'29 Ford Model A Roadster: Detailing Nirvana

**Marc@AutoLavish** · 07-03-2010, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by Crazzy_Al

Scheduled for 8 hours but how long did it actually take?

We were originally scheduled for 8 hours of work on the paint. Then he added the engine bay, and more and more. Total time spent was around 25 hours over the course of a week, followed several months later with the sprucing up and final wax using Zymol Atlantique, and of course... the photoshoot

**Crazzy_Al** · 07-03-2010, 12:48 AM

25 hours?! Damn. Don't you guys charge like $80.00 an hour or so? That's $2000.00 for a detail job. Granted, a great detail job, but holy crap, still a detail job!

**Marc@AutoLavish** · 07-03-2010, 03:51 PM

Originally Posted by Crazzy_Al

25 hours?! Damn. Don't you guys charge like $80.00 an hour or so? That's $2000.00 for a detail job. Granted, a great detail job, but holy crap, still a detail job!

Very much so. Even at that price - it's 1/5th less than a proper respray and without the downtime.
Additionally, he didn't pay that full price. Basically the owner had a big enough budget that it allowed us to go crazy with the car. If you're already going into the 18+ hour time range, why not go a little bit further for perfection?

Thanks for the kind words and for taking a look

**FAST93** · 07-04-2010, 10:38 AM

Fantastic write up! Thanks for sharing.

I have a question. It seems like you guys use a different set of products for each of your "projects". Do you review the car to determine the best solutions prior to the start date or do you just bring everything with you?

**Marc@AutoLavish** · 07-04-2010, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by FAST93

Fantastic write up! Thanks for sharing.

I have a question. It seems like you guys use a different set of products for each of your "projects". Do you review the car to determine the best solutions prior to the start date or do you just bring everything with you?

Thanks for the kind words and great question. Any time we can, we try to look a car over prior to starting on it. Not only does this allow us to potentially take some paint thickness measurements, but it gives us an idea if the car has any special needs we'll need to be sure to address. In any case, Jacob's huge Ram 3500 dually is always loaded up to the max - you're always better off bringing more than you need. Of course even with his huge truck loaded up, we have to limit what we can bring as the truck still doesn't have enough room for all of our stuff.

**Jacob@AutoLavish** · 07-04-2010, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by FAST93

Fantastic write up! Thanks for sharing.

I have a question. It seems like you guys use a different set of products for each of your "projects". Do you review the car to determine the best solutions prior to the start date or do you just bring everything with you?

Thank you very much!

We bring most stuff with us. For things that will make a big difference like Polishes, Pads, Machines, we bring units of everything. We don't bring everything in the shop, but smaller bottles of everything. For things like soaps, dressings, leather products, canopies, we take just what we expect to use. If there is no interior work scheduled we will not take all the interior cleaning stuff, extractor, steam cleaners, etc. If the truck were bigger we could take more stuff each time, but for now, well, we have to strategize. Every once in a while we have a machine crap out or not work at the location, so for these we carry backups al the time (like pressure washers or polishers).