Ferrari 599 GTB - Desert storm disaster!!

[Apollo_Auto]

Hi boys and girls! So I've recently moved into a new shop with a good friend/customer of mine and it's in a huge rally and tuning industrial park so there's plenty of car porn and potential customers in and out every day. This customer happens to be the owner of the entire building and my new neighbor at the shop (his race/rally car shop is next to ours). Anyway, his car was being used as a TAXI in Dubai and it's been sitting in the 50+ degree weather (that's 120+ Fahrenheit for the metrically impaired ) for more than a year now... OUTSIDE!!! To say the least, this car was a complete disaster in and out. And the fact that it's a Ferrari just made my eyes pop out even wider when I saw it. It's been sitting in the Ferrari service for more than 2 months now because so many repairs had to be done to it. Windows replaced, HUGE service, leather repair and of course the detailing on my part. It wasn't easy getting this job done because I always had to wait for one of the parts to come in before I can do this, and for one of the service techs to finish before I could start that, but today I was finally able to finish just in time for the owner to take it on vacation (and get it dirty again :shakehead: ) and just in time for me to head off for a little W&W (west and wewaxation). OK so here's what I was up against >>



The dash was completely blistered up!! This is after my "Leather Man" repaired it. You can still see lumps in the leather so needless to say I wasn't happy with it so I called him back. This is very tricky leather to repair and even after the second time it still wasn't 100%. He's going to have to do it again...

Inside gutted like a pig when they took the dash out for the second time...

These seats look like they came out of a heathen hauler or something!! I mean, that's like... DIRTY!!

Some more nastiness on a very unforgiving color of leather...

50/50 of the seat

Left seat clean, right side still looking like Pigpen from the Peanuts was sitting in it...

Here's another 50/50 that will give you an idea of what the rest of the interior was like... I needed a :hug: after seeing this. I actually had to clean the interior 2 times to get out all of the muck. I cleaned it with Wolf's WT-1N interior APC , allowed it to dry completely and then cleaned it again. You can still see traces of dirt here after the first round.

Before

After

All cleaned up (1 full day on the interior alone!!!) and leather treated with Wolf's WL-1N leather conditioner. Carpets also cleaned with WT-1N

My signature... a box of orange Tic Tacs

I've saved the worst for last... onto the paint. I've heard of "hand" washes, but I guess that an appropriate word for this desert dweller would be "sand" wash!!!

This paint is just dull...

OMG!!! The trunk was the worst part of the car... I've just bought a new camera and haven't fingered out how to take proper pictures with it yet, but I think I did a pretty good job of picking up the scratches in natural light. :barf:

Being that it was in cervix for so long, they had to put it outside for a while (a long while) and all the airborne cottonwood tree "cotton" stuck quite nicely to the sap that had fallen on it...

I could have probably measured an extra 50+ microns of crap on this paint before I cleaned it... I just didn't want to soil my PTG .

This is where the "taxi" beacon was placed on the top of the car.

Heat and water damage to the back, side glass

 

[Apollo_Auto]

More RIDS... everywhere.

Here comes the worst part of the car... the trunk.

:nervous2:

Engine had to be cleaned by hand because I couldn't very well take it downstairs with no batter and no seats...

Engine dialed in

50/50 on the front fender. I went with Wolf's Chemicals WP-6H and a cutting pad for the correction and finished things up with WP-1N and a finishing pad

Front fender complete

50/50 on the boot. BTW, I couldn't bring the car downstairs to wash it either so all of the washing and claying was done on the spot using ONR and Wolf's "Pink Slip" clay lube and WC-1E clay.

I do believe that I've found a new technique for removing polish stains from trim and it's actually quite simple. You can see here where I started on the right side. I got an old MF, one that's older than the ones for door jambs, and being that it was so rough it sort of acted like a very fine abrasive. I sprayed it with glass cleaner and after a lot of rubbing and patience it came off!!

Here's what it looked like after I cleaned it. There's no dressing on it now and it's not wet either so wysiwyg!!

Top half cleaned with no dressing yet.

The other side was equally as stained.

 

[Apollo_Auto]

Other side after cleaning.

After treatment with Wolf's nano trim dressing

Exhausts looking manky... couldn't do a whole lot with them, but they look a hell of a lot better now

After

Wheels all removed, cleaned with Wolf's nano rim cleaner, then treated with WR-1NT nano rim sealant and old counterweight glue removed.

Gas "bib" removed and cleaned

Around the mouth cleaned

Behind the door handles

After 2 coats of Wolf's nano paint sealant I gave it final coat of New Moon liquid carnauba wax which was left to cure for 1 hour.

Enjoy the afters, the customer sure did . Total time 27 hours.

Where the taxi beacon once was...

Thanks for reading and to all the Playboy subscribers, thanks for "reading"!



- Jesse O'Connor

 

[2MnyToys]

Absolutely amazing. That is quite a turnaround!

 

[MarcHarris]

EEEEk! That was nasty! Beautiful work performed and I can't imagine what it was like prior to the mechanics getting to it let alone before the leather guy was able to do some work. Another knock out!

 

[Pats300zx]

WOW Jesse..What a transformation !!!! . You really brought that thing back to live. Look at the huge chunks of metal taken out of the wheels...Geez

 

[autoconcierge]

"Supercleaness" only in Dubai with the "Silly monied up" folks can a 599 be used as a "TAXI", I can see the couple flagging down the car "oops only one seat" but it has a big trunk.... using this car for that use.....just don't do it.

 

[imported_spielnicht]

Great turnaround! I saw a Bentley being used a taxi in Dubai, never a Ferrari...crazy!



I've got some small polish staining actually on my trim by accident, I was going to try the Magic Eraser tonight, but I'll try your method to see if it works as well.

 

[TSC17]

Very nice buddy...that's a tremendous amount of work for "only" 27 hours!

 

[ADetailedFinish]

Taxi?! Why would they use a ferrari for a taxi, and even put a light on it?

 

[Apollo_Auto]

Absolutely amazing. That is quite a turnaround!

Thank you!

EEEEk! That was nasty! Beautiful work performed and I can't imagine what it was like prior to the mechanics getting to it let alone before the leather guy was able to do some work. Another knock out!

Thanks Marc! The dash looked horrible before. There was a HUGE lump in the middle of the dash and some of the other leather on the seats also had to be replaced.

WOW Jesse..What a transformation !!!! . You really brought that thing back to live. Look at the huge chunks of metal taken out of the wheels...Geez

Cheers Pat! Yeah the wheels have been through a few fights in the "arena"...

"Supercleaness" only in Dubai with the "Silly monied up" folks can a 599 be used as a "TAXI", I can see the couple flagging down the car "oops only one seat" but it has a big trunk.... using this car for that use.....just don't do it.

Thanks Bob! Well I hate to say it, but abused or not at least it's been used instead of sitting in somebody's garage in an oxygen bubble .

Very nice buddy...that's a tremendous amount of work for "only" 27 hours!

Thanks Todd! I could have easily spent anther 27 hours on it but as usual I was pressed for time on both mine and the customer's part.

Taxi?! Why would they use a ferrari for a taxi, and even put a light on it?

Because some people have too much money...

 

[a_guerrajr]

i thought you were kidding about the taxi part, till i saw the picture!



Great WORK!!!



Is that the same Wolfgang as the one they sell on AutoGeek?

 

[Apollo_Auto]

i thought you were kidding about the taxi part, till i saw the picture!



Great WORK!!!



Is that the same Wolfgang as the one they sell on AutoGeek?

Thanks mate! No, Wolf's Chemicals is a completely different company than Wolfgang.