My new daily driver

Matt S.

Matt S.

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As some of you may have known, I had a little black '97 Civic DX hatchback beater to drive to work, etc. Driving the Vette all the time, I didn't realize how noisy and annoying the Civic was until I drove my dad's 2000 Camry, which I hadn't driven in about a year. That's when I realized I wanted something a little nicer to drive everyday.

Well, the car needed tons of body work/paint to say the least, but was solid mechanically. My friend wanted to buy it, so I sold it to him 2 days ago. After selling it, I found a nice white '97 Camry, 1 owner with 78k miles on it....picked it up for $3400, and the Civic was sold for $2500 so I made out pretty good. Timing belt, water pump, battery and tires are all fairly new and the car is pretty solid. The only thing wrong with the exterior aside from the normal rock chips and whatnot, is the driver's side mirror is pretty chewed up from a combination of oxidation and rock chips (my assumption). Gotta re-spray that one of these days. I also have to get the rear window re-tinted since it's bubbling up and kinda hard to see out of. Other than that and a few minor stains (I just vacuumed it today, gotta get my hands on our extractor to get some spots out), the interior is like new

Anyways, I picked the car up last night. The paint is surprisingly nice, I'm assuming it was kept in a garage most of its life. Most of the car had some light oxidation but no clearcoat failure or anything too serious.

My approach was as follows:

-Wash with DG 901
-Clay with Wolfgang Elastic Poly Clay
-Meguiar's #105 via Flex XC3401 + many orange LC pads
-Meguiar's #205 via Flex XC3401 + green LC polishing/finishing pads
-Collinite 476S by hand

-M105 on headlights via PC7424 + 4" LC yellow pad

Overall, I'm very happy with how the car turned out and my purchase overall. UNFORTUNATELY, I got an overcast day which SUCKS for taking pics of a white car.

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drastic change for sure. i especially like the pic where the quarter panel looks hazed then to shiny.
 
Nice find and you did a great detail. A big upgrade for your DD.
 
Oh, and the driver's side headlight was unpolished in that pic. I was just trying to show a side by side difference. Unfortunately, the crack in the side marker light didn't buff out. :D
 
[email protected] said:
Oh, and the driver's side headlight was unpolished in that pic. I was just trying to show a side by side difference. Unfortunately, the crack in the side marker light didn't buff out. :D
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bubble gum will fix that..lol

what a difference on a daily driver... nice!
 
Very easy to use, I really like it! I'll have to experiment more on the red '66 Mustang as I wasn't getting much gratification out of using it on the white car. :(
 
It looks real good for the age and even though its over cast you can still see the reflections.

I like this pic myself.
if you use your imagination the vette has a pissed off look because its not in the driveway getting detailed.
:D
 
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Hey, I got both the Mustang AND the Vette back in the garage RIGHT before it started pouring so it's all good :D.
 
Car looks good!
Did you just use 105 on the headlights? I have been using 205 and have been really happy with how it will buff out lenses
 
Dkblue05 said:
Car looks good!
Did you just use 105 on the headlights? I have been using 205 and have been really happy with how it will buff out lenses
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Yup, I've had great luck using #105 on chrome, glass, clear plastic, etc. It's a great all-around product, I just want to get my hands on the new version and see what it's like.
 
Looks like you got yourself a solid little daily driver Matt, and you've brought the paint back to life. For the age of the car it's looking pretty good. Good luck with it.
 
congrats on a daily driver. I myself drive my Infiniti, and whenever it is not in use, my wife uses it. It's a bit better on gas (runs on regular instead of premium like other 2 cars), low maintaince, and I just switched to synthetic oil, and will be changing it per manufacturer's recommendations (ever 7000-7500) miles. I didn't wanna do it with regular oil, and since they just raised price for it ($15 for a 5 quart jug), I switched to synthetic ($22 for a 5 quart jug af wally world, as Kragen rips you off, while they call it competative pricing). And instead of 3000 miles, will be doing 7000 per change...saves time too...I'm using Fram X2 filter for this...now all cars in a family are using synthetic oil. I consider it a better protection, as it leaves a film on engine parts, which protects during start ups.
 
Thanks guys!

I always run either Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum in my cars. Pennzoil Plat actually gets great reviews from bobistheoilguy, actually a lot better than the M1, and it's a little cheaper...just a little FYI. :)
 
I will be using the products in our German wheel repair kit to re-spray the hubcaps this weekend. Keep your eyes peeled!
 
[email protected] said:
Thanks guys!

I always run either Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum in my cars. Pennzoil Plat actually gets great reviews from bobistheoilguy, actually a lot better than the M1, and it's a little cheaper...just a little FYI. :)
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Yeah, I've noticed that. Some people even reported more engine power too...
 
Man I wish I can afford a weekend car one of these days lol I'm loving the Vette Matt.......awesome DD too btw.
 
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