MODELLO: Porsche 993
ANNO: 1996
COLORE: Black
It’s certainly not the first Porsche I’ve worked on, but every time I get one in my hands it’s always like the first time.
Porsche 911 is a project that starts from afar and over the years has undergone more or less obvious changes. If you are a detailer, you often got those less visible as a change of color or the replacement of a portion of the dashboard, and every time you realize how much care and engineering thought there is in these German with the tadpole nose.
In German sports cars nothing is ever left to chance, and every material or sheet metal is built and assembled with care.
I love the technique and I am passionate about the research of materials, so every time is a moment of enjoyment. No one like Porsche has made the philosophy of improvement its raison d’être.
Unchanged in form but always different in substance with each generation. The 993 of this detailing does not run away from this logic.
The car comes from a very distant country on a morning at the end of November. The request that precedes it is peremptory: “Beauty at any cost!”. The car has just been bought by the previous owner and needs to be polished and cleaned to perfection.
Archived the pleasantries we start immediately with the detailing.
Day 1
I place the car in the center of the studio.
I put the light in my head and turn off the ambient lights.
The inspiration starts, the first defects that I detect are widespread scratches from brushes. I will never get tired of saying it, avoid doing it with the “classics”.
Mark on the notebook:
- Lightweight swirls on the roof and engine hood
- Medium severe on sides
- Small signs of reckless maintenance (fenders)
- Signs of gnat corrosion
- Transparent smoke under the aileron
Then it’s time to check the interiors and compartments:
- Odor in the cockpit
- Carpet wash (no oxygen)
- Glossy and coated leather (mild detergent) NO hard brush
- Full seat interstices
- Engine compartment / pine and sand achilles, NO compressor
- Trunk compartment disassemble cover
It’s time to work.
I arm myself with microfibers, detergent and vaporizer and start cleaning the car, today my madness tells me to divide it into three longitudinal parts.
The cleaning flows slowly and gently: “poor baby, you’ve seen too many brushes in your life, the hour of delicacy has finally come for you”.
I dip a microfiber in the hot water and I put it on the top to remove the gnats, according to a simple sequence that those who follow me now know by heart. Dip it, squeeze it (Ouch, it’s hot!), place it, pose it and remove it after 60”. Incredible, they come off like butter.
I finish cleaning with the spatula dressed in microfiber, I go to clean the most secret and neglected corners. This type of cleaning is very slow but very thorough, it will take me all day.
Day 2
It is time to polish, so I place the car in the polishing room and start taping.
I prepare three polishers, large, medium and very small!
I start with a test on the roof to understand the type of clearcoat I will have to treat, decontaminate the surface with an alcoholic solution and polish with slow movements and without pressure. Today is my lucky day, I find the right treatment at the first blow, but obviously something is wrong. On the roof there are deeper marks, I do not get discouraged, I take the mini polisher, I mark with a marker pen all the most pronounced marks and I work them one by one with a sharper pad and stronger compound. Say your last prayers!
Impeccable result, but time flew by, today I was able to do only roof and hood.
Day 3
I arrive in the morning very early outside and still dark today is a complex day because I will work the famous Porsche ass, pronounced hips and large spoiler are sinuous surfaces that need work and dedication, also the elusive shape of the tail forces me to use different polishers for the same panel. The day goes by slowly and without sharp as in an assembly line. I don’t want to stop for lunch now that I’ve got the rhythm, I just drink a jasmine tea to warm up; polishing is an ascetic job and the food weighs down and distracts.
Day 4
Last day of polishing, the detailing begins to take shape and the car begins to regain its original splendor, when in Stuttgart it made its first roar. Before midday I finish, I now dedicate myself to waxing after blowing the bodywork, the compressor pulls like a steam train.
The waxing is done by electric pad, now technology almost completely excludes the waxing by hand.
Day 5
Car cover off, the car has an incredible gloss, I am amazed and … I lllove it!
But its interior is still to be done: I remove the carpets, the carpet is colored so no oxygen chemistry, just a little bit of scented gall by a very good German manufacturer.
While the carpets (9 pieces) dry, I start to vacuum the car, the pedal area is difficult but with the compressor everything is easier!
Now it’s the turn of the leather, French brush and medium detergent, the ideal care for skins over 20 years old. Same treatment for door panels, vinyl sky and rear banquette.
The last two hours of the day are dedicated to the work of fine, air vents, plastic recovery and small restoration of seals.
Day 6
Usually there is not a day 6 in my Detailing, but this Porsche has a special task, it has to amaze and stole the heart, so I take my time to recheck every action performed, from polishing to cleaning the carpet, up to every little interstice of the interior, engine compartment, tires. A bit like opening the black box of my Detailing, I am the number one suspect of course.
