1959 Impala - 40yr old lacquer - Pinnacle Auto Detail - CT

PinnacleAutoCT

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This 1959 Impala was brought to my attention by an older gentleman who had stored it in his barn for quite some time. The car was painted approximately forty years ago with lacquer, and since then had never been polished or seen much in the way of proper maintenance. The goal with this detail was to restore oils to the single stage paint, remove a large percentage of the swirling and get the chrome and paint protected.

Before:

Surface staining, oxidation and marring dulled the finish.

DSC01508 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01500 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01499 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01491 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01506 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Heavy marring was evident across all panels:
DSC01489 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01485 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01479 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01477 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01476 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01473 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01474 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01514 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr

DSC01524 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr


Surface staining from years of sitting in the barn:

DSC01484 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01495 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01480 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01511 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr

DSC01516 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01533 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr


After a wipedown with Optimum No Rinse at QD dilution, the car was decontaminated using Clay Magic fine grade clay, and Meguiar’s #7 was applied to the paintwork to restore oils to the lacquer:

DSC01539 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01541 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
After the decon step and #7 application the paint was looking cleaner and brighter, but still heavily marred:
DSC01544 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01546 by [urlDSC01548 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01548 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01551 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01553 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr


After some testing, a combination of HD Polish and Meguiar’s D300 was found to remove approximately 80% of the paint’s defects when used with LC black finishing pads on the Rupes 21 and 75E. This process made a dramatic increase in the paint’s appearance, especially under direct lighting, without removing an amount of paint thickness that would jeopardize the integrity of the aging lacquer finish.

In these pictures the paint had been polished, while the trim and areas around/under the trim edges had yet to be touched:

DSC01563 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01564 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01566 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSCHUBBA by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01584 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01587 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01590 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01594 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01601 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01619 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01606 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01607 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01608 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01611 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01612 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
 
DSC01613 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01615 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01616 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr


After polishing the trim and sealing with CarPro Reload:

DSC01618 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr

DSC01619 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01620 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01624 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01638 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01640 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01654 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01660 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
DSC01664 by Mike Donoghue, on Flickr
Thanks for looking, comments and questions welcome!
 
WOW !!!

Just wow !!

Only one treatment w megs 7 ?

Thanks Ronkh! With this paint I applied #7 liberally, let it sit and then applied it again before removing (makes things much easier). This seemed to work well, the paint actually wasn't heavily oxidized; the majority of the damage was swirling/marring.
 
Beautiful !!! I LOVE the way single stage white looks, so bright and milky smooth when cleaned up nicely. That's one of the reasons I'm repainting my 98 Toyota with Lacquer SS White, it really Pops .
 
When I was a kid, I remember pumping gas in those cars, at my Dad's gas station...
Loved how BIG they were ! You could put a family of 4 in the trunk and still have room, on the way to the Drive In... :)

Beautiful, well thought out process, and work, Mike !!
We are all so proud of you!
Thanks for all that work - miles and miles of it... :)
That car is what - 57 years old ??? Amazing condition !
Dan F
 
nice work. that's one large vehicle!

so let me ask what probably is a dumb question...

do you put the no7 on to restore the oils to the paint so it is safer to polish afterwards?
I thought it was just a glaze

I've never worked on any older vehicles so I guess this concept is new to me but I have some 7 and haven't used it much over the years
 
Thanks guys!

512detail- The oils in #7 restore some of the color to the paint and keep it from becoming brittle over time, I supposed it would also make it safer to polish afterward.
 
Thanks guys!

512detail- The oils in #7 restore some of the color to the paint and keep it from becoming brittle over time, I supposed it would also make it safer to polish afterward.
That makes sense..just was curious why you'd glaze proor to polishing. Seems counterintuitive but i guess making that older paint less brittle is definitely a good thing prior to polishing.

See, always learning something new here on the forum :)
 
PinnacleAutoCT- I'm late to this party, but I did want to commend you on a good job. I always enjoy ones like this, and it's nice to see that you're dialed-in with the M07 approach for ss lacquer.

Will the car be back for any maintenance details?
 
Accumulator- Thanks! Hopefully this one will be back for some maintenance, he lives close enough and I should be doing his wife's BMW soon.
 
Great to see a old Chevy that needed some TLC after it's been lock up for some time. I do remember during one in the 70's when I live in Ohio. Great job in being her back!
 
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