1973 Lotus Europa oxidized original paint

Wow Mike, that is great. The paste wax I started to use on the hood , SC Johnson Paste Wax, didn't enhance the shine of the #7 but it didn't dull it down either. It still looks wet or oily. Also, the SC Johnson wax doesn't smell very good and I don't believe it was has any Carnauba, at least it is not only the label. There is a stamp on the can "National Wood Flooring Association Member". I guess I used wood floor wax. There is another label with the address and phone number for additional information and a copyright date of 1988.

I probably should have read the label first. I don't think it will hurt anything and I bet it won't last as long as a car wax. But then again it looks the best so far.
 
SC John Paste Wax is actually a mix of carnauba, paraffin wax, as well as microcrystalline wax which is a wax byproduct of distilling petroleum based products. The "cleaning agent" in it is mineral spirits. It also contains 1,2,4-trimethybenzene which long story short, is a light reflecting agent.

Here is why the wax works great on your paint. The single stage paint of that era is nitrocellulose paint, which is essentially a lacquer finish. Guess what other things lacquer finishes are used for? That's right the final touch to wood. When you put the wood paste wax onto wood, you're shining up and protecting a lacquer finish designed for wood. So in your case, wax made for a lacquer finish is quite good. Little known fact, Meguiar's started out making furniture polish. You can actually use Meguiar's products for guitar finishes.

Nitrocellulose paint is essentially a mixture of solvents, wood and cotton pulp blended together with dying agents to create whichever colour that the car finish is. Basically, your paint is very absorbent.

Mike, I don't know of Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #3 would work for him? Machine applied glazing finish? I'm not an expert on Meguiar's products at all, I started off all of this with Mother's but the description seems to fit. It deposits polishing oils back into the paint.

Other interesting fact about Franks wood wax, if you got leather seats, go ahead and throw some on there too. Do a test spot just to make sure. Vinyl, metal or plastic? Try a test spot somewhere not easily seen but other wise you should be good to go.
 
Little known fact, Meguiar's started out making furniture polish.

I have a pretty good collection of the antique Megs furniture line,

What might be interesting is to see a well done side-by-side comparison of the product he's using a Meguiar's Furniture Cleaner and Furniture Polish,

2furniturecleanerandpolish.jpg


(We've perfected the art of polishing furniture long before we perfected the art of polishing automobiles)

2OldFurnitureGlaze.jpg


2FurnitureCleaner.jpg




Nitrocellulose paint is essentially a mixture of solvents, wood and cotton pulp blended together with dying agents to create whichever colour that the car finish is. Basically, your paint is very absorbent.

The above is true of VERY EARLY lacquer paints - later they switched over to see oil, like soy beans and flax seeds. I don't think there was any nitrocellulose lacquer paint be used after say the 1930's.




Mike, I don't know of Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #3 would work for him? Machine applied glazing finish? I'm not an expert on Meguiar's products at all, I started off all of this with Mother's but the description seems to fit. It deposits polishing oils back into the paint.

#3 Machine Glaze is or was basically a wetter version of #7. Because he's already done the #7 Rub Down Technique, I don't think there would be much to be gained by machine applying either #3 or #7 but he could try.

I would have to look at a new bottle of #3 - my guess is it's no longer what it was originally. It might still have the correct TS Oils - just very different than what it use to be. I have very old #3 Machine Glaze in glass bottles about 5 feet from my desk.

M03GreenLabel001.jpg




Then later in the very rare cylinder plastic bottles... most cracked becaue early plastic was brittle anyway and it doesn't get more flexible with time...

450_MGM3_001.jpg






:)
 
Oddly enough Mike, if the paint code for his car starts with an L, it is indeed the old style nitrocellulose paint. Depends on his paint code. Lotus used it for his year for whatever reason.
 
Oddly enough Mike, if the paint code for his car starts with an L, it is indeed the old style nitrocellulose paint. Depends on his paint code. Lotus used it for his year for whatever reason.


Make sense - even to day, the British call modern clearcoats lacquer. :dunno:


And the dulling would also make sense as I would say nitrocellulose lacquer paints are probably the most delicate and susceptible to dulling and especially when they are old.


:)
 
Makes me wonder, almost makes perfect sense that wood furniture wax worked so well. Who would've thought lol
 
I would really like to see photographs as they would provide a better means of helping you. In high school, our neighbor had a Europa and I would taking a running jump over the roof of it going to school.
 
I have a few cans of this in my antique wax collection. If you would like to try it - send me your shipping address and I'll send you a can as a free gift to show my appreciation to you. I appreciate that you trusted my name and the Autogeek name enough to

A: Join this forum where there are so many other social media touch point and gurus out there you could have went to.

B: Take my advice and do the #7 Rub Down Technique to a car that is apparently important enough to you that you want to get it right the first time and avoid repainting it.

C: Stuck through the process from start to where you're at now - still coming back looking for help.

Wow Mike, that is great.


Update

I made a short video showing how to break-in a can of M16 and will share here next week.

Also was able to get a package shipped out to you today. Will send you the tracking number.


Here's what I'm sending....

M16forLotus.JPG




:)
 
:updated:


The owner send me some before and after pictures showing the Meguiar's #7 Rub Down Technique "transformation".


BEFORE

1973_Lotus_001.JPG



I cropped out everything but the car from the above picture....

1973_Lotus_001a.JPG



And in the first picture, unless you're paying attention you might not have seen the doors hanging up in the background.

1973_Lotus_001b.JPG





Looks like a picture of the car being brought home from wherever it was discovered.

1973_Lotus_002.JPG


1973_Lotus_004.JPG





Here you can more easily see the original condition of the original single stage paint.

1973_Lotus_003.JPG


1973_Lotus_003a.JPG






AFTER

Here's some recent pictures after rubbing the original paint down with the #7 Rub Down Technique multiple times.

1973_Lotus_005.JPG


1973_Lotus_007.JPG


1973_Lotus_008.JPG





Looking so much better!

1973_Lotus_006.JPG




Nice work! :buffing:


By the way, the above pictures are in your free AGO gallery here,

rjbaren Gallery - AutogeekOnline Gallery


:)
 
Hey Mike, not sure if you're familiar with the SwissVax family of waxes but they have one made for nitrocellulose paint. I wonder if there's any merit to a product like that for a car like this?
 
Hey Mike, not sure if you're familiar with the SwissVax family of waxes but they have one made for nitrocellulose paint.

I wonder if there's any merit to a product like that for a car like this?

The only way to know would be to have a car in the exact condition as all the cars over the past 11 years that have been shared on this forum - saved by the #7 Rub Down Technique - and then do a TEST SPOT after the final #7 polish using the wax in question and LOOKING to see if it

Dulled the paint down
Kept it the same
Made it darker and richer in color

It will be one of the above three outcomes and as the Lotus owners stated in this thread, so far except for the wood furniture wax, everything else including compounds and polishes have dulled the results of the #7


A great idea for a test - you just need all the right conditions and of course the right car and all the right prep work. Then of course the wax to test.


Sure would be a bummer to do all the steps and then test the wax only to find out it dulled the paint down.



:)
 
More...


Here's a video I made showing,

  1. The secret slot
  2. How to break in a can of M16
  3. How to get the wax out of the can
  4. How to apply the wax
  5. How to inspect our towel
  6. How to remove the wax








:buffing:
 
Mike,

Thanks for posting his photos. Looks like it came out fairly well. I’m surprised you didn’t tell him to use CleanBright Liquid Ebony on it ;)
 
Hey Mike and Wilisports3,

Thank you for all your help. I am so tickled with the results. A friend who helped me before, when the car was just a body shell, saw it today and couldn't believe the paint was brought back to life.

Like I said in my very first post, Meguiar's help desk didn't think it could be done by hand.

I ordered a certificate of provenance from Lotus and the paint code is L12 Lagoon Blue Metallic.

Thank you again, you have a wonderful Website and Forum and thank you for all your wisdom and advice.



:dblthumb2:
 
L12 means it's nitrocellulose paint. That's why all the other waxes before hand didn't work, the nitrocellulose paint was just absorbing all the oil from them so no shine. Number 7 is so oily that it kept the shine on the paint. The furniture wax was designed with nitrocellulose finishes in mind. I would start looking at dedicated nitrocellulose paint care products, well done. It looks like two completely different cars from start to finish.

:D
 
Hey Mike and Wilisports3,

Thank you for all your help. I am so tickled with the results.

A friend who helped me before, when the car was just a body shell, saw it today and couldn't believe the paint was brought back to life.

Love hearing stories like this. :xyxthumbs:



Like I said in my very first post, Meguiar's help desk didn't think it could be done by hand.

I'm sure they are well-intentioned.

The thing is, the ONLY way to help others do a "thing" is to have done the thing yourself. When it comes to restoring antique and single stage paint, this is simply a passion of mine and it's been very rewarding over the years to help folks like yourself figure out how to use this product that's been around since the time of the Model T.


I ordered a certificate of provenance from Lotus and the paint code is L12 Lagoon Blue Metallic.

Very cool. That will be nice to have for yourself and for the next caretaker of this car down the road. For those that are curios, this thread on LotusTalk.com shares what the Certificate of Provenance is,


Lotus Certificate of Provenance


Thank you again, you have a wonderful Website and Forum and thank you for all your wisdom and advice.

Well Autogeek pays the bills, me? I just know how to type and am a part of their Customer Service Team.


:)
 
Back
Top