One of the original objectives of car customizing was to make inexpensive vehicles look more like upscale models. So what's a custom enthusiast to do when he bases his project on the so-called Standard of the World-a Cadillac? If you're retired bodyman Ed Britz, you mix and match various elements of the marque to craft a body configuration that Cadillac never made in the '40s or '50s-a two-seat, roadster-style convertible.
"As a young boy growing up in Pennsylvania, I was always attracted to the Caddys," Ed tells us. "I've had many of them over the years. There are some things that I like on some years of Caddys that I don't particularly care for on other years. So, I decided to take parts from different cars and build a car that suited me.
"I found this '49 Caddy in Round Up magazine for a very cheap price of $2,700," Ed continues. "It was located in North Carolina; I bought it sight unseen. When I went to get it, I realized why it was so cheap. It was so bad that the only things I used were the doors, the convertible hardware, windshield frame, and door lock pillars. All other sheetmetal came from parts I located all over the country, including a couple parts cars.
"I don't care for the long roof and short deck on the '49, so I used a longer deck from a '52 Caddy coupe and moved it ahead 5 inches to use up some of the rear seat area. Now the roof is 17 inches shorter than stock. The folding electric convertible top is from a '67 GTO, which I chopped 3 inches. I laid the windshield back, cut out the cowl panel, and made hidden wipers."
That was just the beginning of the cutting, splicing, and rearranging Ed had planned for his two-place Cad. He sectioned the body 2 inches through the hood and upper doors, and then installed a '48 Cad grille between recessed headlights with '47 Ford headlight bezels and flat lenses. The stock front bumper was narrowed and its guards cut down, while the cut-down rear bumper was borrowed from a '55 Cadillac and augmented with more cut-down '49 bumper guards to serve as a license surround. Portions of two '52 Cad fenders-including the taillights-were spliced into the original rear pontoons. "I like the '51-53 taillights better, as the fin area is more streamlined," Ed explains. "The later taillights also have backup lights built in them."
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