Original Paint Restoration - 1970 Bronze Metallic Corvette - Pinnacle Jeweling Wax- Porter Cable

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Original Paint Restoration - 1970 Bronze Metallic Corvette - Pinnacle Jeweling Wax- Porter Cable



This is an all-original 1970 Corvette with the factory original single stage Corvette Bronze Metallic paint.

KISS = Keep it Simple Simon

The paint is in remarkably good condition considering the age but there is some room for increased gloss, clarity and shine by using a SAFE one-step cleaner/wax with some very soft foam finishing pads on a simple 8mm free spinning random orbital polisher.

As you can see the RUPES foam finishing pad is white...

After doing my Test Spot, you can see the combination of bronze pigment and aluminum metallic flake oxidation coming off the paint and onto the pad.

Almost looks like a dirty raspberry color?

Lacquer Cracking

One reason I'm approaching this paint very NON-aggressive is because there are places on the car where there is EXTREME Lacquer Cracking.

Entire Corvette Machine Waxed using an AIO

I machine applied on speed setting 6 and had great pad rotation. I also kept the polisher moving over the paint using a faster than normal arm speed when making my section passes. You don't want to stay in one place too long when buffing on antique single stage metallic paints.

Here's the final results....

Here's everything I used...

On Autogeek.com


Pinnacle Souveran Jeweling Wax

Porter Cable 7424XP Dual Action Polisher

Rupes 150 mm (6 inch) White Finishing Foam Pad

Cobra 12 Pack Forrest Green Edgeless Microfiber Polishing Cloths

 

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Continued...

Tuf Shine Tire Coating

The owner of this Corvette purchased these tires new and knowing my criteria for applying tire coatings, he brought them straight to me for machine scrubbing and 6 applications of the Tuf Shine Tire Coating.

I did the tire cleaning and coating back in the middle of January, 2020 and used some of these pictures in my Power Point Presentation on Tire Coatings versus Tire Dressing at Mobile Tech Expo.

So as I type here today on June 12th, 2020 it the Tuf Shine Tire Coating has been on these tires for 6 months.

They still look great and are dry to the touch.

 

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Continued...



Original 1970 Interior

I did not detail the interior of this car but I did take a couple of pictures to show you what the original interior looks like inside a 1970 Corvette with about 40,000 miles on her.

 

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Continued....


And just to note, the RUPES BigFoot 6" foam pads actually work really well on the Porter Cable.

Just remember if you purchase a Porter Cable polisher or have a Porter Cable polisher, in order to use the 6" RUPES pads you must also have a 5" backing plate. The Porter Cable comes with a "Starter Foam Pad" in the box and the backing plate is glued to the pad. So besides this backing plate and pad combo you don't actually get a dedicated backing plate.

Here's the link to the LC 5" backing plate and it works great.


Dual-Action Hook & Loop Flexible Backing Plate 5"

 

[57Rambler]

GM Design really went extreme when they came up with the name for this color ... Corvette Bronze. :laughing:

However, it's somewhat rare; based on a look at the production records archive, I come up with less than 1100 70's built in Corvette Bronze.

In addition to the lacquer problems, the paint looks a little faded, it's lost a bit of hue. But, considering it is original paint, it looks pretty darn good. This is one of those cases where conservation was the clear winning choice ! :dblthumb2:

 

[hoyt66]

Mike, one of the important things I have learned from you is to be realistic as far as what to expect from the paint you are working on. I know I would have a tendency to go to far chasing unachievable results if not being taught to approach paint correction this way.