Restoring the shine to my Desoto

[Desoto60]

I recently inherited a 1960 Desoto Adventurer from my grandparents. They were the original owners and have taken excellent care of the car over the years. The interior is perfect and the exterior is the original paint.
Althought the exterior is in good condition, the paint is dull or oxidized. I have tried wax and a buffer, but this isn't really working well.
Is there a really good product out there that will bring back the finish on this old paint without having to repaint the car?

[Chex]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Maybe you can try cleaning the paint with DC1 or ScratchX if you're going to do it by hand, but it would be better to use a machine like the PC or G110.

And if it's a basecoat paint, things should work pretty well. Just make sure you don't rub off too much paint because as far as I know, those old paints are soft and it's easy to remove a little too much film from them.

Hope this helps.

[Desoto60]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Thanks for the advice, but I don't know what a "PC" or a "G110" is. Is this a machine polisher of some kind?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

When it comes to restoring old single stage paint you want to do two things,

Remove the dead paint
Revitalize the original paint you uncover

You can do this with our Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner and our Deep Crystal Polish but another option is to get a product we call M80 Speed Glaze as this product is rich in our Trade Secret polishing oils, (these will restore the richness of color to the paint), and it also contains diminishing abrasives that will gently remove the dead paint. The extra benefit of this product when working on older paints is that it will do both jobs at the same time.

The polishing oils also super lubricate the surface as you're working it cushioning the abrasives as the abrade and break down.

You can find this product at your local PBE store, do you have PBE store in your home town? A PBE store is an auto parts store that caters to your local body shops, if you know anyone that works in a body shop they can tell you where a PBE store is.

PBE = Paint Body and Equipment

Don't let someone who thinks they know what they are doing talk you into using some archaic rubbing or polishing compound because these are too abrasive and tend to dull, dry-out and scour the paint and can actually take it down to primer real quick.

Where do you live, or where is the car located?

[Erik Mejia]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Personally I would call Mike Phillips(Meguiar's), Richard Lin(Show Car Detailing), or Joe Fernandez(Superior Shine Detailing). THey can get that paint back to its original shine.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Thanks for the advice, but I don't know what a "PC" or a "G110" is. Is this a machine polisher of some kind?

Yes, these are small but powerful dual action polishers that will do the work better and faster. Our brand new one runs about $150.00 but if you can't afford that right now you can rub the entire car out by hand using a piece of terry cloth toweling and a lot of elbow grease.

[Desoto60]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

I'm in Sebastopol California. Near Santa Rosa.

[Desoto60]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Should I use the dual action polisher with the M80 Speed Glaze? Or should the M80 be hand applied?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Here's a picture of our new one,




Here's one in use...





Before
These guys are rubbing the paint out by hand using M80 Speed Glaze and little pieces of terry cloth





After

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Should I use the dual action polisher with the M80 Speed Glaze? Or should the M80 be hand applied?

Either way. A machine is always faster than your hand and does a better job but if all you have is your hands then that's what you use.

First you need to find a PBE store.

[Desoto60]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Wow, that's what I want. I'd like to try the M80 and the buffer. Can I purchase from you directly or do I have to find a retailer nearby?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Wow, that's what I want. I'd like to try the M80 and the buffer. Can I purchase from you directly or do I have to find a retailer nearby?

You can purchase from www.meguiars.com, you can call Customer Care at 1-800-347-5700 and there are some good online vendors that also carry everything you need.

You have to be careful when machine cleaning old paint as you can rub through the high points, that's why if you look at the pictures we posted on page one you'll see a few guys rubbing the paint around body lines and edges by hand. After they do these delicate areas by hand they then tackle the larger section by machine.

When you rub old paint out around the edges of body lines or high points we call this edging.

Where do you live?

[Ryan L.]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

I'm in Sebastopol California. Near Santa Rosa.

That's where he lives, Mike...

Ryan

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Hmmmm.....either that beautiful DeSoto needs to make a road trip to Irvine or "the usual suspects" at Meguiar's Open Garage sessions need to load up a large van (or small bus) and head up to Sebastopol for a really fun project!!

[Desoto60]

Re: Restoring the shine to my Desoto

Thanks for all the advice and help. As soon as it starts to dry up I'm going to get started on this. If the car turns out as well as your pictures, it's going to be awsume looking!

A little background to the car:
It is the original paint. When my Grandfather died about 15 years ago, my grandmother sent the car to storage. It was a Car storage wharehouse with other really amazing rare cars in the building, so it was taken care of.
When my Grandmother died, my father told me this car, (which I thought had been sold or junked years ago) was in storage and he was going to sell it.
I stoped that immediatly and told him I would take it.
I had two friends, who are mechanics ,go up to Oregon with me to get it.
The storage guy and my father thought we wer crazy to think we were going to get it running and drive it back to Northern Ca. It hadn't been driven in at least 10 years.
We put about three hours work into to it, bleeding the breaks, new oil, new battery, flushing the radiator, etc. Everyone stood back and the car started on the second try. It purred like a big cat.
We drove it back to California with the only problem being two flat tires.
I have since had alot of mechanical work done, but now I'm ready to tackle the exterior.
I have the original bill of sale from when my Grandfather purchased the car new off the dealers lot in 1960.
He paid $4,700.00 for it!