The new video of the last „Mostkost Kustom Meet“ which was held 2 weeks ago - is now online. You can watch the high quality Quicktime movie by clicking on the image below. I´ve also added some new images to the photo gallery.

Today the national Austrian TV station ORF shot a short event promotion report for the upcoming Cadillac BIG Meet on August 24th. We had some nice cars on the venue like a 57 and 59 Biarritz, a 76 Bicentenial, a 81 Biarritz Custom, a 58 Sedan, and my 67 Deville. The report will be aired on August 21st on ORF2 at 7 PM. Below are some impressions of the shooting.

The ORF team at work


Willi´s 58 and Christians 57 Biarritz and 76 Bicentenial


my 67, Tayfuns 81 and Willi´s 58


the cameraman at work

During our last holiday trip we had bad luck with the transmission of our Buick Roadmaster. (See entry below)

Finally, after 2 1/2 months in the shop we got the Buick back yesterday. The shop had problems locating all the parts for the rebuild. As I lost patience and they still could not find the parts, eventually I found the parts myself without a problem. Anyways, the car now is back home in the garage and drives beautifully again. The transmission was completely rebuilt, including all internal parts.

we could follow the repair on the webcam of the car dealer - this is a screenshot of the final day.

Due to a lot of work going on in my job, I missed most of the car shows I wanted to attend during the last weeks and also did not find the time to drive my cars a lot.

Today my wife and I finally visited a nice small meeting which is held only 40 kilometers from our home. Its a small gathering of US-Car enthusiasts. One of the organizers is collecting and building great Ratrods which he is always showing there. Its a very nice and relaxed atmosphere with nice cars and great people. Looking forward to the next edition.
We took the 58 to the show. My wife shot lots of great images which are available in this gallery. Some black and white images will also be added soon - they first have to be scanned and prepared for the web.
I also did some filming which still needs to be edited, but should follow soon as well.

A great ,all original Hudson Hornet. More pictures can be found in the gallery!

My wife and I visited the "Klassikwelt Bodensee" in may during our holiday. It was held in Friedrichshafen in Germany. The „Klassikwelt Bodensee“ is a very spectacular classic car exhibition with hundreds of high profile cars on display and for sale.
You can find a picture gallery by clicking on the image below.

My wife and I were on the way into our holidays. Of course we took our Roadmaster for the roadtrip. Suddenly the "Service Engine Soon" lamp came on while driving on the highway.
We stopped on the next rest area, but I could not find anything wrong with the car. So we continued our journey and stopped at the next specialized dealer to have the error code read out. Code "P1886" showed up - which is transmission related. The 2-3 upshift solenoid seemed to be defective. So we decided not to drive any farther, as it turned out that the car only ran on second and third gear. Finally the car was delivered to the next national automobile club service station of the "ÖAMTC" to be towed to the dealer I bought the car from. I still have 6 months guarantee left, so he has to repair the transmission at his costs. Worst thing was that we just could not continue to enjoy our trip with the Roadmaster and had to borrow a Suzuki Jeep from my wifes mom instead...

UPDATE: In the meantime a transmission specialist took over my car and is completely rebuilding the transmission now... At least I´ll have a like new transmission now!

suddenly this lamp showed up...

delivering the car at the national automobile club "ÖAMTC"

checking the Buick´s digital shop manual we had with us...

Today a small, but very nice car show for US-Cars and other classic cars and bikes was held in Altmünster at a museum. As this is located only 10 minutes from home, I drove both Cadillacs to the show.
I have added a picture gallery here: KLICK
Below is a little preview.

overview

the 58 at the show

the 67 in the background

Custom Cadillac project

I got my license plate for this season from the insurance company yesterday. First I fixed them onto the Roadmaster and we took it for a spin immediately. (See pictures)

Today weather was perfect and so it was time for the first cruise with the Cadillacs as well. First I took the 58 for a spin - it ran perfectly and it was a dream to drive it once again after almost 8 months in storage.
After the 58 it was time to move the 67 out. Unfortunately the 67s battery is dead after 12 years of reliable service, and the new one did not arrive yet. So I had to jump start it with jumper cables. This worked perfectly and so I headed off with the 67 as well. After a few miles it started to hesitate pretty badly. As I would not be able to restart the car with the dead battery along the road, I got pretty nervous in heavy traffic. Eventually I made it home safely and I immediately started investigating the issue. I was worried that something broke somewhere along the ignition or the fuel distribution. I found out that one ignition cable managed to slip off the spark plug. I have no idea how this could happen - but the problem was fixed easily and I took the car for another spin to the gas station....
Great to be able to drive all my cars again.

the 1958 Cadillac on the shores of the "Traunsee" in Traunkirchen


cruising with the 58 through the countryside


we took the Roadmaster for a spin...

my wife enjoying the "new" family car

I did some filming when my buddy Tayfun was on visit on the first weekend of April 2008.
I edited it into this short clip which is now online. You can see some repairs going on, and Tayfuns first cruise 2008.
Quicktime 7 is required to watch the high quality file which you can find here.

You can also watch it as a flash movie by clicking on the image below!

My buddy Tayfun once again came on a visit to start working on his Pimperado for the upcoming season.
First we both made a "To Do List" for each individual car and plans for repairs that we want to do this spring and summer.
Also on the agenda was to wake up the cars, which were stored for the last months.

Yesterday we replaced the fuel pump on the 58, which I already replaced last summer - it was brand new but did not work correctly. So yesterday we installed another one.
This work was done pretty quickly within a couple of minutes. It now seems to work flawlessly. I hope it will stay like this.

Tayfun also did a lot of work on his 1981 Pimperado - you can read everything about it on his website.

Today Tayfun and I moved all the cars out of the garage to clean the floor a little and to do some spring cleaning.
My buddy Richard also helped me last night doing doing some "Garage Pimpin´".
It was pretty funny - with lots of car talk till late in the night.

The 67´s battery seems to be on its last breaths, as it was no longer strong enough to start the car up - I have it since 1996 - so it lasted pretty long anyways, never needing any charge before. It looks like I will finally need a new one.
So I borrowed the battery from my Buick and then the 67, like all the other Cadillacs, fired right up.

Tayfun cleaning the garage