Someday

Every car guy was a little boy once that saw an automobile that changed his life.  

It’s the automotive work of art that made that little boy into a car guy in the first place.  It’s the car that made that little boy whisper “someday” to himself initiating a promise that few little boys ever get to keep.  It could be a Ferrari or a Jaguar, or a Mustang or a Monster Truck.  It doesn’t matter so much what the car is, it only matters that it creates a dream inside that young man; a motivation, a destiny to fulfill.

A long time ago I was a little boy that whispered someday to myself after seeing a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa at the Forest Grove Concours show.  I was never able to achieve ownership of that car since only 26 were ever made and they cost a bit more than 30 million dollars the last time I checked.  I’m not alone.  Very few young men who dream of owning a particular special automobile ever manage to achieve it.  The boy who dreamed of driving a red Ferrari ends up driving a silver mini-van.  The young man who pined for a Jaguar ends up riding the bus to work.  Life sometimes gets in the way of dreams.

On rare occasion you meet a guy that doesn’t let anything get in the way of a dream.   Bob Spencer is one such person.  As a young man the car that set off his dream was a 1965 Lincoln Continental.  This past summer we had the wonderful opportunity to work on Bob’s dream car and get to know him.  His 1967 (don’t worry it looks just like a 65) “slab side” Lincoln Continental has the distinction of being the longest car we have ever worked on and one of the most beautiful.  

                The younger set reading this will recognize the “Lincoln” moniker as that Ford division that uses actor Matthew McConaughey as a back seat (barely understandable) spokes person.  To Ford’s credit, the Lincoln moniker is being attached to some decent vehicles these days, but in its heyday, Lincoln, and especially the Continental was the vehicle dujour for American aristocracy.

                Lincoln wasn’t always just another brand name in the Ford arsenal.  Lincoln was an independent automotive company founded in 1917 by Henry Leland.  Leland was an engineer who divided his infant automobile companies’ time between building aircraft engines for the government and the first Lincoln car, the Model L.  He named his car company after President Abraham Lincoln who was the first president he had ever cast a vote for (back in 1864).  By 1922 Leland and his fledgling auto company were already in financial difficulty and Leland was forced to sell Lincoln Motor Company to Ford.

                Ford continued in the spirit of the original founder and associated the Lincoln name with a higher-end, more luxurious portfolio of vehicles.  Perhaps its crowning achievement, though, would develop when they created the “Continental”, Americas answer to the finest touring cars of Europe.  They brought top designers and coach builders and launched the name in 1941.  By 1956 “Continental” was its own division within Lincoln (which was a division of Ford).  Design characteristics of the Lincoln Continentals became so popular that they found their way onto other cars.  For example, the Continental’s initiated a stylish method for dealing with the spare tire.  It was incorporated into the rear bumper and covered with chrome and body colored special fit panels.  This “Continental Kit” became an iconic component of the 1956 Thunderbird as well as other cars.  The Continental kit evolved over time but remained a mainstay of the Continental style for a long time.

                In 1961, Lincoln introduced a new design Continental which would usher in one of the longest design periods of any car of modern era.  Called the “slab-side” Continental, it represented the pinnacle of prestige and design achievement for the Lincoln moniker.  The slab side Continental’s, was used as transport for the Presidents of the United States (before Limmo 1 ever came about) and was in countless movies and TV shows.  They incorporated what were originally called “suicide doors” in their design (i.e. the front door handle was positioned as normal at the back of the door but the rear door handles were positioned on the front of the door and the door opened from the front).  This led to a cleaner overall design as the handles were all positioned in one spot leaving the side view of the car as uncluttered as possible.

Slab Side Publicity Photo

 

The slab-side Continental was beautiful and my goodness it was long.  Bob wanted a 1965 but ended up with a 1967. His pristine example is a gorgeous aqua blue with a nearly identical colored interior.  We prepped this car for the same car show where I fell in love with an Italian race that I would never own; the Forest Grove Concours D’Elegance.   I’ve never been an old, big American car guy but I will admit that the 67 Lincoln impressed me.  It’s easy to see how Bob could have fallen for this thing. 

 

                The car is as old as me, but it had some pretty slick technology for its day.  Not surprising as this was very expensive car right out of the showroom costing some $8,000 new according to Bob.  That’s about $63,000 in today’s money.   Bob’s 67 made us feel like we went 50 years back in time.  It was so close to a showroom condition vehicle it was like time travelling.  Every single thing on his car worked--the power windows, the lighters, absolutely everything.  All very impressive but what actually really impressed me was the hood.  

The hood on the 67 Lincoln Continental is a masterpiece of engineering.  From a design perspective it has what I describe as a “floating hood”, that is the hood rests inside the fenders and front grille.  It does not curve over the grille or impede into the region of the fenders.  The only other manufacturers doing this at the time were Rolls Royce and Bentley.  From an engineering perspective it was more impressive still.  Utilizing a simple cantilever design it was perfectly balanced and maintained an even amount of resistance on your hand as you closed it.  It didn’t fall and slam shut and you didn’t have to force it.  It required a minimal amount of pressure from one hand to click closed.  I’ve worked on new supercars that can’t do that.

                Everything about this car was well done.  The paint was as good as anything I’ve seen and the attention to detail in the interior was startling.  I was beginning to really understand what my father loved about these cars (he always wanted one).   At the same time we were prepping the Lincoln for the event, we were also working on a Tesla Model X.  It got me thinking.  The Lincoln had some interesting technology for its day but it’s more nostalgic than impressive by today’s standards.  But the Lincoln has class.  The Tesla is a masterpiece of technology today but its’ tech will seem silly in 50 more years.  The Lincoln will still have class in 2067.  Will the Tesla?

Bob purchased his dream car in 2007 from the original owner.  The car was one of only 28 painted in the medium, to light blue metallic color.  That’s 28 on planet earth just to clarify.  Over the years Bob worked on it, both preserving and perfecting bit by bit.  He’s had it in car shows and done pretty well.  In fact, the reason he contacted us was to prep it for the Forest Grove Concours D’Elegance event that was held in July this year.  Since Lincoln was founded in 1917, this was the 100 Anniversary of the make, a big deal, and the Forest Grove Event was dedicated to Lincoln cars.  Although Bob had done well with the car in other events he felt he might struggle at the Forest Grove show since so many of the best Lincolns from all over the west coast would be there.  How did he do?

Oh…not too bad.  His car received a ranking of 99.75…nearly a perfect score.  He took second in class being bested only by a perfect 100 point car that had just gone through a complete body off restoration costing over $100,000.  I’d say he did pretty well.

Bob has restored some other cars (a Ford Galaxy) and owns some very reliable modern Hondas but I asked him what was next.  What if anything might he want now?  I liked his answer.  “Bentley,” he said.  “Bentley Arnage”.  I liked that answer.  Bob has good taste in cars.  I hope he gets a proper green one and then brings it over to me so I can play with it.

Ferrari's 365 GTC/4: The Daytona's Big Brother

With all the writing we do about Porsche's on this blog, some may think I am a die hard Porschephile.  In actuality I'm what would be described as a "Ferraristi".  I have always loved the cars from Maranello and probably always will.  I have always thought that I liked Porsche's and other exotics and would certainly buy some examples of these cars as soon as I aquired all the Ferrari's I wanted.  The problem is, that list of Ferrari's is pretty long; and getting longer every year.

So even though my ongoing work with some of the best Porsche's ever made is probably the envy of a lot of people, it is very special when I get to work on a Ferrari (or two).  While in Monterey, I had the opportunity to get close and personal with a Ferrari that is a bit lesser known than some of it's more iconic siblings, but no less exciting or passionate. The Ferrari 365 GTC/4 was sort of the big brother of Ferrari's iconic super-car, the 365 GTB/4 (better known as the Daytona).  The Daytona itself was the necessary replacement for the 275 GTB/4, and I use the term "necessary", because the Daytona really was Ferrari's answer to Lamborghini's groundbreaking Muira.  In effect, the Muira and the Daytona were the Genesis of the modern super-car (or hyper-car as the Brits like to say) we see today, but what then was the role that the 365 GTC/4 would play?

 This "big brother" to the Daytona was a more comfortable and usable grand tourer.  The term "usable" is simply decorative because we are talking about a vintage Ferrari.  In reality it means what you had was a slower Daytona with back seats big enough to fit one dozen eggs.  Seriously, though, Ferrari wanted to make the 365 GTC/4, more comfortable and spacious than the rocket-ship Daytona without losing any of the flair and passion that was part and parcel with the marque.  The 365 GTC/4 was the next evolution of Ferrari's "lusso" models that were often among the most beautiful road cars to come out of the Maranello factory.

It was, indeed, a very good looking car (although not in league with the perfectly proportioned Daytona) and no where near the "pebble beach looks" of predecessors like the 250 Lusso, but it checked all the right boxes necessary to be a Ferrari.  And did I mention that it's rare?  Ferrari only made this car for 2 years in the early 70's and only a bit more than 500 examples were ever produced.  It was replaced by the boxy 365/400/400i and 412i series which I really liked but most car guys hated.  That low production number is helping the 365 GTC/4 to escalate in value with perfect example running into the mid-6 figures.

Of course, when people shell out half a mil for a red car that some dummies might mistake for an old Vette, it's not too hard to understand that they want the car perfect.  These cars, after all,  are approaching the half century mark in age and many examples, although original, need some help.  Ferrari's go through cycles of value.  They start out high and loose value for a certain number of years until collectors find them interesting and start buying them as investments.  The lower the production number the faster this turn of events takes place.  However, sometimes during the periods where the Ferrari model is at it's lowest value point they may seem financially accessible to guys that really can't afford them and that's when bad stuff happens.  Maintenance is neglected and the cars can run down a slippery slope to shoddiness.  This doesn't happen that much with Ferrari's but it does happen.  (It happens to Porsche's a lot more!)

So with a car like the 365 GTC/4 which is now escalating in price, you can still find examples that have not been completely restored and may need some work here and there.  That's where we may come in.  

Wait for pictures, video and more details and as always "happy motoring".

How to Repair Damaged Wheels Cheap!

One of the most frustrating things to happen to a motorist is wheel damage caused by taking a turn too tightly and hitting a curb.  I've done it myself to all four of my 20" OZ rims on our primary mobile detail rig.  In addition to looking bad, there is a second problem that can occur after you get curb rash on your wheel.  Curb rash breaches the wheel clear coating and often once that coating is breached it gets worse over time as moisture gets in under it and causes bubbling and flaking.

22" Rim with moderate curb rash

22" Rim Repaired

At our detail and auto reconditioning shop, Black Label Motoring, based in Vancouver, Washington, we've seen all kinds of damaged wheels.  Not only do we see conventional curb rash damage, but also bent, cracked and on occasion, melted wheels.  (Yes, actually melted.)  The truth is, not all damaged wheels can be fixed.  Some are so damaged that even though they could be cosmetically refurbished, the structural integrity of the metal cannot be assured and the legal liability for a shop "fixing" the wheel and letting a customer drive on it would be formidable.   Many wheels can be fixed, however,  and much more easily and inexpensively than you might think.

Let's talk a bit about price for wheel restoration before we get into the details of how to do it yourself.  We charge, on average, less than $60 per wheel restoration at our shop.  If you have ever called around to wheel repair and restoration specialists, you'll find that the average price they charge now is around $150 and some special wheels can run closer to $300.  Why is there such a huge difference?  Well there are a couple of reasons.  Firstly, almost all of the wheel repair shops you will call are part of a franchise, meaning some guy decided he wanted to start a business and bought into a wheel repair franchise.  This cost serious up front money and the business owner has to recoup that money somehow.  Many also have to pay ongoing fees back to the franchiser and have pricing for services dictated by the franchiser.  Secondly, they have often invested huge amounts of money in equipment.  This may include a fully equipped mobile rig, and special large scale machining equipment that can easily run into six figures.  You are probably now saying that all that expensive equipment ensures that they can do the job better than a shop that doesn't have it.  Well, not exactly.

Let's use an analogy from the clothing industry.  Which is the better suit, the one made entirely by expensive, complex machines in an assembly line in China, or the one made entirely by hand by an master tailor in Italy?  The first one sells for $200 at Macy's and the second one sells for $6,000 at the Brioni boutique in Milan.

With skill, time and a few hand tools, you can fix your wheels and make them look new for very little money.

Honestly, some wheels have extremely complex, multi-faceted finishes and the specialist wheel repair services can get a better finish than we can or you could.  But that is maybe 10% of the wheels out there.  When we come across a wheel like that we refer them to some of these specialist.  Most other wheels, however, can be repaired to identical standards of the pros by following some simple rules.

First, you need to determine if you can repair the wheel on the car or if it must be removed and dismounted.  This depends on the amount of curb rash and damage there is.  I would state up front that the result you can get by removing the wheel and dismounting it is always better than what you will get if you try to repair it on vehicle.  Repairing a wheel on vehicle is only recommended if the curb rash or other damage is minimal (scrapes in finish, discoloration, etc.)

Let's assume that the wheel isn't that bad and can be fixed on vehicle.  We'll walk through how to do that step by step. 

STEP1.

Clean the wheel thoroughly.  Clean it better than you have ever cleaned it before.  If there are parts that have embedded brake dust and rust, you make need to scour them out with steel wool or a wire brass wire brush.  You can get these items at a lot of places.

STEP 2.

Perform any repairs needed to the wheel.  If there is some curb rash you can use a variety of hand tools to minimize or remove it.  One tool is an upright drill.  You can buy one of these for $30 at Harbor Freight and you can also buy a small grinding and sanding kit there which will help you do this.  A second tool is a Dremel tool that usually comes with a variety of grinding bits.  Having a variety of sand paper from 180 grit up to 600 or 800 grit is also helpful.  We'll post some video of how this process goes.

STEP 3.

Once the major damage is removed, you need to prep the rest of the wheel paint for re-spray.  To do this you need to go over every bit of the wheel with scruff pads.  You can get proper ones at a professional paint supply store , or if you're in a hurry, borrow one of the green dish cleaning scruff pads your wife has in the kitchen.  The professional ones will do a better job but if you're trying to go cheap, the kitchen stuff will do.  As you go over the wheel paint you want to keep working it until all the shiny parts are changed to a dull satin finish.

STEP 4.

You need to tape off the tire and protect the car finish from over spray.  If you watch guys on YouTube you will often see them using these little pre-fab metal cards which fit in between the tire and lip of the wheel.  They will swear this is the best way to do it.  Actually, it's the fast way to do it, but it has lots of problems. One problem is they don't fit every wheel tire combo in exactly the same way.  Some wheels have pronounced metal lips, some do not.  Secondly, they do not account for wind if you are doing this in the field (which most of the YouTube guys suggest) and you can get over spray on the tire or the car for that matter.  We prefer to tape the wheel off, then cover the surrounding body panels with plastic as well.  You will have to put plastic inside the wheel and cover the rotor and caliper.  The plastic should be loose fitting so that it rests on the inner wall of the tire.  When it's all done it should look like this.

Note that the plastic rests inside the wheel without any hard taped edge and tape is also covering the wheel center cap and all the bolts.  The tape used to create the strong edge between the tire and wheel is a white duck tape that is pretty sticky and the silver tape around that is less sticky but wider to cover the entire sidewall of the tire.   Now you paint?  But what color?  I will not tell you everything but if you own a BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Saab, or quite a few other cars, Duplicolor "Chrysler Ultra Silver" is an exact match for many of the European "hyper-silvers".  It should be since the color came from their affiliation with Daimler.  Use at least two color coats (3 is better) then let each one sit for 10-15 minutes before applying the next coat.  After letting the final coat sit for 25-30 minutes, hit the wheel with clear coat.  We use a Rustoleum High-Heat thermal clear coat that works well and stands up to the constant heating and cooling caused by braking.  Put at least two coats of clear on and let it completely dry before removing any of the tape or plastic.  Give the clear coat some time to harden before driving (at least 8 hours).

Okay, now let's assume that the wheels are torn up pretty bad so you have taken them off the car and had them dismounted (by a proper tire place.)  For the most part the process is the same as above except you can do things like painting the inside and do more extensive repairs.  We see some stuff that is so damaged that we either turn the customer away or make them sign a waiver before we even touch the tire.  You can repair a wheel from a cosmetic perspective but that doesn't mean the integrity of the metal is sound. 

Take a look at these pictures of BBS wheels from a Subaru WRX.  In this technique we use a cold-weld product with is a steel infused epoxy that bonds with the metal.  It takes about 24 hours to cure but is very strong and can be shaped, ground and sanded like metal once cured.  A lot of hand work must be done to these heavily damaged wheels and we use a variety of files, special Dremel tool attachments and a 3" inch upright grinding and sanding system.  By using he cold weld technique, we can eliminate the need to remove tons of the original wheel lip to grind out the curb rash, instead over-building the damage areas and grinding and sanding the over-build parts level with the remaining undamaged wheel lip areas.

BBS Wheel w/Severe Curb Rash

 

BBS Wheel Repaired & Painted

Crazy Classic Car Auction Prices and How You Can Get in On It.

Over the summer the Black Label Motoring crew was invited to assist in the preparation of several vintage exotic cars at major automotive auctions.  First we took the entire crew down to Monterey, California in early August for the Motor Week events which include the iconic "Pebble Beach Concours" event.  Specifically we prepped several vintage Porsche's for the "Werks Reunion" event put on by Porsche.  Later that month we went north up to Tacoma and prepped a very special 1989 Porsche 930 Turbo Cabriolet for the Lemay Auction.   

If you are a car nut, the Monterey Motor Week Festival is almost like a religous pilgrimage.  I have never seen the depth and breadth of exotic and rare cars that I saw at that week long function.  It was truly amazing.  You would be driving to the showroom we worked at in town and La Ferrari's, Mclaren P1's and every other super exotic car you could think of would just drive by you.   Amazing.

We prepped some 8 cars total, 5 for the Porsche Auction and three for other functions including 2 Ferrari's and a retro T-Bird.

Eva tapes off a beautiful Ferrari 550 Maranello

It was about as good a week as a detail company could have (especially one run by a certified car nut like myself).  It was all the better since we got paid to work on these dream cars and it essentially meant we got a paid vacation for the family out of the deal.  

Just a week or two after we got back from California we were headed up north to Tacoma Washington to final prep a special Porsche for the annual Lemay Auction.  We will go into what the Lemay family name means to the classic and vintage car world in a future blog, but for now all you need to know is that the Porsche we prepped at the show sold and was the highest achieving car at the auction.  Bear in mind the owner had taken other Porsche's to this show before and never sold anything.  I'm not going to take credit for this car selling (but it didn't hurt to have a team of detail experts fawning over that car and working the crowds into a frenzy.)

1989 Porsche 930 Turbo Cabriolet

Some of the prices at this auction were surprising and it just goes to show you that when rich folks can't make money in the stock market, they got to put their money somewhere.  I'm delighted that they put it into interesting cars.  Although this beautiful 930 turbo was the highest priced sale at the event, there were other shocking numbers that highlighted just how crazy some classic car prices have become.

I've written before about the 1950 Mercedes 190 SL's and how much they have escalated in value in recent years.  Little did I know they they are the fastest appreciating collector car on the planet right now with premium examples now topping the $200K mark.  A derelict piece of junk 190SL which literally had to be pushed into the auction tent went for more than $50K.  Despite needed new everything (which begs the question of whether it would be a restored or "reproduced" car when done) Doug Lemay of the Lemay Automotive Foundation that hosts the event said it was a "find."

My favorite car of the event, however, did not sell but was a truly stunning machine and one of my all time favorites.  It was a fly yellow 1977 Ferrari 308 GTB presented by Cat's Exotics out of the Seattle area.  As noted by the auctioneer, these V-8 Ferrari's were priced as low as $20-$25K just a few years ago, and now are running anywhere from $75 to $150K. This early carburated example was bid to over $50K, but failed to fetch the more than $70K the owner was looking to get,  possibly due to the fact that it had been modified a bit with non-original polished rims from a 328, and had a few other cosmetic and apparent mechanical issues.  This may not seem like much to a non-Ferrari expert, but replacing the 328 wheels with original spec wheels, fixing the damaged leather dash, and coordinated a proper tune on an old Ferrari engine could set the buyer back thousands of dollars.

If you have a classic or an exotic car that you are thinking of taking to auction, you may not have the resources to hire a detail company to go with you but there are some things you might consider doing that could promote your car heavily at the event and make it stand out from all the other specialty cars.  Our team of course, wears company shirts and a uniform so it looked kind of cool when our client had a team of black shirted precision car detailing experts fawning all over his vehicles.  It increased the amount of conversations that were started with potential buyers and sent a very clear message to all in attendance that the vehicles had been pampered.

You can replicate this to some extent.  Take your family or some friends and have t-shirts made, perhaps with the name and stats on the car or a make logo or something--anything that gives you all a consistent look.  Then, just fawn all over the car or cars like we did.  It does wonders for your potential sale and final value and it's a lot of fun.

To learn more about detailing specialty cars or auction prep, go to our website at:  http://www.blacklabelmotoring.net

How to Make Your Air Cooled Porsche 911 Look Brand New

When I was about 12 years old I had a collection of hand-built 1/24th scale model cars which reflected the exact motorcars I wished I could own for real when I grew up.  I had quite a few of them and I even built a 1/24th scale garage to put them in.  Crazy, I know.

I had various marques represented, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes, Triumph and of course, Porsche.  The Porsche's had their own segment of the garage complete with the Porsche Emblem emblazoned on the scale garage floor.  There were two 928's, a standard one and a custom targa by a German tuner called "B+B", two 924's a standard and a turbo, and two 911's, a 1978 930 Turbo, and the Martini & Rossi 935 Lemans' racer which I painted black (like an idiot).  I really liked the 930 Turbo which I painted a really subtle mocha brown.  I worked really hard on that Porsche, trying to make it look perfect.  I had know idea when I was putting that car together that later in life I would be doing the same thing to real 911's.

I have probably detailed and semi-restored a dozen or so 80's era, air-cooled 911's.  I've driven several of them as well.  I've done lots of repairs to the 80's Targa's which often suffered from cracking around the front seam.  When Porsche designed these cars they intended them to be summer cars, driven in relatively mild weather.  The removable targa top was not like the one used on the Ferrari 308 GTS.  The Ferrari top was made of fiberglass, was rigid, and had a vinyl overlay.  The Porsche version is not rigid (it's full of foam) and is covered in a German vinyl.  If it splits (and it will) rain water will seep into the foam and stay there for a  very long time.  Before you can repair it, you will need to get it completely dry.

I've repaired half a dozen of these Targas' and the damage has always been along the front seam.  Once dry they can be glued so that the area is sealed.  You can even reproduce the dimple effect in the vinyl by using a mini-dremmel tool to shape the repair glue.  Once you do this and are happy with the results, you can cover the entire area with a flat or semi-flat black vinyl dye and it will do a pretty good job of hiding the repair.  Since these cars are now 30+ years old you might as well re-dye the whole top while you are at it. 

There are other ways to repair these and you can even make a mold of the vinyl texture for a perfect looking repair however some of these methods result in a weaker repair area that can be breached again.  

Porsche's Iconic 911 Targa

Detailing a small Porsche 911 would seem at the outset to not be too difficult a task.  They are tiny cars after all.  In reality, though, it's one of the more difficult small cars to do.  As an example, the 1980's 911's have as much carpet in them as a modern full-size sedan.  The entire front bonnet housing is carpeted and must be taken out to be properly shampooed.  Porsche did not use molded carpeting in the 911 so literally each piece of carpet can be pulled out (they are attached by velcro).  This does make it easier to clean everything but you often find two full sets of mattes which need to be done. 

The engine bay is difficult simply because it is so cramped.  It's so cramped that we are fashioning special tools to be able to clean some of the most difficult to reach areas safely.  A nagging problem with all the engine bays I have worked on is the factory heat shielding which was basically a sheet of heavy vinyl with a 1/2 inch thick foam backing.  This is held in place with L-shaped brackets at the top perimeter of the engine lid.  After 30 years of being heated up and cooled down, I've never seen an original one that wasn't disintegrating all over the engine.  These were glued to the bonnet in addition to the brackets but even industrial automotive trim glue doesn't work on them any more.  I am working on a solution to this problem that will look like factory original equipment when installed but will benefit from more modern materials and heat shielding capabilities.  Stay tuned.

The 911 is one of the more difficult cars to buff primarily because of those iconic headlight rails that have now been around for some 50 years.  Also, it's especially difficult to properly buff around those versions with the turbo whale tale.  Take your time and use a three stage process after washing and claying.  3M makes a great pro-level 3-stage buffing kit (spendy). 

911 Headlight Rails can be hard to buff

All of the 80's 911's have a small tail pipe on the driver's side of the car.  These have a tendency to be a bit rusted after 30 years so we sand them down and respray them with Rustoleum flat black paint.  About 5-6 light coats results in a tail pipe that looks factory new and it takes all of 15 minutes to do it.  

The great thing about the 911 is that outside of a few areas, the materials used to put the car together were top notch.  This includes the interior where the carpets, leather and plastics are among the best you will ever experience.  Modern 911's use a vat dyed or pure-through dyed leather, just like that used by Rolls Royce and Bentley but 1980's era 911's used topically dyed leathers.  The leather was still very high quality but the dye can crack over time and give an eggshell look.  We're bringing together some great German products that can fill these cracks and repair small tears as well.  We've also had some success using hand applied balms (the 911 leather will absorb balms readily) and SEM  topical dyes.

Porsche's Awesome 993

Another point about the engines on th

17" Sport Wheels & Brembo Brakes

e air-cooled 911's.  I've noted that I've never worked on two that were configured exactly the same way.  It's almost as if Porsche was making modifications constantly and engine configuration changes mid-year.  I recently worked on a 993 which was the last of the air-cooled 911's finishing production in 1998.  It's amazing to review the 80's cars back-to-back with the 90's cars since so many things changed.  Certainly, the fit and finish was better, the paint was more sophisticated, there was at least some moulded carpeting by the time the 993.  Porsche continued to improve designs both internally and externally. The grey one shown here is one of several amazing machines we've been lucky to work on at Eurofastcars.  They specialize in the air cooled 911's and take great care in perfecting these amazing machines.  Check them out at www.Eurofastcars.com

See all kinds of information about detailing exotic cars at http://www.blacklabelmmotoring.net

How to Get Top Money for Your Used Car

For most people, selling a car is just a time consuming chore that they would rather have someone else take care of.  The only reason they bother with it at all is the promise of at least some money from the sale.  Very few people take the time or effort to improve their chances for a higher sale value.  But, honestly, it isn't that hard to do some simple things yourself to dramatically enhance the desirability of the car and ensure that you get top money for it when it does sell.

In my detail shop roughly 60% of our business is from people trying to sell their used car or who have just purchased a used car and want it like showroom new.  When I do the just purchased cars, I often wonder why the person who sold it didn't have it detailed already.  I see McDonald's wrappers, empty coffee cups, stains in the carpet, and other upholstery, dull paint and badly scraped bumpers.  I'm fairly certain they could have improved their chances for a quick sale and secured more money for the car if they had gone to the trouble to clean the car up.

A good detailer is worth the money if you are selling your car especially if it is a higher end vehicle.  But you can do some things yourself that will cost little or nothing to make your car look more like a show car.  Here are my top five tips for getting the most out of your sale.

1.  Clean Up the Engine.

Even the crummiest low life used car dealer will clean up an engine.  A dirty engine sends a message to the buyer that it has had no maintenance.  This may not true but that is the impression the potential buyer has.  You don't have to rent a $2,000 high-pressure steamer to clean your engine.  A few dollars here and there and a bit of effort on your part will get your engine looking presentable.  It does not have to be perfect and you shouldn't feel the need to varnish everything in the bay the way the used car dealers do. 

ufe

Engine is not only dirty but is nestled in a rusted out bay .   

Step 2  Wash Clay and Wax the Exterior
Most people do not own a professional variable speed buffer which is used to remove oxidation and swirl scratches from paint.  Although there are reasonably priced ones out there they take some time to learn how to use and are better left to professionals.  Don't waste money buying an "orbital buffer".  Although they do a good job of shining up your car they don't do the same thing as a variable speed buffer and basically you can get the same results by hand.  Do get a bar of clay and a spray on wax and completely clay the car.  It's cheap and will last a long time.  Finally, get some cheap toothbrushes and clean areas around seams that can get clogged with dirt and mold.

Step 3.  Thoroughly clean, vac and shampoo the interior.  If you have carpet mattes, pull them out and soak them in a bin of hot water and laundry detergent.  Later scrub them hard until all of the dirt is out and press as much water out as you can (assuming you do not have a professional extractor).  Hang them up to dry.  Use a dryer lint brush to go in between the front seats and the center console. 

Step 4. Dressing
Of course you should clean up your tires and dress them to make them look darker.  But you should also look at all the rubber components and hard black or grey plastic materials as well.  In some cases these will have faded significantly over time and simply putting tire dressing will not give an optimal result.  In that case take a bit more time and respray these items with Rustoleum Bumper Spray.  It's a very good product and works fairly well in moderate temperatures.

Step 5.  Windows and Headlights & Various Stickers
No matter how much you think no one will care that you put bumper stickers on your car, and parking stickers on your windows, people do notice these things and rarely appreciate them.  If the person you have coming to buy your car is a Republican and you have Obama/Biden stickers all over it, get them off.  Also, no one needs to see your out of date, parking permit or anything else.  Use razors to get off the windows and there are products from Turtle Wax and others that can help with this.  Don't ignore your headlights.  Make sure they are clean and polish them up if you can.  There are some kits available that can help with this and many are very good (3M makes an excellent that we use.)  They cost about $20 and you will need a power drill to work them.

For lots of great information on detailing your car go to http://www.blacklabelmotoring.net

How to Avoid Buying A Flood Car

Despite the seemingly constant amount of rain we experience in the Pacific Northwest, we seldom have any major problems with flooding in our main cities.  Sure, Tillamook floods every ten seconds in the winter and there are regional flooding issues in more rural areas of Washington and Oregon, but for the most part the major population areas avoid this environmental fiasco.

The same can't be said for the Eastern part of the United States.  During the hurricane season, flooding is an unfortunate disaster to be reckoned with and one of the bi-products of floods often shows up on Portland and Seattle area used car lots.  We're talking about flood cars.  The Internet has tons of write-ups about how to spot one of these cars, so we're going to dedicate this entry into knowing where the cars will likely show up and what cosmetic detailing tricks are used by dealers to hide evidence.  The idea is to avoid them all together.

According to online surveys, it's estimated that more than 200,000 cars were damaged in the floods caused by hurricane Sandy.  Where do they all go?  Are they all salvaged and turned into hunks of metal?  The unfortunate reality is that they don't just go away.

It should be no surprise that these cars end up on used car lots.  Often dealerships will send buyers to flood ravaged regions to purchase salvaged flood cars at auction.  Then they will bring the cars back here to the NW and reconstruct a clean title.  They'll clean the car up and sell it to you without ever saying a word about it being in a flood.  Of course, when asked the used car sales rep will say that they "...took the car in on trade."  More reputable dealers (e.g. those with new car dealerships) usually will not bother with this tactic and often do spend a great deal of money bringing the used cars they do sell up to the best possible standards.  Used car dealers are different.  One used car dealer that I know admitted to me that nearly 70% of the cars they sell come from auction houses.

When a car has sat in a flood, it may not show signs of it right away.  In fact, you could drive your car into a lake and leave it there for a few hours, pull it back out and there would be no effect on the factory paint.  Salt water is different though and many flood cars from the east coast have been effected by it.  It is much more damaging to the paint and often you will find that these cars have a sort of bleached ring noticeable at the bottoms of the doors (for trucks and higher SUV's) and mid-way through the body panels on sedans and lower cars.  On lighter color cars it is not as noticeable, but on darker cars it is unmistakeable if you know what you're looking for.  Behind that compromised and bleached paint is rust.  Lots of rust!  In some cases just repainting these rigs will not solve the problem.  The metal has been ruined and would need to be cut out and replaced or each individual part would need to be replaced and painted to match.

On trucks, used car dealers will often put a cheap bed liner over the back to keep you from seeing the paint in the bed.  It is usually completely ruined since it sits so low.  Also in a truck you will often find carpet pulled and replaced by cheaper rubber liners or find that the carpet in a sedan looks new while the rest of the upholstery looks horrible.  Often they don't even bother to replace bad carpet.

Check to see if the car spent anytime in Texas.  Texas has real lax rules about licensing cars and many times dealers will run a car through Texas, roll the odometer back, and then bring it to another state.  A flood car will have excessive rust and damage to components like brakes.  When the time comes to do a brake job, it will be very difficult to get the rotors off and a 1 hour job can turn into 2 or 3 hours.

Leather will be severely damaged by flood.  It will get stretched and will lose it's topical color coating.  This can be fixed but it will cost several hundred dollars to do so.

Avoid used car dealers if you can.  You are always better off buying a car from an individual seller since the price will be cheaper.  Also make sure you can trace the ownership and geographic history of the car.  Never buy anything that has spent some time in Texas.  Buy local cars if you can and if you must go to a dealer, go to one with a series of major manufacture brands who deals primarily in new cars.  Ron Tonkin is a good example.