Anthony Orosco

Well this detail was a pure joy. Not very often I get to detail an almost all original 57 Speedster....it has some updated engine work plus some tranny work which upgraded gears.

It's a signle stage Guards Red which was repainted about 20 years ago. The repaint is OK but alot of sanding marks still visible. A complete strip down would of been ideal and then wetsanding but the owner just wanted it to be made as perfect as possible without going to that extreme.

Ron (who is another professional detailer here in San Antonio) and I spent around 10 hours on this car but it was enjoyable as the garage was clean, it had central heating, gracious hosts and it was filled with several other classic cars!!

As I began the No-Rinse on the exterior Ron fired up his steamer and began the interior cleaning. Ron did a fantastic job on the interior, lots of chrome and metal to polish plus a painted dash board....don't see many of those these days!

Ron used his steamer, metal polish, steel wool and some brushes for the interior chores.









We went through alot of towels on this detail mainly because of all the aluminum both inside and outside of the car. The metal residue can create a huge mess and I usually end up tossing those towels I use to clean and polish aluminum. Here is a before picture of the aluminum runningboard strip.









The aluminum was cleaned using English Custom metal polishes. To clkean we used Metal Restorer and to then polish to a high shine we used Custom Blend. These polishes work on solvents, not abrasives.









After all of Rons hard work in the interior.









Ron used a cyclo pad attached to a drill and Optimum Polish to polish the metal dash. Chrome polish was used on all the instrument rings and levers.....alot of detail work.

The exterior was oxidized but not as bad as I had expected. The exterior chrome and wheels were in bad shape but with some love and elbow grease they came out gleaming.

My process for the exterior:

Optimum No-Rinse
Optimum Hyper, Metabo and orange pad
Optimum Compound, Metabo/Dewalt green pad
Optimum Polish, Metabo, blue pad
Optimum Polish, Metabo, white pad
Optimum Polish, Cyclo, new Precision white pads

I sealed the paint with the Optimum "beta" Sealant. This gave the car a "just painted" look which was noticed right away by the cars owner.

Here are some BEFORE and After pics


Rear passenger side tire and wheel before






After, using my steamer and degreaser







Paint work BEFORE. It looked OK but dull, not much reflection.






Here it is AFTER the polishing process and being sealed.






I don't have any outside pics of it because it was dark when we finished but you can notice that the paint looks much brighter, has more gloss and reflection. I'll go back in a few days to get some exterior sun pics and post them up.















Thanks for looking,
Anthony

uzj100

Hmmm, Anthony this looks like a kit car.

Anthony Orosco

I don't think this guy, who has a collection of jags and vettes, would be sold on a kit or speedster replica.

I would of expected to find a better body had this been a replica, true? The body looked hand crafted as it had the subtle waves in the panels.

What leads you to believe it may be a kit or replica?

Thanks,
Anthony

ArneeA

Nice!

MoeMistry

looks good Anthony; look forward to see beauty shots in the sun.

ehall

WOW!

RJT

I don't think it's a kit car. If it was, the hand brake would be on the floor between the seats (vw bug).

BUT..... Guards Red is NOT a 356 color. Should be Signal or Ruby Red. Also incorrect wheels/hubcaps. These are from a C car (64-65) and means the owner updated to disc brakes. Nice to have but looks wrong. All the kit cars have this style wheel, which makes it confusing.

I would take my 55 Speedster (real) out for a drive and always someone would ask if it was a kit!!! Very irritating. So I sold it to Nicholas Cage!

Robert

ehall

Oh GOD! Not Nick Cage! He didn't do anything sick to it did he? I've heard he's a good car guy.

Anthony Orosco

Yes it does have disc brakes now and it was repainted about 20 years ago so I'm not sure of the original color nor did I seek it out in those little hidden areas where the original color may still be hiding.

It sounds just perfect but needs to be driven more often....by the way the car is for sale as is his XKE and all original Corvette with a 427.

Anthony

uzj100

Anthony-as RJT pointed out, the wheels don't look right. And the interior seems a bit overdone?

But, please understand, whether it is or isn't, your detail is (as always) fantastic!

IcemanG17

Anthony
Nice as always....one ??? what is a metabo? A rotary polisher?

Anthony Orosco

Hey no problem, I never took your comments as criticism

Thanks for the compliment!




Thank you sir....and yes the Metabo is a rotary polisher....it's like the Mercedes of high speed polishers. Very lightweight, quiet and well balanced. It's about the size of a PC but it has the power of a rotary.

I mainly use my DeWalt but it's rather heavy and a bit loud so after doing the leveling work with the DeWalt it sure is sweet to then use the Metabo for finishing it up.

Anthony

RJT

He buys a car every week! He might sell a car to buy a car, but he buys cars like we buy groceries! He bought our Speedster the same day that he bought a 57 Carrera GT Speedster ($360K).

Also Anthony, I didn't add in my earlier post that you are a true detailing magician!

Robert