Retrofitting another car.

Just did a quick estimate, I think you could do it for about $200,000 if your willing to do most of the work yourself.

 

And, If I get enough money to burn as you say... I'm gonna put a hybrid system in .... Nothing...

I'm gettin a hummer and I don't care what it costs to fill up at the gas station and I'm not commuting to work, so I wouldn't burn that much anyhow.

A 61 caddy with all that steel and a 1.5liter hybrid system would barely have enough umph to go 40mph on a down hill with a tail wind. Might get 20mpg..

It would be one of the only front wheel drive caddy's in the neighborhood.

 

An interesting idea.

While a top speed of 40 mph downhill is probably an exaggeration, your '61 caddy probably wouldn't have very good performance with the Prius HSD. The way to go might be to buy a brand new Highlander hybrid rather than looking in junkyards for Prius Parts. After all, why scrounge when you can buy new and not worry about the money.

Because of the way the system is designed, you'd have to replace all engine, transmission, and drive parts on your Caddy with the HSD and reprogam the computer like you said. It really would be hard to do this well. The proportions of the drive would be completely off with the different wheel base and width of the car.

But, since money is no object, you could hire experienced hybrid engineers and have them build you a custom system from your Highlander parts or ones they designed themselves. It would work better than repurposing a drive train from a completely different vehicle.

 

oh geez... just put the hy-hi setup in one. that will probably work just fine

 

not sure about the early Caddy but a fwd Toro or Eldo shouldn't pose that big a problem using the Hi-Hy 2 wheel drive power train and if you've ever looked under the hood of one of them you'd realise you can put the battery there as well. I mean the hood is almost as long as a Hi-Hy. And the Eldo had a 500 cubic inch V8 and tranny in there. A little V6 and the psd and battery no problem. Someone know it you can get the Hi-Hy without VSC? that would make the brake conversion a whole lot easier. This would be a project spanning several months in my estimation. Cubic dollars would make it possible for sure.

 

The Highlander HSD should easily meet your expectations.

The 61 Cadillacs had the big 390-cubic-inch V-8 with either 325 or 345 horsepower. The 2006 Hi-Hy 2WD has "only" 268 hp. But consider the efficiency of those 268 horses - they sprint from 0-60 in 7.0 seconds and they can carry a gross weight (vehicle + passengers + cargo + towing) of 10,280 pounds.

I think you'll feel the get up and go because the electric engine has maximum torque right when it starts and in the Highlander acceleration has an electric assist added to the V6 engine. The Caddy's V8 doesn't hit 345 horsepower until it gets to 4800 RPM.

That 5700 pound Highlander gets an EPA rating of 33/27. The Cadillac is more aerodynamic, and with the weight of the HSD added its original 4700-4800 pounds will probably still a be a bit less than the Hi-Hy. You should be able to at least match the Highlander's numbers.

 

My thinking exactly. Not to mention that you're probably going to save a lot of weight in the Caddy with the lighter block and lack of a transmission. SInce you're going this route anyway, may as well shave another 200lbs with new rims and low profile wheels and a custom carbon fiber hood and trunk, modern gastank - I bet you could *easily* wind up 1500lbs lighter on the Caddy.
Of course, harder than all this is the programming. There could be an advantage to keeping the car heavier and using the mass to regenerate *more* power than you normally would, but I'd imagine that'd take a little software tweaking.

I hope you're serious about this - because it could be a REALLY cool project. Hybridizing it alone would make it a news maker - and once you got a system running, then increasing the battery capacity and torque in the motors could turn the car into a real headline-maker!

Cheers!
Dave