1958 Corvette

[Sizzle Chest]

1958 Corvette
Tuxedo Black/Red interior
283 cu in V8, 4 spd manual transmission
Factory dual quads, 290HP
1 of 493 examples produced in this configuration

This vehicle is very special to my client. It was a 50^th birthday gift from his wife. Vehicle is pretty much all original and hold NCRS certification. Some panels had been resprayed many moons ago. Paint was full of swirls, hard water spots/etching and some heavier scratches. I attempted to preserve as much as correct.

The ‘details’:

Adam’s tire and rubber cleaner.
Adam’s shampoo.
McKee’s37 N914 waterless wash.
Dodo born slippery clay lube.
‘Real’ clay bar.
Scangrip lighting.
DeFelsko PTG’s.
HF Hercules, Flex machinery.
Assortment of pads.
Meg’s M110/M210 and Menzerna P085RD.
Optimum panel wipe.
McKee’s37 Hi-def paint sealant.
Adam’s glass cleaner.
Adam’s interior cleaner/detailer.
BETA test silicon free matte tire dressing. (No, Lonnie, I can not give out any details about this. LOL)
Metro vacuum.

Thank you for looking!

[Sizzle Chest]

[Silly Rabbit]

What a solid piece of history car, amazing! Thats one heckova gift from a heckova wife.

[Sizzle Chest]

A great vehicle!!!

[981 Cayman S]

… and Menzerna P085RD.

There’s one you don’t see too often. Not much mention of Menzerna lately.

Well done…nice to see some classics in the mix!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Sizzle Chest]

Thanks!

Yeah, paint was finicky. Had a difficult time finding what it wanted to finish down properly.

[Lonnie]

Sizzle Chest:
I assumed you chose to use McKee`s37 Hi-Def Sealant because this is a single-stage paint or repainted as such to reflect (pun intended!) the finish used on production vehicles of that era. That paint is pretty thin in areas and I assume you have a Paint Thickness Gauge that works on non-metal panels since this IS a Corvette with a fiberglass body. As mentioned above, the paint was "finicky" and though not exactly sure what that entails in terms of correcting and polishing, your mention of several pads types meant a lot of trial-and-error testing to find a correcting product and pad combo along with your buffer technique (aka skill) that finally worked to your satisfaction with the mentioned goal of paint preservation foremost in that process. Not something every detailer can achieve and it certainly required a PTG to measure the progress, as indicated in the pics of the paint thickness measurement number of the razor-thin areas. Proving one again, "what you do not know can hurt you"

Did you do anything special to the chrome and/or metal work? Are you still Beta-testing a metal polish and was this Corvette`s chrome and metal a good candidate for its application?

I also see you beat me to the punch about asking questions about the non-silicone matte tire dressing you are beta testing. The tires look well, "stock", but the large white wall ring really mask how well this dressing looks. Since you are sworn to secrecy and mums the word, I will leave it at that. It has got to be an acceptable product, though, if you are will to try it on a one-of-a-kind registered classic Corvette.

I am not a big Corvette fan, but this early design and styling speak volumes of that late 50`s era. I say this because the engineering and styling design work that went into this is long before CAD computers and how Chevrolet and General Motors did this back then is a testament to the many engineers, stylists, and technicians that brought such a vehicle to production reality and quite frankly, it is a modern marvel (at least in that era) of such an achievement.

Funny, it`s ANOTHER black vehicle. Great detailing workmanship (and preservation) on such a rare survivor of late 1950`s American sports car icon, Sizzle Chest

[Sizzle Chest]

Lonnie, I wanted something I could use on the entire vehicle, chrome included, hence the sealant. I also like this sealant and have had excellent experiences with it.

Yes, I have 2 DeFelkso PTG`s.

It took a few test spots to figure out what this paint liked! And by finicky, I mean that it was difficult to finish down without marring/micro marring. It was soft!

Paint was thin in areas, YES!

I went over the chrome with my finishing polish and pad. It brought it back and shined it up nicely. Beta test is over for the metal polish.

LOL! Figured I`d save you from typing your questions about it! Haha! It gives a nice super low sheen, rich look to the rubber. The white walls really did detract from some of it, but gave some good contrast!

I agree...from an era when it took a whole crew of engineers/designers/etc to get something from `pen` to production.

Thank you!!!

[Stokdgs]

So beautifully done, Scott ! Thank you for all that amazing work !!!
I absolutely Love the paint.... Not so much for the Fire Engine Red Color of the Interior...
Thank you for this !
Dan F

[Sizzle Chest]

Thank you Dan! Glad you enjoyed it!!!!