1985 GMC Rally Van - Extreme Makeover! With McKee's 37 - FLEX- RUPES - BOSS

[FrankS]

Had a great time working on this van with the faithful group of guys and meeting and talking with the new folks.

Enjoyed trying out the new tools and products. Really liked the new Rupes MKII 15 & 21 polishers, they do handle curved surfaces better than the previous model. I think the 15 is the smoothest of the two, sweet machine.

Also liked the new McKee's Tire Gloss Gel. It's similar to the DP Tire Gel but thicker, whiter in color and has a better fragrance. One coat gave the tire a nice look, not too shiny, just right.

Thanks Mike and Autogeek for the opportunity, and Scott for trusting us with your cool van.

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

Great job guys looked like a lot of fun

[LEDetailing]

Mike,

Looks like you used the "A-Team" to detail that van.

I loved taking trips in conversion vans as a kid. Nothing beat sitting on a Flexsteel captains chair watching 80's classics on VHS.

Not the typical show car that is in the garage. I like seeing cars like this from my childhood that are well preserved or restored. Great work done by all.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Nice work boys. The blue looks great on that van.

Talk about product overload. Many products being used in one thread. Cant wait to see more on all the upcoming releases.

[Caleb@ImpeccableImage]

Im interested in hearing more feedback on the new Flex XFE 15mm. How does it compare to the new Rupes 15 mark II etc.

[Mike Phillips]

Mike,


Not the typical show car that is in the garage.

I like seeing cars like this from my childhood that are well preserved or restored.

Agreed. This classic Van is not the typical or normal type of vehicle we work on here for our Thursday night projects but when I first saw it it stood out among all the traditional streetrods and muscle cars that I had to track down the owner and talk to him to get the story behind the van.

I met Scott, the owner at our last Cars & Coffee car show when Wayne Carini was our guest. Here's the link to the picture thread and if you click the link you'll see the Van among all the other cool cars at this last Cars & Coffee car show here at Autogeek.

Pictures from January 9th, 2016 Cars & Coffee


What I found interesting was Scott's attitude. He owns his own business and like most contractors he could have simply purchased a brand new white van and plastered his business sign and phone number on the side. The problem is where he lives it's against the HOA bylaws to have a commercial vehicle.

Thinking outside the box
Instead of fighting the HOA or some other remedy, he searched for a classic Van, found this 1-ton model in good shape. Had the engine rebuilt, (it has a cam and sounds like a healthy big block), then had a custom paint job sprayed.

Then he put on some period correct mag wheels and new tires. He cleaned and polished everything so wherever he drives it - IT stands out.

He says all his customers notice it and comment. He says where ever he drives it, gas station, store, sitting at a stop light, people give him a "thumbs-up" and tell him how cool his van is.

So without signage - he has accomplished the goal of branding himself and his business and he can still drive it home and park it in his driveway without a headache or a fight with the HOA.

Pretty cool.

When I saw it at Cars & Coffee besides noticing it as a cool van what I also saw was the paint while new was dull.

It's single stage metallic paint and single stage paint oxidizes easily and ESPECIALLY in a wet, humid hot environment like South Florida.

I wanted to start up our Thursday night projects again and because January was too busy with TV work and March will be Detail Fest, looking at my calender I saw an open Thursday this last week or I would have to wait till April to start and I didn't want to wait till we were 4 months into the year.

Besides that, Bob McKee was ready to release a sneak peek of his new line and after testing the compounds, polishes and waxes I knew this oxidized paint would make for a great canvas to showcase the ability and performance of these new products.

I also had the NEW FLEX XCF 15 for my prototype collection sitting on display in my office that I knew some of the other guys wanted to test out.

I had the brand new Griot's BOSS G10 to showcase and I also had the NEW RUPES BigFoot Mark II 21 & 15 polishers to showcase. (we used my personal Mark II tools given to me by Francesco which are very low production numbers).



It's always about TIMING and since everything was falling into place and Bob game me the okay to fire the Thursday night projects back up again everything worked out for the best.

[Marc08EX]

Amazing work guys! You guys are very lucky to have a chance to see the new McKee's 37 line of products! Not only that, but also get a chance to play with the new polishers in the industry!

[FrankS]

Im interested in hearing more feedback on the new Flex XFE 15mm. How does it compare to the new Rupes 15 mark II etc.

I had a chance to test out the new Flex 15 and also the new Rupes MKII 15.

As you would expect, the Flex seems to be a well built machine and runs smooth, but in my experience, the Rupes MKII 15 seems to handle curved surfaces better than the Flex.

[Mike Phillips]

Amazing work guys! You guys are very lucky to have a chance to see the new McKee's 37 line of products!

And Bob McKee gave everyone that attended a bottle of the new McKee's Jeweling Wax and the new McKee's Fast Wax. Pretty cool.

Not only that, but also get a chance to play with the new polishers in the industry!

That is the cool factor!


There's no other place on earth where a person could use all three NEW tools at the same time.


NEW Griot's G10 Pneumatic Polisher





NEW RUPES MARK II BigFoot 21 Orbital Polisher





NEW FLEX 15mm FREE spinning Orbital Polisher




Lots of this -->

[antti@561detailing]

Thanks Mike and AG for hosting another makeover. Thank you Scott for trusting us with your van.

As always we get to play with cool tools and products. Sometimes before anyone else. Some really good tools and products again on the market.