1956 "C1" Corvette: America's Sportscar Revitalized

sorry for bumping an old post, but I was curious, is that a tilt shift angle lens u took the pictures with? Nice job with the car btw!!!
 
I am so glad this got bumped. Have I mentioned I love old cars? LOL What a beautiful machine. Nice clean up and shine. I hope she gets the new paint she deserves some time soon.
 
What a great thread. No disrespect intended to all you detailers out there, but so many details done today aren't much more than dusting off a practically brand new car. Sure, you need to wash it and maybe buff out a few swirls and then throw on some tire shine. All is good. But what I really am impressed with is taking an old car, in this case a classic beauty, and overcoming the challenges of detailing and often restoring things that have wear, age and patina on them. It takes a lot of skill and experience to learn what products do what on old materials. Learning tricks to revive the look of plastics, leather, metal and even wood takes patience and a lot of time. And when things aren't perfect it's expecially important to know how (and how far) to go to make things look better, but also look 'right' in relation with all the other parts of the car. It all needs to come together as a whole. You don't want something too shiny, or too perfect, when it sits next to something that isn't possible to be made better. Hard to explain but it's an art.



Nice work, Charlie. Great to see you taking care of this gem. I bet it was a very satisfying job. Thumbs up.
 
DJ Trackie said:
sorry for bumping an old post, but I was curious, is that a tilt shift angle lens u took the pictures with? Nice job with the car btw!!!
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Thanks! The pictures were all taken with a Canon EOS 60D and either the factory "kit" lens (an EF-S 18-135mm IS) or a Canon EF 50mm F/1.8, both of which were wearing only UV filters. Nothing particularly fancy; but I have a habit of mostly shooting in aperture-priority and keeping the F-stop as open as the lens will allow (3.5 or 5.6 with the kit lens depending on focal length, or 1.8 with the prime) and usually the ISO is set at 800 or 1000 unless I'm shooting in really low light.



Thrillseeker said:
I am so glad this got bumped. Have I mentioned I love old cars? LOL What a beautiful machine. Nice clean up and shine. I hope she gets the new paint she deserves some time soon.
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Thanks; I was told that it did in fact go to the body shop this week for a bit of work -- the fiberglass on the trunklid was flaking away around the key hole, to the point that the lock cylinder wouldn't stay in place. So that part is at least being fixed which will result in the trunk being refinished, but as far as I know that's all the owner is having done at this point. I should be seeing it again in the near future so it'll be interesting to see how it looks -- I'll update the thread with more new pictures when I get them.



Brad B. said:
What a great thread. No disrespect intended to all you detailers out there, but so many details done today aren't much more than dusting off a practically brand new car. Sure, you need to wash it and maybe buff out a few swirls and then throw on some tire shine. All is good. But what I really am impressed with is taking an old car, in this case a classic beauty, and overcoming the challenges of detailing and often restoring things that have wear, age and patina on them. It takes a lot of skill and experience to learn what products do what on old materials. Learning tricks to revive the look of plastics, leather, metal and even wood takes patience and a lot of time. And when things aren't perfect it's expecially important to know how (and how far) to go to make things look better, but also look 'right' in relation with all the other parts of the car. It all needs to come together as a whole. You don't want something too shiny, or too perfect, when it sits next to something that isn't possible to be made better. Hard to explain but it's an art.



Nice work, Charlie. Great to see you taking care of this gem. I bet it was a very satisfying job. Thumbs up.
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Thank you for the kind words, Brad. Without a doubt this was one of the most fun details I've ever done, but also one of the most challenging for exactly the reasons you stated. Any time you're faced with a vehicle like this it becomes a matter of identifying what areas of concern are of the highest order to address, and especially identifying what definitely can't be done. In my initial discussions with the car's owner I focussed on informing him what components were worn beyond the point of simple "in place" restoration and telling him that if his goal was a perfect concours or show quality result, I didn't feel comfortable taking his money since there was no way I could provide that to him with what was there to work with.



Something I think a lot of people tend to forget is that while the goal of running a detail business is of course to make money, if you choose to take on projects like this one it's often in the best interest of both yourself and your customer to steer them away from your own services and toward someone better equipped to perform the work required to attain their ultimate goals. Besides, like I told this car's owner, if he had decided to go the route of a new paint job I'd have been more than happy to buff it out and put the finishing touches on it after the fact :D
 
Bringing an American classic back to life, and in time for the Dream Cruise! Great attention to detail Charlie: cars like this only look as nice as their worst section, so all that time you put in on the chrome goes a long way. Great work!
 
Thanks Marc! I don't think this one made it down to the Dream Cruise, but I hear they have a similar event in Grand Rapids which is local for this car and its owners, so perhaps it'll get out then for people to enjoy.
 
Charles,

Fantastic work. As much as I like the crispness we can get out of modern day clear coats I truly feel nothing can match the warmth and deep vibrance you can get from restoring old single stage paint. I just find myself staring at that final pic. Just drop dead great work man.
 
Lotuseffect said:
Charles,

Fantastic work. As much as I like the crispness we can get out of modern day clear coats I truly feel nothing can match the warmth and deep vibrance you can get from restoring old single stage paint. I just find myself staring at that final pic. Just drop dead great work man.
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Thank you for the kind words, Lotuseffect. I totally have to agree with you, the look of restored single stage paint like this is something totally different than any clear coat can match. I was also lucky that the garage I was working in made a perfect backdrop for the car!
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Thanks Barry!







Bob, thanks for the comments! I agree, the checking finish was definitely a big concern and this job really demonstrated why it's so important to approach every situation with a "gentle hand." I too am hopeful the car will someday receive a new paint job so it can be brought to a higher standard.
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I think this car is going to need more than a new paint job to make it perfect again. Those cracks you saw in the paint very likely weren't just in the paint at all. They are in the fiberglass itself. Having cracks like this is typical for old Corvettes. They develop small stress cracks all over the car, but mostly in certain areas like the cowl and the trunk corner areas. To fix this, you would need to grind out all of the cracked fiberglass and then lay down new fiberglass. Even if the car is never hit, it STILL develops stress cracks. Because this is a 56, it doesn't have the aluminum body reinforcing pieces inside the bodywork that the 57's have. Because of the lack of reinforcement pieces, the 56 is the lighter corvette, and I think is the lightest Corvette, at less than 2900 pounds, maybe 2600. Chevrolet added the aluminum reinforcing pieces in 57 to try to prevent stress cracks. For this reason, 57's crack less severely than 56's . My father has a 56 Corvette race car that was restored from bushel basket condition in the mid 80's. Needless to say, I have always been in charge of detailing it.



You did a great job on this car. My experience with Meg's #7 is that it takes a few coats over days to bring old single stage paint back to it's full richness, so there is still room for improvement here. This is not an all original car, nor was it properly restored, because the dashboard should be red and not black. The stainless trim needs some straightening, too, which is expensive work to have done correctly. Be really careful where you send your stainless to. I sent mine to a place that took a belt sander to it, and left it with a rippled look over all of the pieces. I had to fix them by hand sanding them and buffing them myself. A lot of work it was. Took me 15 hours to do some pieces.

As far as making this car nice without restoring it, he obviously made the right decision by letting you detail it.
 
Thrillseeker said:
I am so glad this got bumped. Have I mentioned I love old cars? LOL What a beautiful machine. Nice clean up and shine. I hope she gets the new paint she deserves some time soon.
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Hopefully with the correct single stage paint. It's all base coat clear coat in California now.
 
Blackthornone said:
I think this car is going to need more than a new paint job to make it perfect again. Those cracks you saw in the paint very likely weren't just in the paint at all. They are in the fiberglass itself.
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You're absolutely correct, some of the cracks were definitely in the fiberglass -- namely around the fuel filler door, a couple in the cowl area, and one behind the drivers' side door. As best I could tell though about 90% of the cracks were just in the paint itself.



Having cracks like this is typical for old Corvettes. They develop small stress cracks all over the car, but mostly in certain areas like the cowl and the trunk corner areas. To fix this, you would need to grind out all of the cracked fiberglass and then lay down new fiberglass. Even if the car is never hit, it STILL develops stress cracks. Because this is a 56, it doesn't have the aluminum body reinforcing pieces inside the bodywork that the 57's have. Because of the lack of reinforcement pieces, the 56 is the lighter corvette, and I think is the lightest Corvette, at less than 2900 pounds, maybe 2600. Chevrolet added the aluminum reinforcing pieces in 57 to try to prevent stress cracks. For this reason, 57's crack less severely than 56's .
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Very interesting! Never knew that about the reinforcements, but it definitely makes sense. I'm sure if this car ever does go through a proper restoration it will be handled properly -- there is a restoration shop about 5 miles away from the owner that is known for putting out quality work including a few NCRS top flight winners.



My father has a 56 Corvette race car that was restored from bushel basket condition in the mid 80's. Needless to say, I have always been in charge of detailing it.
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I'd love to see pics of that! We came across one of the '56 LeMans racers at a Concours event a few weeks back, and that was one heck of a car!



You did a great job on this car. My experience with Meg's #7 is that it takes a few coats over days to bring old single stage paint back to it's full richness, so there is still room for improvement here. This is not an all original car, nor was it properly restored, because the dashboard should be red and not black. The stainless trim needs some straightening, too, which is expensive work to have done correctly. Be really careful where you send your stainless to. I sent mine to a place that took a belt sander to it, and left it with a rippled look over all of the pieces. I had to fix them by hand sanding them and buffing them myself. A lot of work it was. Took me 15 hours to do some pieces.

As far as making this car nice without restoring it, he obviously made the right decision by letting you detail it.
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Thank you; I definitely would have liked to get 2-3 applications of #7 in to soak, but since this was a mobile job I was under both time and budget constraints that only allowed for the single coat. To be honest I don't think the extra effort in this case would have been all that noticeable given the overall condition of the finish and car.



As to the car's level of originality: I was told that when the car was painted in the mid '70s, there was some work done on the interior as well. The dash was painted and the upper pad was replaced or painted, as were the seat covers. The top was also replaced at that time. All of the above have since deteriorated back to a condition which warrants replacement again. The paint in the door jambs and under the hood is still original.



The stainless appears to me to have been bent during disassembly when it was painted. I advised the owner that all the trim would need to be removed (properly) to be straightened and several of the retaining clips would need replaced since they were holding very loosely in some areas.



Also I was told this car was originally equipped with the factory dual-quad setup, which was removed in favor of a factory 1960-vintage single 4bbl and intake manifold "because it's easier to tune." The owner still has the original manifold and carbs, however, but there are a number of other items missing from under the hood.



In the end, I could see the owner easily dropping $50K into a full and proper restoration to factory standards... but I doubt that's going to happen.



Blackthornone said:
Hopefully with the correct single stage paint. It's all base coat clear coat in California now.
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And probably waterborne BC/CC at that....
 
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