Competition Ready Experience

The Guz

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WARNING: This is going to be pic heavy and text heavy.

First off I would like to thank Mike for giving me the opportunity on a great experience and selecting me to represent the Autogeek family on an episode of Competition Ready Season 2.

Second of all I would like to say to all forum member is to be active. Show off your work even if it's just personal vehicles. Write product reviews such as I do as it helps the community. Chime in on conversations and most of all continue to educate yourself. You never know when an opportunity like this comes up.

It did not really hit me that it was going to happen until I actually got the call a couple days before the filming of the show and seeing the call sheet the following day. I was not nervous until I was driving to the secret location. But that faded away when Mike introduced himself and gave us a little pep talk on what we would be doing. It helped getting to speak to the fellow team members.

We were given the ok to take photos and share but not videos. So I took as many photos as I could.

The day started out by meeting with the camera crew and setting up. Us team members sat back and admired the vehicle and walked around the private collection prior to this. Bruce has a great collection.

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Owner Bruce Meyer arriving discussing what his expectations are

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Camera's rolling capturing the discussion on camera. Yancy doing his thing capturing photos.

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Once the camera's stopped we proceeded in getting things set up for the next segment. Photos of the 1929 Bentley that we would be working on.

In the background from left to right (forum Member JustJesus, Rigo Santana, Mike Phillips)

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First plan of attack was a waterless wash using Pinnacle waterless wash. We cleaned the exterior as well as the undercarriage. Here's JustJesus doing his thing

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The engine bay was cleaned as well.

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Once that was done we turned out attention to the fabric material on the side. It is actually referred to as rexine which is a form of imitation leather. The owner wanted it glossy. Mike did a couple test spots and it was decided to use Pinnacle protectant. It came out nice and Bruce was happy in the end. That is important.

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Behind the scenes with Mike having AJ show how to prime the microfiber applicator

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We ended up polishing the paint by hand and by machine. Didn't take any photos as we were under a time constraint. It was great working with Mike on those louvers. He can attest to what a pain in the rear end they were to do them by hand.

Final segment with Bruce coming in giving it a last once over basically saying how great it looked after all the work that was done to it.

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Before I left I took a photo with the man himself. I like how you put it that you like to give your friends an equal opportunity. Was a pleasure meeting you, working with you and learning from you. From one Mike to another thank you again for the opportunity.

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Also took one with AJ. For those that have met her they know how nice she is. Was very cool meeting her and working along side her. And yes she does get her hands dirty.

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I could not go empty handed so I had both Mike and AJ sign my Competition Ready hat.

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How can I forget Yancy. I think he was a little surprised that someone wanted to take a photo with him. Why not? He's the man behind the scenes. AJ photo bombed this one :)

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I took this from the Competition Ready facebook page of the team. Shhh don't tell Yancy.

From left to right:

Johnny - He flew from Utah to participate. He's a super nice guy. He's a big guy too. Made me look small considering I am a big guy myself. Was great meeting him. I forget his forum name.

Jesus (aka JustJesus) - Was great meeting you.

Freddie (aka CruzCarWash) - Great meeting you too.

Mike Phillips

Bruce Meyer (Owner) - Real nice guy. Thanks to him for letting us work on this beauty. He has a great private collection.

AJ

Myself

Rigo - I don't believe he is on the forum. Another nice guy. Was great meeting him.

One person behind the scenes is producer Ashley. Very nice person. She took care of all of us and made us feel welcomed. Was great meeting her.

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Overall a great experience. It was a great seeing all the hard work into making an episode. It was definitely an interesting experience. I was able to meet a lot of great people and work with some very talented individuals. I was also able to work on vehicle worth over a million dollars. Not many can say they have. I am glad I took part in this.


Thanks for looking and reading if you made it this far.

-Mike
 
A few days later I dusted off the Competition Ready shirt and headed over to the to the Classic Auto Show. It was very cool seeing the car on display.

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Funny story while I was there taking photos. My brother and I were standing right were it's roped off and it must have appeared that we were too close because the pit crew member came to us and told us we were to close and to not touch the car. I ended up telling him that I was on the team that had prepped the car for show lol. The look on this young guys face was priceless. It was pretty funny hearing that.

While I was there I stopped by the Autogeek/McKee's booth and once again snapped a photo with AJ as she was scheduled for meet and great session. We talked about how great her car came out and what a great job the competition ready team did on it on Friday's taping. Her Firebird looks fantastic.

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She signed two things for me.

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How awesome is it to have the ability to say they have worked with her.

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Where's WRAPT C5Z06 in the pictures? Did he make it there that day?


Sent from my iPhone
 
Very nice photos Mike! Looks like you had a great time. Indeed, Mike and AJ are very nice.

It is definitely a once in a lifetime experience and you definitely deserve it man!

Thanks for sharing.
 
Awesome thread and photos, Mike! Almost like being there with you. A very cool experience indeed.
 
Definitely a fun experience. There was a fair bit of goofing around behind the scenes - the TV crew was pretty funny. It was a good group to be around for a day.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Great write up! Enjoyed reading it!

Although I wasn't a huge fan of the show, being a part of the work would be an amazing experience. I know the detailing part of the show is amazing, just personally not a huge fan of the production style
 
Very cool! I have to agree, filming the one down here this month was an experience I will not forget! It was awesome. Glad you thought the same thing!

Great pics, and you've got an experience to talk about for some time!

Thanks for sharing!
 
Thanks for sharing, Guz. I'm so glad you and Jesus were able to be part of such a cool experience. :) What an amazing collection of vehicles to boot!! I was drooling over the photos Mike P. was posting to the CR Facebook page. last week.
 
A New star is RISING....


Sent from my iPad using Autogeekonline mobile app

Lol thanks.

Where's WRAPT C5Z06 in the pictures? Did he make it there that day?


Sent from my iPhone

Unfortunately he had to cancel and was not able to make it. So we were short one person.

Very cool Mike! Looks like it was a blast!

Thanks for sharing

Sure thing. Oh it was a blast.

Very cool! I have to agree, filming the one down here this month was an experience I will not forget! It was awesome. Glad you thought the same thing!

Great pics, and you've got an experience to talk about for some time!

Thanks for sharing!

I agree it is definitely a great experience.

Did you say there was some cars and people there ? :laughing:

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Lol somewhere in the background there is a car. I will say that she looks better in person than on camera.

Dave

Thanks for sharing, Guz. I'm so glad you and Jesus were able to be part of such a cool experience. :) What an amazing collection of vehicles to boot!! I was drooling over the photos Mike P. was posting to the CR Facebook page. last week.

It was a cool experience. Jesus and the others were great to work with. I think we were a bit overwhelmed on this experience but Mike led the way and it worked out great.

I have more photos in my gallery with some of the cars and motorcycles in the collection. Also a sweet race boat.
 
Thanks for sharing Mike. Looks like you had a great time and thanks for all your contributions to this forum.
 
Thank you for sharing this experience. Great photos. I know you had a blast.
 
Yup yup. Cool experience. Cool meeting all the guys, Mike Phillips, AJ.

Thanks for sharing, and posting this. I still need to get caught up with some work before I come on here and post my own :) So much work.

I missed the show itself. My wife and I had planned on going, but...hehe...life happens!
 
Congratulations, Michael & JustJesus! That had to be a great experience, even if it was tedious work.
Just having Mike looking over your shoulder, while trusting you to put the CR touch on a million dollar car, had to be a satisfying endorsement of your talent.

Bill
 
Wow!

I'm truly happy I clicked on the link for this thread.

I smiled the whole way through and what and honor to detail such a beautiful and timeless machine!

Now I know who it is every time I see, "The Guz" pop up!

A fellow team mate who knows how to do quality work.
You sir are awesome!!!

My dream vacation is a detailing boot camp with Mike Phillips, and that's so cool that you got some pics of Yancy too. Yancy is an awesome and knowelegable detailer as well!
 
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