1964 GTO Preservation Detail
by Greg GellasThis 1964 GTO isn’t your average classic car. It has been featured in numerous music videos and tv shows including, O-Town’s all or Nothing, Lil’Kim-In the Air Tonight, and even an episode of Person of Interest called Get Carter (.05 sec mark).
On top of all this, the car has been painted with Duponts ChromaLusion paint, Indigo Blasberry Prizm. Here is a little information about the paint:
“Looking for a dramatic, changeable color effect? ChromaLusion multi-effect paint features a dazzling change in color and contrast, right before your eyes! A single finish can transition from a shining golden green to an extravagant rosewood, varied with amber and silver tints. These unique colors have no single color of their own – movement, light and differing viewing angles create a rainbow effect.
ChromaLusion Tri-coat colors is the DuPont trademark for a special try-coat offering utilizing subtle, rich, vibrant layers of DuPont ChromaLusion Color sandwiched between a DuPont Basecoat and a DuPont clear. Different effects can be achieved by the application and amount of ChromaLusion color applied over the base coat. You can achieve an infinite number of custom Tri-Coats by applying varying amount of ChromaPremier Factory Packaged ChromaLusion color over any base color. It’s that simple! This sandwich layer of ChomaLusion Color has no color of its own but creates color with a prism effect by refracting or bending light through five layer flake construction. This results in a custom look unique to your creation.
An infinite number of colors are created but the combinations of Basecoat and ChromaLusion color used, application and viewing angle.”
You will see from future pictures that depending on the angle of the photograph taken, the car will look Blue, Purple, or Black. This also made it very difficult to photograph the exact damage to the paint and will show all the colors the car actually looks like in person.
Upon initial inspection, this car was covered in dust. It is a “show” car and doesn’t get driven regularly. Someone decided to wipe the dust off the car, which only resulted in scratches. I started with a quick blow off of the dust with their air compressor. I wanted to assist in minimizing any debris on the surface. Any way I can help remove particles without touching and inducing additional swirling or scratches is key for me.
I began by soaking the car with water. Here we can see that the paint still has wax on it. The tight beading shows that every inch of the paint has been coated with wax. We want that all removed before correction.
I proceeded with a 2 bucket method and a full foaming of the car with CG Wash and Clear. Of course I am going to have a smile on me while detailing this car 🙂 Remember, hold the hose so it can’t hit the paint and induce additional marring.
The tires were then cleaned using Optimum’s Power Clean and the Tuf Shine Tire brush.
Seeing as this was a “show”car, there was not a lot of surface contamination. The Nanoskin pad basically pulled nothing from the surface. After getting the paint to its bare state, I was better able to asses exactly how much damage has resulted from show car dustings, i.e. a wipe down with a quick detailer.
Unlike a full correction, this was a classic car. I was trying to get as much correction, all while removing as little amount of clear as I am able too. For this I decided that a standard LC Orange Pad and Meg’s D300. It allowed for minimal dust and great correction for a one step correction.
Gloss, clarity, and preservation were the key here. For a one step correction I was very happy.
The chrome on the car was taken care of with a MF and Optimum’s Metal Polish. I love this product for chrome, polished wheels, and exhaust tips.
I followed up with Chemical Guys BlackLight then topped that with Optimum Car Wax. I wanted to add just a little extra slickness to the surface and this was a perfect combination to achieve that slickness and create a wonderful gloss. In the after shots you can really see that sometimes the car appears purple, or blue, and even black depending on the angle the picture was taken at.
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Stunning car! Great job on the preservation Greg
Awesome work, I want to see more of these types of posts again.
Just curious, why the M300 with a foam pad and not the MF pad from Meguairs. I use this stuff religiously and if there is a better way I am all for it. I purchased the Blacklight sealant and they talk about how slick it is. Is is just me or does this stuff have no slickness. I also use Wet Diamond and the slickness is off the charts. For production I use the Finish Wax and MF pad from Megiaurs. Great slickness too, alot cheaper than the Wet Diamond. Thanks for the info, always looking to better my game.
XMen, I chose the foam with D300 over a MF pad as it seemed to finish down better. Especially, since I was doing a one step correction, I needed a really clear finish, and not one hazy. This combination for this paint seemed to be the perfect match. On a softer paint I would have had to probably finish with a black pad and different polish.
As for slickness, I do find BL to be slick but as you have said, BFWD may be slicker, but lacks the paint cleaning properties. So by topping BL with the OPT spray wax I got amazing slickness and a clean and clear paint.
Greg 🙂
Thanks for the info, going to try D300 with foam next time. Might try half hood with foam and half with MF and see what you mean. I saw on the BL they recommend putting the hybrid spray on top of it for the slickness. I really like the surbuf pads. Nobody has mentioned using them for wax application. I have been using them with BFWD and the Meguiars Finish Wax and getting great results. Does not seem to load like foam and MF pads, seems to glide over the paint from start to finish. Not very durable though, hit a door handle the wrong way it tears up the edge. Wife had some tack glue for crafts, tried it on the surbuf edges that were separating from the foam and worked great. Glue does not dry hard so no worries over scratching.
Dave
The Surbuff pads are for correction. I would suggest a Black pad for wax and sealant application.
Greg 🙂
I knew I recognized that car when I saw the thumbnail pic…. nice work!
Going to be working on mid 80’s Corvette over this weekend and I was wondering how Optimum’s metal polish would work on that year factory wheels. Noted you used it on the GTO.
Very nice, Greg…you really brought out the colors!