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Reviving Paint on a 94 Chevy S10 Blazer (part two)

by Lloyd Frazier

P1020160 I’m sure my loyal readers have been biting at the bit to get the second part of this paint revival.  And it can be like a revival in the sense that completely focusing on the task at hand can be quite spiritual if you really enjoy it.  There is just something very satisfying about taking a car from looking just okay to fantastic!  The most important thing to keep that task enjoyable is to make sure you have the right tools, chemicals, and frame of mind.  Nothing worse than going at a job with the wrong stuff.  My high school electronics teacher was quite a sage.  Before he let us loose into the shop, he made sure to emphasize “ choose the right tool for the job.???  In other words, don’t use a screwdriver for a pry bar.  Having and utilizing the tools for the job at hand makes all the difference.

P1020164I also want to emphasize prep work.  You cannot just take a buffer to a car without thinking how you might possibly damage the trim, rubber, and even bright work.  In this picture you can see where masking tape is used to protect the vehicle’s trim.  A whack on the trim with a buffer at speed can permanently mar it.  It only takes a few extra minutes and saves a ton of grief.  Masking tape made for this kind of work has a weaker adhesive bond so that when you are ready to remove it there isn’t any residual goo or stubborn little pieces left behind.  Masking tape does not stick well on rubber.  So, a good practice is to dress the rubber with a protectant to keep the polish and wax from sticking to it before you begin your work.  Draping towels or taping newspaper over glass and grille work  saves the hassle of getting in the nooks crannies to clean out polish and wax splatter.

 

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Taking a worn, dull paint job from drab to fab elevates the vehicles looks to a new level.  The fact is, if you are selling a car or truck, you can increase its asking price by 10-15% or more just by spending some quality time on the exterior.  I will get into interior hints and tricks in future posts.

 

Happy detailing!

Lloyd, signing out…

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Republic or Oligarchy – You Must Decide

This is not about automobiles….but, it is about our future.

It is hard to ignore what is going on in the world today, but most importantly right in our own country, the united states of America.  That is not a typo.  I purposely typed a lower-case ‘u’ in the title of our country.  We have been duped into the corporate United States of America, but that is not our heritage.  We are quickly sliding away from our nation’s founding principles.  We need to return to the kind of government we inherited…a Republic.  Time is running out for us.  We know something is not right in this great united states of America.  We must decide what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren.  Freedom is not free, folks!  But what can we do?  We need enough Americans to get involved in the fight for freedom so that we can return our nation to less government and more personal responsibility.  Watch this video when you have 30 minutes of uninterrupted time.  It is a quick lesson in what we might be losing if we do not start taking action today.  Let us hope it is not too late.

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Reviving Paint on a 94 Chevy S10 Blazer (part one)

by Lloyd Frazier

Blazer1 Before I begin, I just want to make some things known about my skills in paint cleaning and perfecting.  I have been my own personal detailer since I have been driving.  Let’s just say my start began sometime early in Nixon’s second term and Watergate was all the hubbub.  Many years later I attended a professional detailer training class at Detail King, just outside of Pittsburgh, back in spring of ‘04.  The first day was business training.  I really didn’t go for that as much as wanting some real hands-on professional training on the actual detailing of the automobile.  The second day consisted of hands on training.  After that training, I actually felt comfortable enough to introduce a rotary buffer and orbital polisher into my personal detailing processes.  I have detailed nearly 100 cars at the professional level in my own part-time business since then. 

Continue reading “Reviving Paint on a 94 Chevy S10 Blazer (part one)”

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Denver Auto Show – 2010

by Lloyd Frazier

Audi R8 Another automotive circus, filled with  hype, drama, and some actual visionary thinking, has rolled into Denver and right back out into the sunset.  I wanted to wait one week before I wrote my observations in the black hole known as Al Gore’s  internets.  This year’s show had a little more content then in 2009.  However, I only recall seeing one concept, the Corvette Stingray.  There were a lot of perks by going on a Friday instead of the traditional Saturday, for me and my photographer, aka son-in-law.  I call him Joe Photographer.  In fact, go to jjhphotography.com  to bask in his photographic wonders.  The Denver Auto Show has become our annual get-together-and-opine-over-cars-we-wish-we-had-parked-in-our-garages bonding time outside of our own personal man caves whom we share with our better halves.  It’s a guy thing.  Back to the perks. By going on a Friday, the crowds were much more subdued.  Saturdays are filled with more families looking over the barges they might like to have to tote their loved ones around in.  This allows the older kids to wander around and get crazy in the cars while mom and dad argue about what the most important part of that new car experience actually is.  Horsepower….no, safety….no, horsepower.  Well, you can picture the rest of the  domestic spat in your head.  That makes it tough to take some time and actually sit in the cars and enjoy the ambiance for a millisecond or two longer.  We both agree, all future shows WILL be attended on Friday.

DeLoreansOne of the more intriguing highlights of the show, nostalgic as it may be…a sort of back-to-the-future kind of moment, was seeing the four DeLoreans in their perfect glory.  There was a gentleman that was part of a DeLorean club in Denver, I do believe, that spouted out DeLorean trivia like it was coming directly from the original source, ‘ol John himself.  In fact, it was so interesting, those things I was not aware of in the DeLorean realm, that I will devote a future post to dig deeper into how those unique cars came to be.  And about their short lived existence.

An anthropologic observation should be noted.  You had to know it was coming.  More piling on Toyota.  Why not strike while the drama is fresh in all our minds with all the media frenzy spewing from our e-readers, RSS feeds, and talking heads.  I noticed that fewer people were hovering over Toyota’s offerings and more were huddled around Ford’s and GM’s sideshows.  Ford with its virtual ride in a Raptor and GM’s engineer showing off its latest engine diagnostics testing techniques…which perfectly segued to a magician/sales-guy, which then segued to an info babe twirling around on a platform, next to a Chevy Equinox, dizzyingly touting its benefits.  It was all very entertaining.

Cadillac CTS Coupe More of the aging wine and cheese crowd than usual  were found  gawking at Cadillacs and Lincolns.  Cadillac actually has a distinctive lineup that doesn’t take the badge engineering route.  I am especially fond of the CTS wagon.  Very nice vehicle.  Lincoln is slowly starting to redeem itself and finds it is on the same track as Cadillac, but still lagging behind.  More Camaro iterations were displayed.  A Transformers version was there.  Ford had the Fiesta and new, soon to be released, 2011 Mustang.  Very sweet looking car.  Ford probably has the best, most versatile line-up of vehicles they ever have had in their history.  I hate to say it, because Joe Photographer, being a Ford guy that he is, is going to rub this in my face, but facts is facts…I am proud of them.  There I said it, now go get a life!  Preferably in a domestic variety of vehicle.

Lloyd…signing out!