Antique cars - need advice

[Calendyr]

Ok, watched a few videos last night. Don't have waterless wash in my arsenal, will have to add some. Probably go with Ultima, it seems to be popular.

I understand the concept of WW, it just seemed like the most dangerous way to wash for me. The cars at the club I am going might be garage cars but they are also driven. The meet I am going to will have the guys with their cars there. They have a weekly meet and they have a large event about once a month. At their weekly meet they have 30 cars on average and at the monthly event they have about 400. So I am not sure these cars will be super clean, probably but not certain of it.

I agree that if they are already super swirled out and all, won't matter much how they are washed So for demonstration purposes, maybe I could use a rinseless wash (Optimum) at much higher concentration in the way a Waterless wash is used? Or is that crazy?

So if I decide to do a test pannel, what should I use? Reconditioning creme? Ultimate Compound? Ultimate polish? I don't want to go too agressive but I would like the pannel corrected as well

And yes, I will definatelly do a baggie test, this is one of the most effective way to make an owner realise there is something wrong with the paint, same for Windows. Thanks for that tip Mike, I am sure I will get a lot of business just with that test over the years!

[KJW Detailing]

I'm reading through this thread and you seem to be jumping around just a bit. As many have already suggested, a rinseless wash is your best bet when washing, as classics and antiques aren't sealed the way new vehicles are. Can you wash using the traditional method, of course, just understand that water will get through and you'll have to keep and eye on it. I recently performed a mild restoration on an all original 67' single stage Camaro that I washed using the traditional wash method.

I would suggest looking over this thread by Mile Phillips. It's an excellent read: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...ge-paints.html

I have a few suggestion for you:

If left all original, classics and antiques are unique opportunities that don't come that often, so enjoy working on them!

Secondly, make sure you have Megs #7 on hand, if the vehicle is a single stage paint and your planning on polishing. Take a look at my thread on te mild Camaro Restoration. http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...ge-paints.html

[Calendyr]

I know, that is how my brain works. Someone will say something and 10 different ideas will pop in my head. Then I will have tons of questions and things I want to look at It's my process. I try not to put any filter on it and like to ask questions no matter how far fetched or strange they are. It's the way I work problems and learn.

I had written off waterless washes after reading a few things saying they were the best way to damage your paint. Since Mike suggested I look at it again I did and now I understand how they can be used without too much danger to the paint. It's all a matter of how dirty the car is. In the process I learned the three stages of dirt accumulation so I did learn something extra.

I do have #7 Glaze on hand. About 32 ounces of it (over 32 ouces spilled during shipping, see unboxing thread for pictures

So tomorrow is the day. Expecting light rain so I hope they won't cancel the meet. Also would be nice if it wasn't raining so I could do a demo of the wash technique and do a test pannel for them.

Will have a raffle of a detail package at the end for one of them too.

[Mike Phillips]

And yes, I will definatelly do a baggie test, this is one of the most effective way to make an owner realise there is something wrong with the paint, same for Windows.

Thanks for that tip Mike, I am sure I will get a lot of business just with that test over the years!

I can't think of a time when I've shown the baggie test to a group of "Car Guys" that it didn't work. In fact not only does it open their eyes, but it helps you to earn their trust.

So tomorrow is the day. Expecting light rain so I hope they won't cancel the meet.

How did it go?

[Calendyr]

Went well.

Was a rainy night but 20 people did show up anyway We were Lucky it did not rain even though weather was really ugly.

Some of the cars present:
- 70 Challenger with 440 Magnum (almost as beautiful as the Cuda to me)
- 68 Fury
- 76 Convertible Mercedes Benz
- Not sure of the exact year and model but Ford around 1930 entirelly restored and looked awesome!
- 57 Chevy (can't remember model name)
- Dodge Tornado (not sure of the year, looked mid-60s)
- lots of others but I have bad memory

Cars were in decent shape, paint on some of them needed love. Mostly oxidation and maybe swirls (light was really ugly to look at paint so hard to tell).

I gathered the guys and said I wanted to give them a bit of info about car care. Said it would take maybe 15 mins.

So I started talking about paint system, explaining they had Single stage paint unless their car were repainted recently and explained why it was important to take good care of it.

Then I asked how they washed them. No one was using automatic car washes so that was good. I asked about 2 bucket system no one knew what it was so I explained in detail. Then I explained about dirt level and how to use waterless system when car had no bonded dirt.

This led to armor all and why to avoid it. Talked about paint contamination and had them do the baggie test

I finished with asking them if they had any questions before we did the raffle. They asked questions for about 90 minutes

All and all it went really well. I hope it will lead to some work. They have a big event coming this weekend, about 400 cars usually present. So I will make sure to go!

Funny thing is that the president of the club won the raffle so I will be doing 5 hours of work for him for free. Could not have worked out better I think. If I can do a good job for him, I am sure this will be very good for future leads.

They offered to put my business card on their website and in their membership application brochure for 200$ for a year. If I get a contract or two with them I think I will do it.

[Mike Phillips]

Went well.


Talked about paint contamination and had them do the baggie test

How did the baggie test go with the guys?

Did it look like it "opened their eyes?

They asked questions for about 90 minutes

If they're asking questions that means they were listening to you and interested.


Good job. It just gets easier from here forward. The more times you make presentations, the more comfortable you will get and the better you will get at getting your message across.


Congratulations!

[Calendyr]

Yes, I had the owner of the car do the baggie test on his own car after I asked him to rub his paint with his bare hand and ask him if he could feel roughness. Once he was done he passed the bag to someone else and said : "Try this" Everyone tried it

I am comfortable making présentations, been doing them all my life in my previous fields of work. I found that getting started is always the hardest for me because there are a hundred things I want to say and have to find the right order to do it in. But once you start it usually takes about 2 to 3 minutes to feel comfortable talking to a group and then it becomes really easy.

Thanks for the good words.

BTW I am attending their large car show this weekend. I won't be able to do a presentation like I did this time because there will be about 400 cars present and I expect everyone to either stay with their own cars to talk to people wandering or wander around to see other people cars.

So how should I approach this? I was thinking going to see each car and maybe take pictures with my DSLR and give my business card to each owner individually.

I was also thinking about selling tickets for a raffle for a paint correction/polishing package for say 3$ for one ticket and 5$ for 2. Is that a bad idea? I could go lower on the prices as well. Idea is to get them to fill a form with their name phone and email so I can send them advertizing later. And having 1 detail to do for the winner would be a plus of course with the ticket prices paying for a part of the work.

[Cosmin]

paint correction/polishing package

i hate to work on old cars ,most of them are restored on budget, so multiple repaint panels, bondo done ghetto style, trims falling apart , cracked paint , rubber falling in pieces , and most owners don`t pay a penny for a correction cause they know their car is perfect and they know "how to" better than your professional results. )
also watch for thin paint , single stage ... another animal.
in 3 years of business i found 2max cars that had quality paint after restoration everything else was trash/junk from the repaint.
also owners know that the car has original paint and are visible at least 2-4 panels of respray )

in my opinion , use this network to steer your business to new cars, hi-end if possible , is where the money are.

[Calendyr]

Thanks for the advice Cosmin, I was thinking the exact opposite of pretty much everything you said. I was thinking that single stage paint is usually much thicker than B/C. And that people would not mind paying for a good job to make their baby more beautiful.

I guess I will need that paint gauge if I am to work on these cars... an other big expense with still no revenue. Starting to get seriously annoyed at the phone not ringing no matter what I try.

Gonna start working on dealerships tomorrow. Don't care if the money is bad, I need to do detailing, and right now I am not. And I don't want to do any more free détails for friends, I want to see some money come in for the work. Good thing I have a steady job