If anyone in the OC area has been wanting to attend a c3 NXT garage clinic but hasn't been able to make it up to the LA area, we're going to be in your neck of the woods for 2 consecutive weekends on Sat, August 6 and Sat, August 13 at Super Autobacs.

Read about the details here:
http://c3club.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=210

Here's the address:
12645 Beach Blvd. Stanton, CA90680
Tel:(714)903-9900 Fax:(714)903-9901
http://www.autobacsusa.com/product.html

We will be there working on our cars and supporting Meguiars who is one of our major sponsors, and will have a few extra slots for other MINI's to be detailed as well, but you MUST sign up first by PMing me. We won't be able to work on any cars that haven't already been pre-arranged by me.

See you next weekend!

REMINDER: If you want your car detailed, you MUST arrange it with me first.
Thanks!

Richard

 

I've seen your messages before for the Meguiar's days - question: Am I detailing my car and the deal is that there are Meguiar's products available, or is it being done for me?! I'm in San Diego, so I'm not sure my car will be in prime detailable condition after the drive up either! I clicked on your link, but didn't get a clear picture of what the deal is.

Thanks!

Oh yeah - you'll have a blast driving around Julian, especially if you start early, probably lots of slow-driving tourists up there this time of year. Actually there are always slow-driving tourists around there, but I imagine you have some good route-makers to lead you to less-congested roads.

 

Good questions. Have a look at the last clinic I held--it was actually a private session for 2 persons that couldn't make the weekend clinics, so that's why there are only 2 people. :smile:

http://www.c3club.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=219

Yes you will be detailing your car using the techniques, products, and tools that I teach you. I can detail it if you prefer, and or, you can let the rest of our crew work on it as well, or just do it yourself. It's really just a fun way to get together, work on our cars and get to know one another and leave with a "brand spankin new finish".

With the hands on use of the Meguiars products and proper techniques you
you'll learn lots even if you're a knowledgable detailer.

While I'm still waiting for confirmation of the group detailing portion at Autobacs, if it's a go ahead, and I hope to know in the next few days, we should have a hose and buckets and car wash soap, then we got EZ Ups that we'll park under and work there. This will be our first time doing a c3 clinic anywhere other than my house, so it's going to be a big deal to move all my chemicals and tools down to OC for this event.

Which day(s) are you interested in attending??

Thanks for the info on Julian!

Richard

 

Ok, today is the day. Saturday, 9AM to 6PM, come on out and say hello. Our club will be there detailing MINI's with NXT. See you all soon!

Richard

 

Here is some pictures from C3 Autobacs event on Aug. 6th.


Here is Autobacs store, its huge aftermarket super store.


lots of ricers there


another detailed MINI, NXT looks fantastic


fully loaded! noticed dishwashing liquid box...


fully loaded with Meguiar's, woohooo....


This Ferrari was too noisy, took forever to load to flatbed due to his front end being too low.
PW/B MCS is taking 2 parking spots

 

That was a F40 Ferrari. Too bad it was getting towed. Wish I was closer so I could join you folks on your detailing get togethers.

 

Looks fun Richard, Karen MCS looks nice.....
Can't wait for the next event which is this coming Sat Aug 13th. Cooo.

 

Super Autobacs, Saturday Aug.6, 2005
Today was another fun day of detailing with the c3 gang. Meguiar's asked us to support Super Autobacs by showing off a few static MINI's, which we were glad to do, but the thought of asking several club members to drop their cars off, or have them sit around from 9AM to 6PM twiddling their thumbs wasn't very appealing so I suggested to Jason Rose that why not just do a full-on c3 NXT Clinic and demo the products on real cars! Then we'd have a whole bunch of MINI's to look at, and no problem about hanging out all day cause we'd all be enjoying ourselves.

To make a long story short, while we had a very successful and eventful day, it didn't go all that smoothly. From the very moment we arrived there were all kinds of crazy restrictions upon us. We couldn't set up our EZ-Ups because of lack of city permits, although vendors were given shade protection. We weren't allowed to use Autobacs hoses for washing down the cars because they were all in use. We asked for some balloons that they were giving out to make things more festive and they gave us that line again that it was against city permits to take ballons outdoors. Hmmm, so for the first several hours, we just hung out in the parking lot not interested in doing very much.

And it was blistering HOT sitting in the sun!!!!! In fact I measured the temperature of the paint on one of our cars and it was 150 degrees in the sun, and 105 degrees in the shade. It wasn't until later that Autobacs finally agreed to allow us to pitch our tents!


Autobacs is Huge!!!



But it looks much better with MINI's!



Race cars everywhere!

Not sure why they put them in front of our MINI's. Nobody could see our parked MINI's on display here. In retrospect, this should have been flipped, and our display should have been out front, because a fleet of gleeming MINIs would attract a lot more attention in my opinion, than two dirty drift cars.

Here too!



Nice Ferrari!!



We Were Busy

While the morning was pretty quiet, as soon as 11:30 rolled around and we were detailing full speed, we never could get any quiet time after that! Not that we cared though! Unfortunately the way they positioned us, we could only have one car be detailed at a time, and the rest had to be in the parking lot--hidden behind the Drift cars.

Meguiar's Display on opposite side of entrance





Grub Time

The nice thing about this event was that good food was just next door! And if any of you are familiar with asian Boba, there was an excellent one just a few doors down.

To Fully Support Meguiars...

I made these vinyl decals with my vinyl cutter. I stayed up late the night before the event to make enough stickers for all the MINIs. It was fun and worth it to go the extra mile, but it did only allow me 4 hours of sleep that night. Thank god for Shark Energy Drinks which one of the customers so graciously offered to us.

It was a shame that we worked so hard with virtually no support from either Meguiar's or Autobacs. A little cold water to drink would have been nice for us as well as the Meguiar's customers (maybe even branded water with the Meguiar's logo??) or even a bit of sales assistance while we detailed would have been nice. But I have to give credit to Mike Pennington for trying his best to accomodate us both before and after the event and this being our first event together, I expected there to be some flaws.

What I'm really hoping for is that we can all learn from this, and take advantage of the time left before our next event this coming weekend to make some effective improvements.

For instance it became apparent early on that the top level organizers were unwilling to go the extra step to even do something as simple as locate an extra hose for us to wash our cars--and instead just tell us that they were all in use. Luckily I brought my own hose just in case. A few moments after washing, an Autobacs rep asked if we needed any hoses, and when I told him what the organizer said, he laughed and said that I was talking to the wrong people, that he would get me anything I needed. Now why weren't the rest of Autobac's organizers like this guy???

Another Decal


Great View If Only We Could Be Seen!

I wish we could have been positioned a little better. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but we worked hard, and not being able to display the end result to the public put a damper on things. It would have been nice had anyone at Autobacs or even Meguiar's known that we were were there to give demos and not working off 3 week old information from when I first talked to Jason. We drove traffic into the store as I showed people how to properly use NXT Tech Wax or Scratch X, Quik Detailer, NXT Glass Cleaner, Quick Clay System, and NXT Car Wash. For the G100, I suggested they take a look inside for it, or just order it direct from Meguiar's, but wouldn't it have been great if we had flyers to give out that told people where to buy them today??? Or a Meguiar's rep that could direct the people who were now ready to buy the products that we demoed, directly to the aisle inside the store or even just be on hand to answer questions while we could concentrate on working?



Another example of poor communication. I was told that we could demo products as long as they were available in the Autobacs store. Never having been there before, I called up the store and asked them if they had the products I planned to demo. After 3 different people who couldn't tell me if they sold M83, they tried to connect me with the buyer, who ended up not being reachable and told me to send an email of the products--I never got a reply back.

When I arrived I was told Autobacs was sold out of Quik Detailer. Were they really expecting me NOT to demo Quik Detailer???

Clay Bar is so often Misunderstood, Yet Essential!

We need more clay bar!! While we give small pieces to our members to use, they still get dropped (which are promptly trashed), and with up to 20 cars a session, our clay gets dirty fast in just a few months.

Karen Doing the NXT Metal Polysh



So many products!



So many products!

Autobacs had the largest stock of Meguiar's products both consumer and professional that I've seen anywhere. However they were out of Quik Detailer on this day---bad thing since we used it so much, and they didn't stock M80 or M83.


Demoing Claybar


Hideo, the owner of this MINI, was amazed at how smooth the paint was. He felt the car was shinier and cleaner than when he even bought the car, all thanks to NXT and the Quick Clay System!


Showing a customer how the rotary differs from the PC, and exactly why the PC is a safe tool to use. Most people have the misconception that the dual action buffer is hard to use or has too much potential to cause great damage--but just a few minutes of showing them how it spins or stops spinning as more pressure is applied, they are immediately sold and ready to buy. This is where a Meguiar's or Autobacs sales rep should be ready to take that order!


Working the test spot still.


Applying M83 on the test spot as the owner looks on.


Although I wasn't supposed to demo M83, this MINI which hadn't been detailed all it's life really needed some tender loving care, and NXT Tech Wax alone wasn't going to cut it. So I kept this bottle of M83 hidden, and used it on our test spot. I mean, do you stick to the rules or do what's best??

Explaining which products I was going to use on the test spot.

3 passes of M83 followed by a single pass of NXT Tech Wax and a single pass of Gold Class Clear Coat Wax for the test spot, although we ended up only having time for NXT for the rest of the car.


I came as prepared as possible and didn't take anything for granted. I brought over 300' in extension cords, every Meguiar's product I own, and I borrowed buffers and EZUps from club members. If Autobacs really wants to increase sales of products, they should make sure they have the products that customers use, and I can't believe they don't stock M80 or M83.


Explaining why the PC is safe over the rotary. I kept getting asked all kinds of paint related questions, and after awhile I wondered how come they weren't going over to the Meguiar's display. If we had been positioned closer together, we could have easily referred people to Meguiars-instead of just telling them to go look on the other side of the building for Meguiar's. Who knows if those were lost sales or not?

Strawberry Smoothie with Boba Time...

Oooooh this was soooooo good. See those black ***** at the bottom? That's boba which are these rubbery, virtually tasteless ***** that you suck up through a fat straw along with the mixture--in this case strawberry smoothie--so you're both chewing and drinking. Traditional boba uses a sweet milk tea. I was a little red by this time, and not from drinking, but from the sun! I got burnt bad!

Highlights

One of the highlights of the day was when an older gentleman was walking around handing his business card to everyone. At some point he approached me and asked if I worked fulltime for Meguiar's, and I said no. He looked confused and I told him that we were just a car club that Meguiar's support, and I wear this NXT shirt when I host the clinics. Then he asked why I was here today, and I replied that I enjoyed detailing MINI's, and I was here to support Meguiar's. He didn't believe me and asked me for the REAL REASON. I repeated it, so he walked off and asked another c3 member. He did this several times throughout the day, and it wasn't until later when he asked me again, and I told him that I founded this MINI club where we supported childrens charities and we just loved our cars so much that he finally accepted my answer! He replied to me that he was good friends with Barry and that's why he supported Meguiar's. I looked down at his card and noticed his name was Phil Adcock (President/CEO USA Support Center). I gave him my c3 business card and he said he would put in a good word. Then at the end of the day, he thanked us profusely for coming and supporting Autobacs, which was a really nice gesture.

When the Event ended...

we spent a good hour and half breaking everything down and for the finishing touch, I branded each MINI by applying the vinyl Meguiar's logos I cut. Everyone was so enthusiastic about wearing the Meguiar's badge! It's hard to tell from this picture but it's located just in front of the rear wheel on the bottom part of the rear quarter panel. It may look small, but it's the same size as the ones on my white mirrors.


Then we went inside to shop and spend our $10 Gift Card that was given to the first 100 customers. One of our members spent $80 on top of that gift card, I spent $20 buying more Trim Detailer and Speed Detailer. Everyone bought something!

All in all, we had a great day once we got detailing and meeting the customers. We directed lots of traffic to the store as we demoed products, and for other things like the G100 we directed to Meguiars.com. There were atleast 3 instances where people told me they were afraid to use the PC and instead did everything by hand, but just a few minutes of showing them how safe it was they were looking for someone to buy the product from! We really needed a Meguiar's rep there to seal the deal!

We're all eager to come back and detail more MINI's! We've got more than twice as many people signed up for this weekend than last, so it's sure to make a big impact.

I hope Meguiar's will see the value in this and take some of our suggestions to heart before our next clinic, so we can make a stronger unified impression upon the customers, after all, we should be supporting each other, right?