richy
New member
La Bella Putana indeed. This gorgeous red Alfa Romeo was slated to get dressed in her best...her Finest in fact. I made an interesting discovery during my journey with this car that I`ll share shortly. This was to be and inside and out job, although I did not shoot the inside. This car is a re-paint from many years ago but the paint was in good shape and had lots of it. Let the fun begin!
Here it is as it arrived to me:
She had the perfect plate:
I thought the bumpers were rubber like the old Porsche`s at first glance, but it turns out they were metal and were painted in a flat black colour:
The paint on this car turned out to be a big challenge:
First up as always was the wheels. I went to my BAM wheel cleaner and sprayed it on dry and let it dwell and then agitated. I actually found a car on which I could use the smallest of my set of three wheel woolies. I swear I have never used it before, but it was perfect for getting into the channels of the wheel. I then used Zep Citrus on them and 3D Pink soap. The tires were cleaned with Zep 505 and the wells with LATA.
The top was cleaned with a wash mitt and Pink soap as well and the rest of the car got the same. It was then brought inside and was clayed with a clay towel.
Now it was time to play with some paint! The hood was badly and deeply swirled. I used Shine Supply Chop Top again and definitely needed that level of cut. It was combined with a TB black wool pad. That was followed up with a yellow B/S pad + M205. I then did one step further than usual and followed that stage up with Essence + CarPro Gloss Pad. All polishing was done with my 3401.
I was happy with the results I was getting and had done the hood and front fenders. Then I moved onto the driver`s door and discovered this on my TB wool pad:
Single stage paint! Are you kidding me? It seems the front half of this car was painted in base/clear and the back half with single stage paint. How the Hell does that make any sense? The SS paint was a PITA to polish and coat. I forgot how much I disliked it. It corrected easier than the B/C, but I don`t like the mess it makes of everything.
Once polished, the wheels and paint and side glass were treated to a double coat of CQF. The windshield was double coated with Fly By 30. The exhaust tips were coated too. The convertible top was treated with DG 342. The interior was vacuumed, wiped down with a damp mf with ONR and then the leather surfaces were treated with UIGP. I hand polished the wooden steering wheel. I regret not shooting that. It was sealed with a DG beta product I had. The tires were shot with OB from my air gun. Be forewarned, I shot lots of pics of it as I was both proud of it and also when I first took the shots it was cloudy, but then the clouds broke and it really showed it off, so I shot some more.
Here she is, 20 hours later all done:
Reflection of cloudy skies above:
Two with the top down:
This was a very cool car to work on and I felt honoured to have the chance to do it. As always, comments are appreciated. Thanks for looking.
Here it is as it arrived to me:
She had the perfect plate:
I thought the bumpers were rubber like the old Porsche`s at first glance, but it turns out they were metal and were painted in a flat black colour:
The paint on this car turned out to be a big challenge:
First up as always was the wheels. I went to my BAM wheel cleaner and sprayed it on dry and let it dwell and then agitated. I actually found a car on which I could use the smallest of my set of three wheel woolies. I swear I have never used it before, but it was perfect for getting into the channels of the wheel. I then used Zep Citrus on them and 3D Pink soap. The tires were cleaned with Zep 505 and the wells with LATA.
The top was cleaned with a wash mitt and Pink soap as well and the rest of the car got the same. It was then brought inside and was clayed with a clay towel.
Now it was time to play with some paint! The hood was badly and deeply swirled. I used Shine Supply Chop Top again and definitely needed that level of cut. It was combined with a TB black wool pad. That was followed up with a yellow B/S pad + M205. I then did one step further than usual and followed that stage up with Essence + CarPro Gloss Pad. All polishing was done with my 3401.
I was happy with the results I was getting and had done the hood and front fenders. Then I moved onto the driver`s door and discovered this on my TB wool pad:
Single stage paint! Are you kidding me? It seems the front half of this car was painted in base/clear and the back half with single stage paint. How the Hell does that make any sense? The SS paint was a PITA to polish and coat. I forgot how much I disliked it. It corrected easier than the B/C, but I don`t like the mess it makes of everything.
Once polished, the wheels and paint and side glass were treated to a double coat of CQF. The windshield was double coated with Fly By 30. The exhaust tips were coated too. The convertible top was treated with DG 342. The interior was vacuumed, wiped down with a damp mf with ONR and then the leather surfaces were treated with UIGP. I hand polished the wooden steering wheel. I regret not shooting that. It was sealed with a DG beta product I had. The tires were shot with OB from my air gun. Be forewarned, I shot lots of pics of it as I was both proud of it and also when I first took the shots it was cloudy, but then the clouds broke and it really showed it off, so I shot some more.
Here she is, 20 hours later all done:
Reflection of cloudy skies above:
Two with the top down:
This was a very cool car to work on and I felt honoured to have the chance to do it. As always, comments are appreciated. Thanks for looking.
