Hello from the Jersey Shore

Awesome twins you have there. 72' is the best.

 

yup that is why the wagon got the name "GuldenRod" as it looks like Gulden's Mustard and it's getting the Hot Rod treatment so that's where the name came from

 

No problem with that as I just waited till it was getting dark and I broke out the
buffer and the compound and did it in the front yard by the light of a lamp post and the street light and was out there till 10:20 at night buffing then washing the car so tomorrow I get to come out to a shiney car.
I was nice and cool out this evening and never broke a sweat.
Can't buff in the hot sun anyway and don't have a garage yet so night was the perfect time to do it,no sun or sweltering heat.

Tomorrow it gets a coat of wax and finish cleaning the inside

 

dang it now you made me hungry, i'm going down to the kitchen and cook some hot dogs for a Midnite snack, worked up an appetite buffing out the paint and cleaning the car till 10:20 pm
Even got Gulden's Musturd to put on the hot dogs,LOL

 

Wagon is looking good! You used polishing compound on it with what kind of wheel and bonnet? I still polish/wax all my stuff by hand. Afraid I'll do damage with a buffer? Ditto on advice to stay hydrated, I know you guys have been having 100's up there this week?

 

Mike I use sponge pads as you don't get the heavy swirls like wool pads
the yellow is the compound pad and use the black sponge pad for swirl removers
The sponge pads are not aggressive to the paint and what I use on fresh paint as it don't leave heavy scratches and swirls.

wait to you see it all polished it's a big difference from when I first got it
the fender was just a teaser but now it's all buffed.
I do all my waxing by hand but nothing beats a high speed buffer when it comes to putting a shine on it,and alot less work and faster then hand rubbing.

I'm a paint & body guy for 30 years I know how to buff paint and been using air or electric beffers my whole career so there is now way i'm hand compounding a complete car especially a huge boat like this,LOL

 

So yellow sponge pads for the white polishing compound application(Remember all: we're talking about a 72 Ford, no clear coat here, polishing compound might be on clear coat?) , move to a black pad for polishing it out? And a clean black pad for removing/polishing the wax you applied by hand? Got an inexpensive home garage buffer in mind you'd recommend? I'm waxing my 150, got the hood and front fenders done....talk about acres of painted metal, lol.

 

Mike,
any decent variable speed buffer will do yo have to get a velcro backing pad for the sponge pads.
yes I use compound with the yellow or tan sponge pads
there are all types of compounds, I don't use the old 3M Super Duty compound that's tan in color as it has too much grit.that stuff was for lacquer or enamel single stage back in the day.
They have compounds that are made for clear coats an are less aggressive but like I said it is the pad that makes the difference and you don't burn fresh paint as easy with a sponge pad compared to wool.

back to buffers,make sure the trigger is variable speed as well as having a dial to adjust the rpm's of the buffer.the trigger is key as in tight areas and around trim you can feather the trigger so you don't tear up the sponge pads or burn the paint off on body lines.
I have a Snap On but Black & Decker made it for Snap On and is exactly the same just different stickers on it.I had my first one for about 15-20 years and only replaced the brushes then the trigger went and replaced that and they are easy to work on yourself,It started giving me intermittent issues so I bought a new one but bought the same exact buffer and have had that for another 10-15 years and still using it today.
Ryobi and Dewalt make decent ones too but make sure they are variable speed.

I don't use a buffer to remove wax,I do all my waxing by hand and use micro fiber towels to remove the wax. I had an orbital polisher at one time but with the liquid wax of toady I can actually take it off faster with a micro fiber towel.

the black or sometimes blue sponge pads are for using the swirl remover as your final step of buffing then you can wax to seal the paint after that but never wax fresh paint as it has to cure for 30 days before waxing as the paint sill breaths and gives off fumes and if you seal it with wax it can flatten out and lose it's shine but on old factory paint or old paint you don't have to worry and finish it with a coat of wax.

if you ever have fresh paint I use Mequire's No.7 Show Car Glaze as it contains no silicone or wax and it shines it up like it was waxed but it will wash off after awhile and need to be reapplied. The show car people use it as you never get any wax build up and they garage keep those cars so don't really need the wax protection but want something to give a deep shine.
I have been using No.7 for 30 years,it's great stuff

 

ok went out this morning and this is what I saw,she shined up pretty good for 30 yr old
lacquer paint,as that is what Ford used in 72.They didn't switch to enamel to years later





the tree's reflecting in the paint on the roof

 

:2_thumbs_up_-_anima Great job! Amazing what elbow grease can accomplish.

 

It's good to see someone that knows what he's doing when it comes to detailing paint on a car, gul! I've seen too many cars ruined by people that didn't know what they were doing with a high speed buffer. And that includes so called detailers. It doesn't take much to burn through the paint with a high speed buffer on a high spot. When I retired I bought a little piece of land on the highway and started my own used car lot. I would go to the dealers auction and look at the detailed cars that the dealers would bring in to auction off. Some of those cars were almost down to metal on the corners and edges...the detailer totally ruined a good car. The way I found my detailer was by watching which dealers brought in good looking detail jobs every week and then asked them who they used.
Your post shows good knowledge and experience. Perhaps you should do a step by step procedure in the Cosmetic & Restoration section and name the products and materials best used on specific paints and how to use them. You don't have to do this, of course, it's just a suggestion. The importance of this information is beyond priceless. We all want to do the best thing for our respective cars but many of us don't really know how to do it best and safely.
By the way....your car looks great!

 

Score for the wagon

I went down to my brothers friends to get some Explorer parts for my daily driver as he has a 98 Sport(2 door) he is parting out.
I got the parts I wanted off it for my 97 Explorer 5.0 and scored the
Leather High Back Power Bucket seats with Lumbar control for the wagon

I put a set of cloth ones in my 72 Gran Torino Sport as it was originally a bench seat car and someone put Ford ZX2 low back buckets with head rests and it didn't look good as the 72 Sports had high back buckets and these look similar but are more modern and have the modern power feature which is a 6 way power base and the lumbar control

The seats in the GTS are cloth and have to pay good money to have them custom upholstered but these seats I got are leather and not all ripped up and I can dye them with SEM Vinyl and Leather paint to match the Ginger interior.


Best part is Everything was FREE

 

A super nice wagon is getting even BETTER!!

 

i'm working on it but she has a ways to go yet and this is just the beginning.
I got some mechanical issues to tackle and it needs either U joints or the rear control arm bushing are shot or combination of both. Also has no turn signals and it appears to have new flasher so might have an electrical issue or the switch in the column is bad, not sure which till I do some electrical tests

 

here are the seats I scored for the wagon
only has one flaw on the driver seat a piece of the piping is missing but i'm just going to stitch the seam together and dye the seats Ginger and it probably won't be that noticeable but for free i'm not going to complain.
need to get a power seat base for the Passenger side but they are available as I got one to swap onto the seats in my GTS as they are Explorer buckets too,only in cloth.
With the power base it travels further back and forth and then you have front and rear tilt as they are 6 way power seats.Just have to get the base and the switches and the different side cover as that is where the switches mount. I picked the last one up in FL for $25,hope I can get the same deal here in NJ

here are the buckets