Old Skool Rulez

It’s been an action packed here at Magic Detail, which has become the norm as we approach our 14th year in business!! Amongst the new Porsche’s and other vehicles, we’ve also had a few classics come through our workshop door - some of which called upon all of our experience due to their “old fashioned” single stage paint (for those not in the know, pre-2001 cars were generally painted in a solid colour, devoid of any clearcoat; thus “single stage”, rather than basecoat and lacquer). This old paint was also typically solvent based, rather than the modern day environmentally friendly, but not very durable, water based paint systems used on cars of today.

Lets start by taking a look at this stunning Ford MkI Escort Mexico.

MkI Escort Mexico ‘Wide Arch’ rally replica.

There aren’t many more sought after cars than anything Ford made with the ‘RS’ brand, and Mexico is up there with the RS2000’s in terms of desirability. This particular model wasn’t factory standard, as it had a rally spec wide-arch bodyshell, and a fully stripped out interior to go with it. Under the bonnet was a 1.6 Pinto running on twin 40’s to give it that rally-esque sound on full chat! This car was near concours spec owed to a re-spray a few years earlier, but it had a few niggles as cars that have been resprayed often have; things like a few nibs, sanding haze here and there… all of which we took care of, and then applied a hybrid polymer coating to preserve the finish long term (12mths+). As the car was stored indoors and only really used in summer, we expect the coating to last 2-3 years realistically. Deep dish wheels and chrome trims were also polished by hand to bring them back as shiny as possible.

Next up we have this Great British icon, the Aston Martin V8 Saloon. Looks familiar? Well you’re right, you’ll have seen one of these in the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die.

This stunning example was near concours condition, but was in need of some paint correction to restore the lightly oxidised and heavily swirled paintwork. These unsightly signs of wear and tear were really stealing the limelight from this classic; the solid black paintwork looked dull and faded as a result. We were able to remedy this with our paint correction process, using various machine polishers with different ‘throws’ (orbit diameters) to carefully remove the damage and burnish the paintwork to a high gloss finish. As with the Mexico above, we applied a hybrid ceramic coating to ensure the paintwork was sealed for a long period of time, ensuring the finish we achieved would be preserved. When it comes to classic cars, the DB5 is perhaps one of the most famous of all, and as such near enough every Aston Martin made since has become near iconic.

Lastly, one of our favourites this year, was this incredible fully restored Ford Mustang Mach 1.

We were absolutely delighted to work on this Mustang. There is no more famous a car in the USA than the Mustang, and this 1969 Mach 1 was a real treat to work on. Not quite ‘classic’ as we know it, as this one had been fully restored from the ground up, and was basically a new car underneath. you could eat your dinner off the chrome plated engine, it was that clean! The paintwork was finished in modern paint, which we made light work of to remove the sanding haze kindly left behind by the bodyshop who painted the bare shell. The end result was amazing, a modern day paint system with modern day multi-layer ceramic coatings. The chrome was all hand polished, including the wheels, for that high shine - which is dazzling in the sun! Modern brakes etc. An exceptional car with looks and performance in equal measure.

In summary, we’ve had a great year working on some really special and iconic cars. It’s so true when people say if you have a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

Stealth.