Pictures with Dennis Gage at the Evansville Detailing Class

[Mike Phillips]

Had a blast tonight and learned a lot! Thanks again Mike! Also thanks to Dennis for coming by and Scott for opening his shop!

Great time with some real detailing guys!

Thank you Eric for attending, I always like meeting forum members face to face...

Thanks again Mike we had a great time and really appreciate everything from you, Dennis, and Scott for lending the space and time.

Hi Jordan, thank you for attending and I agree in that I really appreciate Scott loaning sharing his shop and Dennis hanging out with a bunch of car nuts like us...

Had a great time last night. It was good to meet some old friends and put some faces to a lot of new ones. Was really nice of Scott to open up his shop to us and for Dennis Gauge and Mike to be there after a long day of shooting under the hot lights. Thanks again I really enjoyed it.

Thanks Paul for making the drive to be here... and THANK YOU for the diet Rock Star! That was perfect timing as I was ready for a boost!

Great time at the GTG, nice to get all the tips and tricks from a Master. I was the one with the Autogeek Racing shirt BTW.

Hi Marc, thank you for attending and bringing your wife, anyone that has a wife that supports your passion for detailing is a lucky man indeed!

I'll just echo what everyone else has said: THANK YOU Mike, and Scott for hosting us!

I learned alot, as did my 15 yr old son!!

Thanks Again,

Rod

Hi Rod, it was a pleasure meeting both you and your son. It's great to get young men and women involved into any hobby and especially the car hobby.

Great to meet everyone. Makes me really want to get to Florida and check out a full fledged class.

Thanks for taking the time Mike.

Hi Devin,

Thank you for making the 5+ hour drive from Chicago to attend this clinic, it was great meeting you talking tools and technique...

Thanks for looking at my Infiniti!

Not a problem, like I said that night, in the shop light and with the Brinkmann Swirl Finder Light the paint looks to be in #1 Excellent Condition as I describe on page 37 of my how-to book. You say there's some scratching that only shows up in the sun so read through my article here and see if you can get a good "sun shot" and either post it to the forum or send it to me in an e-mail and I see if I can help you to figure out what the defects are and how to eliminate them.


How-To capture swirls, scratches, etchings and other surface defects with your camera

[Mike Phillips]

My uncle and I had a great day. Our day started out earlier in the day looking at a slough of Chevy Impala's, from totally restored 62-64, to full body parts and engines (409's) on stands that could be started up on the engine stands. How cool is that? Real cool!!!

I agree... that's called having "car guy fun"



Big shout out to Mr. Scott Molden for opening his shop and allowing this get-together to take place. I would also like to thank him for offering up his beautiful black Camaro as a demo vehicle for Mr. Phillips to use.

Big thanks to Max at Autogeek for allowing Mr. Phillips to be with us. Without Max, none of this would have been possible. Thank you, sir!!

[/quote]

I agree. Scott has become a genuine good friend over the last two years... the first year I met Scott he let me demonstrate how to use a rotary buffer on his 1966 Corvette and this year he let me demonstrate the new LC Ultra Microfiber Pads on his Vette PLUS opened up his shop for a roadshow class.

1966 Corvette on My Classic Car with Dennis Gage - Rotary Buffers

Rotary Buffers on My Classic Car - Dennis Gage & Mike Phillips

Scott Molden and me outside the Madstache TV Studio...

The surprise guest was an awesome treat, as well as getting to put some faces with the names of other guests and forum members, Rod, 2old2change (forgot your name), and Devin aka Anarchy.

I agree again... it was really nice of Dennis to carve out some time and hang out with us. I know his schedule and he's incredibly busy with a lot of responsibilities plus a full schedule of shooting new episodes the next day. So it was indeed very kind of him to not only give me a ride to the class but to then hangout with us...

Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to say thanks to Mr. Mike Phillips for being so generous with his knowledge and time. It was evident that Mr. Phillips was very tired at the start of the event, but he stayed the course with his passion to teach others and made the class extremely entertaining, interesting, and very worth while in attending. Thanks for all that extra effort Mr. Phillips!

I found it very refreshing to see, live and in person, the same Mr. Mike Phillips we see on camera so often, and not some person who is just acting for the camera. A person can really see and understand that Mr. Phillips really wants people to learn and enjoy what they're doing.

Ah shucks... it was nothing, I always tell people my two passions in life are detailing cars and sharing with others how to detail cars and being around other people passionate about the craft always brings out my passion as well.

It was also very nice to meet you Bill, I always appreciate your participation on our forum and your professional character was evident at the class as it's always evident in your posting personality...

Mr. Phillips,
You really made a lasting impression upon my uncle with your knowledge of how to care for cars, your delivery style in teaching, and with you're "down home" personality.

My uncle not being involved with our forum, but still being a "car guy", I don't really think he knew what to expect of the event. Having attended I think I can honestly say that he left impressed, more educated, and that he thoroughly enjoyed the event, just as I enjoyed it. It was nice getting to spend some time with my uncle on this level (a first for me).

I had a great time at the event. My uncle even had a great time and we both learned quite a bit more about what it takes to reach a show car finish and about detailing knowledge in general.

I left the event anxious to sign-up for one of Mr. Phillips' two day classes and feel the money and time would be well spent.

This event was worth the 4 1/2 hour drive for me, for sure.

The above was very rewarding to read, thank you for sharing and please tell your Uncle that it was genuine pleasure to meet him and I very glad he attended with you.

[Rencor]

Looks like you guys had a great time. Great choice of a car to work on!

[Mike Phillips]

Evansville Eye Candy!

My good friend and professional detailer Chris aka PorscheGuy997 arrived in style driving Panther Pink Challenger that he details for one of his customers and this thing was sweet! Interior, exterior, everything was flawlessly detailed on this car...

Chris arriving in the Challenger...





The low down front grill shot...








Me and Chris...



Chris also takes care of Scott's 1966 Corvette...




A few years ago I held one of my extreme makeover classes while I was at Meguiar's where I had my buddy Nate Trueman's 1966 Batmobile at the training garage at Meguiar's and Chris flew all the way from Evansville, Indiana to Irvine, California to be a part of the Batmobile Extreme Makeover Team.


Batmobile Extreme Makeover - Pictures & Comments

Pictures Courtesy of MeguiarsOnline.com

Here's Chris restoring the shine to the Bat Wheels...






Time flies when you're having fun...
Here's a few other people that you might recognize the names of that helped out with this incredibly fun project were,

Mike Pennington, Jason Rose, Kevin Brown, Nick Chapman, Joe Fernandez, Derek Bemiss, Robby Whttkamm, Jesse aka Hemin8r, Ryan aka lilblkblt04, Paul aka the other pc, Bob aka RDVT4ME,

Where's the marshmallows?



More pictures to come...

[Mike Phillips]

More Evansville Eye Candy...

Scott's buddy Bill let us use his Blown 1966 Nova for our new segments on My Classic Car and then Bill attended the class. Bill painted build and painted this himself and it's as nice as it looks...













Thanks Bill!

[Mike Phillips]

Lots of hands-on practice with the tools of the trade...

Decontaminating the paint using a 6" Nanoskin Autoscrub Pad on a Meguiar's G110v2



A little hands-on guidence...



She's got it down!



Here's Marc trying out the Fine Grade Speedy Prep Towel...



Trying out the Flex 3401 for the first time...



Trying out the Meguiar's G110v2 for the first time...



Testing out M105 with the Meguiar's G110v2





Perfect technique using the Flex 3401 Forced Rotation Dual Action Polisher...



Learning how hard to push down and how slow to move the Griot's 6" DA Polisher...





Helping Marc to prime the 6.5" Hybrid Cutting Pad...





A little tweak of his technique....



And Marc's on his own and doing great!



Bill checking out the Flex 3401...



The Flex 3401 was very popular at this class...

[Mike Phillips]

More hands-on training...

Tonya learning how to use the Griot's DA Polisher on Scott's black Camaro...






She's got it down...





Rotary Buffers
We also went over how to use a rotary buffer including, using a wool pad with M105 to remove sanding marks, using a polishing pad with M205 to remove holograms left by the wool pad, using a black finishing pad to jewel the paint to a clear, high gloss finish using Menzerna SF 4500...

Attaching a wool cutting pad to a Meguiar's flexible backing plate on the DeWALT 849X


For each step I emphasized the importance of working clean...



Cutting out the sanding marks around the rear edge of the hood...



Inspecting the results and showing the holograms left by the wool pad...



Removing the swirls using a Meguiar's foam polishing pad...



Inspecting the results, most people thought the finish looked pretty good after this step...



Cleaning a finishing pad...



Laying down a bead of Menzerna SF 4500...



Working the polish at 600 RPM and a very light touch...



No pressure except the weight of the rotary buffer...



Wipe-off the residue...



Show car results...

[PorscheGuy997]

What a night! Definitely had a great time and got the opportunity to try a few new things.

I would like to thank all those involved for making this happen and those who made the long trip.

[Hoytman]

Great to meet everyone. Makes me really want to get to Florida and check out a full fledged class. Thanks for taking the time Mike.

I couldn't agree with you more Devin. I'd certainly like to go to the 2-day class as well.

You have a pm.

[Mike Phillips]

Also wanted to say thank you to Bill for letting me use his Nova on My Classic Car to demonstrate the new Pinnacle GlassWork Water Spot Remover, Pinnacle GlassCoat Window Sealant with Rain Repellent and Pinnacle Crystal Clear Glass Cleaner with Water Repellent.





Thanks Bill and thanks again Scott for connecting me with Bill...