Horrible paint on the cars in Autorama

[Mark Preus]

I went to the Autorama here in Dallas yesterday and I was blown away at how many of the cars had swirls or just very poorly taken care of paint. Dont get me wrong there were the usual cars with the mirrors all under them that were flawless. I seen a few that had wetsanding marks still on them in certain areas. I really wish I could have had my car done to attend but oh well maybe next year...

[HotRod]

I went to the Autorama in KC about a week ago, and I noticed all the nasty swirls and buffer burns on alot of the cars. It makes me wish I would have brought some business cards. But if they were clueless on their paint condition, they probably dont want it fixed anyway.

[Mike Phillips]

Swirled out cars at car shows tends and trends to be the norm...

Often times the owner doesn't know how to remove the swirls but he also doesn't trust anyone else to work on their car's paint.

Getting people with "Special Interest" cars, whatever it is, a classic Corvette, a hot rod 1971 Camaro, a 1957 Chevy, a fancy new exotic super car, (fill-in-the-blank), to let you work on their car is a challenge because the owner doesn't know you.

You know in your heart you would perform a miracle on the paint, but you can't perform a miracle on the paint until you earn the owners trust and that's pretty hard to do at a car show while you're walking around. Having some cars you've detailed on display at a car show gives you credibility, that's one way to earn the trust of a potential customer.

Another way to earn their trust is to have someone they know and trust already recommend you, in other words, word-of-mouth-advertising. In this case they're trusting their friends advice because you haven't earned their trust yet.

Besides all that, it's still hard to get big bucks out of these guys for your work. Removing the swirls and creating a true show car finish on a special interest car is worth more than the price the local detailers charge for washing, waxing and vacuuming out a grocery getter, but getting the guy that owns the really cool Corvette or T-bird to pay you $300.00, $400.00, $500.00, $600.00 and more for your talent just to polish-out the paint can be hard to do

Buffing out cool cars is a tough nut to crack, it can be done but you've got to find a way to earn their trust first.