old school rub out?

[Superior Shine]

I decided to polish out a part of an old school hood that was painted in laquer in the early 60s. I would have polished the entire hood but about half had undercoating overspray on it.




I bought a polisher that I guess was made in the 50s. A wool pad with a leather backing was tied (yep, tied) to a rubber backing plate.




My plan of attack included using a mixture of corn starch and water to deep clean the paint, (I have heard for years thats how it was done in the "good ol' days") -- a couple of applications of classic (might be from the 50s also) mirrior glaze #7 out of an original glass bottle and a coat of mirrior glaze wax dated to be from about the 60s (I think)

[Superior Shine]

I started with a mixture of corn starch and water. It was a weird mix. I adjusted the ratio and came up with just about right mix to get a watery paste on the hood. The polisher runs at about 1000rpm (my guess) and is very easy to use.

The corn starch mix would dry quickly while being buffed and would powder up something feirce but it worked!!!




I followed that with a few applications of #7. I used a soft cotton towel to apply and remove the product.




That was followed with the old paste wax. It was the first time I opened the can and the product looked and worked fine.

I put on one coat followed by a second once that first coat was removed.

[Superior Shine]

WOW, IT WORKS!!

Look at these pics!








A few more passes with corn starch would have cleaned the finish a little better as I pulled a little bit of the green from the finish when I waxed it but not too bad.

[Superior Shine]

Neat little machine. It is roughly the size of a G100/PC.

I had to put a new cord on it and a disassembled the switch to clean the connections. I works like a charm and is VERY easy to use. I really enjoyed polishing with it.

The threads on it will not take buff pads and backing plates that are common now but I am sure an adapter can be found.

[rusty bumper]

Great writeup Joe.....The hood looks good for the tools you had to use.

But what happened to the kerosene?......I thought it was supposed to be used too.

[Superior Shine]

kerosene would have given the corn starch more rubbing time without drying out so fast. I had some and would use it if I had a whole car to do but the part I was polishing out looked OK without it.

[Jbirk]

It turned out great Joe, and you did a good safety thing by putting in a new cord

Did you do all of the hood or only half of it?

If you did only half, it would be awsome if you use the latest and greatest tools and Meguiar's products.

I would like to see the difference.

[Superior Shine]

I have had that hood laying around for years. My plan is to strip it and custom flame it and hang it on the wall.

Being that it has been around my garage for so long it has alot of overspray from various projects and would be a major amount of work to polish out completely.

[gb387]

Looks great... I looked at the photos in the gallery and didn't realize there was a write up... looks great and looks like fun!

I like Jbirk's idea of comparing today's products. Although not totally fair as the products you used are old and may not be working at their fullest but still an interesting idea.

[Murr1525]

Looks good.. Now you can really scare your customers with that process.

That polisher might look good after a little Nxt metal polish.

[Mike Phillips]

Looks good Joe, cool twist on a write-up...

Originally posted by Murr1525
That polisher might look good after a little NXT metal polish.

That's what I was thinking, polish the polisher

[Kevin Brown]

Super-Cool write-up!
I did not realize that this thread was the actual buff out... Glad I checked!

[Teak]

Originally posted by iamwaxman
I did not realize that this thread was the actual buff out... Glad I checked!

Great work and thanks for sharing.
Should we be on the look out for an extreme makeover thread on the polisher?


Eric

[Tom Weed]

Neat write up and project you did there. That was enjoyable to read, thanks for sharing that.

Tom

[Accumulator]

Yeah, thanks for sharing such a cool project.

Not at all surprised that the old products still worked, especially the #16

FWIW, I'd keep the hood as-is and hang it up that way. Custom paint from way back has a certain appeal to some of us, that thing's a real "artifact".

[Accumulator's mother and aunt shared a '54 Lincoln that they used Mirror Glaze products on ]