1969 was a great year for cars, not good for pavement. Big V8s with tons of torque, relaxed LEOs, lots of attitude made for fun leisurely rides down the boulevard. Here we have two of the vehicles that dominated said cruises, beautifully restored to perfect condition.
Both these vehicles were some of the cleanest vehicles we have ever seen. The 1969 Pontiac GTO is driven almost every weekend to local or semi-local car shows and gatherings. Notice the trophies on the wall ? just a sample, all for this Green Goat!
Being driven regularly the car?s condition really stood out to us. Obviously very well restored to begin with, everything was clean and proper from the interior to the underbody. We stood in awe for awhile at the car, then at the walls.
We had plenty of time to drool over this 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS. Having already worked on a few vehicles for this owner we had seen this and others in his collection many times. This vehicle is restored to a near 100% original condition, including correct overspray on chassis, bolt finishes, etc. The battery had to be upgraded. This vehicle is barely driven.
Side by side we see just how nice these vehicles really are. The condition of both is superb.
Although near perfect, both vehicles needed polishing to clear the finish of swirls and RIDS collected over time. The GTO had lighter swirling, but were somewhat deep. The SS had more defects with many swirls, areas of marring and severe RIDS. Neither of the finishes were original, and both were clear coat systems.
Cleaning starts first. The GTO had a tighter budget so we were not able to do things like the door jambs and engine bay, while the SS got a hardcore door jamb treatment.
Tires are tackled first. White lettering turns brown with time and wear. Over the counter wheel and tire cleaners had not been able to clean them back to white. We simply uses some Meg?s APC+ at 4:1, and a good scrubbing with a brush followed by a scrub with a SchMitt.
Just using brushes to clean tires can result in this:
Black SchMitt:
The Camaro?s tires had barely ever been dressed, and it showed. Although brown (a natural occurrence of rubber in air), they cleaned up with a brush quite nicely.
The Camaro?s wheels were cleaned with Sticky Gel at 3:1
The Pontiac?s wheels were cleaned with the same foam used for the paint:
Next were the details. Emblems, jambs, crevices and seams were hit hard with P21S Total Auto Wash, Meg?s APC+ at 10:1, small brushes and high velocity water.
No, the interior did not get wet during that last shot, and any overspray was wiped off and dried immediately (an advantage of having two people).
The paint on the Camaro was hard, so we did not hesitate to use a brush for the crevices. On most soft paints using a brush, even a soft one like this, can result in marring. When you clean emblems and creases use very light pressure. Let the chemical do the work, and opt for Q-Tips or smaller more focused brushes when the risk of marring is high.
