Patchwork Cadillac

I crashed my car, like an idiot, in stop-and-go traffic a few months ago.

Missing some teeth.

No one was hurt, I didn't get a ticket AND I learned a lesson. But there was significant damage--about $2,700, according to the insurance estimate. That was enough to to total out my 1995 Cadillac Deville. But you don't get a new car just because yours got dented. That's wasteful. I KNEW I could fix it. Or at least that it was fixable. I needed help from my brother Rick.

 "From 20 feet away, you won't be able to tell the difference," he estimated. I liked his honesty, and I could live with it.

I had to go to three junkyards over the course of this project. What's nice is that most junkyards have websites where you can search the inventory online. I found a headlight and cornering light assembly at Ryan's Northend Auto Parts in Oak Park for $75. It was a good deal. Then, Rick and I headed out to Parts Galore on Eight Mile near Gratiot in Detroit. It's enormous. You pay a buck to walk through the yard; even they don't know what they have. Bring your own tools, remove what you want and pay on your way out.

Taking shape.

We found the hood to a white '95 Deville Concours. It didn't have a spot for the hood ornament, and it was white, not Montana Blue (which, I learned, is the specific color of my car), but it was $45, and we could paint it blue.

Two hours later, we popped the white hood on my blue Cadillac and replaced the headlight, then went out to celebrate my birthday with some wallyball and beer. Already, I was feeling better about my car.

That's Rick on the left, me in the center.

Next, Rick, who is in the midst of restoring a '74 Plymouth Duster (with '72 parts because he likes them better), went to the paint shop and found the right shade of blue. It has to be applied with a spray gun, so I let him do that.

But first, we had to wet sand the white hood with fine (400 grit) sandpaper to remove the gloss coat and prepare it for painting. Keep the surface wet, Rick said. Change the sand paper if it starts to get dirty. Use light strokes. Try to make "X" scratches.

It was all going so well--until we ran out of paint. Tip: just spring for the quart, even if you think you need just a pint. The paint store was closed the rest of the weekend. So I had, like, stripes on the hood. And still no grille. I drove around like that for a week. But I'm classy, so I can pull that off. When we got more paint, we had to resand the hood and repaint it. (I think the paint and clearcoat cost around $150, but at this point, I just gave Rick a few hundreds and a bunch of $20s and told him to keep the change.)

After painting, Rick had the painstaking job of fixing the hood-release latch. And I had to find a grille. I went to U.S. Auto Supply in Detroit, where they had the grille for $45. Deal.

I was just a few bolts away from calling this job done.

When we got that grille attached and closed the hood, I stepped back, 20 feet away. Rick was right. I'm happy.

The best reactions came from two guys I work with. The intern noticed I'd been parking in the visitor's lot, oh, and that my car was crushed. He asked me about it, but I made him swear to secrecy. A few weeks later, when I pulled in to the employee garage, he did a double-take, and his jaw dropped. I drove by and gave him a thumbs-up. Job well done. Another editor was seen eyeing my finished car, wondering aloud if it was the same one that had been in the visitor's lot. Yup.

We did good.

I can't undo the damage. But I did what I could to make it better. And all for about $350 (before Ricky's take).

Before:

And after: