A tale of... THREE Stingrays?! Pt. 3: 1966 Coupe and Conclusion

C. Charles Hahn

CCH Auto Appearance, LLC
Continued from Part 1 and Part 2

SURPRISE!! Just when you thought 50 years of performance and refinement was the end of the story, there's a third Sting Ray in the mix... but they say three's company too, right?

This 1966 coupe originally belonged to my client's brother, who sadly passed away before truly getting to enjoy the car. After his passing, it found its way into his brother's collection. This car is in a bit rougher condition than its two siblings, and much less work would be done to it for the time being. I completed this one in the client's garage, around an hour and a half away in Metro Detroit.

As you can see, this car was quite dull and swirled, with lots of bonded contamination requiring a thorough treatment with a clay bar to smooth the finish:

BEFORE.JPG


SWIRLS.JPG


Following a thorough decontamination, the car was given a quick polish with Meguiar's D151 Paint Reconditioning Cream. The goal was simply to deep clean the paint, restore a bit of gloss, and add some protection; all things D151 would be perfect for.

After I completed the curved upper sections of the car and it was raised to a comfortable working height, my client decided he wanted to try his hand at polishing, so I set him up with the new Meguiar's MT300 DA and a foam cutting disc:

TOM_MT300.JPG


He also gave the pneumatic Rupes LHR75 a try, with a 4" Meguiar's foam polishing pad:

TOM_LHR75.JPG


The result of all this hard work was a very presentable example of a "mid-year" coupe:

AFTER1.JPG


AFTER2.JPG


AFTER3.JPG


AFTER4.JPG


AFTER5.JPG


AFTER6.JPG


As if three Stingrays weren't enough, we heard a loud rumble coming up the driveway as we were finishing up, only to find this beauty, belonging to one of the client's friends (a '66 convertible, this one packing a 427 -- this is starting to feel like a mid-year convention!):

BIGBLOCK.JPG

Up next? Who knows... there's a lot of potential here!
 
After many hours of work, it's finally time for the payoff. This distinguished collection represents two radical and iconic body styles; two current classics and a future classic. It was an honor and a pleasure to work on these cars, of which I also happen to be a huge personal fan. The fact that the jobs were referred to me through a friend and contact at one of the world's most prestigious car care companies is, in a word, humbling.

With that said, enjoy this trio of performance coupes!

COMBO1.JPG


COMBO2.JPG


COMBO3.JPG


COMBO4.JPG


COMBO5.JPG


COMBO6.JPG


COMBO7.JPG


COMBO8.JPG


COMBO9.JPG


COMBO10.JPG


Thank you so much for following along! I hope you've enjoyed reading about these cars as much as I enjoyed working on them.
 
Thank you for the review and I see the MT 300 in use. How does the MT 300 stack up against the GG 6 inch and CG Torx?

I really can't speak to how it compares as I have not used either of the others you listed, but I can tell you that the MT300 is an excellent tool (though admittedly not perfect). A full in-depth review of the Meguiar's tool is next on my priority list to complete, so look for it to come in the not too distant future.

Thanks!
 
Back
Top