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August and Frederick Duesenberg founded their iconic automobile company in Des Moines, Iowa in 1913. Born in Germany, the brothers were self taught engineers, making the Duesenberg all that more remarkable as it was considered the finest automobile in the world at the company's peak, and at one time a Duesy even graced the cover of Time Magazine as the most expensive car in the world. Duesenberg had such sporting character that it won the Indianapolis 500 in 1924, 1925 and 1927. Duesenberg won the Frence Grand Prix at Le Mans in 1921. The company was eventually sold to E.L. Cord, who owned Auburn Automobile in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was Cord who wanted to build the largest, fastest, most expensive and prestigious car in the world.
Fast forward to 2015 and a crew assembled in Fort Worth, Texas to prep a special example of this fabled marque for an upcoming auction. This, friends, was Fort Worth, Texas in late February, 2015. Yes. Texas.
Are you kidding me??? Nick Chapman, of Nick's Custom Detailing, was our lead on this project as he has been tasked with prepping the higher end cars of the Andrews Collection of Forth Worth. Since Nick has been using Meguiar's products almost exclusively on the amazing cars in this collection, he called us up and suggested that we might want to document some of this work. With the new MT300 about to hit the streets, and our new DA Thin Foam Discs already making waves in the industry, we jumped at the chance to head to Texas and maybe shoot a video on the project. The weather could have been a bit more welcoming though!
Very welcoming, however, was Nick Chapman and the other two detailers who joined us, Scott Nichols and Lisa Ploughman of Distinct Detail out of Phoenix, Arizona. Jason Rose and I rounded out the crew of five who would be working on this car for the next few days - more than 120 man hours in total!
The Andrews Collection. Located in Fort Worth, Texas, Paul Andrews and his son Chris have amassed a collection of nearly 100 special, unique and often historically significant automobiles. Their collection includes everything from pure classics to hot rods, muscle cars, race cars, European post war sports car, modern exotics, rat rods, pickup trucks, and even a couple of Chip Foose's creations. Eldorod, anyone?
But we came to Texas for one very special car. A 1935 Duesenberg SJ, known by it's engine number, SJ553. "J" refers to the model designation, as in Duesenberg Model J. The "S" stands for "supercharged", meaning this is one of the 36 factory supercharged cars built by Duesenberg. Making 320HP, this enormous car was easily capable of cruising at well over 100mph, with a top speed nearing 140mph. Zero to 60 could be accomplished in about 8 seconds. It may sound crass to talk about performance figures for such a stately vehicle, but Duesenberg was all about dominant performance and dominant luxury. With this car, you really could have the best of both worlds. At a price. When the average annual salary of a physician was about $3000, a Duesenberg chassis cost $9500. Yes, that was for the chassis and drive train. The body was extra. And the body on this car is something special indeed. Two of the major coachbuilders of the day, Murphy and Bohman & Schwartz, were based in Pasadena, CA. Those of you who know a bit about Meguiar's history know that we, too, were based in Pasadena at that time. And these two coachbuilders used our products on their finished products. Barry Meguiar loves telling this story at any event where he has the opportunity to discuss Meguiar's, and his family's, history.
Our project Duesenberg was bodied by Bohman & Schwartz, and is wrapped in very unusual, very curvaceous and flowing lines for a Duesy rather than the more traditional, upright lines most associate with the marque. But it makes perfect sense when you realize that the car was originally designed with a specific customer in mind - Mae West! Apparently, Ms. West grew impatient waiting for this car to be completed and so she opted for another car instead. SJ553 was ultimately acquired by one Edith Mars, then CEO of the Mars Candy Company in Chicago, IL. When delivered to Mrs. Mars, we can only imagine the sensation it caused (it was painted a light gray at first) with those incredible lines, enormous size, and Meguiar's shine!!
The car traded hands a few times over the years, and in the early 2000's it was fully restored and given a very stately black paint job. It sold at RM Auctions Monterey Sale in 2007 for $4,400,000. This is how we found her, front and center on display at the Andrews Collection.
We mentioned that we were shooting some video of this project, didn't we? Be patient, the video will be posted when it's ready!
OK, time to get to work. SJ553 is a huge car, so Nick lined up a huge selection of product. We had no clue how the paint would react so we lined up a variety of product to cover any eventuality. No matter whether you're working on a late model Kia, or a multi million dollar classic Duesy, the first thing you do when polishing the paint is a test spot. With the test spot you are investigating the characteristics of the paint, balancing the level of defects present with speed of removal while minimizing paint removal. You're looking for a reduction in below surface defects while creating minimal haze through your process and product choice. You're fine tuning your technique - tool speed, pressure, arm speed, pad selection, etc - to correct defects and maximize gloss, depth and clarity. Regardless the vehicle in question, no matter the model year, value of the vehicle in terms of monetary or historical perspective, you're still working on paint. And you need to figure out, understand, how that paint is going to respond to your input. You also need to set a goal for the finish you're chasing after. A nice, high gloss? Maybe a true show car shine? An actual, no holds barred concours finish, perhaps? In this case, we knew we were prepping the car for sale at auction, not because it was competing for Best of Show at Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, Villa d'Este, etc. There is a big difference. But we also wanted to do real justice to this car, and make her the star of the event that she deserves to be.
The finish wasn't horrible, but it was showing signs of neglect. Swirls, fine scratches, some haze.... all of which held back the overall appearance of this amazing car.
With all the tigher spaces on this car, we lined up some specialized tools and custom cut down pads. For interior painted trim, narrow areas between the trim on the running boards, the tight radius curves of the tail light bullets.... all of these required polishing but some things just can't be polished with a 5" foam pad. A selection of small footprint air powered tools did duty in those areas of the car.
Lisa is a master of interior work, whether that means polishing painted trim, polishing aluminum trim, steam cleaning carpets and upholstery, or carefully cleaning (with a toothbrush) the one of a kind woven cloth headliner of a 1935 Voisin C25 Clairiere Berline that won the Preservation Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2013. Yep, she did that. Apparently she has fun doing this sort of work!
One of our burgundy foam cutting pads, custom cut down to size to work on this 1" pnuematic buffer.
The start of the test spot as Jason begins to investigate the paint. We found that a few of the body panels had been resprayed over the years and the variations in paint used caused different responses to the same input. What we decided upon was to use M205 for everything from correction to final finishing polish. We used either the new DFC5 burgundy foam cutting disc or the DMC5 microfiber cutting disc for correction, depending on the panel and its associated paint, and then M205 on either the DFP5 yellow foam polishing disc or DFF5 black foam finishing disc for finishing polish, again depending on the panel. We used only moderate pressure, and rarely did we exceed 5800 opm on the MT300. In fact, most of the work was done between 4800 and 5800 opm on a tool that is capable of 7500 opm. No need to crank that baby all the way up if you don't need to! Whether microfiber or foam, the discs were blown out with compressed air regularly and often to minimize pad load, and to manage residue. The restoration in the early 2000's gave this car a base coat/clear coat paint job, but it is, after all, non metallic black and as such it will show every little defect.
Nick works on one of the tail light bullets.
Scott putting the MT300 to good use on one of the spare wheel covers.
Jason doing the same on the trunk cover.
The long expanse of the hood loved the DFC5 burgundy foam cutting disc and M205
Plenty of curves on this car, and the MT300 handled them all with ease. The 8mm throw means it's not banging the discs against trim, or into an opposing face on a concave surface. It maintained pad spin, which is critical to defect removal, no matter what we threw at it. The guys brought other tools with them, but the MT300 quickly became the tool of choice for everyone. Incredibly smooth operation, beautifully balanced, and with a stroke size that made reaching everything a breeze, the MT300 has more than plenty of torque on hand, beautifully managed by DTM (digital torque management). It was a rockstar on this classic beauty!
A couple of 50/50 shots show the progress we made, and the depth and clarity we achieved with just M205 and a variety of pads.
How's that for a reflection shot? I posted this on Facebook and was accused of just reversing a normal picture....
.... so I took another shot at a slightly different angle showing the edge of the fender and part of the tire.
So, once you've corrected the paint to your satisfaction, and polished it to a deep, mirror shine..... what do you finish it off with? How about a nice, rich carnauba wax that will impart a deep, wet look to the paint? That's what we thought, so we pulled out the M26 High Tech Yellow Wax. Nothing like going a bit old school on a beautiful classic!
Jason does the double taking off the M26 with a pair of our Ultimate Wipe microfiber towels.
Yep, that'll do!
We couldn't pull Lisa out of the inside of the car for this shot, but here's the crew that put a fresh Meguiar's shine on SJ553 (from l. to r.) Mike Stoops, Nick Chapman, Jason Rose, Scott Nichols.
How's that for an instrument cluster?
The Art Deco inspired interior where Ethel Mars would have sat while being chauffeured to and from work each morning. Very fitting for the highest paid female CEO in the USA back in 1935.
The classic exposed exhaust manifold from the supercharged straight 8 cylinder engine.
After 120 man hours of work, this is the end result. So deep and rich it looks like you could swim in the paint!
Did we raise the value of the car? The current owner seemed to think so, as did the curator of the collection. Time will tell, as SJ553 will be a highlight of the event when RM Auctions comes to Fort Worth in early May to pare down the Andrews Collection. For more information on the auction and the rest of the vehicles in the catalog, check out RM Auctions website.
Here's the video we promised highlighting the project. The car sold for $3,630,000 at RM Sotheby's auction on May 2, 2015 at the Andrews Collection in Fort Worth, TX.
Fast forward to 2015 and a crew assembled in Fort Worth, Texas to prep a special example of this fabled marque for an upcoming auction. This, friends, was Fort Worth, Texas in late February, 2015. Yes. Texas.
Are you kidding me??? Nick Chapman, of Nick's Custom Detailing, was our lead on this project as he has been tasked with prepping the higher end cars of the Andrews Collection of Forth Worth. Since Nick has been using Meguiar's products almost exclusively on the amazing cars in this collection, he called us up and suggested that we might want to document some of this work. With the new MT300 about to hit the streets, and our new DA Thin Foam Discs already making waves in the industry, we jumped at the chance to head to Texas and maybe shoot a video on the project. The weather could have been a bit more welcoming though!
Very welcoming, however, was Nick Chapman and the other two detailers who joined us, Scott Nichols and Lisa Ploughman of Distinct Detail out of Phoenix, Arizona. Jason Rose and I rounded out the crew of five who would be working on this car for the next few days - more than 120 man hours in total!
The Andrews Collection. Located in Fort Worth, Texas, Paul Andrews and his son Chris have amassed a collection of nearly 100 special, unique and often historically significant automobiles. Their collection includes everything from pure classics to hot rods, muscle cars, race cars, European post war sports car, modern exotics, rat rods, pickup trucks, and even a couple of Chip Foose's creations. Eldorod, anyone?
But we came to Texas for one very special car. A 1935 Duesenberg SJ, known by it's engine number, SJ553. "J" refers to the model designation, as in Duesenberg Model J. The "S" stands for "supercharged", meaning this is one of the 36 factory supercharged cars built by Duesenberg. Making 320HP, this enormous car was easily capable of cruising at well over 100mph, with a top speed nearing 140mph. Zero to 60 could be accomplished in about 8 seconds. It may sound crass to talk about performance figures for such a stately vehicle, but Duesenberg was all about dominant performance and dominant luxury. With this car, you really could have the best of both worlds. At a price. When the average annual salary of a physician was about $3000, a Duesenberg chassis cost $9500. Yes, that was for the chassis and drive train. The body was extra. And the body on this car is something special indeed. Two of the major coachbuilders of the day, Murphy and Bohman & Schwartz, were based in Pasadena, CA. Those of you who know a bit about Meguiar's history know that we, too, were based in Pasadena at that time. And these two coachbuilders used our products on their finished products. Barry Meguiar loves telling this story at any event where he has the opportunity to discuss Meguiar's, and his family's, history.
Our project Duesenberg was bodied by Bohman & Schwartz, and is wrapped in very unusual, very curvaceous and flowing lines for a Duesy rather than the more traditional, upright lines most associate with the marque. But it makes perfect sense when you realize that the car was originally designed with a specific customer in mind - Mae West! Apparently, Ms. West grew impatient waiting for this car to be completed and so she opted for another car instead. SJ553 was ultimately acquired by one Edith Mars, then CEO of the Mars Candy Company in Chicago, IL. When delivered to Mrs. Mars, we can only imagine the sensation it caused (it was painted a light gray at first) with those incredible lines, enormous size, and Meguiar's shine!!
The car traded hands a few times over the years, and in the early 2000's it was fully restored and given a very stately black paint job. It sold at RM Auctions Monterey Sale in 2007 for $4,400,000. This is how we found her, front and center on display at the Andrews Collection.
We mentioned that we were shooting some video of this project, didn't we? Be patient, the video will be posted when it's ready!
OK, time to get to work. SJ553 is a huge car, so Nick lined up a huge selection of product. We had no clue how the paint would react so we lined up a variety of product to cover any eventuality. No matter whether you're working on a late model Kia, or a multi million dollar classic Duesy, the first thing you do when polishing the paint is a test spot. With the test spot you are investigating the characteristics of the paint, balancing the level of defects present with speed of removal while minimizing paint removal. You're looking for a reduction in below surface defects while creating minimal haze through your process and product choice. You're fine tuning your technique - tool speed, pressure, arm speed, pad selection, etc - to correct defects and maximize gloss, depth and clarity. Regardless the vehicle in question, no matter the model year, value of the vehicle in terms of monetary or historical perspective, you're still working on paint. And you need to figure out, understand, how that paint is going to respond to your input. You also need to set a goal for the finish you're chasing after. A nice, high gloss? Maybe a true show car shine? An actual, no holds barred concours finish, perhaps? In this case, we knew we were prepping the car for sale at auction, not because it was competing for Best of Show at Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, Villa d'Este, etc. There is a big difference. But we also wanted to do real justice to this car, and make her the star of the event that she deserves to be.
The finish wasn't horrible, but it was showing signs of neglect. Swirls, fine scratches, some haze.... all of which held back the overall appearance of this amazing car.
With all the tigher spaces on this car, we lined up some specialized tools and custom cut down pads. For interior painted trim, narrow areas between the trim on the running boards, the tight radius curves of the tail light bullets.... all of these required polishing but some things just can't be polished with a 5" foam pad. A selection of small footprint air powered tools did duty in those areas of the car.
Lisa is a master of interior work, whether that means polishing painted trim, polishing aluminum trim, steam cleaning carpets and upholstery, or carefully cleaning (with a toothbrush) the one of a kind woven cloth headliner of a 1935 Voisin C25 Clairiere Berline that won the Preservation Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2013. Yep, she did that. Apparently she has fun doing this sort of work!
One of our burgundy foam cutting pads, custom cut down to size to work on this 1" pnuematic buffer.
The start of the test spot as Jason begins to investigate the paint. We found that a few of the body panels had been resprayed over the years and the variations in paint used caused different responses to the same input. What we decided upon was to use M205 for everything from correction to final finishing polish. We used either the new DFC5 burgundy foam cutting disc or the DMC5 microfiber cutting disc for correction, depending on the panel and its associated paint, and then M205 on either the DFP5 yellow foam polishing disc or DFF5 black foam finishing disc for finishing polish, again depending on the panel. We used only moderate pressure, and rarely did we exceed 5800 opm on the MT300. In fact, most of the work was done between 4800 and 5800 opm on a tool that is capable of 7500 opm. No need to crank that baby all the way up if you don't need to! Whether microfiber or foam, the discs were blown out with compressed air regularly and often to minimize pad load, and to manage residue. The restoration in the early 2000's gave this car a base coat/clear coat paint job, but it is, after all, non metallic black and as such it will show every little defect.
Nick works on one of the tail light bullets.
Scott putting the MT300 to good use on one of the spare wheel covers.
Jason doing the same on the trunk cover.
The long expanse of the hood loved the DFC5 burgundy foam cutting disc and M205
Plenty of curves on this car, and the MT300 handled them all with ease. The 8mm throw means it's not banging the discs against trim, or into an opposing face on a concave surface. It maintained pad spin, which is critical to defect removal, no matter what we threw at it. The guys brought other tools with them, but the MT300 quickly became the tool of choice for everyone. Incredibly smooth operation, beautifully balanced, and with a stroke size that made reaching everything a breeze, the MT300 has more than plenty of torque on hand, beautifully managed by DTM (digital torque management). It was a rockstar on this classic beauty!
A couple of 50/50 shots show the progress we made, and the depth and clarity we achieved with just M205 and a variety of pads.
How's that for a reflection shot? I posted this on Facebook and was accused of just reversing a normal picture....
.... so I took another shot at a slightly different angle showing the edge of the fender and part of the tire.
So, once you've corrected the paint to your satisfaction, and polished it to a deep, mirror shine..... what do you finish it off with? How about a nice, rich carnauba wax that will impart a deep, wet look to the paint? That's what we thought, so we pulled out the M26 High Tech Yellow Wax. Nothing like going a bit old school on a beautiful classic!
Jason does the double taking off the M26 with a pair of our Ultimate Wipe microfiber towels.
Yep, that'll do!
We couldn't pull Lisa out of the inside of the car for this shot, but here's the crew that put a fresh Meguiar's shine on SJ553 (from l. to r.) Mike Stoops, Nick Chapman, Jason Rose, Scott Nichols.
How's that for an instrument cluster?
The Art Deco inspired interior where Ethel Mars would have sat while being chauffeured to and from work each morning. Very fitting for the highest paid female CEO in the USA back in 1935.
The classic exposed exhaust manifold from the supercharged straight 8 cylinder engine.
After 120 man hours of work, this is the end result. So deep and rich it looks like you could swim in the paint!
Did we raise the value of the car? The current owner seemed to think so, as did the curator of the collection. Time will tell, as SJ553 will be a highlight of the event when RM Auctions comes to Fort Worth in early May to pare down the Andrews Collection. For more information on the auction and the rest of the vehicles in the catalog, check out RM Auctions website.
Here's the video we promised highlighting the project. The car sold for $3,630,000 at RM Sotheby's auction on May 2, 2015 at the Andrews Collection in Fort Worth, TX.
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