1957 Chevrolet Belair Extreme Makeover - Flex 3401 & Wolfgang Smackdown!

[Mike Phillips]

Mike, is there a video available for this that shows the entire process from start to finish?

Thanks.

The WG TSR you used on the car, does it have longer "play time" than Menzerna SIP?

The only way to give you an accurate answer would be to use the products side by side in a controlled test, that is same tool, same paint, same pad, etc.

I believe it does but to accurate I would have to check. The good news is I have some testing to do for how-to article that includes different abrasive products so I tell you later this week.

[CEE DOG]

I thought there might be a bunch of newer members that hadn't seen this.

[Mike Phillips]

That was a fun car to buff out, love classics as they have zero pebble textured plastic trim and beautiful body lines...


Also, the Wolfgang TSR and Menzerna SIP have similar working times, play time or buffing cycle, (all the same terms), back then I was still new to Autogeek and a lot of non-Meguiar's products were still new to me...

Coming up on 2 years at Autogeek since leaving Meguiar's.

[Ted S.]

Wow, I'm glad Corey bumped this, I missed an epic write up. Thanks Corey, and thanks Mike!

[Mike Phillips]

Blast from the past....


While looking for some pictures of a Test Spot I found this write-up.

The date for the first post is,

09-21-2009


I officially started work here at Autogeek on 09-10-2009, so this is one of my earliest Autogeek write-ups. No on at Autogeek really knew me back then and I didn't know my way around Florida at all so Meghan went with me and she did all the photography work for this how-to article.

She did a great job!



Never saw that Chevy again.

[Aaryn NZ]

Damn Mike!

What a fantastic write up! Geeze, 10 years ago huh . . . Time flies.
That’s a sweet looking ‘57 too, I always thought the ‘57 would be my pick of the tri 5’s but as I grow older I tend to favour the style of the ‘56 more so now.

An impressive write up Mike, & a thoroughly enjoyable read. Great indeed!


Aaryn NZ.

[mchess1]

Blast from the past....

I officially started work here at Autogeek on 09-10-2009, so this is one of my earliest Autogeek write-ups. No on at Autogeek really knew me back then and I didn't know my way around Florida at all so Meghan went with me and she did all the photography work for this how-to article.

Mike - thanks for the blast from the past. I remember when you started and attended detailing camp when you started them. Speaking of blast from the past - whatever happened to your speedboat? Was it called Joie de Vivre?

[Mike Phillips]

Mike - thanks for the blast from the past. I remember when you started and attended detailing camp when you started them.

Speaking of blast from the past - whatever happened to your speedboat? Was it called Joie de Vivre?

The speed boat was a full race Sanger V-Drive Drag Boat. I'm sad to say I sold it about a year and a half after my son was born. I owed it for 20 years and I wish I still had it today.


1970 Sanger Flat Bottom V-Drive Drag - My First Boat


This was my first boat, at the time my dad had a 1965 15' Hydro-Swift with a 75 Evinrude so going from dad's runabout ski boat to this was a huge change.

I bought the hull when I was 21, spent two years paying for and building a 402 Big Block Chevy engine for it and then after 20 years total and about a year after my son was born I sold it. So I owned it for 20 years but I started driving it and skiing behind it when I was 17 as my best friend had bought it from the original owner when he was 16.

So I ran around in this boat for about 25 years... that's a long time with the same boat...

Here's some pictures in no specific order...


I had the high back bucket seats custom built as I though it gave the boat a real nice look with the tall Indy Scoop...








Here's a shot of the engine with my son in the driver's seat. If you look on the head of the engine behind the passenger seat you can see the stereo and behind the scoop is the antenna with a "76 Gas Station" ball on the top of it. Down below were a bunch of amps and speakers. I didn't put the stereo in till years later when I owned it and it was never in the boat when I raced it.




This was taken when I sold the boat, I think I'm 41 in this picture...




This is a shot of me racing the 1/4 mile I think in 1983 or 1984. I clocked my fastest time of 111 mph in 12 seconds. The boat was raced professionally by Rick Baker and he clocked 122 mph in 9 seconds in 1976. Back then that was really fast in the drag boat racing world.




I've owned 4 full convertible Blazers, this was a 1973 and it was a great boat puller...






This is the oldest photo I have of the boat, this was back when Eric owned it and we were still in High School as that was his truck it's hooked up to. Note the low back seats back then...




Here's a shot of the driver's cockpit, there were the up and down pedals plus the gas pedal. Everything was polished whether it was gel-coat or aluminum. That's a 1969 Blazer CST in the background, that was a great boat puller too...




The reason for the dual Tachs was because the one in the tach holder never worked from the day I installed it but because I "assumed" a brand new tach would work just fine I used clear silicone to stick it into the aluminum tach holder and to finally get it out I had to beat it out with a punch and a hammer. Before I removed it though I simply attached a plain-Jane tach that actually worked great and worked for years...




I rand dual 660's and the carb linkage was reground to make the carb progressive so all 8 barrels didn't dump all at once. Before I re-ground the linkage if it backfired it would throw a flame ball out the scoop about 3 feet... right past your head as you were sitting in the boat. That was always exciting...




If you look carefully, you can see I'm pulling the boat with the first 1959 Cadillac I ever bought. This too was a great boat puller and a blast to drive with the top off. Of the the left was my buddy Eric's 1976 Sanger Bubble Deck Runner Bottom, I loved his boat and if I could ever get another Drag boat I would want a Sanger Runner Bottom V-Drive Bubble Deck...




Found this ad years ago and kept it as it shows a bubble deck runner bottom for sale...






Sad to say I don't have a lot of pictures of my Sanger drag boat, didn't seem important to take pictures back when we were going boating all the time...


This time next year I'd like to buy my third boat but to be honest since I live in South Florida now I'm looking towards a Center Console model.









My second boat I also sold after restoring it. I shipped it out here to Florida from California and had fun with it for a few years. The floor starting to get weak and I neither had the time or the inclination to tear it all apart and restore this area. Now days, I would have the inclination as my future son-in-law is a master craftsman at boat building and specicially fiberglas and wood construction.

Here's a few pictures of it after the restoration. Note how even the original vinyl interior is orange.





This was taken at Manatee Cove boat launch after a day at the Stuart Sandbar... (busy and crowded)





All the gel-coat started out looking like this after being stored OUTSIDE in the SoCal Mojave Desert since 1967




When I was working on this project Griot's was on their 2nd Generation DA Polisher, here's a picture





Having fun with before and after shots





To your question - I think the lettering on the side read,

Seize the day





This would have been put on their by the original owner. I was the second owner and I machine sanded it off as it didn't mean anything to me.



These pictures were taken at Big Bear Lake in Southern California. Many of you know or have heard the name Renny Doyle. This is where Renny lives. I lived in Apple Valley just down the mountain from Renny.













She was a real cream puff that should have been placed into a museum. I sold her to a guy that had a couple other classic boats.





Thanks for asking....