One of my neighbor's has a '70 Chevelle, same car I had in high school, he's using it for a daily driver. It's got just a little bit if rust but he's just letting it continue. I've been trying to get him to sell it me for years now. Really wanted to make it a project car with my younger son. We still do what we can on the newer vehicles but I would sure love to show him how it was when I was growing up.
 
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