What was it like in the old days??

B

BRODEY1

New member
It seems that nowadays with the advent of forums like this one, the internet, incredible products, and sheer interest, that normal people can just about match the competency of a proffesional detailer if they truly want to.



What was it like "back in the day", say like late 70's through the late 80's for hobbyists like myself vs. the pro's?



What machines were used? What products were used? Were hobbyists capable of matchining the pro's?



I'm one of the many whose father taught them the dish washing liquid and Turtle Wax method of "detailing".



Thanks for any input!!
 
Hey Brodey1!



Race car drivers have a concept that involves 'seat time'.



It just means practice, practice, practice...



You will never get 'seat time' reading a forum.



normal people can just about match the competency of a proffesional detailer if they truly want to.
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Simply an incorrect statement. Naive, at best. Certainly insulting to members of a Professional Forum.



I've no intention of flaming you, brodey1, but your premise is invalid.
 
Brodey, Turtle wax still makes the same rubbing compound they made in teh 80's. Used to get all sorts of blemishes out with it. I am not even going to go into the three or four waxes there was to chose from. There wasn't the clear coats that there are today. It was dealing with just paint. Oh yea! another thing, can you say Armor All!!!



Jimmy and D&D - With the DA polishers and many of the new user friendly products that they have out on the market, the normal folk can make a car just as clean. I know egos around here are flying with the Paul thread but to slam a person for simply starting a thread is ridiculous. A clean freaken car is a clean freaken car! Maybe they can't take a car out of a junkyard and make a Nu Finish commercial out of it, but who in the hell needs that anyways. There are many normal folk that have there cars as perfect as any car that comes out of your shop. Again, a clean freaken car is a clean freaken car. That is why there are thousands of people that have visited this site. No one is dogging the work that you do. I am sure it is grade A (no joke). But guys I can't go along with coming down on someone for making a simple comment within his post just to make yourself feel better and more important about what you do for a living.



It's crap like this that keeps people from posting.
 
fergnation said:
Brodey, Turtle wax still makes the same rubbing compound they made in teh 80's. Used to get all sorts of blemishes out with it. I am not even going to go into the three or four waxes there was to chose from. There wasn't the clear coats that there are today. It was dealing with just paint. Oh yea! another thing, can you say Armor All!!!



Jimmy and D&D - With the DA polishers and many of the new user friendly products that they have out on the market, the normal folk can make a car just as clean. I know egos around here are flying with the Paul thread but to slam a person for simply starting a thread is ridiculous. A clean freaken car is a clean freaken car! Maybe they can't take a car out of a junkyard and make a Nu Finish commercial out of it, but who in the hell needs that anyways. There are many normal folk that have there cars as perfect as any car that comes out of your shop. Again, a clean freaken car is a clean freaken car. That is why there are thousands of people that have visited this site. No one is dogging the work that you do. I am sure it is grade A (no joke). But guys I can't go along with coming down on someone for making a simple comment within his post just to make yourself feel better and more important about what you do for a living.



It's crap like this that keeps people from posting.
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I think he was simply stating that you can not just read a forum, and be as skilled as a pro. I agree with this 100%. It has taken me 11 years of practice and education to get where I am as a detailing professional. Reading a forum and buying a PC and some polish is not going to make up for that experience. You are right though, a clean car is a clean car, buy there is a lot more to it than that.
 
Well, this was posted in the "Professional Detailers" forum. I would tend to agree that it is not fair to suggest that a hobbyist, simply by dint of this forum and some boutique supplies, can acheive professional results (not to say that it's not possible, but as Brad says, there is a lot more to it than that).



What I can say for myself (and I am not a professional) is that even though I waxed my first car over 30 years ago, and I thought I knew something about detailing, I really didn't before coming to this site 3+ years ago. The amount of information and knowledge available on this forum (and others on many subjects) really is a fundamental change from the "old days" and Jimmy as well as other pros here credit the forum for substantial learning.
 
I think the OP just wanted to know what it was like 20 years ago in regards to car detailing.



Mostly I remember Turtle Wax and Armor All. I had a few Mirror Glaze products, but didn't know how to use them effectively. I know that the information about the industry wasn't as available as it is now.
 
BRODEY1 said:
It seems that nowadays with the advent of forums like this one, the internet, incredible products, and sheer interest, that normal people can just about match the competency of a proffesional detailer if they truly want to.



What was it like "back in the day", say like late 70's through the late 80's for hobbyists like myself vs. the pro's?



What machines were used? What products were used? Were hobbyists capable of matchining the pro's?



I'm one of the many whose father taught them the dish washing liquid and Turtle Wax method of "detailing".



Thanks for any input!!
Click to expand...



There is no reason a hobbyists can not do as good a job as a pro, except for one thing time.

With the internet and forums and such the info is all there.



I know people that have painted their cars and color sanded them with very experience, except for high school auto body. Took them weeks and they said probably would not do it again.



Personally i started a paint deoxidation company back in 1987. When single stage paint was the norm. Working with a written manual and a heavy orbital (18lbs) it was fun to bring back finishes. I still use the orbital on some jobs, it just works well.



In 1992 i started wetsanding and polishing with the rotary. I had the benefit of machine experience and the time to learn. Products used were 3M and Production. Heavy dusting. Always used sealants and tried everything i could get my hands on. Same as today very few lived up to the hype.



Most of it was trial and error and common sense.



And yes i have learned and honed a lot of skills on this forum.
 
Jimmy Buffit said:
Hey Brodey1!



Race car drivers have a concept that involves 'seat time'.



It just means practice, practice, practice...



You will never get 'seat time' reading a forum.







Simply an incorrect statement. Naive, at best. Certainly insulting to members of a Professional Forum.



I've no intention of flaming you, brodey1, but your premise is invalid.
Click to expand...



Actually, what I was trying to say was that the layperson now has ACCESS to information and products now that given the proper time and training, one could come close to the levels of a pro, isn't that how a pro learned...time and training?



30 years ago, you could have handed me a Flex and some Menzerna, and I would have no idea what to do without you showing me what to do.



Back then, the trade secrets were just that...trade secrets.



If anything, I am extraordinarily grateful that there is a site where people like me can get help and tips from real life proffessional detailers!!



I respect the difficulty and skill level needed enough that I have spent the last year and a half simply preparing and researching before I even touched a DA, which I finally just bought.



I have absolutely no "seat time" polishing, but I now have the right tools, literally and figuratively, to start polishing correctly, I will get better with time.



Also, I have no intentions on correcting badly neglected vehicles, only my own 2, which I keep in outstanding condition, good wash technique, hand polished as needed, clayed twice a year, KAIO along with 4-5 layers of SG topped with AW after every other wash. My car as of now is 90% perfect (14 year old car), so just another 9-10% is all I have to do to get the results I desire.



You, as proffessionals, get vehicles that are shredded and are expected to perform miracles, and from looking at the "click and brag" section, it is almost always accomplished.



No disrespect intended from my original post, if the pros on this site were not willing to share, the level of the hobbyist would be nowhere near where it is now, and we really appreciate it.



The hobbyists on this site are obviously DIYourselfers, and would most likely not hand our car over to someone else anyway, so teaching us doesn't hurt your business, all it does is spread the word about what true detailing entails and maybe convince people that it money well spent. (that was a sweet run-on sentence, eh?)



Wow, did I type all that??
 
BRODEY1 said:
It seems that nowadays with the advent of forums like this one, the internet, incredible products, and sheer interest, that normal people can just about match the competency of a proffesional detailer if they truly want to.



What was it like "back in the day", say like late 70's through the late 80's for hobbyists like myself vs. the pro's?



What machines were used? What products were used? Were hobbyists capable of matchining the pro's?



I'm one of the many whose father taught them the dish washing liquid and Turtle Wax method of "detailing".



Thanks for any input!!
Click to expand...



IME the line between serious amateur and pro has always been fuzzy.



I've used "pro" products since I was a high-school kid in the mid-70s; my mother and her sister used stuff from Meg's Mirror Glaze/pro line (notably the same #7 and #16 that people still use today) since forever. Heh heh, one of the things I like about Meguiar's products is that the smell reminds me of my childhood. Buying detailing stuff at autobody/paint stores is something I grew up with and I never understood why people bought crappy stuff at department stores instead.



I've been using my older Cyclo since the mid-'80s, and they've been making the same basic machine since immediately post-WWII. When people started using the PC/etc. for polishing cars in the late '80s it *did* open up machine polishing to a lot of people though.



Products and pads (there was a *long* time when all pads were wool) have come a long way, and variable-speed rotaries are a big improvement over the single-speed Milwaukee I used in the '70s. Not like the older products don't still work though and I know guys who are still using single-speed rotaries that're older than I am.
 
My first rotary was a 2 speed Makita, 2000/3000. Pads were 3M and SM Arnold foam and the dreaded twisted synthetic? wool, you want cutting power and course swirl marks, wow.
 
Back in the late 50's and early to mid 60's my late brother was one of the best body & paint guys around and did most all of his work in the driveway and garage. I remember being 8 yrs old when I took an interest in what he was doing (in 1958 - he was 7 years older than I) and his primary paint repair tools were VERY fine grades of wet sanding paper, some off-brand rubbing compound, and hard paste wax applied by hand and buffed out with different grades of buffing pads attached to an electric variable speed drill. 90% of everything was done by hand. His whole technique evolved from endless practice; making mistakes and finding out what worked and what did not. Even as a part time effort, he took home some car show trophies and had a pretty good local reputation. He was killed by a drunk driver in 1968, so I never got a good chance to learn all of his methods from him. Todays methods are head and shoulders above the old elbow grease and fleece pad days -- they just didn't exist back then.
 
Another thing came to mind...back then the whole thing was, *IMO/IME* less complicated and people were more accustomed to doing stuff themselves as opposed to paying a pro (anybody here removed stains from wool rugs lately? It wasn't uncommon when I was growing up). There were two types of paint (lacquer/enamel) and there weren't all the variations there are now (clear that ranges from stupid-soft to ceramic-hard). Interiors were the same stuff that household items were (leather/vinyl/wool/etc.) and if you did much housecleaning you knew how to deal with those. Even glass was easier, it was really *glass*, not some poly-whatever mixture like it is now.



It wasn't all *that* hard to take some Meg's #2 and cotton towels and do correction, even by hand. Follow up with a milder product and maybe some #7/cornstarch mix, then apply the wax. Yeah, it really *did* turn out great, but things aren't that simple today.



karburn- Sorry to hear about your brother.



The experiences you mentioned were still part of growing up when I was a kid..painting your car and stuff like that was sorta the natural progression from building plastic models.
 
first used a buffer when i was 14. i am now 24. i agree that some of you take your job very seriously with your attention to detail but you've also got to remember that there is plenty of business for the guys who just want to polish and squirt.



i have been detailing cars for nearly half my life. i've seen plenty of guys who've had barely a clue what they were doing keep their cars in excellent condition and i've also seen guys who've owned detail shops for 10+ years with cars that look like crap. when it comes to detailing, i think the definition of a professional is going to be different to everyone.
 
I worked for a car dealer in 1964. We used a Black & Decker rotary with wool pads, rubbing compound, Blue Coral cleaner , a silicone polish made by Westleys , Dupont # 7 New Car Wax, and a local wax called Slax Super Wax . At that time Slax gave the highest gloss that I ever seen. Buffing swirls were the norm back then, even at the Auto Show new cars had swirls, although the Slax Wax would hide them for a long time.
 
Accumulator said:
Another thing came to mind...back then the whole thing was, *IMO/IME* less complicated and people were more accustomed to doing stuff themselves as opposed to paying a pro (anybody here removed stains from wool rugs lately? It wasn't uncommon when I was growing up). There were two types of paint (lacquer/enamel) and there weren't all the variations there are now (clear that ranges from stupid-soft to ceramic-hard). Interiors were the same stuff that household items were (leather/vinyl/wool/etc.) and if you did much housecleaning you knew how to deal with those. Even glass was easier, it was really *glass*, not some poly-whatever mixture like it is now.
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Another variation in technique was the reformulation of newspaper ink which prevented (or eliminated the usefulness) the employment of newspaper in cleaning/polishing glass. I am not 100% about the reformulation, but I reckon the mild abrasives in the old formulation were eliminated which prevented its polishing action.
 
Holden_C04 said:
Another variation in technique was the reformulation of newspaper ink which prevented (or eliminated the usefulness) the employment of newspaper in cleaning/polishing glass. I am not 100% about the reformulation, but I reckon the mild abrasives in the old formulation were eliminated which prevented its polishing action.
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really? when i was in my teens, which was only about 7 years ago, i used to read over and over how news paper ink helped polish glass. but, everytime i'd try it i would think, "i must be doing something wrong, this newspaper sucks!" i guess i had some obsolete info.
 
When I was growing up in the 70's my dad would restore cars and build Hot Rods in the garage. He would do all the paint work. Dose any one remember hand rubbed lacquer.



When Armoral first came out it was the greatest stuff there was. We used t put it on every thing. I have a picture of my Grand fathers 77 red MG with me standing next to it. The picture was taken around 80 you should see how much of this stuff is on the top. Talk about wet!

I have the car sitting in my garage now with the original top. It needs to be replaced.



Any one ever use liquid ebony?
 
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