Dare I Wetsand a 50 Year Old $300,000 Dollar Ferrari??

[imported_JoshVette]

I did think about it twice.....:think2



Owner was asking for a complete Show Car Quality Detailing as he sold his Vintage F car and needed it to look new again for the new owner.

I only had 1 1/2 days to complete this project as the new owner was picking it up and shipping it to CA the next day so time was very limited.



This car was restored about 15 years ago according to the owner.



I spent 15 hours on this car at the Ferrari shop outside surrounded by lovely F cars.



This is a 1960 Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet with many scratches requiring wetsanding.

Since so much took place, I will just describe it as I post the pictures.

Thanks.:xyxthumbs



First up, some interior pics. Spent 3 hours on this two seater interior.

Process:

dusted all crevisses and knobs and dash

303 scrub on all matts and carpet

trim on leather seats brushed out and grime cleaned out with 303

soiled leather seats and soiled convertable top cover cleaned with 303

all matts and carpets shampoo'd and removed and vacuumed including trunk.

chrome around the window and windshield were hand polished and restored with Blue Magic Metal Polish

I had to polish the car with the top down so it all got a second wipe down after I totally finished the entire exterior.

The seats were still nice and plush and soft.

Turned out nicely.

Onto the engine bay with 48 year old V12. Most of the engine is painted black so it was difficult to tell what was grime and what was paint. Spent around 2 hours cleaning the engine bay.

Process:

Shampoo'd with soapy water and wash mitt

303 Wipe down of everything

I had to be very careful around the carborators as there were thin wires and such I could not bump for fear of them breaking loss.

Zaino Z16 Tire shine applied to hoses and black tubing and such.

This was nearly completely covered in grime, but now it's nice and silver again.

Dual Oil Filters for this 1960 V12 engine

3 x 2 carbs cleaned inbetween

You can see at the right of the pic the dual distributors with 6 wires each.:bigups

Next up chrome trim restoration......

 

[Old Pirate]

Looking Great Josh! so nice to see vintage Ferrari Detailing. Kept them coming!:2thumbs:

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Process on Chrome:



All chrome was hand polished with a MF Towel and Blue Magic Metal Polish

Chrome on the hard top shell was buffed with 000Steal Wool

Every ounce of chrome was polished from the small rings around the side markers to the Pininferina symbol on the side to the interior chrome on windows and anything else chrome you can see on the car.



Here's an idea of what I was dealing with on most all of the smaller chrome areas, not bumpers.

before

after

Convertable Hard Top Shell Chrome completely oxidized and pitted

after

before

after: notice the reflections

before

after: notice the clearity in the reflections

Rims were washed with dawn and mitt, then hand polished with blue magic metal polish, then cleaned with Dirtex and final wipe with dry MF towel to rid any smearing.



Before on center cap with some pitting

after

Whole rim after

Next up, exterior.

I'll show you just a few of the scratches and wetsanding.

Process:

Dawn Wash,

Clay

Inspect and identify area of harsh damage

Wetsand with 2000 grit, polish out with a combo of PC and orange pad with Menz PG at 6000 also with Makita Rotary with orange pad and Menz PG at 1500rms and finished down with rotary and white pad with Menz IP at 1500rpms.

The rest of the car required the use of the Rotary with LC white pad and Menz IP 1 1/2 passes at 1500-1700rpms and followed up at 900rpms



Just a few scratches as I just could not take pics of all of them.

License plate and frame rubbed the car

Here's most of the wetsanding I had to do just around the side panels of the car.

Next up are the final polished pics after all damaged removed.....

 

[Old Pirate]

Keep it coming Josh!.......:woot2:

 

[Brian_Brice]

Very nice Josh! Very nice indeed.

 

[IanB]

Drop dead sexy...

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Okay, so now all the wetsanding and deep scratches are removed I could proceed to polish out the rest of the car.



Process:

after wash and clay

Rotary with LC white pads with Menz IP did the trick after about 1 1/2 slow passes at 1500-1700rpms followed up with about 1000rpm passes.



This single stage paint is a gem to work on and finished down LSP ready. :spot

Do to time restraints I was only able to get most panels about 90%-95% perfect. I really wanted to do more but just couldnt'. Owner said I could do his other 250GT with no time limit at all:bigups He owns 4 more Vintage F cars, a 330, 250, 275 and 365.:getdown



A couple before and afters to show the swirls and such then onto the glamour shots.:drool:



trunk license plate marks before

after rotary and orange pad with Menz PG.

after some of where sanding was done

this was a heavily scratched side

door panel before, sorry it's a little blury

after one pass about 90% restored

another heavily wetsanded side, now restored. Notice the Jealous onlookers are a 360 spider, 355 and twin turbo TR....:drool:

swirled trunk

after

swirled hood

after

50/50 shot

after

This is the convertable hard top shell worth over $25,000 alone and according to the shop manager is irreplacable:nervous:

after fully polished and chrome restored

Next up some glamour shots and I'm finished......

 

[Old Pirate]

Awesome recovery and outstanding work Josh.....:usa

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Now that all the hard work is basically finished I waxed it with Zaino ZAIO. It's a perfect cleaner, polish and sealant and was perfect for our purposes. It was sold and about to be transported so I saved the Z5 for his other F cars. The new owner can put on it whatever he wants, it is now ready for it.:chuckle:



This 1960 Ferrari 250GT Cabriolet bares some resemblance to the mid 50's T-bird IMO. But much nicer of course.:chuckle:



After 15 horus, here's the final results.

but of course....

and......

The very rare cross flags that only the older vintage ferrari's carried.

Any questions and comments welcome.

Thanks for looking.



Josh:usa

 

[Brian_Brice]

Congrats Josh, simply awesome. I sure hope you charged accordingly.

 

[LS1 Eddie]

Incredable job. You've really got something to be proud of there! I could only imagine what the owner's service bills are if he is up to date on many of those cars.

 

[Old Pirate]

Awesome work and amazing attention to detail from the engine bay to the chrome and paint correction:drool: , You increase the value of this Ferrari, The new owner is going to be very please! Great work Josh!............:bigups

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Congrats Josh, simply awesome. I sure hope you charged accordingly.

The owner has 5 vintage.....wait make that 4 now, vintage F cars.....what do you think? :2thumbs:



I charge by the hour on this level of detailing.:wavey

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Incredable job. You've really got something to be proud of there! I could only imagine what the owner's service bills are if he is up to date on many of those cars.

Yes, he keeps all his vintage Ferrari's up to date. He drove that one to the shop and I've seen in person two of his other vintage F cars being driven by him.:bigups

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Awesome work and amazing attention to detail from the engine bay to the chrome and paint correction:drool: , You increase the value of this Ferrari, The new owner is going to be very please! Great work Josh!............:bigups

Thank you. I enjoy being able to really detail the way I want to. Most cars just want some simple process, with this one I could really step up and take it to a new level. I wish I could with every car I touch, but most people just don't want to spend what it's worth.:sadwavey:

 

[howareb]

Very high quailty work. That recovery was excellent. What are some thoughts when you are performing a detail on such a vintage high-valued machine? It must be an honor.

 

[imported_Sludge1]

It is nice that you were able to display your incredible skills. I love seeing older cars with significant defects brought back to original (or better) appearance. Thanks for sharing your hard work. It is inspirational. :bow

 

[Todd@RUPES]

I'm seriously speechless Josh. Amazing job that (based on your level of work) will ensure much more exotic and high end work. Your ethic and ability is amazing!!!!



That is one sexy beast (as are all of the 250 Ferrari's IMO) and probably one of the greatest looking Ferraris ever. Very lucky that vintage Ferrari fell into capable and caring hands.



Great job dude!!!!!!!

 

[imported_JoshVette]

Very high quailty work. That recovery was excellent. What are some thoughts when you are performing a detail on such a vintage high-valued machine? It must be an honor.

Thanks, it was definately a special treat.



Some thoughts are first I think you really have to be confident in your abilities to correct paint no question about that.

Secondly I love a challenge and doing this car was just that, I had a very limited amount of time so I had to really focus and work on what I would consider a priority to the new owner. What would be the "first impression" aspects that would get noticed first, I focused a lot on those parts but could not forget about the little things as well.

No good for the paint and chrome to look like a show car just for the new owner to find dirt or grime in some small remote area later on.



I don't know, I'm not much for speaches.:lol

 

[imported_JoshVette]

It is nice that you were able to display your incredible skills. I love seeing older cars with significant defects brought back to original (or better) appearance. Thanks for sharing your hard work. It is inspirational. :bow

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad the owner allowed me to take it to the level I wanted too. :thx