2005 Porsche Carrera GT - Paint to Sample Gulf Blue

[David Fermani]

This past weekend I had the absolute once in a lifetime pleasure of working on this extremely rare collectible car for a very distinguished client of mine. This vehicle was custom ordered directly from Porsche and is the only Carrera GT ever produced in this “Paint to Sample� Gulf Blue (for a mere $16,000 option). This color was made famous due to the Gulf Oil’s sponsorship if Porsche’s racing effort in the 1970’s. During that era all Gulf Oil sponsored Porsche racing cars were painted this color. This car is the very same color as Steve McQueen’s character’s 917 racing car in the movie LeMans. This vehicle is currently offered for immediate sale on E-BAY Motors for the reserved price of just $575,000. Here’s the link to the auction: eBay Motors: Porsche (item 160238764693 end time May-18-08 12:04:09 PDT)

This mid-engine 2 seat roadster features a 605 hp 5.7-liter V10 engine, the 1st ceramic composite clutch used in a production car, and Porsche claims a top speed of 205 mph. The vehicle’s structure is constructed entirely out of Carbon Fiber and weighs in at approximately 3000 lbs. Right around 1000 Carrera GT’s were produced world wide, 600 of which were sold in the US market. This is the only vehicle in existence painted in Gulf Blue. It is also believed that approximately 50 or so vehicles have so far been destroyed, making this vehicle even more desirable.



Even though this car was considered to be in “like new� condition (only 599 miles!), I felt there was room for much needed improvement. Every possible single square inch was gently cleaned, polished and sealed over the course of my 17 hour treatment at the owner’s private lakefront airplane hanger just outside the prestigious city of Palm Beach. Working in this immaculately spacious facility allowed me to concentrate every effort into insuring the vehicle was as perfect as humanly possible. Working on this masterpiece was like a detailers dream come true.















Day 1:

I met with the owner and saw the vehicle for the 1st time early Saturday morning (around 7am). After pulling the vehicle outside, I set up all my gear and made up a fresh bucket of car wash soap. The vehicle was 1st power washed with my electric 1500 psi unit to remove any loose debris.

















I then gently washed each section of the exterior with a healthy mixture of Auto Magic (AM) E-Z Sudds soap along with a my EDGE Grout ShMitt and regular HD GS. All wheels (including tires, wheel wells & barrels) where cleaned with a combination of brushes along with a heavy cut dilution (1 to 8) of AM Magnificent Wheel Cleaner.



























After rinsing and drying, I then blew any remnants of water out of every crack & crevice with compressed air so that it wouldn’t interfere with the taping & buffing process.











I then thoroughly inspected the finish under full natural sunlight. Pretty much the entire vehicle suffered from factory originated buffer induced holograms. It’s amazing that such a well engineered and manufactured vehicle lacked in final paint appearance. This void really subtracted from the overall finishes gloss and depth.







































I then pulled the vehicle inside, performed a complete walk around with the owner under twin 500 watt halogen lights and then proceeded to thoroughly clay, dry and re-inspect each panel again. During the clay process, I used cellophane to magnify the feeling of any remaining contaminants on the finish and re-clayed until the finish was 100% smooth. Having a completely contaminant free finish initially is key prior to any buffing and/or sealing of the finish. Products of choice were AM Blue Clay Magic & AM Body Shine lube.











I then carefully taped and covered every critical seam, edge & molding to prevent any unforeseen friction/overspray to these sensitive sections. Total prep time = 5 hours.







While inspecting the vehicle inside, I couldn’t help to notice some factory flaws.

Compound/Transfer on Rocker Molding:







Compound in Door Jamb/Rocker Seam:











I 1st experimented with Menzerna 106FF with a white Lake Country 6.5 inch white CCS foam pad. While this combination made for a very deep gloss, it still didn’t allow the polish to cut through all of the sacrificial defects.

Test Panel:





Here’s after 106FF with White Foam Pad (room for improvement):







I then switched to a LC orange pad and this created the truest, cleanest and safest correction. As many of you know, it’s been discussed several times that Menzerna polishes can “act up� in non-factory settings. While buffing, I positioned a 5 foot cooling fan directly near each work area to reduce humidity to create a problem free work environment.

















Here’s a shot of some Ultrafina applied to the panel just before buffing:







Rear Lid = Barely enough clearance for my buffer:









Prior to & after final finishing with 3M Ultrafina polish via a LC Blue pad, all polished surfaces were wiped down with 3M surface prep aerosol cleaner and a MF towel. Here’s a shot of the residual oils that get sprayed throughout the adjacent sections after buffing with Ultrafina:

[David Fermani]

I then applied a relatively thin coat of 1Z Einszett Glanz Sealant Wax to all painted surfaces as well as the wheels and door jambs. The entire interior (including seats, dash and all Carbon Fiber panels) were blown out with compressed air and cleaned with a heavy cut dilution (1 to 20) of AM Special Cleaner. See picture below of dirt that was gently lifted from the interior surfaces:







Aftermarket floor mats were removed from the vehicle and then dry brushed with a stiff carpet brush and blown out with compressed air. I then wiped each one down with damp cotton towel (AM Body Shine) to lift away any remaining dirt and darken the color of the black fabric.

Before:





After:







All interior, exterior & engine compartment Carbon Fiber panels were sealed with Zymol Carbon. The entire rear sub floor pan was cleaned and sealed too!





















































After 14 hours of non-top work (no lunch or dinner) I finally left to return home so I could return early to apply multiple coats of Carbon as well as finalize any last minute details.







Day 2:



After allowing the sealant to fully cure overnight, I returned to massage 2 coats of Zymol Carbon into the exterior painted surfaces. This step in itself created a worthwhile increase in depth along with softening the feel of the surface to mimic the feel of a stick of butter.









Engine & brake components where final cleaned and wiped with DuPont Aerospace grade wipes. These thin towels allowed easy access to tiny crevices.











Tires were precisely coated & protected with AM Magic Dressing via foam applicator.







All textured plastic trims were dressed and sealed with HI-TECH Quick Shot aerosol dressing:

[David Fermani]

Afters:

[OCKlasse]

Beautiful car and an even better write up!

[imported_themightytimmah]

Nice Dave!

[rebelde33]

I love that color! Nice job.

[uzj100]

Holy Moley!:shocked



That car, that color and your detail of it are just INCREDIBLE! I`m about $574K short of the asking price:chuckle:

[Deanski]

Dave,



That`s one hell of a job you did on the GT!!!:2thumbs: Great details on the detail with so many pics and steps! Wonderful job writing that up!!



Oh yea, the GT is nice too!:p Not too may Porsche cars have gone back to Gulf Blue paint to sample.



Can`t imagine what you`d do with the car on the lift.



Just be very careful on the PCCB rotors, they can be damaged if hit the wrong way and you sure do not want to spring for one of those! If you remove wheels for a wheel-off cleaning, be sure the owner has two wheel hangers to attach to the rotor hat before mounting the wheels back on. Otherwise you could very well damage the rotor.



Lots of carbon fiber on this car and it`s a good thing it was in great shape. I did one that took some real work to try to get the carbon fiber back to a glossy level. Not easy and thankfully it was only in the foot wells and no where else.



Once again, GREAT JOB!!!



Deanski

[Todd@RUPES]

That looks awesome. Great work on a very cool car. I have done a couple Carrera GT`s (silver and red, nothing as cool as this one) and found the paint pretty aggreable to work with and that it finishes out perfectly with ultra fina.



Nice job.



What did you think about the stupid clutch in the car? You could pull out your hair just trying to move the car over a speed bump... If you rev it above 1800, it cuts the power out (to save the 10k clutch), so you have ease the cluth to the point of the pressure plate, at which point the engine automatically revs and you pull away like a granny.



That and the funky placement of the shifter is kind of wierd. Luckily I was able to put a couple miles on the silver one, and once under way the car is awesome, and what an amazing sound!!!

[Deep Gloss Auto Salon]

great car, great detail, great write up - "triple a" all around

[imported_shine]

Excellent work perfecting a rare paint job!

[imported_Picus]

Nice work Dave. How was the paint to work with in general? I found them pretty agreeable too. Just wondering if the one off was any different. It certainly is a looker, and you`re dedication to detail really shows it off.

[Twinscroll]

The car looks great! Well done on really taking of the customer and the car. I was just as surprised as you to see all the swirl marks and halograms. Must have been a little nerve recking working with the only car with that color. But very well done.

[Setec Astronomy]

Hey, those roof panels come off? And what was that little door you opened in one of the last pics, of the driver`s door?



Thanks for sharing, great car, cool hangar, quite the experience!

[Carbon Blue]

I LOVE the detail! But I dont know if I can say the same about the color?? Hopefully i can pull some nice cars like you some day!