Posts Tagged 1969

On June 3, 2003 I bought a 1969 Deville Convertible. Nice car, Aqua Firemist with white interior, 129K miles, and everything worked. One Week later, it started looking rather plain and boring, so I decided to give it some personality with a New Fin Job….

I worked up a plan on a CAD program, grabbed Hemmings, and sought out a set of Dolly Parton 59 Fins with tail lights and cones.

On July 7, while sweating profusely, the old fins went under the knife (er.hack saw). Never having done anything like this before and no guidlines to go by, I made up the rules as I went. I blended the new fins into the old quarter panels, cut the old tail lights housings in half to keep the reverse lights. I spot welded, ground, bondoed, and sanded until it looked right.

Having never done body work before, I was pretty proud of the result 3 weeks later. (Since I have a real job I only did this on Tues and Thurs mornings in my driveway). It took another 3 mornings to sand this monster down before it went to Maaco for a $250 paint job.

I always wanted a Big Finned 59 Cadillac Convertible to drive in a parade and now I have one – Sort OF!

But now I have to wait until Spring. JIm

PS: Check out the Pics in the gallery.