Big Black Caddilac: The Caddy comes home

The weather's turning colder and this seems like a great time to get started on a fall/winter project... so today we brought home a 1949 Cadillac Series 75. This is my first attempt at a blog and I doubt many people will even see it, but this seemed like a handy way to document this project and save my pictures.

First, a little about the car...
It is mammoth. It's over 18 feet long and weighs close to 5,000lbs. Many of the series 75s were used as limos, hearses, or ambulances, but I believe this one is considered a seven passenger sedan. It has the jump seats in the rear, but no divider between the front and rear seats. This is the last year this model had running boards, and the first year of the 331 cubic inch overhead valve V8 (previous models were flat-heads). Other notable features include 4 speed "Hydra-Matic" transmission, hydraulic power windows, and a hydraulic adjustable front seat.

This car has been in my Dad's possession since around '81 or '82 as far as I can recall. I remember when we drove it home, it actually ran quite good back then. It was a project that was never tackled, and it sat on the side of our house for about 20 years (usually under a tarp), moving from house to house with us. The last 10 years or so it spent in my Dad & Step-Mom's garage, and that is where it began the day today. My friends Troy & Wendy came with a flatbed trailer and all the equipment we needed to get it loaded. By the end of the day we got it home in our garage. They were happy to get the use of their garage back! I guess we can say goodbye to parking in ours for a while.
Here are some pictures from the day:

Getting ready to pull it out of the garage.

It fought hard to stay put, but finally the jeep won the battle

We dragged it into the street to line it up with the trailer. The left rear tire did NOT want to stay inflated. Pretty surprised any of them held air at all.