1976 BMW 2002 Single Stage Restoration

Pinpoint_Precision

Pinpoint_Precision

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I know i already have thread of some of my work but this project deserved its own.

About a week ago, I received a call about the owner, first owner, of this beautiful car that she had looked everywhere online and all about restoring the paint on her car.

She was thinking of getting the car repainted since so many people had told her that she needed to have the car repainted and yet she held off on that.

The following day I arrived early at her house to see a true legend...

1976 BMW 2002



I was so excited to see the car, it's a such nice feeing. The owner loves car, she has owned all these years and the coolest thing was this, less then 45k miles. Wow.

On to business I went, I explained the procedures that I would have to take and so on, she had never heard of that before and she was honest and forward with me, she didn't want a car show, she wanted to maximize the paint and that's what I was aiming for.


Here are complete before pictures. Now please forgive me, unfortunately I couldn't move the car, the reason why this was even more special. This car was to be given to her eldest son which he just graduated from high school not only he was able to receive a 4 years scholarship to FIU. on this same day, she had shipped the keys of the car to her son, so I was running against time since he didnt know and he would be receiving the present of a lifetime.


The paint before......

Truck shot and this time I had my good camera to document the car.



Once again time was a factor plus I couldn't move a lot since the space was so tight as you can see, I did my best.


One this I can't never forget and thank this guy, Mike Philips. The day I went to restore the paint of the 1955 Firedome Desoto Firedome was not only a great day to meet the man himself but it was a day to learn a lot and trust me, I learned a lot.

The power of An unchanged formula....

Meguiar's #7 was rubbed all of the car and I let it cure for at least 3 hours.




From hood....


I wish I would have more time, the night prior I was doing a paint correction on a Nissan GTR so unfortunately I couldn't leave to apply #7 the night before but I had a good feeling that this would be enough.

Test spot. Note, this was just removing #7, no polishing was done yet.


Half of the rear truck wiped off

00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000947_zpsdc2zjecr.jpg


Stay tuned for more.......
 
This will be sweet!

I dunno about giving a young kiddo such an antique though..scholarship or not, his friends will ruin it by being irresponsible.
 
GenesisCoupe said:
This will be sweet!

I dunno about giving a young kiddo such an antique though..scholarship or not, his friends will ruin it by being irresponsible.
Click to expand...

That was exactly my thought too....

That would be the last thing I would ever do with that car....

Give it to some kid to wreck it......

Should have just got the kid a 1980 something Honda Accord or something like it..... That way it wouldn't matter what happened to it.....
 
Francisco said:
I know i already have thread of some of my work but this project deserved its own.
Click to expand...

I agree. :xyxthumbs:


Francisco said:
About a week ago, I received a call about the owner, first owner, of this beautiful car that she had looked everywhere online and all about restoring the paint on her car.

She was thinking of getting the car repainted since so many people had told her that she needed to have the car repainted and yet she held off on that.
Click to expand...


I can't count how many people in my life that I've met with a classic car with the original single stage paint that tell the same story, that is they take their car to body shops and details shops to ask about having the original paint restored and the answer they get back is the same and that is

That paint can't be saved, you need to get the car a new paint job


And if the owner of the car can find someone that actually knows what they are doing, in most cases the original paint can not only be saved but restore to like new condition.

Good luck with this Fransisco, if anyone can save it you can. Keep in mind sometimes old single stage paint can get to what I call

The point of no return

or

Unstable

These two categories are in my how-to book along with the definition.


Fingers crossed...


:dblthumb2:
 
Products used
ONR
Meguiar's #7
Pinnacle Clay
Pinnacle Swirl Remover
Meguiar's M205
Pinnacle Souveran Wax
FleX3401
CSS orange
CSS white
Meguiar's black foam pad (wax application)





Into the polishing......

Single Stage alright.....


Top of the car


Trunk


Left side


Right side


Panel by panel after 2 steps, the paint was beginning to change. No wax was applied yet.
 
Sorry if this is a dumb question but Why did you apply the Meguiars #7 first? The car looms awesome
 
Slimsadie said:
Sorry if this is a dumb question but Why did you apply the Meguiars #7 first? The car looms awesome
Click to expand...

Not a dumb question at all. That is a great question. The paint being single stage, for this particular car was completely dry, dull and heavily oxidized. I asked the same exactly question to Mike Philips, why would we use #7 and wha would it do to it?

His answer was spot on and very detailed. The oils will penetrate deep in the paint, giving that nice moisturize that the paint needs. After that process is done, the pait eill be soft and much safer to work on. The longer you leave it, the better. I was amazed by the results when we worked on the 1955 Desoto Firedome and once again, I was amazed by the results it gave me on this Bimmer. I am sure he will input on his own words about the power of #7. I know he wrote an article about it also, he had on his book as well. If you don't have it, get it. It's a must for any detailer.
 
damaged442 said:
Beautiful car. Hope the kid appreciates it. Great work.
Click to expand...

Hopefully he will and it won't end up in a junk yard within the next year or two... Next to all of the other cars that supposedly responsible kids wrecked.... The junk yards are full of those....

After surviving 37 years.......

Personally if it was mine and I didn't want it anymore I would have sold it to a collector etc...
 
Francisco said:
Not a dumb question at all. That is a great question. The paint being single stage, for this particular car was completely dry, dull and heavily oxidized. I asked the same exactly question to Mike Philips, why would we use #7 and wha would it do to it?

His answer was spot on and very detailed. The oils will penetrate deep in the paint, giving that nice moisturize that the paint needs. After that process is done, the pait eill be soft and much safer to work on. The longer you leave it, the better. I was amazed by the results when we worked on the 1955 Desoto Firedome and once again, I was amazed by the results it gave me on this Bimmer. I am sure he will input on his own words about the power of #7. I know he wrote an article about it also, he had on his book as well. If you don't have it, get it. It's a must for any detailer.
Click to expand...


#7 has been a round for a very long time, excellent product for restoring single stage paint..... :xyxthumbs:

It's good to have a bottle or two around. :)
 
All the Crome pieces I polished using my Meguiar's DA with a 3" backing plate. I used the Meguiar's Aggressive Cut metal. Not a huge improvement but it was still noticeable. The rest of the chime surrounding the entire car I did by hand.

Before


After


Then I dressed the black trim with Black Wow and finally gave the car a nice thin layer of Pinnacle Souveran to finish it off with a bang.

Final Shots.



The interior was okay so I just did a quick vacuum plus quick clean on the inside, nothing crazy.



Beauty Shot


Now I know a lot of you say that, why would she give this car to her son. I asked her the same question but I had a feeling why she was doing that. One I already knew that he had just graduated high school, now the other one I was like super happy to know. He is the one that had been taking care of her, he is the one that takes care of the car as best as he can and had been for along time. In my book, he deserves it. She told me he loves this car and when she offered him to get a new bimmer and he said no, he like the old style. I am pretty sure this car is going to be taken care of after all this hard work that I putted into it.

Lets recap.....

Rear Before


Rear After


Front before


Now you see those white stains? She told me she had dropped bleach years ago and couldn't get it off on time. I did what I could with it, not 100% but guess what, huge improvement nonetheless.

Front After


Whole car Before


Whole car After


The owner got very emotional after I was done with it. She thought she had to spend tons of money to respray the car. I told her not to worry, I was going to do my best. I putted all my efforts into this car. I know one thing, her son will be thrilled when he sees his new car! ;)

I hope you all like it. I enjoyed this project so that's why I am sharing with all of you.


Happy New Year to all of you AutoGeeks.
 
I used to fix these when there were fairly new. Was a BMW Master tech for 23 years. That's a nice example . That's somewhere between 74-76. I had an 86 Volvo 240 way back and it faded just like that and was the same color. I'll tell you on here now what I did to restore the color before I buffed it was sprayed the whole car down with blue super seal and let it soak into the paint overnight and then buffed it out with a rotary and polish and wax. Came out like new. It was so nice I was hesitant to sell it. We used to use Simichrome on those bumpers back in the day. Came out like new.
 
Great job on the Beemer.Looks by the pass. floor mat that the heater core was leaking at one time.
 
57BORNTORUN said:
Great job on the Beemer.Looks by the pass. floor mat that the heater core was leaking at one time.
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Thank you so much. That's my thought as well. I was surprised how well the leather seats still looked. She kept this car in mint condition. The garage has A/C as well so I think that's a huge plus for keeping this car in such good shape.
 
The happiness of those two will be worth all your efforts. You have earned a customer/friend for life.
 
@Francisco:

fantastic job on the BMW. I love seeing "survivors" on the road. You gave the Beemer a new lease on life and I will echo the statements of others on this post. I really hope the kid appreciates that he is driving a true classic.
 
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