Pictures: 1969 Oldsmobile 442 - Extreme Makeover! At Autogeek!

Mike Phillips · 06-29-2016, 03:35 PM

Pictures: 1969 Oldsmobile 442 - Extreme Makeover! At Autogeek!

Wow!

We had a PACKED Class tonight!

With 2 incredible cars and 1 Donzi boat!

Here's the "after" results from the extreme makeover we did to the 1969 Olds 442 using Griot's Garage products.

Mike Phillips · 06-30-2016, 08:45 PM

Continued...

Here's my friend Joe's Donzi - he restored the boat and my buddies Robert and Rob restored the wrap-around windshield.

NOTE: The windsheild is tinted gray.

Mike Phillips · 06-30-2016, 08:47 PM

Continued....

This is a 1937 Chevy Coupe. We detailed the engine bay and then after some machine wetsanding to the trunk lid machine applied Pinnacle Liquid Souveran Wax.

This car will be back for more wetsanding.

More pictures next week after the 4th of July Holiday weekend.

Everyone stay safe and have fun. Try to find something to shine!

**refreshauto** · 06-30-2016, 10:41 PM

I was trying to make it to one of these Thursday night sessions agin, but I got stuck apply PPF to a Tesla Model-X

Mike Phillips · 07-06-2016, 01:42 PM

Continued....

Here's what the paint looked like BEFORE we did and Autogeek Extreme Makeover to her here at Autogeek's Show Car Garage.

The power of the before shot

If you're new to car detailing here's a tip. Before starting take a few moments to position the car in a way to capture the true and current condition of the paint. These pictures are called

The before shots

If you don't get the before shots before you start the detailing project chances are you'll regret it later as you try to explain to people with words just how horrible the car looked before you detailed it. Word are good but nothing beats great before shots.

I even have a quote and an article on this topic,

The power in the after shot is created in the before shot -Mike Phillips

This is even more important if you detail cars for money as the before shots together with the after shots show the world what you can do and thus what you can do for your customer's cars.

Besides all of the above... documenting the before condition of a car before you detail it takes all the hot air out of all the experts that that without the before shots automatically assume the car looked great before you detailed it.

So get your before shots!

**Bobby B.** · 07-06-2016, 02:33 PM

Great job Mike! The 37' Chevy Coupe and the 69' Oldsmobile 442 look awesome.

Mike Phillips · 07-06-2016, 03:33 PM

Continued...

First up was to wash this classic. I don't normally use running water to wash classics, antiques, streetrods or muscle cars as I think it's wrong to introduce water where you can't get to it to remove it and that can lead to a rust problem. Just ask anyone that has restored a car what one of the biggest time expenditure is as well as expense and that is removing rust.

The issue with this car that demanded a full traditional wash job was the vinyl top had a cover on it for months by the previous owner and this caused MOLD to grow on the top. So to remove the dirt and the mold we needed to use a number of chemicals and this meant washing the top to FLUSH the chemicals off the top and out of the grain and this in turn meant washing the car.

Here's Iron X on the vinyl top and on the paint as well as the bumpers, glass and wheels.

Look careful and you can see the Iron X red bleeding effect on the red paint.

All aspects of this car were contaminated.

Next we mixed up some soap solution and some clean water in our dual bucket wash system.

Next we used the McKee's 37 Foam Gun and the McKee's Xtreme Foam Formula car wash to wash the car.

Not pictured

After rinsing we we sprayed the top with Marine 31 Mildew Remover and machine applied it using a Porter Cable with a Cyclo Brush. Then the top was rinsed again.

After the Marine 31 Mold Remover was used on the top the top was foamed again and then washed with Microfiber Chenille mitts and rinsed.

Next the body panels were foamed and then mechanically decontaminated using Griot's Garage clay mitts. The paint and the glass were HORRIBLY contaminated with something but the Griot's Garage Fast Clay Mitts removed everything and left the paint completely smooth.

Wheels and tires were cleaned and rinsed and then after a final rinse the car was dried using Guzzler Waffle Weave drying towels.

Mike Phillips · 07-06-2016, 03:42 PM

Continued....

Because we removed the contaminants during the washing process there was no need to clay the paint after the car was dried and moved into Autogeek's Show Car Garage. This meant the guys could go right to work.

Tools
Tools were a free-for-all. I told the guy they could use any tool their hearts deisred.

Pads
For most tools we used the Griot's Garage BOSS thin foam pads. The exception would be the FLEX 3401 and for this we used LC Hybrids.

Products
For compounding, polishing and waxing we used Griot's Garage BOSS Correcting Cream followed by the BOSS Perfectiong Cream and then we sealed the paint using Griot's Best of Show Paste Wax.

Mike Phillips · 07-07-2016, 07:11 AM

Continued...

The paint on this Old 442 came out amazing!

My brother-in-law Pete, (the current owner), will be bringing it back as he has applied the vinyl graphic stripes to the hood and I'll get a few pics of it to show you the final results.