| - Put in new exhaust system, because the previous owner installed a wrong one from an Opel (!) | DONE |
| - Rebuild engine and transmission due to enormous loss of oil | DONE |
| - Repair electric trunk pull down mechanism | DONE |
| - Some front suspension parts need attention | DONE |
| - New battery needed | DONE |
| - A set of new 2 1/4" custom made radial wide whitewall tires from Diamond Back | DONE |
| - Do some cosmetical touch-ups of the original paint and chrome | PLANNED |
| - Install new carpet - could not find a perfect replacement yet | PLANNED |
| - Convert lighting system back to original condition | DONE |
| - New paintjob around 2009? Not sure about this - maybe I´ll leave it alone | PLANNED |
| - Repair windshield wipers and washer - works perfect now thanks to www.wiperman.com | DONE |
| - Rebuild all three dual carburetors | DONE |
The Restoration of my Seville
My car is still in its original condition with original paint. Some work already was done and some more will be necessary in the future.
I´m planing to do some more, although the car drives and handles like a dream. It has no rust and even the Vicodec top is in perfect condition. The car runs beautifuly, but I´m a perfectionist and everything has to be as good as possible.
I did a big part of the restoration myself - like removing all the old paint, disassembling everything in the engine bay, repaint most of the parts and some other stuff. Rudi Kerschbaumer from American Special Parts here in Austria allowed me to do all this work myself in his shop under his professional supervision as we became good friends over the last years.
After I cleaned everything he took over to rebuild the engine and transmission, and to put everything back together. He also did all the painting in the engine bay and the engine itself. He also made everything working again and took care of everything that had to be repaired. The only thing we outsourced was the rebuild of the windshield wiper and washer unit which was sent to the USA for a rebuild.
American Special Parts is definitely the very best shop in Austria for restorations. He also did a great job on my 67 DeVille a couple of years before.
The things I had and will have to fix included the following:
The engine was very dirty and all the original gaskets were shot. Otherwise it was in perfect condition.
The engine block
The underside of my 58 Seville. 100% rustfree but full of oil from the leaky transmission and the engine.
This car is an unrestored example and looks very nice for a 50 year old car.
the empty engine bay
the filthy steering gear
This is the shop in Austria where my 58 was restored. I already did my 67 there and they did a great job.
The underside
Lots of parts waiting to be restored
the tri -carb set up removed.
the heads
oil pan - I wired brushed it to bare metal
the block - waiting to be cleaned
parts waiting
exhaust manifold before...
exhaust manifold before...
exhaust manifold before...
exhaust manifold before...
exhaust manifold after wire brushing
oil filler tube
wirebrushing
the incorrectly painted valve cover before...
...and after wirebrushing
at work wirebrushing some parts
my wife Afra helped cleaning the block
washing the block with gasoline
many more parts waiting to be cleaned...
many more parts waiting to be cleaned...
many more parts waiting to be cleaned...
many more parts waiting to be cleaned...
parts waiting for the primer
first coat of primer
first coat of primer
the empty engine bay
wiper/washer pump before rebuild
steering box
some details how it looked before the restoration
before wirebrushing
before wirebrushing
before wirebrushing
wiper/washer and firewall before
first coat of Cadillac blue engine paint applied
first coat of Cadillac blue engine paint applied
first coat of Cadillac blue engine paint applied
first coat of Cadillac blue engine paint applied on waterpump
cleaned and refinished heads
cleaned and refinished heads
the valves
heads
cleaned and refinished heads
lots of unfinished parts
lots of unfinished parts
some finished parts
some finished parts
some finished parts
brake booster before
and even more parts
the firewall with the heater
overview of the firewall before it was restored
some of the paint was already removed
the place were I wirebrushed all the paint off
already cleaned section
the bare metal firewall
thats me after a whole day of wirebrushing
the block with the first head installed
the aircleaner and valve cover came back from the paintshop
some more parts in the trunk
I also removed all the paint from the inside of the hood for a repaint
after weeks of wirebrushing everything is in bare metal
the hood before removing the paint
most of the paint is gone
most of the paint is gone
bare metal everywhere
bare metal everywhere - very clean
the hood without paint - I left the original hood insulation in place as it still was in great condition
the reassembled rebuilt engine
the reassembled rebuilt engine
the reassembled rebuilt engine
the reassembled rebuilt engine
the repainted engine bay - the paint job was done by professionals
the reassembled rebuilt engine
the repainted engine bay - the paint job was done by professionals
looks very clean now - the paint on the firewall was a perfect match
very nice!
yummy
the rebuilt front suspension
everything looks clean now
the engine and hood back in the car
looking good
very nice!
the repainted inside of the hood
all new vacuum hoses as well
everything else inside the engine bay was done as well
some more details
the car needs a good cleaning now...
the underside of the car
the finished engine bay