Are some of these show car owners goofy?

**Jesstzn** · 09-07-2004, 07:04 PM

In the last year or so I have been entering my car on some of the local shows. These shows do get some high end stuff ( $350,000 US ) hot rods and a lot of other really nice stuff.

Since I have become a bit of an Autopian the first thing I do is not only look at the car but at the paint. Some of these cars have $15k / $30K paint jobs and what I see is swirls up the ying yang.

Mine is black and I spend a lot of time not only keeping it clean but polished and swirl free. I have detailed a few local show cars and all of them have come back telling me about the compliments they get on thier finishes.

One thing I noticed, and maybe its a bad habit picked up locally, is that these people drive in to the show then immediatly get out a rag *yes a rag .. terry towel .. diaper etc* and a bottle of Windex and clean the chrome then proceed to wipe the car down in a lot of cases with a spritz of Windex. Mind you the chrome is brilliant, scratched but brilliant and the cars all look ok till the sun comes out and the swirls are horrible.

Is this common practice because I see it done on cars from Alberta/Montana/Wash./BC/Idaho and other northern states.

I pull in after driving 50/100 miles then I *very* lightly dust the rear of the car with the CCD then I dampen a 24 x 24 MF and pull it over the panels to lift the very fine dust then I QD it very lightly using a MF.

I often get car owners interrogating me about this and I go through what I do to keep the finish up.

Most of the time the most they do is a damp wipe down and occasional dusting at the show.. I even saw one using WAUD on a black 29 Ford rod with no water and wiping it off with a old terry towel .

**Bill D** · 09-07-2004, 07:08 PM

Sad to say this is so true. I find myself yelling at show car owners on TV for engaging in similar practices

Doesn`t make sense to me, to have such rare cars with top $ finishes and not take an interest in finding out the very best ways to take care of it. Windex!!Agh!!

Off the soap box now

**Beercan31** · 09-07-2004, 10:42 PM

I ran in to a 1963 corvette owner who shows his can and I looked at it and said to my self I can make it look better, so I started a conversation with him and asked him what he uses on the finish he said lemon pledge furniture polish I just walked away. I was actually speachless.

**Big Leegr** · 09-08-2004, 10:00 AM

If I wasn`t such a nice guy (

) I`d probably go to a buck store, get a bottle of glass cleaner, fill it with S+W (also blue) and use that to qd cars. Then I`d tell people how this bottle of stuff is even better than Windex, and costs less to boot! But I`m not that dastardly.....yet.

**K_Csaxo** · 09-08-2004, 10:09 AM

have to agree that since joining autopia, i have been paying more and more attention to paint finishes. just recently i went to the "french car show" here in the UK which caters for modified french cars, but out of at least 200+ "show cars" that were present i could honestly say that only 10-20 had what i would describe as top paint finishes.

if it wasnt overspray onto the rubber seals, it was fibreglass that had started to crack or sunken filler etc. it would be real nice to be able to attend something like the SEMA show for an insight into airbrushing techniques and the likes.

**hook** · 09-08-2004, 03:28 PM

Went to my first concours event, and saw a similar thing. I was surprised by the numbe rof cars that had - IMHO - paint finishes that could be vastly improved upon with the processes and products we autopians use.

Of course, there were exceptions. I can still see the perfection in the green paint of a 1938 Packard. I have no idea - nor am I sure I`d want to know - what that paint job cost. I walked around the car about 20 times, both in the sun where it was shown and then after it was moved to the winners area, and I couldn` find a SINGLE flaw in it. It was absolutely the most stunning paint job I`ve ever seen. And the rest of the car was the same - the leather looked - and smelled - brand new, and the wood rack on the back looked like it had about 20 coats of varnish on it - no scratches or wear marks, nothing. This car HAD to look better than it did when it was brand new....

Still kicking myself for leaving my camera on the kitchen table.....

blue skies,

Andrew

**Michaelelts** · 09-08-2004, 04:57 PM

even better one of our Museums( the Chrysler his wife was from Norfolk VA) had a art show of old ferraris including an old orginal GTO for the most part the finish on these old and very expensive collector cars was incrediably crappy I would not tolerate it on a beat up Saturn much less a multimillion dollar Ferrari

**Accumulator** · 09-08-2004, 05:06 PM

Like Hook I`ve seen the full range, from truly *perfect* finishes to cars I wouldn`t use as a beater. Unfortunately, I`ve seen far too many of the latter.

I fully relate to the "imperfect but original" thing, I do it myself on the XJS. But it doesn`t look like a junkyard refugee either; nobody`s gonna see it and suggest that I oughta do something different

**MattZ28** · 09-08-2004, 05:50 PM

Some people just have too much money and too little knowledge.

**Michaelelts** · 09-08-2004, 05:56 PM

well I don`t know the Ferrari I saw came complete with their own maintainers( the rich guy had hired people to make sure they were well kept) mechanicaly sure but he did not know jack about paint care

**Pats300zx** · 09-08-2004, 07:07 PM

One thing I noticed, and maybe its a bad habit picked up locally, is that these people drive in to the show then immediatly get out a rag *yes a rag .. terry towel .. diaper etc* and a bottle of Windex and clean the chrome then proceed to wipe the car down in a lot of cases with a spritz of Windex. Mind you the chrome is brilliant, scratched but brilliant and the cars all look ok till the sun comes out and the swirls are horrible.

Its amazing the things you see at cars shows...:scared

I have seen people wiping down cars with old tshirts, rags, papertowels, swirls like u can`t even imagine etc...Its endless.

I was even at a National Convention and a "Master Detailer" was instructing a group on proper detailing. He told them the best thing to use on the finish was cloth diapers. Guess he never heard of the word "Micro-fiber" lol

**Bill D** · 09-12-2004, 03:40 PM

Originally posted by Pats300zx

Its amazing the things you see at cars shows...:scared

I have seen people wiping down cars with old tshirts, rags, paper towels, swirls like u can`t even imagine etc...Its endless.

I was even at a National Convention and a "Master Detailer" was instructing a group on proper detailing. He told them the best thing to use on the finish was cloth diapers. Guess he never heard of the word "Micro-fiber" lol

I just witnessed this today while spectating at a show. Loads of beautiful classics but lots of practices by the owners and cobwebbed paint that was a horror show for an Autopian to see

Yep, saw the old wipe down with an old, multi colored bath towel, wiping trim and even paint with paper towels, etc etc

Undoubtedly, as a result, I`d say a good 95% of the cars had cobwebbing and worse. The handful that were full frame off restorations obviously done by a very good shop or the `79 black Lincoln Continental that was wetsanded and had clear added were near flawless or appeared 100% in natural sunlight.

It absolutely floors me how so few owners of these gems are not "in the know"

**Jesstzn** · 09-12-2004, 04:01 PM

I just did another show yesterday ( BTW I got runner up inthe "Tunner" class ) and watched a man with a white pearl 64 Impala that even had ghost flames wipe it down to dry it after a rain with a roll of brown towels from a bathroom dispenser..

Point of interest .. There was a silver/silver 37 Chrysler Airflow there that was a total custom and if your ever near a major show in the north west look for it .. I understand its $425,000 + US and is all Mopar right down to the crate V10 Viper engine. Built in Spokane Wash and is world class.