Allard detailed by Mike Phillips featured in Sports Car Collector Magazine!

Mosca · 05-17-04, 09:17

Link to Mike's photoessay

Quote from the article:

"...my polling of the Allard die-hards says they'd peg a car like this at $175,000-$200,000. Even so, there's still another degree of separation between that price and the $324k that bought this car. I'll admit that I haven't a clue as to why this car sold for so much money, and nor does anyone else that I've asked. All I can say is that the car was beautifully done...."

I think I have a clue....

Great job, Mike!

Tom

Mike Phillips · 05-17-04, 11:26

Thank you Tom,

While it did come out a lot nicer after polishing and waxing, the finish was still far from perfect, the rivets and louvers made this car very hard to polish out under those working conditions.

All and all however, it was a fun car to work on.

Mike

Intermezzo · 05-17-04, 11:58

Good job Mike! Armed with just a 'toy' of a machine and a small tube of Scratch X, you did an amazing job!

Mike Phillips · 05-17-04, 01:52

Thanks, Intermezzo...

One of the things that helped me to have confidence when working on the finish was that the painter came to the show and told me he laid down plenty of paint.

Are you planning on attending the Corvette Forum Detail Day at Meguiar's?

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...nfo&eventid=25

I met at least a half dozen members from CorvetteForum at the Plastic Fantastic yesterday that were planning on attending.

Mike

Intermezzo · 05-17-04, 02:40

Hi Mike,

I appreciate you asking me if I can attend the Corvette Forum detailing day, however, I think I would feel a bit out of place if I showed up in our new Audi Cabrio or BMW 3-series.

I don't own a vette...I registered over at the vette forum a long time ago to learn more about Zaino. I will however, try to attend the next time you have an Audi-themed detailing day.

Also, I noticed you had a 7th Gen Civic day...which is a car I DO own. Perhaps I'll attend that one!

Thanks again.

Tony

bcgreen · 05-19-04, 01:53

Hi Mike:
Do you post in the corvette forum? I don't recall seeing you there, unless you post under another handle that I didn't catch. I had been posting quite a bit there for a while, trying to nail down a Z06 or vert. Wife poo pooed the Z06, so I dropped down to a vert, but couldn't find one in MY, so we ended up with a G35 coupe in black. Looks a little like the DB7, in profile.
See you around, perhaps another SEMA show?

G35stilez · 05-19-04, 02:01

Excellent work Mike!

I'm sure you're used to being in the public eye when detailing

You say not to heat up Scratch X, but wouldn't using a PC heat it up? Also, many say Scratch X is too abrasive to remove swirls, but just scratches. What are your opinions on this?

Mike Phillips · 05-19-04, 02:26

Quote:

Originally posted by GSRstilez
Excellent work Mike!

I'm sure you're used to being in the public eye when detailing

You say not to heat up Scratch X, but wouldn't using a PC heat it up? Also, many say Scratch X is too abrasive to remove swirls, but just scratches. What are your opinions on this?

Using ScratchX with the PC was a mistake on my part.

The directions on the back label say for use to remove fine scratches and swirls from your paint by hand. This implies it is for use by hand.

I tried it a few times by machine to see if it would work, this event being one of them. What I found is that the heat generated by the PC made the product very gummy and difficult to remove from the surface. The results were good, but the removal was horrible.

So it was really a case of me choosing the wrong product for the job. After I returned to SoCal, I checked with the head chemist about this and he told me that ScratchX was not formulated to work with heat and that it will become gummy and difficult to remove.

His response completely backed up my experience.

I know some people have posted that they have used the ScratchX with the PC and obtained good results, but it's really not the right product for use by machine. #83 or even MPPC would be a better choice.

Mike

Mike Phillips · 05-19-04, 02:36

Quote:

Originally posted by GSRstilez
Excellent work Mike!

I'm sure you're used to being in the public eye when detailing

Last weekend I compounded the hood of a black Corvette with a rotary buffer at the Plastic Fantastic as people watched and wondered what I was doing.

I remember for a couple of years buffing out cars on the main floor of places like the Kingdome in Seattle, WA and the Tacoma Convention Center during World of Wheels shows, as well as the Convention Center in Portland, OR. (big shows), etc. Sometimes there would be 30 to 40 people standing around watching as I would use the rotary buffer to remove isolated deep scratches out of otherwise flawless finishes on show cars. (I still have pictures).

Those were the good old days, back then we only had the W-1000 and the W-5500 and #2, #9 and #26

It never bothers me to have people watch while machine polish their car. In fact, I always invite the owners of the cars I detail to watch if they like, and often times they will so that they can see how it's done.

Mike

Mike Phillips · 05-19-04, 02:39

Quote:

Originally posted by bcgreen
Hi Mike:
Do you post in the corvette forum? I don't recall seeing you there, unless you post under another handle that I didn't catch.

I try to always use my real name. Once in a while I'm trapped into Sanger, or PolishPro, which are e-mail names.

Sanger was the type of Drag Boat I owned for 19 years and easy to remember for passwords and such.

I post once in a while in the Car Care Products forum.

Mike

Mike Phillips · 05-19-04, 02:45

Quote:

Originally posted by Intermezzo
Hi Mike,

I appreciate you asking me if I can attend the Corvette Forum detailing day, however, I think I would feel a bit out of place if I showed up in our new Audi Cabrio or BMW 3-series.

Also, I noticed you had a 7th Gen Civic day...which is a car I DO own. Perhaps I'll attend that one!

Thanks again.

Tony

There are always a cars that don't fit the club theme and it's okay with me. At the Ferrari Detail Day we had Jaguar, a Porsche, A Mercedes-Benz, a 350Z and a pick-up truck, plus some Ferrari's.

I thought you might want to attend the CorvetteForum Detail Day because you have forum buddies there. This event is going to be well attended, I can tell already after the feedback I heard at the Plastic Fantastic Corvette show.

Feel free to come to either, I don't think the 7thGenCivic Detail Day is full though.

I'll tell you the Detail Day that's coming up that will be a good one... that's the one that takes place the weekend after SEMA

Mike