'87 El Camino Single Stage Paint Restoration

[BillyJack]

This post is kinda "reverse engineered". Sunday, I was out taking some scenery shots at abandoned gas stations to submit for the National El Camino Club calendar. Looking at some of the reflections, I decided to snap some sun pics and do a post here also. I know I can't begin to compete with some of the incredible details posted in this section, but I was pretty proud of the old girl, especially after winning another trophy at a local Chevy dealer's judged All-Chevy show.
Subject vehicle is my '87 Chevy El Camino. I bought it in '93 with over 100,000 miles and it's been mostly a fair weather garage queen. The only fresh paint that it has seen in that time has come from a touch-up bottle. Back in the spring of 2009, I changed jobs, lost my company car and needed to use my Camino as a daily driver for most of that year. Daily exposure brought about even more deterioration of the aged lacquer, so off to the internet I went for some help. First, I found Meguiar's Online and then some promos on Speed channel by Mike Phillips led me here. Mike had just published his superb tutorial on SS paint restoration using Meguiars' #7, a process that was tailor made for my paint maladies.
My process:

Prep- Clay Magic Blue

Polish- four very vigorous applications of Meguiar's #7 Show Car Glaze. First application was allowed an overnight soak before removal. Subsequent applications were removed after an hour or two.

First buff - Meguiar's M80 w/ rotary and wool pad

Polish - 3M Foam Pad Polish for Dark Vehicles w/ rotary and Meguiar's yellow pad

Sealant - Collinite 845 IW applied by hand. Two coats with overnight cure

LSP - Dodo Juice Doublecoat. I've also done test panels with Optimum Wax, Meguiar's M16 and M26 and Griot's Best-of-Show. The Dodo Juice has a very slight edge in my opinion, but any of them look pretty darn good over the 845

Maintenance - Optimum Car Wax


Here's some pics:






And a hardware shot:


Once again, thank you Mike for your fantastic tutorials and thanks to AG staff and AGO members for the selfless exchange of information here. I've come to learn that with the right combination of product, process and technique, almost any vehicle can look pretty damn respectable.


Bill


PS The lower silver areas are coated with a highly textured chip-resistant coating, so reflection is virtually non-existent. That's a project for this upcoming winter.

[Kristopher1129]

Looks great! I'd love for a Camino to roll into my shop, ha.

[The Heater]

Thank God you kept the OEM wheels on it. Looks way better with them than with aftermarket wheels.

[HotRodJoe]

Wow, that Elky is partying like it was 1987! Better than '87, actually.

[CaneJeep]

That is awesome - Classic ride!! You should be proud!

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Your Elky always looks great!

Originally Posted by BillyJack

This post is kinda "reverse engineered". Sunday, I was out taking some scenery shots at abandoned gas stations to submit for the National El Camino Club calendar.

Good luck getting in the Calendar...

[kimtyson]

Great vehicle and it's looking great, too. Congrats. Hope you can get it back into the garage for safe keeping. That's a classic. Any interior pics?

[BillyJack]

Thanks all for the compliments! When I started to attempt restoration last summer, I reached for the rotary, wool and heavier compounds. All that resulted were gunked-up pads with little improvement in gloss. Mike's single-stage paint article couldn't have come at a better time. I already had Meguiar's #7 in stock, but it was technique that made the difference

Originally Posted by kimtyson

Great vehicle and it's looking great, too. Congrats. Hope you can get it back into the garage for safe keeping. That's a classic. Any interior pics?

Nope, now that the judging is over I'm gonna drive it for a few weeks and enjoy.
Here's the interior. Classic 80's velour, all original except for the leather-wrapped steering wheel sourced form an 80's Buick.


Engine compartment is stock-appearing.


Here are the shots I chose to submit for the calendar:






Thanks for looking!

Bill

[mageA1]

really terrific work here... i liked your avatar-pic, so i searched your posts/threads to find where your photo came from. glad i found it! the el camino looks beautiful.

[BillyJack]

mageA1,
Thanks, you bumped this year-old thread at a very appropriate time. This past Sunday was once again the annual All-Chevy show that I compete in. This year the classes were condensed, so my class included stock pickups, panel trucks and El Caminos of all years, including full-on restorations. My "survivor" with its original paint and interior didn't come in first this year, but still managed a creditable third-place trophy, finishing ahead of some fully restored pickups.


Also this week, I received a little surprise in the mail. My Camino was selected for the new series of collector magnets to be issued by Rock Auto, a large online auto parts company.


Once again, a sincere thanks to the AGO community and especially to Mike Phillips for my newly-acquired detailing skills as well as the ability to make sound choices amongst the multitude of detailing products available. I've been in the car business for my entire adult life, but didn't truly understand automotive appearance care until I joined up here and MOL. Not many years ago, I wasn't proud enough of my car's appearance to show up at a local cruise. Now I have a few trophies on my shelf.
Thanks again to all for the free exchange of advice and experience. You've made me proud of my old girl once again.

Bill