Story Introduction
When detailing my clients '08 Chrysler Sebring hardtop/conv two weeks ago, he asked me about detailing his '66 Austin Healy. There is a concours show in Winter Park, FL coming up and the owner is intrested in selling the car. After a little more discussion we decided to give this car a full detail and enter it in the show in hopes of sparking interest in the sale.
Before Sunday, the car had not been started in over three years. However, Saturday night the owner charged the battery and Sunday morning she fired up on the first shot! I arrived on Sunday morning at a couple minutes after 7:00 A.M. and after a couple cups of coffee got to work.
The engine and the damn radiator Part One
I knew the engine was going to be difficult because the radiator was brass, and there was a lot of oxidized and tarnished stainless steel, chrome, aluminum, silver, and copper under the hood as well. I started with Never Dull on the radiator and it made no impact what so ever after 3 minutes.
After a little head scratched, the owner came out with the this old brass polish. We both stood back and watched as a little elbow grease brought a nice luster to the finish. However, it did nothing to remove the pitting or the mold. After 30 minutes of rubbing, the finish looked nice, but there was still a lot of room for improvement. I had a 4 inch L.C. orange cutting pad that had started to shred on the first use, so I slapped that on the Porter Cable with some of this brass/copper polish and went to work on the radiator. It removed the the fine scratches, but the pitting and grim in certain areas was just to stubborn. 45 minutes spent on the radiator so far, and while it looked better there was a lot of room for improvement.
The owner ran to the store to look for some different polishes so I worked on the rest of the engine bay. I wiped down the engine with a rag soaked in dilluted Meguiars' Super Degreaser then wiped it dry. The was a lot of areas to move around (I didn't want to run water under the hood as British electronics are notorious for failing, esp. from 1966!!!). It took another 30 minutes or so get the grease off of the block, intake, carbs, wires, mounts, frame, ect...
Then I took Never Dull and polished the various metals under the hood, using the supplied foam wads, or and old toothbrush where the wads wouldn't fit. I followed this up with Meguiars NXT All Metal Polysh to ensure that exposed metal remained protected and brought to a high luster.
At this point the sun was starting to come over the neighbors house so I figured I would move to the exterior before it became to hot!
The exterior
I closed the hood for now, still not 100 percent satisfied, even though over 2 1/2 hours had been spent under there.
The wheels where sprayed with P21s Wheel Gel and left to dwell for a while. I mixed up two buckets, one with Meguiars Hyperwash dilluted 400:1 (water to soap). The exterior was dusty, but not filthy, from sitting for the last three years. I aggiated and scrubbed the wheels with Meguiars Wheel Brush then rinsed the car down. The top was put up for the wash (the first time in 10 years!!!).
After washing, I blew the car dry with my high speed Toro then blotted the remaining with a Cobra guzzler. Then I clayed the car using Meguiars ProLine Red (aggresive clay) and Meguiars Last Touch Detailer (1:1). I also spent time claying the chrome and wheels to remove as much rust as possible. The car was looking 100 percent better already but the sun was up and swirling was visible, even on the silver. I have had good luck with Menzerna SRC polishes in sunlight so I choose them for the correction. For the intital pass on the Hitach, I stuck with a Lake Country foamed wool pad, not only for the nice cut it produces, but because wool pads keep the surface cooler because of the airflow between fibers.
I made two passes over the entire car with Menzerna S.I.P. using the foamed wool at about 1800 rpm, then finished the car down with Menzerna 106ff with a Lake Country 7.5 inch CCS pad. The car looked amazing, and zero swirls where visible. It was flawless. The owner arrived with some new metal polishes so we drank another cup of coffee discussed various LSP's. Because of the age of the vehicle, we agreed that it would be fitting to use an older paste wax, something similar what the orginal owner may have used back when the car was new!
We agreed on some of my personal collection of Meguiars #16, since it has been around in various forums since the late '50s and produces a wet, glossy appearance. I called my wife, who was kind enough to bring some over.
The tires recieved 2 coats of Zaino Z16 Perfect Tire Gloss and the large amount of exterior chrome recieved Never Dull with a lot of elbow grease (the exterior chrome had minor pitting), so it was worked with the wadding until it felt completely smooth. Then, I used Meguiars NXT All Metal Polysh to bring it to a high luster. Because Meguiars #16 doesn't work well in the sun, I held off on the application until later, and started on the interior...
Interior
The interior was in good shape and was vacummed and wiped down with Meguiars Quik Interior Detailer. The door jambs featured aluminum trim that had dulled and oxidized with age. I armed the PC with the Orange 4 inch cutting pad and some new polish (the owner had picked up MAAS Metal Cleaner and Protectant) and went to work. The results where quick and stunning and I couldn't wait to try this polish on the brass radiator (more on that later).
The leather recieved 3 to 4 coats of Zaino Z10, as it was dry and sucked this stuff in. After the last coats the leather once again felt soft and smooth. The metal around the gauges was polished with Meguiars NXT All Metal Polysh. The guage lenses where hand polished with Meguiars PlastiX. The dash and doors where given two coats of Meguiars Natural Shine. Ahhh the easiest part of the detail
After I finished up the owner had cooked a little meal so I took a break and ate
Then we pulled the car into the garage to finish up.
Exterior/Details
The car was given two thin coats of Meguiars #16 Mirror Glaze paste wax on all surfaces on the outside. The old Austin looked amazing! The trunk was vacummed and treated to Meguiars Natural Shine, while the spare tire recieved two coats of Zaino Z10. The exhaust was polished Never Dull followed by Meguiars.
Years of various caked on waxes where removed with an old brush and the details attended to. The exterior was treated to a final wipedown with Zaino Z8 Grand Finale, which added more gloss to the finish, and over the warmth of the Meg's 16, produced an amazing finish.
Engine Part Two/the end!
After the car was the garage, the owner and his wife graciously drove 30 minutes each way to his shop to get a Dremel in hopes of polished the little areas of the engine that couldn't be effectively polished by had. After wasting three pads and half the tube of MAAS (which worked wonderfuly) and another hour and a half, the engine looked amazing. I took a Megs foam pad and worked the polish for a while to remove any marring from the machine polishing and bring the radiator to an amazing finish!!! Yea! The hoses and plastics where treated with Meguiars Hyperdressing 4:1. The bonnet was put on and wiped down with Meg's Natural Shine and the 12 hour detail was complete!
Process Cliff Notes Engine
-Wiped with Meguiars Super Degreaser
-Metals polished with Meguiars NXT/ Eagle One Never Dull/ MAAS polish using a dremel
and portercable with an LC Orange pad (4 inch)
-Meguiars Hyperdressing 4:1 on all plastic, hoses, and trim
Total Time: 6 1/2 hours
Exterior
-Washed with Meguiars Hyperdressing and two bucket method
-P21s Wheel Gel on rims
-Menzerna S.I.P on rotary with Lake Country Foamed wool @ 1800 rpm x2-3 via rotary
-Menzerna 106ff on rotary with Lake Country White CCS @ 1200 rpm X 1 via rotary
-2 coats of Meguiars #16
-Zaino Z16 on tires x2
-Never Dull followed by Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish on trim/exhaust
-Meguiars NXT window cleaner followed by Zaino AIO on glass
-Zaino Z8 Grand Finale final wipe
Total Time: 4 hours
Interior/Trunk
-Zaino Z10 on leather for 3-4 coats
-Meguiars NXT All metal polish on gauge trim/metal trim
-Meguiars Plastix on gauges
-MAAS metal polish via PC/orange CCS pad on jambs
-Meguiars Natural Shine on dash, door panels x 2, trunk
-Zaino Z16 on spare tire x 2
Total Time: 1 1/2 hours
Okay on to the pics
Engine before and looking a little scummy
The left half of the copper tube has been polished
The right side of the plate and tube have been polished
Starting to clean up the radiator, as you can see, I have my work cut out for me as the intial pass on the right side has cleaned it up a little but left marring and was un able to clean it all the way
Close up half and half of the radiator. You can see the line marring on the polished side as all the dark dot on the upper right side (pitting which there was a lot of )
Before
Kinda after (you can still see while the shine has been improved there is a lot of grim and pitting remaining)
Here is a picture of the grime on the car I took early in the morning before I started (notice the condition of the radiator!)
Wheels with P21s..
After a bath...
Working the foam wool with SIP around the car on the second pass
Finishing down with Menzerna 106ff on the white pad
I closed the shutter on the camera to try to capture the sun shot
Working NeverDull into the chrome
Using the PC in the door jambs (noticed how beat up the poor pad is from the engine earlier!!!!)
Half and half of jambs
My beautiful wife stopped by with some Meguiars #16 (I love you Alejandra)
In the garage applying the second coat of #16
Some photos from after the #16/Z8 wipedown
Linear Mode
