My son details cars summers and occasional weekends when home from college. He has a nice reputation. Some guy, by word of mouth called him and told him he could do his Boxster and that he is the first one to touch it besides him.

Anyway, he wants to detail my "new" '74 914 for me and I trust him. However, he is concerned that the normal pro grade quality products he uses may not be good to use on 30 year old paint. I'm thinking it shouldn't make any difference.

Can forum readers advise as to their experiences and offer any advice? The car is in Phoenix Red and is in great shape. Thanks

Steve

Assuming your 914 is a "driver", let him do his job. Your 914 is non clearcoated, and 33 years old, so I'd have him be VERY careful with cutting agents on the paint.

Other than that, and assuming his foray into the engine compartment will not include steam/pressure washing, there's not much to worry about.

One other thing I will note. Detail guys on the east coast love to goo up the interior with slimey crud to make everything "shine". 914 interiors aren't supposed to do that. Don't let him put goo anywhere in the interior, particularly the seats - first time you make a hard stop you'll be eating the bottom edge of the steering wheel. Interiors should be CLEAN, not slimey & slippery. Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, in this area you have to be emphatic with detail shops about not putting any dressings on interior vinyl (won't go into the leather thing, since none of us have FACTORY leather.
Pat

As for products on the paint, any good stuff will work, but like everyone says, try it out before doing the whole car, preferably in a non showing area.

What old paint needs the most is usually oils and nutrients (like a plant). Reds (Pheonix Red is not really red though) usually dry out the fastest and fade. What you want to avoid is anything that has silicone (anything that flashes really quick).

I just went through a bunch of work on an original six that was painted with lacquer in the early 80's. Fades if you even mention water. After trying just about everything (P21s, Zymol, all the major domestic waxes) the best things was Meguir's Gold Class. It has a lot of oils and waxes in it that will "feed" the paint and protect it.

Pat - on interiors, it's important to dress them properly. The plastizers in vinyl constantly migrate our of the vinyl. When they lose too much, the vinyl becomes brittle and cracks (the only real diffence between a pvc pipe and your seat is plastizer). What you want is something that feeds the vinyl and doesn't make it shiny. Stay away from silicone. The other secret is to buff off the excess after you dress the interior to get rid of the shine.

Pat and Matt..thanks for the advice.

Matt, is there a paticular product that does what you describe for the interior?

Steve

Most any can. The big thing is to buff off the extra product and you can get it down to a low gloss, flat shine. What products does you son use?

Any product(s) that you would recommend for interior then? My car is nowhere near stock, but it does have a nice dash with no cracks and I'd like to keep it that way...

How about using one of these 914-approved products? Badda-bump...

Look for products that are water based and that you can thin / reduce with water.

Also, for rubber parts you can use a mixture of glycerin and water. It works really well.

Matt, he uses Kar Kraft products.

Jeff, I had a head of hair like that in the mid '70's! (well, not quite that slick)

Tell him to stay away from the Flash Wax and the aerosol dressings for your car. I don't remember the Kar Kraft product line well enough, but anything safe for a body shop enviroment is probably safe.