1959 Impala Demo Car for my next class...

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Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.

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1959 Impala Demo Car for my next class...


I always try to get cool cars and also some new cars for my classes here at Autogeek. The below car is a 1959 Impala with a swirled-out basecoat/clearcoat finish and everyone that attends my next class will get to test out the Rupes Polishers and Paint Polishing System on this car.

Note that even though it's a classic, it has the same type of paint on new cars including your customer's cars if you detail part or full time.


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I love to get these HUGE classics for my students to learn on because they offer plenty of room for buffing...

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Detailing Bootcamp Classes - Interior & Exterior
My next Detailing Bootcamp Class that focuses on both interior and exterior detailing will be May 4th and 5th. At these classes you have the chance to use all the RUPES polishers and sanders as well as all the other popular polishers and then you can make your own decision as to which polisher works best for you and your unique detailing needs.


Register for the May 4th & 5th Detailing Bootcamp Class



Advanced Paint Polishing - Production Detailing & Show Car Detailing
My next advanced paint polishing class that focus on maximizing profitability for production detailing and wetsanding, cutting and buffing for a show car finish will be February 23rd and 24th. This class is limited to 8 people and is already almost full.

Register for the February 23rd & 24th Advanced Paint Polishing Class


At both of these

classes you will get to not only learn how to use the full arsenal of tools carried on the Autogeek.net store but also all of the RUPES polishers including,

RUPES LHR21ES Random Orbit Polisher
RUPES LHR21ES Random Orbit Polisher
RUPES LHR75 Mini Random Orbital Polisher (pneumatic)
RUPES RH156 Skorpio 6" Orbital Air Sander


For the above classes I've already confirmed these very cool projects for the students to work on...

1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass - Fresh PPG Basecoat/Clearcoat Paint System - Wetsand, Cut and Buff

1959 Impala - Basecoat/Clearcoat Paint System - Remove Swirls


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And I have yet another cool car waiting in the wings...


:)
 
Sun Shots of Swirls
Thought I would get time to add the "before" shots showing the swirls out in the sun but didn't get to it today.

Will add them on Monday. Besides swirls the paint needs to be decontaminated and the glass needs to be polished.

Large cars like these work great for detailing classes as there's plenty of acreage for everyone to work on.


Monday --> :Picture:


:xyxthumbs:
 
Man i just love how those old dashboards were painted... not like the new plastic ones we see today. That car is gorgeous and'll definitely be a great way to test out those new Rupes products!
 
corvettesonntag said:
Man i just love how those old dashboards were painted... not like the new plastic ones we see today.
Click to expand...

Yeah I agree... classic cars have style when it comes to the dash, instrument gages, aesthetics, etc. A great upgrade would be a high tech on-board nav system and you would have the best of both worlds.

corvettesonntag said:
That car is gorgeous and'll definitely be a great way to test out those new Rupes products!
Click to expand...

This car will make a "fun" car to test any tool/pad/product combo out on! While it has a lot of flat panels, there's also some tight areas that have to be worked with small pads and even by hand.

One thing no one sees when I share pictures of cars like these for my classes is the excitement and enthusiasm show by everyone that attends our classes. I see it because I'm in the garage early in the morning as everyone starts showing up.

At my last class with the 1964 Chevy Delivery Truck and the 1963 Impala, most of the class told me they've never worked on a classic car before and everyone likes to work on these types of special interest vehicles versus a some type of normal transportation car.

At the last class we also buffed out the paint on a 2004 Ford Freestar Van that has a factory basecoat/clearcoat finish and black plastic trim, we used Microfiber pads and DA Polishers to restore the paint on the van and while this is GREAT real-world training for the types of cars my students will go back out into the real world to work on I know from experience everyone that attends my classes loves working on cool cars like this 59 Impala.

In the real world, most people never get to work on classics like this because the owners in most cases just won't trust anyone to "touch" their baby. That's just how it is....

At the detailing bootcamp class last September I had a 1966 Corvette for learning how to use the rotary buffer and a 1940 Ford Coupe for learning how to use the Flex 3401 AND a new car, a 2008 BLACK Cadillac that we used the Meguiar's Microfiber DA Correction System on and again, while everyone liked learning how to use the Megs "production detailing system" on a modern/new transportation car because that's real-world detailing for money type training, everyone loved working on the hot rods.

But yeah... the 1959 Impala is cool. It's also completely filled with swirls and scratches so it will make a great demo car for doing show car work using the Rupes system.


:)
 
Wow so beautiful!!! Love the lines on the car and yes you are right Mike. Nothing beats a classic car. Detailing a car like that its definitely a privelige for anyone doing the work. FL definitely has some of the best cars and they are hidden so well. You only see them outside when its a beautiful day, sunny, or if there is a car show going on. At Flea Market last year, all these muscle cars gathered there and wow, one after the other, we are talking about old corvette, mustangs and Chevys. It was the most beautiful sight I have ever laid my eyes upon. :). I took so many pictures on my old android phone and the thing broke bad, ( my 16 months old baby showing his skills of throwing things) all those memories gone! :( hehe. Now that I have an IPhone (iCloud) thank God for that, this year I will be sure to take some and share with you guys.
 
That trunk can double as a picnic table, nice LED tail light upgrade too!

Can't wait to see the final photo results in the sun.
 
Here's the same car outside in full-on Florida sunshine around noon..


The paint is completely filled with swirls & scratches
While the paint looks really well in side garage lighting, I took these pictures of the Impala outside in full overhead Florida sunshine...

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So this will make for not only a great training car to learn how to take a diamond in the rough and turn it into a glistening gemstone but it's large enough to give everyone lots of hand-on time behind the polishers learning how to machine correct and polish paint.


Here's the link to sign-up for this class...

Mastering Paint Polishing by Mike Phillips- February 23rd & 24th, 2013



:xyxthumbs:
 
I worked with a guy who briefly had a '60 Impala, and what I remember about it was how wide it was (or seemed, this was almost 30 years ago). Are those cars really wide or is it just an optical illusion because they are very "flat" as compared to the cars of today?
 
I just looked it up, 79.9" wide (in 1960). I guess that's not any harder to get in the garage than a modern car (which are maybe 70-74"), since back then the mirrors didn't stick out farther than the car. Still, it's always better to scrape the mirror than the side of the car :o
 
I went to high school with a guy that had a black '59. We called it the batmobile. Great car. You can have a party in the back seat. Good times...............good times.
You can put a lot of people in the trunk and go to the drive-in. :xyxthumbs:

This should prove to be a fun and challenging project.

I'm going to come down one of these days.
Circumstances prevented me the last two times I was in Fla.

One day.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I just looked it up, 79.9" wide (in 1960). I guess that's not any harder to get in the garage than a modern car (which are maybe 70-74"), since back then the mirrors didn't stick out farther than the car. Still, it's always better to scrape the mirror than the side of the car :o
Click to expand...

Besides being wide these cars are quite long. My guess is about the same for a 1959 Caddy. I've owned a number of 59 and 60 Caddy's and I have in fact measured how long they are and they come in right at 19 1/2 feet long.

At my house in Oregon, the garage from the back wall to inside of the garage door when it was down was 20' and my 59 Caddy would fit inside but you couldn't walk around it with the garage door down.

:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Besides being wide these cars are quite long. My guess is about the same for a 1959 Caddy. I've owned a number of 59 and 60 Caddy's and I have in fact measured how long they are and they come in right at 19 1/2 feet long.

At my house in Oregon, the garage from the back wall to inside of the garage door when it was down was 20' and my 59 Caddy would fit inside but you couldn't walk around it with the garage door down.
Click to expand...

The Impala site I found said the '59 is about 211" long which is 17'7", so I guess you'd just be able to squeeze around it if you still lived in Oregon :)
 
fabiolas4 said:
the 59 is nice, specially in black.
Click to expand...


I agree. I have access to this red and white model as the owner was also on our TV show with his 67 Chevy II and he trusts us with it.

While not an Impala, we have had a 1959 El Camino here for an extreme makeover. Since the extreme makeover the El Camino has been sold to a guy in Australia where I've been told the new owner is winning lots of awards at car shows with it.


Here's that "59"


1959 Chevrolet El Camino - Extreme Makeover - Modeled by Christina

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Here's just one of the reasons Cat Eye Taillights are so cool....

Here's Al leaving the studio, check out the "Cat Eye" taillights...

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:dblthumb2:
 
wow, sheez you get some nice cars man. i cant wait till i do more classics. mostly daily drivers but better than nothing.
 
I'm usually not a big fan of 59's but with that particular two-tone paint job and tire/wheel combo I really like it!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
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