Todd@RUPES
Just a regular guy
Buffest 2009
The ring of the phone broke the silence of my sleep…
“Hey Todd, this is Mr. X, heheheheh… how are you Homer?,” Mr. X wheezed sinisterly out the receiver.
“Homer?…” Who was Homer? I managed through the normal ramblings of trying to pull myself to consciousness.
“Yes Homer,” the voice was cool,” I spoke to Ryan Blanchette and I want you guys to polish my collection.”
I shook my head again. Ryan Blanchette??? The name was familiar but I wasn’t on all eight cylinders. “Who is Ryan Blanchette,” I asked cautiously.
“Rydawg,” the voice replied.
“Sure let’s do it,” I replied.
“Rock and roll batman… rock and roll.”
Two Months later: Buffest 2009
The plan was simple. Fly to a secret location, polish a bunch of ultra rare cars, return home, don’t screw anything up. I was leaving Orlando and would arrive at Area 53 (code name for the secret local) the same day; January 2nd. My ride… Airwolfe. (not really it was a couple of jumbo jets and a layover, but Airwolfe is much cooler). Ry(d)a(wg)n would be flying in the next day.
Area 53 was pleasant the first day and I was ready for work. As Airwolfe descended into the layer, I met the crew.
Mr. X
Mr.X is the owner of the collection and an interesting person to say the least. In real life he really a relaxed, down to Earth guy who looks cares for his cars like an art collector looks over the Mona Lisa. But this is a thread, and thus not real life, and that wouldn’t be fun. For this thread Mr.X is a raving lunatic who is locked in an epic battle of trying to pick his nose through his blue mask. The nostril have become highly polished as a result of a 10 day long battle.
Geoff
Geoff is the guy that makes things happen and gets cars dirty. When he isn’t laughing with you he is laughing at you. Geoff was in charge of removing all the trim that could prevent us from polishing certain areas of the car as well as figuring out where stuff went when we where completed.
Rory
Not much is known about Rory and perhaps even less should be know. Besides building custom hot rods for a living, Rory is master at working with metal. Welding, fabricating, polishing, etc. The rumor is that Rory was raised by a Grizzly Bear. He haven’t been able to disprove this.
Mike
Mike is a completely affable character whom I believe is from another planet. Despite prepping most of the vehicles with a through wash and clay, Mike also applied Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant to our work. On top of this he is a true master with Deli meats and fuel in our tanks. By the end I even caught Mike taking a Porter Cable to a couple of cars (shhh, don’t tell Mr. X).
The polishers:
Rydawg
Todd
Day One: The Beginning
I arrived at Hanger 53 at around 9 AM, after a long trip the day previous. The temperature was around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, toasty for this time of year but pure ice to my Floridian veins. It was clear my Chicago roots no longer matter, it was cold.
The early part of the morning was spent organizing the large boxes of supplies which had arrived from Proper Auto Care and preparing the work station for Ryan’s arrival later tonight. Lot’s of Hi-Gloss flat pads, Meguiar’s cleaners and polishes, Menzerna polishes, and Blackfire.
1959 Stanguellini Formula Junior
The Stanguellini Formula cars where built by the Stanguellini family and often featured Fiat engines. The Junior cars had Fiat 1100 four cylinders. In 1960 the engine would be moved to the back. This particular car has a Turkish race history and remains mostly original, although repainted.
With Ryan not due until later that night, I was on my own. I started by showing Mike how to wash the cars properly and how to clay and dry them. The Stanguellini had two separate paints, a basecoat/ clear coat on the nose and single stage enamel on the back.
Two to three passes of Menzerna PO83q Super Intensive Polisher on a White 6.5 Inch Hi-Gloss Polishing Pad cleaned up 95% or the deeper marring. I elected to finish with Menzerna 106fa Super Finish on a Makita 9227 rotary using a 6.5 Inch Black Hi-Gloss Finishing Pad, working the paint long to a perfectly jeweled finish.
I apologize for the lack of before shots; my didn’t bring my camera on the first day.
Mr. X makes funny faces through his funny blue mask while sitting barely fitting inside. He had yet began to pick at his nose.
Blackfire Wet Diamond All-Paint Protection was applied by hand and with a Porter Cable using a 6.5 inch Gold Concours Hi-Gloss pad on speed 3-4. No sooner did I finish wiping the last panel (I missed a spot or two, but we will keep it a secret) when I was informed that Mr. X had picked up Ryan from the airport… errr… Airwolfe and we where all going out for dinner.
Geoff and Rory pulled off the trim on 1953 MG TD Mark-II so Ryan and I got a head start, polishing the panels of a 1967 Super Mustang, before calling it a night.
Geoff was eating food and hurt his tooth biting screw. We didn’t know until the next day that we where missing a screw from the MG TD Mark-II. Weird (and true).
Day Two: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.
1953 MG TD Mark-II
The Mark-II has several improvements over the Mark-I, making it marginally more desirable. A couple of more horsepower and a pair more shocks in the front end round out the major improvements. Surprisingly this car is slightly out of place in this collection and not particularly expensive. So why is it here and why is it a priority? Because Mr.X thinks its cool and the value that others put on a car has no bearing on how important it is to him. He told me this through his blue mask.
Rory and Geoff pulled the trim off the MG, giving Ryan and I a little more wiggle room on the petite, curved body.
I started with Meguiar’s M105 on a Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool pad, making multiple passes until 95% of the deeper defects where removed. Ryan came behind me with Meguiar’s M105 on an Hi-Gloss 6.5 Inch Orange Power Polishing pad using a Porter Cable to remove any wool marks and prepare the surface for final polishing.
Finished compounding the MG out, I also used the Porter Cable and a Hi-Gloss 4 Inch Orange Power Pad to polish out some smaller areas.
Final polishing was done with Meguiar’s M205 Ultra Finishing Polish on a pair of Porter Cables using 6.5 and 4 Inch Hi-Gloss Black Finessing Pads. Finally two coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All-Paint Protection where applied and removed wet.
This is the only opportunity we had to capture some outside shots. A storm was brewing near Hanger 53; one that would make itself known the following day.
The ring of the phone broke the silence of my sleep…
“Hey Todd, this is Mr. X, heheheheh… how are you Homer?,” Mr. X wheezed sinisterly out the receiver.
“Homer?…” Who was Homer? I managed through the normal ramblings of trying to pull myself to consciousness.
“Yes Homer,” the voice was cool,” I spoke to Ryan Blanchette and I want you guys to polish my collection.”
I shook my head again. Ryan Blanchette??? The name was familiar but I wasn’t on all eight cylinders. “Who is Ryan Blanchette,” I asked cautiously.
“Rydawg,” the voice replied.
“Sure let’s do it,” I replied.
“Rock and roll batman… rock and roll.”
Two Months later: Buffest 2009
The plan was simple. Fly to a secret location, polish a bunch of ultra rare cars, return home, don’t screw anything up. I was leaving Orlando and would arrive at Area 53 (code name for the secret local) the same day; January 2nd. My ride… Airwolfe. (not really it was a couple of jumbo jets and a layover, but Airwolfe is much cooler). Ry(d)a(wg)n would be flying in the next day.
Area 53 was pleasant the first day and I was ready for work. As Airwolfe descended into the layer, I met the crew.
Mr. X
Mr.X is the owner of the collection and an interesting person to say the least. In real life he really a relaxed, down to Earth guy who looks cares for his cars like an art collector looks over the Mona Lisa. But this is a thread, and thus not real life, and that wouldn’t be fun. For this thread Mr.X is a raving lunatic who is locked in an epic battle of trying to pick his nose through his blue mask. The nostril have become highly polished as a result of a 10 day long battle.
Geoff
Geoff is the guy that makes things happen and gets cars dirty. When he isn’t laughing with you he is laughing at you. Geoff was in charge of removing all the trim that could prevent us from polishing certain areas of the car as well as figuring out where stuff went when we where completed.
Rory
Not much is known about Rory and perhaps even less should be know. Besides building custom hot rods for a living, Rory is master at working with metal. Welding, fabricating, polishing, etc. The rumor is that Rory was raised by a Grizzly Bear. He haven’t been able to disprove this.
Mike
Mike is a completely affable character whom I believe is from another planet. Despite prepping most of the vehicles with a through wash and clay, Mike also applied Blackfire Wet Diamond sealant to our work. On top of this he is a true master with Deli meats and fuel in our tanks. By the end I even caught Mike taking a Porter Cable to a couple of cars (shhh, don’t tell Mr. X).
The polishers:
Rydawg
Todd
Day One: The Beginning
I arrived at Hanger 53 at around 9 AM, after a long trip the day previous. The temperature was around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, toasty for this time of year but pure ice to my Floridian veins. It was clear my Chicago roots no longer matter, it was cold.
The early part of the morning was spent organizing the large boxes of supplies which had arrived from Proper Auto Care and preparing the work station for Ryan’s arrival later tonight. Lot’s of Hi-Gloss flat pads, Meguiar’s cleaners and polishes, Menzerna polishes, and Blackfire.
1959 Stanguellini Formula Junior
The Stanguellini Formula cars where built by the Stanguellini family and often featured Fiat engines. The Junior cars had Fiat 1100 four cylinders. In 1960 the engine would be moved to the back. This particular car has a Turkish race history and remains mostly original, although repainted.
With Ryan not due until later that night, I was on my own. I started by showing Mike how to wash the cars properly and how to clay and dry them. The Stanguellini had two separate paints, a basecoat/ clear coat on the nose and single stage enamel on the back.
Two to three passes of Menzerna PO83q Super Intensive Polisher on a White 6.5 Inch Hi-Gloss Polishing Pad cleaned up 95% or the deeper marring. I elected to finish with Menzerna 106fa Super Finish on a Makita 9227 rotary using a 6.5 Inch Black Hi-Gloss Finishing Pad, working the paint long to a perfectly jeweled finish.
I apologize for the lack of before shots; my didn’t bring my camera on the first day.
Mr. X makes funny faces through his funny blue mask while sitting barely fitting inside. He had yet began to pick at his nose.
Blackfire Wet Diamond All-Paint Protection was applied by hand and with a Porter Cable using a 6.5 inch Gold Concours Hi-Gloss pad on speed 3-4. No sooner did I finish wiping the last panel (I missed a spot or two, but we will keep it a secret) when I was informed that Mr. X had picked up Ryan from the airport… errr… Airwolfe and we where all going out for dinner.
Geoff and Rory pulled off the trim on 1953 MG TD Mark-II so Ryan and I got a head start, polishing the panels of a 1967 Super Mustang, before calling it a night.
Geoff was eating food and hurt his tooth biting screw. We didn’t know until the next day that we where missing a screw from the MG TD Mark-II. Weird (and true).
Day Two: Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.
1953 MG TD Mark-II
The Mark-II has several improvements over the Mark-I, making it marginally more desirable. A couple of more horsepower and a pair more shocks in the front end round out the major improvements. Surprisingly this car is slightly out of place in this collection and not particularly expensive. So why is it here and why is it a priority? Because Mr.X thinks its cool and the value that others put on a car has no bearing on how important it is to him. He told me this through his blue mask.
Rory and Geoff pulled the trim off the MG, giving Ryan and I a little more wiggle room on the petite, curved body.
I started with Meguiar’s M105 on a Lake Country Purple Foamed Wool pad, making multiple passes until 95% of the deeper defects where removed. Ryan came behind me with Meguiar’s M105 on an Hi-Gloss 6.5 Inch Orange Power Polishing pad using a Porter Cable to remove any wool marks and prepare the surface for final polishing.
Finished compounding the MG out, I also used the Porter Cable and a Hi-Gloss 4 Inch Orange Power Pad to polish out some smaller areas.
Final polishing was done with Meguiar’s M205 Ultra Finishing Polish on a pair of Porter Cables using 6.5 and 4 Inch Hi-Gloss Black Finessing Pads. Finally two coats of Blackfire Wet Diamond All-Paint Protection where applied and removed wet.
This is the only opportunity we had to capture some outside shots. A storm was brewing near Hanger 53; one that would make itself known the following day.
:bigups
