13x17 - 1916 Cadillac V8

[bunniefuu]

In a decision I may live
to regret, I've turned our

world upside down and
agreed to let Ed buy the car.

What could possibly go wrong?

We just bought ourselves a 1916 Cadillac.

We end up with the
world's first production V8.

Indulging Ed with his dream project
means sleepless nights for yours truly.

How are you?

Absolutely, you know.

Sitting over here in the dark.

With a wreck of a car to deal with.

This has all got to be put in this car.

And it looks like half of it is scrap.

And a hundred year
old parts to source is

going to take a small
miracle to pull this off.

I have a Jigsaw of parts
without a picture on the box.

Which could lead to our biggest
loss or possibly greatest reward.

Wow, Ed, you've outdone yourself.

So we moved to California where we can
have any car we want, desire or imagine.

And yet somehow I find
myself back in sunny England.

I've not slept for 22 hours.

I'm tired. I'm hungry.

Neither of us have had a shave.

You better have a really good
reason for wanting to do this.

And I mean a really good reason.

Well it is complicated.

Come on.

You're going to have to
give me a bit more than that.

Please tell me we're on our
way to some deal of a lifetime.

Well that wouldn't be a lie.

Right, okay. Now I get it.

I don't want to ruin the
surprise but I see why

you brought me all the
way back here to England.

All the way from sunny
America is because of this.

It's someone's forgotten
car collection, isn't it?

Somebody has got a car
collection gathering dust.

And they want to offload a few motors
and you've arranged it, haven't you?

You are a genius, Sunshine.

Do you know what, I
can almost smell the profit.

I just need you to keep an open mind.

That's all I'm asking at this stage.

Because the opportunity
might not be quite as obvious.

Hi Roger.

Nice to see you again.

Good to see you, sir.

This is Roger, is it?

Roger, nice to meet you.

Likewise, likewise.

Shall we have a look?

Yes, go.

Fantastic.

Alright, come on this way
chaps, let's go and have a look.

Now remember, okay, open minded, yes?

Really, really strong imagination,
positive mental thoughts, yes?

No worries, yeah.

Fantastic.

Classics like this around?

I mean, not the same
as the classics outside,

but nonetheless,
there's a profit in these.

Mike, Mike, over
here, this beauty, this is

why I dragged you all
the way over to Blighty.

Uh, I'm confused.

Well this is a 1916 Type


This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,
a real bucket list car to own and work on.

This is the first of the production V8s.

So this is the world's first V8?

Yes, seriously.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ed, that's lacking a V8 engine, it's lacking
pedal box, it's lacking seats, it's lacking

wheels on the side, it's lacking dashboard,
it's lacking, there's hardly anything here.

The engine is being worked on
somewhere else, but everything else is

here, and some of it's over there,
and Roger, it is all here, isn't it?

Yeah, well yeah, there's this
here, we've got bits down the

cellar, bits up on top of the
mezzanine, some over there I think.

It's no surprise that these hundred
year old cars are particularly

rare. In perfect condition,
they can fetch up to $100,000.

Roger's asking $60,000
for his example with all

the parts. Not a bad
investment in the right hands.

As much as I admire Ed's unique
talent, this is way beyond the normal stuff

that we do. He's a tinkerer, he likes
inventing things and fiddling with things.

And as the car dealer amongst us, I think Ed
needs to just walk away from this one, we need to

just leave it, walk away, be polite to Roger and
say that, you know, we've wasted these times.

And we can live to fight on
another day, because there's other

cars out there to buy, we can
always do it again somewhere else.

Wait, wait, hold out your hand.

Why?

Hold out your hand. We've just bought
ourselves a 1916 Cadillac. It's awesome.

Sorry mate, you've done what?

You've just bought the Cadillac.
It's £37,000.

Oh my god, Ed, seriously, you've done what?
You've bought the Cadillac for how much?

Yes, look at it, it's awesome, £37,000.

£37,000? $57,000? You've gone
nuts, you have, what, of our money?

Yes.

Okay, right Ed, how on earth are we
going to put this back together? Where

are we going to find a customer? How
on earth are we going to make a profit?

I think there's something else I
need to talk to you about as well.

Well Michael, now I know that we couldn't get
to drive our Cadillac, but I wanted to take

you out in a pioneer car. I want you to
experience how awesome one of these vehicles is.

What is this car though?

Well this is a very special
car, it's a 1907 Itala. It's got

an 8 litre engine, 4 cylinders,
imagine how big they are.

It's about 40 horsepower, it's got a


miles an hour if you can imagine that.
And this is what our Cadillac could be.

Brilliant, brilliant, I love all
of that stuff. I also like the fact

that I can go and see one in a nice
warm museum behind a sheet of glass.

Can we go back? It's freezing cold.

Well, the thing is it'd
be quite nice if we just

did drive around for a bit
more, like maybe a day?

Not really, no.

Well the thing is, I've entered you,
me and the Cadillac into a rally. In fact

it's the Peking to Paris rally, that's


You've done what?

And then Peking which
is now Beijing in China?

Yes, all the way to Paris in France, we're going
to go through Mongolia, we're going to go through

Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland of course, Italy.
It's going to be an absolutely epic adventure.

This is the most stupid thing you've ever done. So you expect us to
get that rolling chassis and a pile of bits and a load of spare parts

shipped out to California, rebuilt as a rally car and you want to
drive it halfway across the world all the way from Peking to Paris?

We've got about three months.

What?

Trust me mate, it is
going to be an absolutely

fantastic experience,
you are going to love it.

No I'm not.

Yeah you are, it's going
to be a drive of a lifetime.

No it's not, it's going to be
miserable and cold and wet.

Trust me mate, you are going to love it.

I am not going to love it.

No you really are, it is
the drive of a lifetime.

You've got me into some stuff
before but this one, you are nuts.

It's a proper adventure, it's a
challenge, a test, man and machine.

I'm angry.

Now that money, $58,000
to be precise, has changed

hands for our shell of a
car. There's no going back.

But Ed hasn't completely lost his marbles.

There is a market for these
cars and even a very niche

market for rally prep versions
which do demand top dollar.

We just need to keep a close eye
on the build, the costs and Ed's sanity.

Ed, you alright son? How are you?

Absolutely, hello.

Sitting over here in the
dark, what are you doing?

Woah, what the?

Isn't that a thing of beauty?

No that is not a thing of beauty.

This has all got me put in this car
and it looks like half of it is scrap.

It's great.

That bit there doesn't look
like it belongs anywhere.

This is just a monumental task. In fact,
I want to get some light on the subject.

I'll be honest with you, I
preferred it when it was darker.

Granted the bit you pointed out
earlier on is a little bit worse for wear,

but I'd like to think of it as a memento
of a better time in the past perhaps.

But we've got loads of bits that are
all going to make our car awesome.

We've got that lovely
starter generator there.

We've got a windscreen
frame which we can use.

No, no, no, there's something,
listen, where's the engine?

We've got the flywheel there,
we've got like a spare block as well.

Come on, where's the engine?
What's happened to the engine?

It might be resting
in customs a little bit.

Okay, so I'll get this now.

So somehow you think we can restore all of
this, get it attached to the car rally ready,

get the engine out of customs that could
be trapped there for a god knows how long,

get that installed in the car to
go on a 9,000 mile epic journey.

I think this time you've actually lost it.

Ed hasn't made life easy
trying to give me a taste of my

own medicine, but unique
cars can sell for unique prices.

At least nothing more can go wrong.

How long is it actually
going to take to get

our engine all up together
and ready to drive?

Once, once.

I took Mike on a trip back to the
UK which he wasn't too keen on.

Please tell me we're on our
way to some deal of a lifetime.

Well that wouldn't be a lie.

But it was all worth it for this, a


So this is the world's first V8?

Yes.

Ed, that's lacking a V8 engine.

The car may be in pieces, but
it's not as big a gamble as you

might think, with mint condition
cars fetching six figures.

There's hardly anything here.

The engine is being worked on somewhere
else, but everything else is here.

Mike was shocked at first, but
once he'd got his head around

the role reversal of me making
the deal, he was 100% on board.

This is the most stupid
thing you've ever done.

You're going to love it.

Now I'm not.

It's going to be a drive of a lifetime.

Now it's not.

Though I must admit there is a bit
more fixing up to do than I first expected.

Half of it is scrap.

Where's the engine?

It's finally out of customs.

When you said engine, I thought some bits
were off of it, but that's the crankshaft.

Yeah, but the thing
is, you've got to take an

engine apart before
you can rebuild it, right?

So they've just done
half the work for us. We're

on a bit of a time problem.
This is a good thing.

Always the eternal
optimist, but not to worry,

I've sent our engine
to JCC Restorations.

These guys are experts in
dealing with vintage vehicles.

Hi Brad, how's it going?

How you doing Ed?

Well, I'm very, very
excited because we finally

have our engine out of
customs, which is awesome.

We do finally, huh?

And this is the world's first
production V8, and it is huge.

It is. It's a massive, massive
motor, but I think you're

going to have some good torque
and good horsepower out of it.

Okay, because this is what, 314
cubic years, roughly about 5.1 liters.

It is.

So what does this actually produce?
About what, is it 70 horsepower?

About 72 to 75 horsepower
roughly, so it's enough for

the time frame. I think
it's quite a lot actually.

So this is actually quite
amazing because it's what

looks like a head and
the barrels all in one lump.

You have your piston bore in here, your
piston rides, and you have your valves up

here, your exhaust manifold and your
intake manifold all wrapped into one unit.

You have all the valve Springs, so
basically this is the whole valve assembly.

It's going to go in
through here, just like this.

That is crazy, but that
means then of course

then they're closing
kind of the wrong way,

because normally you'd
expect the bang, if you

like, inside the engine
to keep the valve shut,

whereas now you're relying
on purely the force of the spring.

We are. Yeah, so everything's
got to be up to par at that point.

Otherwise it's going to be a
weak link and we have a leak

down and not get as much
efficiency out of the motor.

So we can't really port and Polish
this, so we can't really eke any

more power out, but I guess
we can still make it breathe better.

Is that the exhaust manifold there?

It is.

That's amazing. So that's actually
ceramic coated out of the factory.

It is. And Cadillac used that
up until 1948 on a 346 Cadillac.

That is amazing. So
again what we think of as

racing technology today
with stock for a stock road.

Can't believe that.

Yeah, well that's awesome,
but not very efficient still.

So I guess if we could come
up with a way of improving

that, and perhaps the
same for the carburetor,

we would then actually have a chance
of getting some more power out of it.

Yeah, I think so.

Now this was pretty
awesome technology a hundred

years ago, but I think
my real question is,

with our engine, do we have all the
parts and is it going to be up to the job?

I mean I think we
have most of the stuff,

but conditions would
rather be desired maybe.

I guess first up, the block, is that okay?

Yeah, everything checked out
pretty good, it cleaned up, looks alright.

But really the block is just a small
percentage of the whole overall motor,

so we really want to look at the
internal parts, that's what really matters.

The first thing you can't
really ignore is that massive flat

plane crankshop, which is
considered quite racy these days.

And what's really interesting is
it's only got three main bearings.

You've got one end of the crank, one
in the middle, and then one at the end.

So it hasn't got a ton of support, has it?

It's not really desirable from a
higher RPM standard standpoint,

but I think if you're modest with it
and drive it accordingly, you'll be okay.

And then these, now this is mad, we've
got obviously these huge great conrods,

the other way up, so obviously that's
how they're going to be in the engine,

but they actually share
the same bearing journal,

so I guess they're
kind of going like that.

Correct, so that's what they
consider a fork and blade system.

So what that does is share the same
bearing on one journal on the crank.

If you look at the
motor, the engine block,

you can see the pistons
actually sit across.

from each other where they're not offset.

They're not offset like
you see on a new motor.

But that's pretty bad. So I mean, I
guess the conrods look in reasonable Nick,

but I guess it's the bearings that
matter, but what about the pistons?

Yeah, the pistons definitely
need to be gone through.

I would not want to build a motor without
putting new pistons and new rings in there.

Hang on, so new pistons,
how long is that going to take?

Maybe a month, maybe two months.

It's hard to say because it's not
something we just buy on the shelf.

Yeah, this is getting quite tricky.

Remember, we can't just go shopping
and put it all in our basket in one day.

How long is it actually
going to take to get

our engine all up together
and ready to drive?

Months, months.

But it's so pivotal to everything.

I mean, obviously, once it's up
together, it can go into the car.

But then, of course, our
little three-speed gearbox is

attached to that, but the
pedals hang off the gearbox.

So then, of course, the pedals then
define where we're going to see it.

And, of course, I need to
work that out because that's

pretty important to me and,
of course, even Mike as well.

And then, of course, until
we know where the seats go,

we can't decide where
the fuel tank's going to

go and when all the
other stuff's going to go.

Then you've got the axles,
you've got all the parts,

the running pores, the bodywork.

I mean, we need to find a
way of being able to work

on our engine and work
on our car at the same time.

Well, I've given that some thought, Ed,

and I may have a customer that will let
us borrow a very similar motor to this one.

That would be awesome.

That donor engine could temporarily
sit in place of our own engine

so that the car can be built up around it.

Allowing Brad and his
team time to finish the

original V8 without any
delays to our build schedule.

Some essential parts
needed for the build must

be fabricated rather
than sourced by Mike,

such as our replacement pistons.

We're having these diecast from an
alloy of 90% aluminium and 10% silicon.

This mixture is heated
to 700 degrees Celsius,

which is well above its melting
point but below its boiling point.

Once cooled, each piston
is removed from the die,

heat treated, and then the
runner and riser are removed.

The gudgeon pinholes are bored out

before the piston is then cleaned
up with some CNC machining.

Then onto drilling the
relief for valve clearances.

Some final machining and quality
control and we're ready to ship out.

And we're done. Simple, eh?

I reckon Ed has
chosen one of the rarest,

most difficult and
expensive cars to work on.

But we can tap into a very select and
wealthy market after our little adventure,

as long as we get
every part of the car right.

I've been going all
over trying to get the bits

and I've ended up here in
Rhode Island, Northeast America.

This place belongs to a guy who's
been collecting caddies for years.

He's got about 40 in stock and apparently
he's got a treasure trove of parts.

I just hope he can help me.

Look at the cars you've got.
What year is that?

That's a 1909 local mobile, all original.

And what's this, a Duesenberg?

That's a Revere Duesenberg, yes it is.

A walking beam engine.

Absolutely wonderful.
What a great collection of cars.

And this, this is a truck?

Yes, but it's a Cadillac chassis,
Cadillac engine, it's a custom body.

So this would be the same
as my car underneath?

Yes.

But with a truck body?

Yes, exactly.

That's incredible. Where did you find this?

Well, actually, the address is
right on the side of the truck.

We get it out of New York
City, it's up on the seventh floor.

We had to go up and get it and
bring it down to the freight elevator.

And it runs and drives?

Runs beautifully.

I just think it's wonderful.

We have another one over here.

Now I recognise this, got
the same front end as my car.

Same chassis, different
body, this is a coupe.

What can you tell me about it?

Well, this is a 1916 Cadillac.

The engine's been completely
rebuilt, every instrument.

We spent $12,000 just in the engine.

That was five, six years ago.

So you're saying both of these
vehicles are running, driving cars?

Yes.

Take it outside, take it for a spin.

What, in the parking lot?

Yes, taken.

Take it right away.

Seriously?

Yes.

That's perfect.

Oh yes, baby!

I've got to get an elevator.

d*ck, are you for real?

Look at this stuff.

I mean, there's everything
here that you could

possibly need to put
a Cadillac together.

Well, I specialise in Cadillacs, but I've
been collecting this stuff for 47 years.

Well, I'm after some specific parts.

I gather you might need a man to
help me, judging by the itinerary.

What we're after is a
high-geared back axle.

Yes, I have it.

You've got one?

Yeah, I've got several.

The outer shoes, including the rear drums.

Positively.

You've got those?

Yes.

I need a steering column.

Yes, everyone's right
here, as a matter of fact.

What, that steering
column would fit my car?

Yeah, that's a Fat Man wheel
with that particular steering box.

Yeah, Fat Man wheel is what we've
got on, which is appropriate for me.

That's great.

I need some shoes for the car as well.

There's a set right
there, actually reshoot.

I've got a funny feeling,
d*ck, no matter what I say

to you, you're just going
to say yes, I've got it,

because it looks like you've
got everything in your itinerary.

Yeah, hopefully.

I have three buildings full of parts.

You've got three buildings full of parts?

Brilliant.

You are a treasure.

Brad is cracking on with our
engine, which is great news,

but while he still has
that and it's not complete,

I'm a bit stuck for some
major progress in the workshop,

because the position of
the engine within the chassis

completely defines the position
of all of the other parts of the car,

so I do need some kind
of frame of reference.

Thankfully, Brad has
a customer with this

wonderful example of
a 1918 Cadillac Tourer.

Now this car gives us a
great idea of what our car

might have looked like when
it came out of the factory,

but the best news is he's
managed to persuade this customer

to let me borrow some of the mechanical
parts just to get our project underway.

Now it might seem slightly sacrilegious,

but I've already removed that
wonderful V8 motor and its gearbox,

and this is now going to save
us a ton of time, because we

don't have long, but clearly
we do have a long way to go.

Now before I do any more
with that engine and gearbox,

I do need to crack on with
some more chassis work.

Now, I've already
checked it for cracks,

made sure the rivets are all nice and tight,
we've had it blasted and had it painted,

so it's now ready for the next
stage, which is the suspension.

Now this is quite a big and tricky project,

because I have to restore a
car which isn't really all there,

I have a Jigsaw of parts
without a picture on the box,

and of course after all of that, I actually
have to prepare this car for a rally.

Now that means that
almost all of the parts in

some way have to be
strengthened or upgraded,

so they will survive
the course, and a great

example of that are
the suspension parts.

Now here we have our standard Springs,

but what I've done is taken it apart,
cleaned it, painted it, greased it,

put it back together again, and then to
give them a really good protective coating,

I've then wrapped them in friction tape,
sort of like you'd have on a hockey stick,

and then painted that with a very
hard-wearing shellac varnish or paint.

Now that should be a nice,
hard, but yet moveable surface

which is going to stop any sand getting
in to the bits we don't want the sand in.

Now perhaps as important, if not more so,

are the parts that actually hold
the suspension onto the chassis,

and that is this pin here.

Now you can see I've
actually chrome-plated that.

Now that's actually a really super hard
material, stopping any undue wear and tear.

Now the idea is once
these are all in place,

then of course we have a fantastic
foundation for the rest of the car.

Another modification here for the suspension
area is this original spring clamp.

You can see it's
actually in quite bad Nick.

The bolts themselves have
actually started to rust away.

There's almost no thread on the vital bits,

but also it's kind of a
weak part because this has

been welded, or possibly
even cast, into position.

So we're going to replace
these with some nice new

modern super-tough and
super-tensile strength U-bolts,

and that way hopefully it's going
to guarantee that our Springs

and our axle are going to stay together.

One of the features of our Cadillac
that makes it naturally good for rallying

is this transverse spring
across the back here.

It supports the other two
kartsprings for the rear

suspension, but it allows
for loads of articulations,

which reduces stresses on the chassis.

I must admit, I may have
had a momentary lapse

of reason taking on such
a monumental project.

But what is life without its challenges?

The bigger the challenge,
the greater the reward.

Though I have a long road
ahead, we have turned a corner.

The chassis is the most important piece,

the foundation on which
everything else will be installed,

and so it's vitally
important I get it right.

I've taken my time here to be certain
that every nut and bolt is as it should be.

Now this is quite an
interesting part of the car.

You can see a spring either side of
this sort of ball joint arrangement here.

Well, that's the front of the ladder bar,

and this ladder bar goes all
the way down to the differential.

If you imagine when it's driving the car,

there's a tendency to torque like a couple

that's going to try and twist
the differential into the car,

and this is what actually
resists that motion.

Because of the
articulation of the ball joint at

the front and the hinge
pin on the differential,

it gives full support while allowing
full movement of the suspension.

The framework of our vehicle is in place.

They're still working
on our V8 across town.

I do hope Mike isn't
coming back empty-handed.

Where are we going to put that?

With Ed choosing the car and me having
to deal with the fallout, you've done what?

You've just bought the Cadillac.

£37,000.

Whoa, my God.

It's been somewhat of a role reversal.

The costs of my stress levels are mounting.

Whoa, what the?

While Ed's been diligently working
and putting our Cadillac back together,

I've been scouring the country,

trying to find the latest
missing bits that we need.

A man named d*ck in Rhode Island
ended up being my good luck charm.

d*ck, are you for real?

I mean, there's everything
here that you could

possibly need to put
a Cadillac together.

Steering column?

Yes, I have it.

Outer shoes?

Positively.

Back axle?

Yes.

In the meantime, Brad
Shop is continuing to work

on getting our engine together.

Hopefully, Ed's been able to get
some solid work done without it.

Wow.

I mean, seriously.

Wow.

That is just wonderful.

I mean, like, really wonderful.

That's got to be the best
work you've ever done.

I'm shocked how well it turned out.

That is just... Not
only that, it's beautiful.

Well, I mean, it's not bad, is it?

I mean, it's coming along, I guess.

It needs quite a bit of work, though.

Oh, no.

What do you mean, quite a bit of work?

No, it looks finished.

I mean, we're ready to do the
peak in the Paris rally and that.

We've got four doors,
all that space in the back.

Wait, it's two doors.

Really, no doors and not
that much space in the back.

That's ours?

Yes.

So whose is this?

Well, that's a donor car.

Without that, we would be absolutely stuffed
because otherwise I don't really know

where the engine and
gearbox goes and, of course,

that defines where
everything else goes on the car.

Oh, well, you can forget our car.

Just forget it.

I mean, look, we just do it in this.

Two kind of minor problems with that.

The first hasn't been rally
prepped in any way at all.

The other one, it's not ours.

Well, that is a bit of a problem.

If that's what our car's got to get to,

we are still a country mile
away from being there, aren't we?

I can see you've done some great work.

Look at the chassis.

It looks amazing.

Rear axle, nice suspension.

So what about the rest of it?

Well, Ash, it's a great
time to talk about color.

Color's the last thing
you want to worry about.

You want to worry about
the engine, the transmission,

the gearbox, the pedal
box, the steering column,

some seats.

It's all in hand, but obviously
the color's quite important.

I've got this really fantastic
log book, and the original

color of our car was kind of
zoomy and gloomy green, really.

But in fact, there was a
color called Greenstone

that was made in 1907,
and I thought, well, actually,

obviously we should
pay homage to the original


original color of that year.

Just get our car
looking just like that one.

You know, the four doors,
all that space in the back.

Two doors or no doors, yes.

What do you mean two doors or no doors?

And what space have we got then?

Probably, well, with a fuel tank and stuff,

maybe about there.

Where are we going to put your air dryer?

And where are we going to put that?

Oh, that's cool.

Isn't that great?

That's wicked.

I'm going to give it a go.

I was expecting it to go, ha!

Well, it would seem that
our 1918 loaner engine

actually fits quite nicely into our


because the engines are pretty much identical,
except that ours has monoblock heads,

where the head and
the block, or the pistons,

are actually one piece.

And just two years later, we now
have a separate head from the pistons,

which of course is much
more like the cars of today.

Now, while I don't have Mike's
confidence with the project so far,

I do have his agreement on
the color we're going to go for,

so at least I can now make
a start on the bodywork too.

I prefer the fenderless look,
as this was our Sunday driver,

but considering our
immediate challenge and terrain,

fenders are a must.

There are so many options I
would love to add to this project,

such as a convertible roof to
shield us from the elements,

but I do need to be mindful
of our power-to-weight ratio.

Another jumper will have to do.

You need to appreciate the
simplicity of vehicles from this era,

and not to mention how
exposed we're going to be.

Now, I've now taken a further Liberty and
fitted the wheels from the 1918 Cadillac.

Now, they do look rather smart,

but of course it allows me to
go on one stage further again.

Now, a really interesting
thing about the Cadillac

back axle is it has
floating drive shafts.

Literally, this just pops in like so.

Of course, they're different
sizes depending on where they go.

You feel the splines there, get that in,

and then it's just held in
with a very simple spring clip.

We've now got our prop shaft in place.

It's been custom made for our car.

Our body is nearly
ready to go into position,

but it was worth noting I've
also fitted all the brake lines,

or at least the brake rods, for both
the inner brakes and the outer brakes,

and we've now also got our
nice new running boards in place.

So, here we go.

Our Cadillac looks much better without
any screen at all, much more heroic,

but you've got to bear in mind
that all the way through Mongolia,

you've got sand, you've
got grit, you've got insects.

Who knows what's going to be coming at us?

So, I think it makes sense
to have a bit of protection.

So, I've kept it a bit more
Cadillac by using a Cadillac screen.

Good thing is we do still
have a little bit of ventilation.

Now, we've got this tank with the car.

Now, this has a capacity of 39 gallons.

Our little V8 there can manage
about 8 miles to the gallon,

so that gives us a range of


Now, the thing is, that's
about the same distance

as one of the longer
stages on the rally.

So, assuming we don't
get lost, don't drive too hard,

don't go up too many
hills, we might just make it.

Now, as you can see, the
seats have been upholstered.

They look quite good.

They look absolutely fantastic.

And of course, don't
forget, underneath all of this,

we do have our heat pads
for a little bit of extra comfort.

Now, when it comes to the pallet,
clearly this is not my final solution.

I just want to make sure I've
got the seats in the right position.

Now, I've managed to
find this special spring.

Now, it was actually originally
designed to hold the seat up on a tractor,

and it would have been around
about the time of our car, which is great.

I'll probably use four
of them to support the

weight of the seats, and
of course, myself and Mike.

Our choice of color is quite
similar to the donor caddy,

but just a bit richer and will contrast
wonderfully with the black fenders.

I love how these final areas
really represent the era,

and more importantly, the
character of our little roadster.

Look at that, very nice.

Now, this car is famous for
defining the position of the controls

as we know them today, but it's also famous
for a key ignition and an electric start.

Now, that little unit there
is where the key would go.

Ours is actually being restored
right now, so that's a placeholder.

But I've also put the
dials into the position

they would have been
in a normal Cadillac,

including this rather fantastic
face-wound and face-adjusted clock.

I've also left a space for this
rather natty rally computer.

Now, if you think back to those
magical racing cars of your childhood,

like Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang or Il Tampo Giganta,

they all have exhaust systems
that flow on the outside of the car.

Now, they look wonderful, but mainly
there's actually a performance advantage.

You get the heat out of the
engine bay as quickly as possible,

but also, in our case, should
there be a technical problem,

we can actually get the exhaust
off the car nice and quickly.

Now, my little horn is a great idea,

but I'm still really worried
about all that modern traffic.

I want to be sure they're going
to hear us before they see us,

which is why I'm going to augment
our car with a proper train horn.

Now, that really should
make all the difference,

but I do still feel like we're miles
and miles away from the start line,

let alone the 9,000
miles away from the finish.

How you doing, Ed? You all right?

I've got that cylinder
you was asking me for.

Perfect, thank you, sir.

Oh, that's looking fantastic.

I love the colour. It's wicked.

You've done such a great job.

And the exhaust and the
engine, it's all coming on, isn't it?

Yeah, well, there is a
bit of an issue with this,

because it's not our engine.

I know that, yeah.

Yeah, well, the problem is, our engine,

Brad's doing a great
job putting it together,

but there's a few last bits we
just can't quite get to happen,

so I don't think it's going
to be ready for the rally.

So we're going to go all the way to
China in a Cadillac with no engine?

Well, this one works fine.

But this engine doesn't belong to us.

This belongs to that guy and
these museum piece of a car

that you just borrowed so you
could mop fit it to this chassis.

So I'm thinking you do a deal.

How about you just buy the whole car?

Okay, so you expect me
to buy that whole Cadillac

off that guy just so
we can use the engine?

Well, it's going to be cheaper.
It's in bits now, isn't it?

Yeah.

For once, it was Ed who chose the car.

A very unique car at that 1916 V8 Cadillac.

Uh, I'm confused.

That came without a V8.

There's hardly anything here.

Well, everything else is here
and some of it's over there.

We needed help and a
host of 100-year-old parts.

What we're after is a
high-geared back axle.

Yes, I have it.

To finish and complete
this full restoration.

I have a Jigsaw of parts.

A donor engine meant Ed
could keep the build on schedule.

Our body is nearly
ready to go into position.

But when the engine wasn't
going to be ready on time,

that donor engine become our power source.

Not the most traditional of builds,
but a highly desirable car nonetheless.

But how much did that desire cost us?

I did a deal for the donor
car and $45,000 later,

we're the proud owners of
our second pre-w*r Cadillac.

The two Cadillacs then cost
us a combined total of $96,000.

Now, Ed did cannibalize
as many parts as he could

from the donor car, but
we still spent a few dollars.

The work on the chassis,
powder coating, new

spindles, axles and
suspension came to $15,723.

Then we took advantage of our donor engine,

our original engine did
bring up some expenses.

New pistons, rings, new
valves, valve Springs,

and a clean up of the
engine was $3,198.

Custom built exhaust, $4,424.

Body work, paint and instruments,
storage, interior and seats, $12,352.

Fuel tank and fuel system,
general maintenance, $2,211.

This gave us a grand total of $133,908,
around 100,000 pounds and 271 man hours.

I'm confident of not one, but two sales.

We have two rare and expensive Cadillacs,

but this era has a
growing collector market,

whether it be the wealthy individual
collector or perhaps a museum.

And not forgetting a few hundred vintage
rally diehards to whom money is no object.

But before they get their hands
on this historic vehicle or vehicles,

we've got to get some miles on the clock.

Wow, Ed, I've got to tell you,
you've outdone yourself this time.

This car is epic.

Beautiful wheels, lovely engine, look
at the exhaust, the c*ck's all done,

the nice seats, the fuel tank,
even the storage box down the back.

It's brilliant, this car.

You've done really well as well.

First of all, we now have our
donor engine, well, it's ours,

and of course those wheels as well,
otherwise it would have been a bit stuck.

But also all the other
little bits and pieces,

all those other really,
really hard to get bits.

I was beginning to suspect you've
got some kind of time machine.

No, that would just be too easy.

What I have done, though, is arrange
a little bit of a test for us today.

We need to get to the top of this hill,
and it looks rather steep on the map.

Well, obviously I do want
to complete the challenge,

but at the same time I also
want to break something.

You want to break something?

Yeah, I just need to find a weak link,
find the bits that need attention now

while we're close to the
workshop, or relatively,

rather than when we're stuck
in the middle of Mongolia.

I hope you ain't wishing
bad luck on our day.

I was hoping we could have
a good day, a little bit of fun.

Let's not break anything.

No, no, I want to find
some weak link, at least.

Lovely.

OK, you ready?

Yeah, ready.

Nice.

Yeah.

See, those gear changes, they will come.

It's just a bit of practice, isn't it?

Well, it's about, obviously, matching
the speed of the gearbox and the engine.

To be honest, it's much
harder to go down gear

when you're only trying to
slow the car down on a hill.

That's really tough, because you've got
to raise the revs up to the right amount,

and we've only got three gears,
so it's actually quite a range.

I'll tell you the thing that I like
most of all, is that Cadillac engine.

It's amazing.

I mean, it really is quite wonderful.

One of my only concerns with it, though,

is you're going to hear us,

there's a slight kind of vibration when
you're revving it near a double engine.

No, no, but seriously,
because of the issues,

it's only got three main
bearings on the crank, right?

And obviously, they're made out of that
Babbo bearing, it's kind of very soft metal.

And what I'm worried
about is actually overheating.

If we actually overheat the bearing,

you can actually melt
it and it will run out,

and that's where the running
of bearing comes from.

So you've got to be really careful.

So, you know, when you're
going down a hill, for example,

you just want to take
everything real nice and easy.

But of course, it is a rally.

Well, what about going uphill?

Because we need to get some, we need to
get a bit of spur time to get up this hill.

There you go.

Come on, Ev, we can do it.

Up we go.

Second gear.

Come on.

She's doing all right.

She's not shaking apart at the moment.

She's holding together.

Come on.

I could have got a bit more
of a run-up, to be honest.

It's like cycling.

You want to get as much speed as you
can down hill so you can go back up again.

But of course, again, we
don't want to run the bearing,

we don't want to worry
about that kind of stuff.

So it can be quite tricky.

I can't believe it.

We haven't got very far at all, have we?

Is that what he was looking for?

I mean, look, we're meant to
be doing 9,000 miles in this car

and we made it just a little way before
the thing's stuck on the side of the road.

But this is the whole point
of doing a test drive, isn't it?

To actually find out
all those things wrong.

Just add this to the list.

The brakes are actually a
very complicated part of the car.

You've got those shoes on the inside of
the drum and on the outside of the drum.

They both have to be just right.

And right now, they're kind of wrong.

Anyway, look out, I've
got to crack on with this.

We'll get there.

Well, I've definitely freed them off
a bit more, so we'll give that a go.

Maybe I'll have to stop
again and see how we go.

Let the adventure continue.

Well, the brakes are working fine.

The weather today is visible,

but no way has it dampened my
enthusiasm for what we're about to face.

No.

I think the roof is definitely in order.

Roof?

We'll put that to the list, for sure.

This list?

It's getting big, isn't it?

My pencil is down to a nub.

Oh, dear.

Tim's double-D clutch.

Not your best one.

We're going quickly.

It's good.

Yeah, it's scary.

No doors, no screen, no seat belt, no roof.

It's more visceral, is
the word I'm looking for.

It's more intense, it's more real.

Oh, now, see, that was a down chain.

I need to blip the throttle a bit more.

Yeah, it's a tough one, that.

But we have kept going, especially when
you haven't got time to think about it.

What if we put an auto box in it?

Come on, baby.

Go through the mud.

Oh, yeah, baby, yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is more like it in Trepid Explorers.

Absolutely.

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh, here we go, here we go.

That sounds great.

Awesome stuff.

Well, he wanted to break something.

Broken item number two.

First it's the brakes,
now it's the fuel system.

We're driving down the road, and
it keeps getting slower and slower,

and then it speeds up again,
slower and slower, speeds up again.

Oh, no.

See, that was bad.

That's the car cutting out.

We didn't want that.

It's going to be a doozy to start.

So the issue is, obviously,
we've got a pump in the engine.

It's actually pressurizing
the tank with some air,

and then, of course, that air pressure
then pushes the fuel back into the engine.

Problem is, obviously, we've
got a bit too much pressure.

Well, the regulator is
failing, so that doesn't work.

So we're going to have to just
run really fast to use up the fuel.

Well, that's the idea of winning a
rally, to run really fast and get wet.

Add it to the list,
sir, add it to the list.

This list, Ed, is ending up
looking like a telephone directory.

Well, yeah, it's going to
be a w*r and peace soon.

Nice one.

Well, today has been a real genuine test.

We've been uphill, down, down.

We've been through mud.

It rained so hard, I'm
soaked through the skin.

And now we've ended up with this
amazing view and this lovely evening.

It doesn't get much
better than that, does it?

It really has been absolutely fantastic,

and I'm really chuffed
that we did this test now,

even though the car is a
long way from being ready.

Obviously, I had the
problems with the brakes,

I had the problems
with the fuel system.

And who would have thought,

when this car rolled out of the showroom,
a hundred years ago, a hundred years later,

it's about to embark on
its greatest ever adventure.

We need to hold your
horses, because I need to get

this car back to the workshop
and do a ton more work.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts,

we weren't able to get the
caddy race ready in time.

I've no doubt I'll find a buyer, though,

so all that hard work
will pay off in the end.

If you want to see more cars
getting the heroic treatment,

then join us again soon on Wheeler Dealers.

Ta-la!