1957 Chevy Bel Air w/ LS3

**Corey@OptimalDetailing** · 06-04-2015, 10:03 AM

It's been some time since I've posted in Show-N-Shine, hope all has been well with you guys! Just wanted to post this one up because, well, I really enjoyed doing my first classic car. It's not as drastic of an improvement as I'm used to, but the goal here was to preserve as much paint as possible, while increasing gloss, reflection, and protection for upcoming car shows.

Process:
ONR wash - as the car was barely even had a layer of dust/pollen
Decontaminate - fine Meguiar's clay bar
Polish - Shine Supply Flat Top/Cassic Cut w/ Meguiar's foam cutting disc on Gloss-It Evo 21mm and PC 7424 for all 3" areas
LSP - Collonite 845, topped with Shine Supply Ride Shine

Wheels - ONR wash, topped with Meguiar's D156
Chrome - ONR wash, topped with Meguiar's D156

How it entered the garage. The customer has NEVER had a professional detail or paint correction done before, so he was hesitant. I traveled to his home to do a little testing, demonstrate what can be accomplished, and he was satisfied with the results so we booked it. I explained how deep I can go to remove defects, although I personally wanted to preserve as much of the paint as possible. This had been repainted well over 20 years ago and was truly in great shape, we wanted to keep it that way.

A few before photos showing the condition of the paint. It was in better shape that I expected after decontaminating and cleaning well.

Three dimensional sanding marks (proper name?) from improper prep before throwing down some paint. Mind you, 20 years ago this may or may not have been the norm.

Hood and trunk emblems removed for proper polishing.

Half of the hood and this was on the surface.

Now we start a little correction!

Drivers side door, before. Rear quarter panel, after.

Drivers side front fender, before.

Drivers side front fender, after.

Untaping for the reveal. I have never used this much tape on chrome trim and seams before!

Rear quarter panel, final inspection.

Sneak peak out from the open garage...

Before LSP, checking some sun shots.

[imghttps://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11295847_426283114210843_1855142408979032240_n.jpg ?oh=dc7562d9f4831e9ba7b57e4f372e13ad&oe=55E84018][/img]

Unfortunately, the chrome trim may be scheduled for another time. I was really hoping he'd allow me to polish it throughout, but at this time it wasn't in the budget.

Definitely my favorite picture.

Had to sneak a motor pick in, this thing runs great and was tuned to 360+whp.

Customer pick up.

Thanks for looking you all! I really enjoyed this and was thrilled I got this quality of car for my first classic. He'll be unveiling it at a local car show within the next month, I definitely plan on going to see it!