LS3 in a 64 Coupe de Ville

[Jason Edge]

This weekend, on my way to and from Spencer, NC (just up from Charlotte) to the NC Transportation Museum for our annual Cadillac LaSalle Club Joint East-West NC Region meet-up, I made my 3rd cross Carolina trek checking out 63/64 Cadillac contacts I have on file and covered 9 towns and 17 contacts. I always end up meeting some really interesting people, and often see people that have been to the house, and see all flavors of our cars!  I am going to start a serial topic on the newsletter so will leave the details for later. What I will share is a quick peak at Brad Everhart's 64 CDV with a 430hp LS3 engine.  He fired it up and backed it out and my Hot Rod Heart was sure beating fast. He said he had had it up to 146 MPH but ran out of road and had to back off the throttle! That's moving for an almost 5000 lb car. Brad has a 44 acre place, builds Harleys, and just had a cool setup! More to come latter... here's a couple of quick pictures.

  

[2o93f8rdftyzj]

Its a really nice looking car and those LS motors are a gem of a thing. I'd do it to a Caddy, but not our Fleetwood. It needs to stay stock.

[Jason Edge]

3.21 gear is how he can easily go 146 mph.. very high gear for what he is after. He could actually go considerably faster from his description. He is looking to swap in a 3.77 Commercial Chassis differential (optional on the 75 series) to give him better off the line performance.  Also, actually winding a car out with a relatively high gear like that is not going to put too much stress on the drivetrain compared to blasting off with a 5000 lb car from a dead stop in a drag race.  Anyway, this was a sliver of cool stuff going on with Brad his 64 CDV and the Harley's he builds. I would love to do a full feature on his ride and what he is into in a future Chapter Newsletter. At a minimum you will hear and see more in a Carolina Cadillac serial I am planning.  

[29crik3qhrn62]

Very very cool!! I had to shoe horn one of these into a '64 Impala, glad to see one in a little bigger engine bay. I can't imagine the amount of work it took to do this but the results look stunning!

[Jason Edge]

It sounded stunning!

[29crik3qhrn62]

Looking forward to the write up on this one!  I know some of us that have modified our old cars get "flak" from the purists out there but there is room for everyone in this hobby.  I do not own any "new" cars and have not for thirty years since graduating high school so I have no aversion to updating, upgrading and making my classics safe for the street since I drive them everyday. This is a gorgeous build that any '63-'64 Caddie fan would be proud to own. For some of us it isn't about trailers and car shows. Those things are great and fun but for some of us it's a lifestyle.

[Jason Edge]

It really is up to each what they want to do with their cars, and someone like Brad has my utmost respect. You only are seeing a glimpse of the work. The undercarriage with 4 muffler system to keep quiet was mindboggling.  I happen to be aiming at "restored to original look" with my 64 CDV, but would love to have a Resto-mod twin to punch up to 150 mph if I wanted. My restoration has less to do with what I think of customs, etc. but just where I wanted to take my car.
I completely respect Original cars, restored cars, or custom cars. The truly untouched original cars are rare and the "Rosetta Stone" for those looking to restore their cars to original. As they say cars are only original once.  If you are restoring your car to original, creating a resto-mod, or doing a full-on custom it requires a lot of hard work, perseverance and money. To do a really nice resto-mod or full custom it takes a lot of ingenuity and "street smarts" to make it happen.

[3n49omug8n28i]

Hard work, perseverance and LOTS of money x2

[2jz91uobc4mrp]

I'm currently doing the same with a 2004 LS1. Looking around for a manifold that will fit. Anyone have advice as one is on back order until October.