Gratuitous concours/car show photos

[Rusty Heap]

Love it for having the steering wheel on the "wrong" side of the car alone.........for us yanks in the states, it's WAY FRIGGIN' WEIRD to shift with your left hand.......been there tried that.

thanks for the photos, enjoy a steak pie and Macs for me.

[PK010]

Very very nice - great pics - great car - I'm looking forward to hearing about the method!

Regards,
Paul

[Diamond911]

OK, as promised here are a selection of photos from the car show. It should be noted that some of these cars in in 'Show n Shine" rather than full concours.

enjoy

[Miguel Antonett]

Congratulations!

Pretty clean car and very nice to be a winner among all those P-cars.

Question, they all look to me - with one exception - pretty tall (wheel/fender lip clearance), is that due to the roads up there or...?

[Diamond911]

Ok I promised to give you a feel for what methods I used and how long it took etc. so here goes:

The number one secret is E L B O W G R E A S E . Sorry to disappoint but that’s really what it comes down to in the end. Sure, great products help but you can’t get anywhere without putting in the hard yards.

Note that I have no hidden association with any car products mentioned.

Firstly the interior. I used Leatherique Rejuvenator Oil and then Pristine Clean on the leather seats. I basically followed the instructions but applied the rejuvenator oil by hand to get a better feel for the material and not to waste the oil which is quite expensive. Baked in sun for a day, then remove gunk which is expressed to the surface using Pristine Clean. Then rinse off seats with damp sponge. On the rest of the full leather interior (ie door and side panels) I skipped the rejuvenator oil step and used pristine clean.

Carpets – simply fully removed carpets and vacuumed thoroughly. While carpets out vacuum car thoroughly and clean the floor pans. Make sure you dry it and don’t leave any moisture.

Dashboard – Mother’s naturally black.

Undercarriage – put car up on jack stands and remove all wheels. Dilute a biodegradable degreaser in a little spray bottle and go for your life underneath the car. I don’t actually get under the car for safety reasons but spray as far as I can. Use a dishwashing brush and sponges for hard to move grease and dirt. Spray off with pressure washer. Same for wheel arches and suspension.

Wheels - while the Fuchs are off they are thoroughly cleaned inside and out and because a PO nut removed the anodizing on my rims I polish them up. Tyres are dressed with a tyre dressing that doesn’t leave an artificial shine.

Exterior – wash car to remove any unwanted contaminants. Carefully and lightly clay bar car with ample lubricant. Then I use a very light surface treatment by Bowden’s Own called Auto Body Treatment (from their website “This is the " Polish " you have to use when your working on either an older car with its precious original coat of paint.”). Follow this with Bowden’s wax which is a mix of Jojoba and Carnauba wax.

Rubber - all rubber exterior including rear spoiler, front smile, front spoiler etc is dressed with Mother’s naturally black.

Glass is simply a glass cleaner detergent and wiped off with newspaper.

Front luggage area – remove all carpets, spare wheel, jack and everything else. Clean all areas especially around battery compartment. I just use soapy water and a sponge. Make sure to dry all areas properly and air out before replacing items (you don’t want to leave any unwanted moisture to promote rust).

Engine bay – biodegradable degreaser, toothrush and a whole lot of elbow grease. Dress anything black including all hoses and plastic with Mother’s naturally black. I do not use a pressure washer or too much water in the engine bay. I know that some do with no problems however I try to avoid it.

Detailing - then comes the detailing. Getting in to every nook and cranny throughout the car to make sure it’s all clean.

All up I spread the process over 3 weekends or 6 days. Probably average around 5hrs per day so 30 hours all up as a round figure at a guess.

Anyway, that is a very brief summary of what I did so I hope that it is helpful to you guys who expressed an interest.

Cheers,
Bryan

[Diamond911]

Originally Posted by Miguel Antonett

Congratulations!

Pretty clean car and very nice to be a winner among all those P-cars.

Question, they all look to me - with one exception - pretty tall (wheel/fender lip clearance), is that due to the roads up there or...?

Yeah, we have to be very careful of stray kangaroos and koalas over here!. Seriously though, no, the roads over hear are very good so that isn't an issue. Maybe it's just the selection of cars I have chosen to include. In general I don't think our cars would be any higher on average but I may be wrong.

Mine is factory ride height which I won't be lowering as I'd like to keep the car stock standard.

cheers,