1936 Ford Roadster - Show Car Makeover

Mike Phillips · 12-13-2012, 09:02 PM

1936 Ford Roadster - Show Car Makeover

To start with, here's the walk-around "After Video" I took using my iPhone followed with an interview with Mike Stowe, the owner of this 1936 Ford Streetrod.

Mike Stowe's 1936 Ford - Show Car Finish by Autogeek.net

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxbrOc9cfls&hd=1[/video]

From the beginning...
Here's how Mike's 1936 Ford Roadster looked when it arrived. To the untrained eye the car looks pretty nice!

Let's get a little closer however and do a little closer inspection...

You can see were the paint is turning white from oxidation around body panel edges.

Same thing on this side, water spots, swirls, scratches and oxidation throughout the finish...

Surface Contamination = Use Detailing Clay
Besides the swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation we did the Baggie Test and the paint was also contaminated so after wiping the car clean we used Pinnacle Ultra Poly Detailing Clay to clay the paint before we started machine polishing.

Next we did a Test Spot

How To Do a Test Spot
(and why it's so important)

I taped-off a section on the hood..

Before

Single Stage = You can see pigment
Here you can see the red pigment coming off of the car... it looks orange because it's oxidized and loosing its richness of color...

Here's the before and after sides...

Taped-off and Covered-up
With the chrome wire wheels and gangster white walls covered up, we're ready to get to work...

Here's Paul starting out with the Griot's DA Polisher, I had him switch over to the Flex 3401 for more correction power...

Here's Forrest using a Griot's DA Polisher...

Here's Tim using a Meguiar's DA Polisher...

Teamwork...

Here's the owner Mike Stowe, former owner of Classic Instruments, using a Meguiar's G110v2 for the first time...

Here's Oliver using the new Griot's DA Polisher

We used the convertible top as a base to hold our "clean" microfiber towels...

A little painter's tape can save a lot of time and frustration
Anytime you work on a convertible, either put the top down or take and cover it to prevent getting compound and polish splatter into the weave of the material, ESPECIALLY if you're working on a red single stage paint job and the convertible top is white in color.

Uneven panel fitment
Unlike modern cars, classics, antiques and streetrods can have panels that do not align evenly and if you don't pay attention to these areas you can buff through the raised body lines and sharp corners. So pay attention....

Work by handPeople ask me all the time how to polish areas of paint that you cannot reach by machine... it's called "the hand".

Mike Phillips · 12-13-2012, 09:03 PM

Continued...

Here's the Flex 3401 making the paint gleam again...

Classic Car Tip
When working on classic cars with cowels, have one or two people hold the cowel opened up and away from the fenders so you can more easily work on it.

Starting to see shiny paint...

Shine is starting to shine through as Oliver removes polish...

Here's Louie removing polish...

Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish
After removing swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation using the Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Remover with foam cutting pads we switched over to foam finishing pads and Pinnacle Advanced Finishing Polish and re-polished every inch of paint.

Here's Forrest machine polishing the paint on the passengers side fender...

Here's Louie polishing the tight areas and the front of the rear fender using a 4" CCS Pad...

Here's Paul using the Flex 3401 on the headlight buckets...

Pizza Dinner
Thanks Mike for bringing in the pizza!

Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax Applied by Machine
After we removed all the polish residue, Paul and I machine waxed the paint using Lake Country Blue waxing pads with Pinnacle Souveran Paste Wax which is a true show car wax that really bring out the wet look on any polished paint.

Tim polished the paint on the dash so I machine waxed it...

Mike Phillips · 12-13-2012, 09:03 PM

Continued..

CAREFULLY REMOVING THE WAX
After we machine applied the wax the next job it to carefully remove the wax. It's important to do this carefully so you don't mar or scratch the paint in the process. To do this we're going to use the fluffy size of the rolled edge super plush green microfiber towels. Everyone loves these towels when we work on cool cars here at Autogeek...

The Beauty Shots...

The low down front grill shot...

Rear brake light and step to get into the Rumble Seat

The engine is an all aluminum Buick 215 Cubic Engine from 1961

Pearlescent Vinyl Seats...

Mike Phillips · 12-13-2012, 09:03 PM

Huge thank you to Mike Stowe for trusting the car your dad built so long ago with Autogeek!

Here's my team for this project, great job guys!

From left to right...

Mike Stowe, Oliver, Jeff, Louie, Tim, Forrest and Paul...

We'll be working on Forrest's incredibly low mileage 1997 Corvette next Thursday so clear your schedule to be here and be part of the A-Team!