I fell in love with the girl at the car show

[MLPearson79]

...just kidding. A line from one of my favorite songs, modified to fit the day.

So after my ****ty morning, my in-laws called to see if we wanted to go to a little car show being held downtown. Every year I forget about this show til they call the day of.

SWEET! I wanted to go, hubby didn't, so I went with them.

Lots of cars from the 30s and 60s. Big BelAirs, a handful of GTOs (LOVE GTOs!), lots of Model As and hot rods. Between 300-400 cars total.

And ONE, lonely, singular, BEAUTIFUL restored 1965 Austin Cooper. Sort of an Indi Blue color, w/UJ roof.

Me ->

It had pictures from pre-restoration, and it was literally pretty much a rust bucket. The restoration was amazing. Just beautiful.

Anyway, my main observation was how FEW of the cars had paint that was in good condition. I get that not all cars can look like brand new...but if you're showing them, shouldn't they be pretty close? I guess I don't get the car show thing...it wasn't a concours event or anything, but I saw MAYBE 20 cars that had really good paint and only 10 that were flawless.

I also noticed how obsessed with paint condition I am. I was walking up to all the cars, trying to get the best angle of the light to look for imperfections

But is that normal for a car show? A lot of the cars looked just awesome from 10 feet away...but when you got up close...

[kenchan]

i read the first line 'just kidding' and forgot to read the rest of your post.

[MLPearson79]

[kenchan]

ok, i read your post.

and i have to agree that most display cars are swirled pretty badly.
the cars you see at conventions are ikkkk.

it's the concours/show cars that really have the nicest finish.

[MLPearson79]

I been shopping.

I want it.

There'd have to be some lotto winning first, though. Boo.

[Donna/Mike]

Originally Posted by MLWagner79

I been shopping.

I want it.

There'd have to be some lotto winning first, though. Boo.

Oooooo - Ahhhhh - that is one little beauty....

Donna

[BlimeyCabrio]

Originally Posted by MLWagner79

I been shopping.

I want it.

There'd have to be some lotto winning first, though. Boo.

OMG - that's a beauty.

[dimini]

Originally Posted by MLWagner79

I been shopping.

I want it.

There'd have to be some lotto winning first, though. Boo.

BE CAREFUL!!!

This is a nasty addiction that will not go away by just looking at pictures.

[BlimeyCabrio]

Originally Posted by dimini

BE CAREFUL!!!

This is a nasty addiction that will not go away by just looking at pictures.

Yeah - somebody needs to start a "Classic Porn" thread for those of us who are getting this addiction...

Lately, I'm getting the hots looking at Nano's little sister.

[MINIxB]

All this talk about swirls and stuff but you never mention how to get rid of them....

Originally Posted by MLWagner79

I been shopping.

I want it.

There'd have to be some lotto winning first, though. Boo.

That one is a cutey. I wish mine looked that good but I love her the way she is.

[justintime]

blink 182? havnt heard that one in a whileeee

[justintime]

wait, no that was rock show I think.. hmm idk

[MLPearson79]

Yup, that was the reference...good ear!

[MiniMaybee]

Originally Posted by MLWagner79

I also noticed how obsessed with paint condition I am. I was walking up to all the cars, trying to get the best angle of the light to look for imperfections

But is that normal for a car show? A lot of the cars looked just awesome from 10 feet away...but when you got up close...

I cringe at each and every car show I attend or enter. It is simply amazing how badly 90% or the cars are swirled. I was at a show this spring in Nebraska and I saw some guy's kid rubbing, and I mean hard, with some crap QD and an old bath towel on an otherwise sweet '57 Chevy. I finally just couldn't take it any more and went over to talk with the guy. His response - his son likes to help and nope never heard of microfiber . I walked - why waste the time .
I've talked to Heather about this as well and she said that most of the hot rod crowd are old school and just don't notice or care about the finish of their $15,000 paint jobs . It's true though, my Dad was that way until I converted him, now he's a Prima user and a swirl noticer.

[ScottRiqui]

Originally Posted by MiniMaybee

I've talked to Heather about this as well and she said that most of the hot rod crowd are old school and just don't notice or care about the finish of their $15,000 paint jobs . It's true though, my Dad was that way until I converted him, now he's a Prima user and a swirl noticer.

I know what you mean. Back in the mid-eighties, a friend of mine had his Corvair repainted, and when he showed it to me, it had the most heinous buffer swirls and holograms I'd ever seen. The painter had told him that it was "an optical illusion from the new paint being so shiny". After I fixed the paint for him, he took it back to the shop where he had it painted, and the guy that shot the paint just mumbled something and walked off.

[OctaneGuy]

Obtaining and maintaining a true show car finish isn't something that people who show off their cars necessarily know. At last years SEMA, I took photos of many of the award winning custom paint jobs that were horribly swirled out. Passing my card out to these people didn't do a bit of good though.

[ScottRiqui]

Originally Posted by OctaneGuy

Obtaining and maintaining a true show car finish isn't something that people who show off their cars necessarily know.

Absolutely true, and that's a shame, because from a dollar-cost standpoint, getting and maintaining a smooth, swirl-free finish is practically free, compared to the cost of a high-quality paint job.

[lhoboy]

Originally Posted by ScottRiqui

Absolutely true, and that's a shame, because from a dollar-cost standpoint, getting and maintaining a smooth, swirl-free finish is practically free, compared to the cost of a high-quality paint job.

I don't think you are putting enough value on your time. By the hour, good paint care can get real expensive.

[MLPearson79]

Originally Posted by lhoboy

I don't think you are putting enough value on your time. By the hour, good paint care can get real expensive.

Not really. You just have to stay on top of it. Some of these show-car paint jobs are $15k+.

[ScottRiqui]

Originally Posted by lhoboy

I don't think you are putting enough value on your time. By the hour, good paint care can get real expensive.

Well, I used the term "dollar cost" specifically to refer to the cost of materials. I understand and agree that there's also a labour cost involved. But in my case, detailing is also a hobby, so it's not as if the time I spend detailing our vehicles is time that I would rather spend doing something else.

You're right, though - if for some reason I wanted to assign some arbitrary cost per hour on the time I've spent detailing cars and bikes over the years, then I've spent tens of thousands of "dollars" on paint care, but I think that's a meaningless calculation.

[MiniMaybee]

I'm just amazed at how oblivious they are to the swirls. You can point them out, tell them how they can be rid of them and how to prevent them from reoccurring but all you get is that "deer in the headlights" look.
It is so hard these days to find a quality painter and so expensive to get your car painted that you would think you would want it to be as near flawless as possible.
If the kid wants to help tell him to wipe down the muffler, and buy a decent towel for cripes sake and quit using the goo from Wallyworld. How tough can it be.

[BlimeyCabrio]

Being a newly converted semi-OCD swirlaphobe... I'm just curious... some of this stuff we take for granted now (the PC, lotsa quality polishes, variety of foam pads, etc.) are fairly recent developments, aren't they? Last few years, anyway? I know guys have been using rotaries and wool bonnets forever...

'Cause maybe it's just that, if you got your learnin' more than a few years ago, you have a totally different understanding of what's practical for mere mortals than we do... because what was practical, say, 10 years ago might be a bunch of swirls and holograms?

Just curious - agree or refute...

[Skuzzy]

Originally Posted by BlimeyCabrio

Being a newly converted semi-OCD swirlaphobe... I'm just curious... some of this stuff we take for granted now (the PC, lotsa quality polishes, variety of foam pads, etc.) are fairly recent developments, aren't they? Last few years, anyway? I know guys have been using rotaries and wool bonnets forever...

'Cause maybe it's just that, if you got your learnin' more than a few years ago, you have a totally different understanding of what's practical for mere mortals than we do... because what was practical, say, 10 years ago might be a bunch of swirls and holograms?

Just curious - agree or refute...

I disagree. Been taking care of my cars for over 35 years, and never had swirl marks in the paint. The only difference between then and now is the quailty of the paint itself and the tools/product available to keep paint looking good. Alll of the new stuff has made it easier to maintain the paint.

The amount of work it used to take to keep a paint finish swirl/mar free was very time consuming. The old lacquer paints were easy to mar, but presented the best shine when properly polished. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to avoid swilr marks in lacquer. Even hand rubbing wet would still leave some marks.

Then the old enamels were so soft, it was difficult to get a shine out of them. So you saturated them with waxes which were not as easy to apply and remove, leaving behind marks.

The only way to remove swirls back then was to wet rub the surface with a dense cotton towel. Had to be careful to turn/replace the towel often. Took a lot of time.

[BlimeyCabrio]

Originally Posted by Skuzzy

I disagree. Been taking care of my cars for over 35 years, and never had swirl marks in the paint. The only difference between then and now is the quailty of the paint itself and the tools/product available to keep paint looking good. Alll of the new stuff has made it easier to maintain the paint.

The amount of work it used to take to keep a paint finish swirl/mar free was very time consuming. The old lacquer paints were easy to mar, but presented the best shine when properly polished. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to avoid swilr marks in lacquer. Even hand rubbing wet would still leave some marks.

Then the old enamels were so soft, it was difficult to get a shine out of them. So you saturated them with waxes which were not as easy to apply and remove, leaving behind marks.

The only way to remove swirls back then was to wet rub the surface with a dense cotton towel. Had to be careful to turn/replace the towel often. Took a lot of time.

I think you posted this during that same "not enough caffiene yet" period. Cause you started out saying "I disagree"... then by the end you had made the same argument I was making.

... that swirl-free finishes were very, very hard to achieve and maintain with older methods. To the point of being impractical for many.

[agranger]

I think that most body shops earn their bread and butter on collision repair work. There is only one high-end shop in Dallas that I know of where I would expect them to be able to buff out the paint to a swirl-free fiish. The other ones would be perfectly happy to pick up their buffer from the shop floor and polish your paint for you if you wanted...