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Hey all,
You may remember me and my adventures with my Dad's black 1951 Mercury and all the fun I had with it.... All the frustration was VERY well worth it in the long run, the car came out beautiful.
Anyway, I explained in my introduction post that for years my Dad has always had a guy come and detail the Mercury once, maybe twice a year. I just have to explain a little bit about this guy to get my point across. He has to be one of the most obsessed car guys I have ever met (trust me, much worse than us..), even when it isn't his own car! He absolutely must get every single solitary speck of wax out of the cracks and crevaces of a car, very particular about everything...he'll even get upset if my dog comes over to say hello and wags his tail gently and it touches the cars finish!!! I know most of us on here are car crazy and OCD to some extent, but there isn't a story on this forum that even comes close to this guy!! This guy thinks of his clients cars as his own, and is protective of them as he would be his own children!!
He will wash the car, use a cleaner wax, wax, etc, etc and it does come out looking nice. He's done it for years and works on most of the very best show cars in the area, and is very in demand around here. He's rather old fashioned and uses elbow grease for all of his work. My guess is that he has never heard of paint "correction".
About a week ago he stops in to see my Dad to see when my Dad is going to be around so he can come work on the car. It just so happens that I was at my parents house at the time and my Dad tells him that the outside of the car is done and he can work on the inside.
I could tell he was getting mad.
"What?? Who??" as his face was turning red.
My Dad points at me...gee, thanks Dad.
Dad says "The car is beautiful, she did a really nice job. She used a polisher and some cutting compound. Took all the swirls and water etchings out. It really looks amazing!!"
Let me tell you, this guy was very upset. He turns to me and in his absolutely most condescending tone says "You used a wheel on that car?? Have you pulled it into the sun yet?? I bet it's all hazy and marred now!!!" The condescending statements/questions continued - he was just disgusted with me!! Out of respect for my Dad, I got up and left rather than starting a screaming match
Now, mind you, I didn't take money away from this guy, he's not paid. I would never do something like that. He and my Dad have known one another for years and he always took care of my Dad's cars because my Dad has always taken care of him or done him favors. I think this guy kind of looks up to my Dad as his own father.
Now the ironic part...
I work midnights, so when I got up the next afternoon, I went over to my parents house. Care to guess who was over there detailing the inside of the Mercury??? Yup. Mr. Condescending Man himself. Jerk.
That black Mercury was pulled outside in the strong, bright sunlight and there wasn't a swirl/etch/scratch/marring mark on her...black as night. I was proud!
He didn't say two words to me. I figured as much. Whatever.
My Dad pulled me aside. He told me that he told this guy he could put a coat of Meguiar's Carnuba Plus or NXT 2.0 on the car if he wanted to. The guy told my Dad that it wouldn't make it shine any more than it does already and that the car looked amazing.
On top of that, the guy has a '69 Shelby...I forget exactly what it is about this car but supposedly it's a rather sought-after car and worth quite a bit of money. He keeps it washed and waxed, but Dad said it had quite a few swirl marks in it.
Just before he left, he said to my Dad, "I wonder how much she would charge me to work on my Shelby and make it look like your Mercury."
Dad didn't say a word to him.
The guy never said a word to me the entire day.
I think I want to keep it that way.
You may remember me and my adventures with my Dad's black 1951 Mercury and all the fun I had with it.... All the frustration was VERY well worth it in the long run, the car came out beautiful.
Anyway, I explained in my introduction post that for years my Dad has always had a guy come and detail the Mercury once, maybe twice a year. I just have to explain a little bit about this guy to get my point across. He has to be one of the most obsessed car guys I have ever met (trust me, much worse than us..), even when it isn't his own car! He absolutely must get every single solitary speck of wax out of the cracks and crevaces of a car, very particular about everything...he'll even get upset if my dog comes over to say hello and wags his tail gently and it touches the cars finish!!! I know most of us on here are car crazy and OCD to some extent, but there isn't a story on this forum that even comes close to this guy!! This guy thinks of his clients cars as his own, and is protective of them as he would be his own children!!
He will wash the car, use a cleaner wax, wax, etc, etc and it does come out looking nice. He's done it for years and works on most of the very best show cars in the area, and is very in demand around here. He's rather old fashioned and uses elbow grease for all of his work. My guess is that he has never heard of paint "correction".
About a week ago he stops in to see my Dad to see when my Dad is going to be around so he can come work on the car. It just so happens that I was at my parents house at the time and my Dad tells him that the outside of the car is done and he can work on the inside.
I could tell he was getting mad.
"What?? Who??" as his face was turning red.
My Dad points at me...gee, thanks Dad.
Dad says "The car is beautiful, she did a really nice job. She used a polisher and some cutting compound. Took all the swirls and water etchings out. It really looks amazing!!"
Let me tell you, this guy was very upset. He turns to me and in his absolutely most condescending tone says "You used a wheel on that car?? Have you pulled it into the sun yet?? I bet it's all hazy and marred now!!!" The condescending statements/questions continued - he was just disgusted with me!! Out of respect for my Dad, I got up and left rather than starting a screaming match
Now, mind you, I didn't take money away from this guy, he's not paid. I would never do something like that. He and my Dad have known one another for years and he always took care of my Dad's cars because my Dad has always taken care of him or done him favors. I think this guy kind of looks up to my Dad as his own father.
Now the ironic part...
I work midnights, so when I got up the next afternoon, I went over to my parents house. Care to guess who was over there detailing the inside of the Mercury??? Yup. Mr. Condescending Man himself. Jerk.
That black Mercury was pulled outside in the strong, bright sunlight and there wasn't a swirl/etch/scratch/marring mark on her...black as night. I was proud!
He didn't say two words to me. I figured as much. Whatever.
My Dad pulled me aside. He told me that he told this guy he could put a coat of Meguiar's Carnuba Plus or NXT 2.0 on the car if he wanted to. The guy told my Dad that it wouldn't make it shine any more than it does already and that the car looked amazing.
On top of that, the guy has a '69 Shelby...I forget exactly what it is about this car but supposedly it's a rather sought-after car and worth quite a bit of money. He keeps it washed and waxed, but Dad said it had quite a few swirl marks in it.
Just before he left, he said to my Dad, "I wonder how much she would charge me to work on my Shelby and make it look like your Mercury."
Dad didn't say a word to him.
The guy never said a word to me the entire day.
I think I want to keep it that way.
Well, that and I want to see the look on peoples faces when we go to the shows and they ask who polished the car and my Dad says "my daughter..."
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