1964 Cadillac Coupe de Ville OEM Hot Rod...Meet YAHTROD.

1964 Cadillac DeVille Additional Info:

Meet YAHTROD...the 1964 OriginalCadillacDivision Coupe de Ville Hot Rod.
This Survivor is a driver with just 15K trouble freemiles over the last 23-years I have owned her. I am really the second owner as this ol' girl was first bought new in 1964 by the husband and wife who lived in Pennsylvania and had another home in Landers, California that they used four months out of the year during the winter. Yes, they had a single car garage and kept the Cad there. I'll tell you the rest of the story later, it's all good.
As a true survivor she wears her original #47Ditzler/PPG acrylic lacquer Palomino Metallicpaint that has earned it's patina. All originalchrome and stainless steel trim is in very goodoriginal condition. For a 59-year old there's goingto be a few bumps and grinds along the way, butshe is very straight and the doors, hood, trunkalign perfectly. And other than some superficialrust here and there, she's rust free due to herCalifornia desert lifestyle being garaged as mentioned above.
Gorgeous rare factory BLACK interior with aflawless dashboard, and the more desiredfactory A/C Option Deleted (you can always addan efficient light weight Vintage Air A/C system).She also sports a vintage SUN Tachometer andI added a mechanical oilpressure gauge and also kept the factory REDidiot light! The front seat could use some love.Front and rear suspension is in good order withnew Gabriel shock absorbers in all four corners,and an active left rear wheel loaded by a vintageold school AirLift bag stuffed in the right rearcoil spring, plus a 3.77:1 final drive ratio getshergoing out of the hole quick with both reartireshowling! Due to the gobs of raw torqueCadillac knew that a pinion support wasimperative. Yes, it comes stock! If cruising thehighway or salt flat/dry lake bed is more yourstyle, a 3.21:1 3rd member differential is in thetrunk and the speedo gear is in the gloveboxincluded. In 1964 brake technology was notvery good. Even though YAHTROD has 12"drum brakes with cooling fins it is sort of likeFred Flintstone stopping his car! There'sapproximately 3/16" of brake shoe left in allfour corners...about 10 to 15k miles worth.If I had it to do all over again I think I wouldhave sprung for the front disc brakereplacement kit. I hear it works unbelievablywell. I'm a bit of a purest right down to thebias ply Universal tires. It was an era to revisit! MOON aluminum aerodynamic threescrew wheel discs gave her that early 60'sdrag racing/Salt Flat racer look. Now youknow about the YAHT (yacht), now thefollowing will detail the ROD!
The ROD in YAHTROD is of course theengine and what gets her moving...and is theoriginal engine it left Cadillac with. It is alsothe original first of the series 429 cu. in. V8engine, and oh BTW 1964 was not only thefirst in the four year series of 429s, but wasthe last Cadillac to have rear tail fins and bemanufactured and built in the Cadillac Division!
In 2003, here's where it gets fun...Most of usall know about the High Performance 1955,1956 and 1957 CadillacEl Dorado's with thelegendary dual quad manifold the oil bath airfilter canisters and the Batwing design with asmall chrome Cadillac Vee prominently placedin the middle! Well YAHTROD is merely aconcept of what a High Performance Cadillaccould have been in 1964 during the big horsepower race, as most everything utilized tocreate YAHTROD is period correct CadillacOEM. Adapting a stock 1957 El Dorado dual-quad manifold and a bit of good old fashionAmerican ingenuity, plus two aluminum highvelocity carburetor adapters along with addinganother 625 cfm Carter AFB (made for Cadillac) carburetorblueprinting and synchronizing them to beidentical resulted in a more up to dateappearance and performance for the1964time period. Additionally, the Batwing air filtercanisters were modified to accept two UniFilterfoam disc filters. Next, George at Clay SmithCams reground a new stock 429 camshaft to2.31 duration @ 0.050 lift on intake and exhaustwith .495 inches of lift, and 110 degree lobeseparation. CompCams famous BeehiveConical valve springs were utilized to provideengine protection in higher RPM stability forthe valvetrain, protectingit from floating up to7,000 RPM, though theRedline for power is5,800 RPM. Manley stainless steel valves were installedas well as special alloy valve seats to makethe engine suitable for 91-octane non-leadedfuel/gasoline. Valves received a 3-angle grindand heads were match ported for better flow.All seals were replaced as well as gasketswhere part separation occurred. A custom builtin oil pan windage tray with closingdoors tokeep the oil in the pan and away from sloshingout and up onto the spinning crankshaft. Thisis an instant 15 hp gain. She comes stockwith 10.50 :1 compression ratio. And wait tillyou see the custom dyno tuned lakes pipesthat are flanged and can be uncorked justbehind the two front tires. Dyno showed a18 hp gain at the rear wheels by simplyremoving the two flanges.
I just gave the engine an upper overhaulremoving the heads, intake manifold, valleycover, water pump and oil pan. This wasdone by Jerry's High Performance Enginesin Garden Grove, CA. Jerry checked all of the necessarymeasurements with a three legged bore gauge, micrometer and PlastiGage and quickly discovered that there was verylittle wear. Standard size bearings andrings were utilized and were safely within stock specs!I chose Mahle HighPerformance piston rings and Clevite 77connecting rod bearings. She's nowgood for another 200k miles +. Spoke with Marshall Mullins at Mahle who ironically has a 1964 Caddy too only he swapped in a 500 cu in mill. He gave me the company break-in/ring seating formula and everything worked like a charm. Oh yeah, what about the transmission...it's the first turbo hydra-matic developed bythe Cadillac Division (soon to be the infamousGM Turbo Hydro 400) three speed with thevariable pitched torque converter that provides more grunt andextra get up and go out of the hole. EXTRA, EXTRA:Forgot to mention the 2-year old 4-row re-cored Original Harrison Brass radiator tanks (upper/lower). You'll like what I did with it. Just couldn't bring myself to ever put an unsightly fan shroud on her. She stays right at the new thermostat temp at 180 degrees F. If you drive her for any length of time and shut her off, you can start her right back up if you're under a minute. Otherwise, since I REFUSE TO PUT AN ELECTRIC FAN ON THE RADIATOR, she'll need to sit for 5 minuets or so. Then she'll fire right up lickity-split!
I have Parkinson's Disease and unfortunatelyneed to find her the right home with someonewho appreciates her like I have.
This ol' girl gets more looks and attention atcar shows than just about anything I've everseen. My friends are always amazed at howmuch traffic she draws, I tell them it's becauseshe's different...she's YAHTROD!
California YAHTROD license plates comewith her if you want,gmail does not... Serious inquiries only,please.
ADDENDUM: The emergency brake work, but the release lever broke recently. I bought a recycled emergency brake assembly in very good condition and it is included. Last year seat adjuster stuck, but motor still runs fine. Was toldrusty rails. It is in the furthest back position. The door and interior lights quit working for some unknown reason, probably a fuse or a short. Side view mirror ball-in-socket is loose. AM radio does not work, however, I purchased a 1964 Cadillac AM/FM radio that is also included. Everything else is working. She really is a cream puff! YOU WON'T BE DISSAPOINTED.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are thinking aboutcontacting me tofind out how I was able toput a stock 1957El Dorado dual-quadmanifoldon the 429engine please don'twaste your time, it'sinformation that will onlybe divulged afterthe sale is completed and,is quite a storyindeed. NO FISHING!
This car is sold AS IS and seller isnot responsible for any future repairsand the buyer understands this and agreesto this, as this is a 59 year old automobile.
SPECIAL NOTE: DID NOT HAVE VIN TAG WHEN I PURCHASED IT...CALLED CHP AND THEY SAID THEY COULD HANDLE THAT FOR ME. SO I WENT TO CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICE AND THEY RIVETED A DMV REPLACEMENT ID NUMBERS PLATE WITH ID NUMBERS ON IT BELOW THE DRIVER DOOR/LATCH JAM. OTHER NUMBERS WERE CALLED CONTROL NUMBERS: 710707. NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM.
Thank you for your consideration.