When I got the call for this I knew very little about the car until I arrived in the county of Robin Hoodshire….I was quickly informed of its rarity…The owner has had this for 18 months and was keen to getting it in a condition that was worthy of its stature….The pictures before do not look too bad but as with every job its what lies beneath the surface that we are interested….Now this was a “Do what you can in 2 days” kind of detail which HAD to include Engine Bay and Leather(which when you see the images was going to prove to be a fair old task)

On Arrival….

The dogs love this area….But a trim strip is on order for this exact reason…

Obviously wheels set upon with Scholl Concepts Rim 7….

This was around 30seconds of dwell time….

And this about 2-3 minutes….

Over a period of around 5-8 minutes we were getting this result….

They were then agitated with a Vikan brush…small detail brush and my synthetic sea sponge….

The car was then foamed with VP Neutral….

Washed with Zaino Z7 after a real good and proper rinse….Clayed with DJ Supernatural Clay and rinsed further to remove any residue….it was then dried with the Aeolus Dryer….leaving a nice dry surface….

The sun shone for a while so i got a few defect shots….

As I say this was an “all you can eat” basically and not til I had started did I realise that some sacrifices would have to be made….the paint was by far the HARDEST i have come across….like polishing a concrete block….yes the paint had seen some revisiting by a bodyshop in previous years and this was duly noted but hard wasnt really the word I wanted in the vocabulary on this…Tough yes I could have dealt with but HARD….it was mentally hard as well as physically thats how much harder this was than any previous I had done….I tried the lowest of low to start with that I thought would cut the grain S17+ and an Orange Pad but nope….I then moved up to S3 GE with the same Pad and Nope….I then cracked out old faithful Spider Sandwich Pad for the larger areas and the Scholl purple for the others along with S3 GE….

Leaving me with this….

I decided at this point to refine what I had done and finish the bonnet….S17+ on orange with Rotary and then Nanotech Super Gloss on orange via DA….

Yep still a few blemishes remain but as i said something had to give….

After I had sorted the combinations it was crack on time….

This is a previous wet sand effort by who….who knows….some bodyshop somewhere….

A few more curly wurly’s and scratches to the front wing….

And after….

Not perfect but much better….

The remainder of the passenger was like this….

OS faired little better….

Clever use of the Alpina stripes….

Tailgate was particularly tricky….with signs of previous machining….

This was pretty bad but I did what i could….

Remember the rear bumper…well it came up like this….which aint too bad in truth….

Peter Kaye says “your lights,your lights, youve not got your lights on”…well now i think these needed a little attention…ok not so bad but the clarity is not really in the polishing of lights but by the way you are seen at night….safety first eh….

So after all was completed and wiped down the lights were still out so I took a few for your pleasure….

As you will see by these pics…not all is gone but I aint in the game for hiding….show it how it is….

Now with time fast running out with plenty still left to do….like clean the Alpina stripes….this took an hour alone….

I had to make my decision on LSP throughout the day but every intention was to use the new Cquartz Uk kit provided by Gordon but due to a few factors….weather and where it was parked overnight and the amount of tree sap and bee droppings that had to be put on the back burner….there was a hint that I may have time to get round with a coat of Zymol Ital but that hint soon dispersed with the rain that came 5 minutes later…so only one choice left then….

Permanon Platinum…applied neat in the few spots of rain that fell….wasnt heavy at the time of application but soon after it was buffed away it came down quickly leaving these….

So as you will gather the final pictures will be in the rain but hey…you cant beat the good old british weather….but with Permanon you sure can join it….

The engine bay came up looking like a new pin and the leather….well take a look….

First the engine….Remember this from way back when….

Look at it now….cleaned with my very own degreaser and hard graft but dressed so easily with Carpro Perl….

Leather was in a bit of a state as i say….

The rears werent too bad and with Zaino Leather Cleaning and conditioning power between Z9 and Z10 the game was pretty much up….

Yeah I am known for the old spot of Reflectography but here we have a car that is worthy of its place on the good old isle of blighty so why not show it how it will be from now on…. ok just a couple….

Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed it as much as i did….Total time spent over the 2 days was circa 25hrs….with the majority being in the first day and on the paintwork….