This detail was a real treat... its not every day you get a chance to detail a car of this caliber and I'm humbled that I was asked to do it. 1 of 6 known to exist, this baby is among the rarest of the rare. Wish I had more time to document everything, but under a time crunch I wasn't able to photograph every step of the way. I did get a lot of it. Enjoy! Arrived to the customers property and immediately it was clear there wouldn't be a ton of heavy work needed, just finessing, correcting, and refining an already very well kept car: Then getting down to the nitty gritty inspected/documented the condition up close. Under the lights there was a fair amount of haze on the finish, RIDS, and other minor imperfections in the finish. The condition was pretty consistent over the entire car. I started by experimenting to find the right process to get the desired end result. The paint was EXTREMELY soft and easily marred, but after trying a variety of combos I settled on the white pad on the flex w/ fine machine polish. 1-2 passes per area accomplished most of the correction, occasional spots were hit with an orange pad + swirl & haze remover as needed: Tighter spots and areas between the fresh pinstripes were hand polished using a blue hex grip and revive polish. My best friend Anthony was kind enough to assist today so I could focus on machine work I continued around the car working panel by panel with the white pad and FMP. A few tighter spots were hit with the PC / a 4" white pad / FMP combo at 4000opm A really deep scratch was noticed on the leading edge of the passenger fender so I cautiously hit it with 3 passes of swirl & haze remover and an orange pad via the flex. Given the inconsistency of the paint thickness and proximity to a hard edge I felt it was safer After the SHR/orange pad. Before FMP/white pad work After the FMP/white pad Continuing polishing All of the cars brightwork was in pretty flawless shape, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be kicked up a notch. Anthony applied Brilliant Glaze to all the chromed trim with a microfiber applicator and removed with a single soft towel He then used the blaster sidekick to blow my polishing dust from the crevices The areas were then wiped once again with waterless wash and a waterless wash towel, then treated to a coat of Brilliant Glaze on an Americana hex grip Once the glaze was removed it was time for Americana! The wax was setting up quickly with the ambient temps being around 80*. It was removed using fresh double soft towels Corrected, glazed, and waxed the paint was now looking as it should. The overhead lights, my brinkman spotlight, and camera flash showing there were no more imperfections REFLECTION!! Job well done! Some of the owners other beauties hanging around the garage with us, and hopefully the subjects of some upcoming writeups: Possibly one of the most impressive of the bunch, a Hemi 'Cuda barn find, sporting 46,000 original miles. The car is completely unrestored and in absolutely stunning shape! Thanks for looking!
Beautiful, detailed, perfect, work guys !!! There is no doubt that if the rest of the car matches the work you guys did, it is surely going to win something at Pebble Beach !! Almost everywhere I see car collections, (just saw the huge one at Harrah's in Vegas), most if not all the cars are clean shiny, but full of defects, that only a good Detailer would notice, apparently. Makes you wonder - who is getting paid to do such substandard work, and why do the Owners think this is a good look?? Your work, is most representative of what a Real Detailer does, day in and day out.. Thanks for all that hard work and for sharing the pics. Dan F
what a great job on that beauty. favorite pic is prob of the thumbs up reflection in the chrome lamp housing! thats a serious collection id love to see a photo of those cars after you get to work on them. they all look like they have no where near the gloss level that this packard now has.
Thanks for the compliments everyone. Mine too... the restoration on the brightwork of this car was absolutely impeccable, which is nice to see b/c theres a lot of it!! So many times I'll see these kinds of cars at Barrett Jackson/RM/Gooding/etc and the brightwork is shiny, but full of pits or scratches. On this car every inch of the bumpers, lights, mirrors, and trim were flawless.
This car is amazing....thanks for the write up on this classic Dylan! I didn't see any cleaning process done; I assume a wash was not needed?
Did a waterless wash. All that was really on it was a little dust... it hasn't been driven other than coming on and off a trailer since the restoration was completed. I didn't feel comfortable introducing water to a car like this, especially when it wasn't needed.
