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Ever wonder what goes into prepping a rare, classic car for an event like the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance? Well, here's a look at what Scott Nichols of Distinct Detail in Phoenix, AZ did to prep two such cars for this year's event.
This is the space allotted to Scott and his crew at the facility where these cars live. On the rack is a 1956 Maserati 150S Fantuzzi Monoposto while on the ground is the 1955 Maserati 250F Monoposto grand prix car raced in period by Sir Stirling Moss and Carroll Shelby. These two cars required two very different approaches to be readied for display. The 150S received a full nut and bolt restoration while the 250F was gently prepped so as not to lose all the patina and history collected over the years.
Here Scott is using a small air powered DA buffer with 1" pads and M101 to polish the area behind the exhaust headers.
Can you believe this image was shot barely a week before the big event?
If you think a fully assembled car presents a lot of areas to be detailed, just wait until you start taking it apart!
Now, all that is fine and well and the car is fully prepped for display at the Concours. But you still have to transport it from Phoenix to Northern California. Worse yet, the car needs to be driven in the Tour d'Elegance a couple of days before the Concours d'Elegance. This is a day long driving event for participants in the Concours, and you know that when you drive a car it gets dirty. Great, and Scott and company just spent weeks making it perfectly clean! So, what do you do then?
Well, first the car participates in the Tour....
..... and they partially disassemble it once again to clean it again!
And, if you're really clever (like Scott
) you set up your lights inside the transport trailer so you can closely inspect the finish and touch up with a buffer if need be. Nothing is too extreme for Pebble Beach!
Once on the lawn, Scott and Lisa look darn proud of the work they did on the 150S, as well they should. And we have to admit, the fact that M101, M100 and M205 were used to take this beauty to this level makes us a little proud as well.
Let's not forget MOL's own Christopher Brown, who chipped in during the final week of prep!
Would you look at that depth and reflections!!
This Maserati 150S probably wasn't this clean when it left the factory!
This doesn't happen with a little wheel cleaner and an old brush, so sir!
This is the little jewel that resides under the hood.
On to the wonderful and historic 1955 Maserati 240F grand prix car. While this particular car has tremendous race history with Moss and Shelby, the 240F proved to be so effective that two years later Juan Manual Fangio drove one to claim his fourth F1 World Drivers Championship in one.
Heavy machine polishing would erase much of the history of this car, so Scott chose instead to hand apply M205 Ultra Finishing Polish in order to bring up some gloss on the paint.
Back in the day, race numbers were assigned at each event and hand painted on before each race. This car still carried the remnants of a previous race number etched into the red paint. That number, 20, can be seen in a book documenting the history of this car. And in that picture, Sir Stirling Moss can be seen at the wheel of this car.
Lisa applies some finishing touches early in the morning on the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links.
The engine still shows some age and patina... and history.
This is what Moss and Shelby would have seen while racing this iconic race car. Straddling the transmission tunnel, the clutch pedal is on the left side with the brake and gas pedals on the right side.
The bluing on the exhaust is just wonderful.
The word "dedication" doesn't seem to do justice to Scott's level of commitment to his craft. Sleep deprivation is part of the job here, but to have your work and talent on display at the greatest car show in the world is a pretty terrific reward, don't you think?
This is the space allotted to Scott and his crew at the facility where these cars live. On the rack is a 1956 Maserati 150S Fantuzzi Monoposto while on the ground is the 1955 Maserati 250F Monoposto grand prix car raced in period by Sir Stirling Moss and Carroll Shelby. These two cars required two very different approaches to be readied for display. The 150S received a full nut and bolt restoration while the 250F was gently prepped so as not to lose all the patina and history collected over the years.
Here Scott is using a small air powered DA buffer with 1" pads and M101 to polish the area behind the exhaust headers.
Can you believe this image was shot barely a week before the big event?
If you think a fully assembled car presents a lot of areas to be detailed, just wait until you start taking it apart!
Now, all that is fine and well and the car is fully prepped for display at the Concours. But you still have to transport it from Phoenix to Northern California. Worse yet, the car needs to be driven in the Tour d'Elegance a couple of days before the Concours d'Elegance. This is a day long driving event for participants in the Concours, and you know that when you drive a car it gets dirty. Great, and Scott and company just spent weeks making it perfectly clean! So, what do you do then?
Well, first the car participates in the Tour....
..... and they partially disassemble it once again to clean it again!
And, if you're really clever (like Scott
) you set up your lights inside the transport trailer so you can closely inspect the finish and touch up with a buffer if need be. Nothing is too extreme for Pebble Beach!Once on the lawn, Scott and Lisa look darn proud of the work they did on the 150S, as well they should. And we have to admit, the fact that M101, M100 and M205 were used to take this beauty to this level makes us a little proud as well.
Let's not forget MOL's own Christopher Brown, who chipped in during the final week of prep!
Would you look at that depth and reflections!!
This Maserati 150S probably wasn't this clean when it left the factory!
This doesn't happen with a little wheel cleaner and an old brush, so sir!
This is the little jewel that resides under the hood.
On to the wonderful and historic 1955 Maserati 240F grand prix car. While this particular car has tremendous race history with Moss and Shelby, the 240F proved to be so effective that two years later Juan Manual Fangio drove one to claim his fourth F1 World Drivers Championship in one.
Heavy machine polishing would erase much of the history of this car, so Scott chose instead to hand apply M205 Ultra Finishing Polish in order to bring up some gloss on the paint.
Back in the day, race numbers were assigned at each event and hand painted on before each race. This car still carried the remnants of a previous race number etched into the red paint. That number, 20, can be seen in a book documenting the history of this car. And in that picture, Sir Stirling Moss can be seen at the wheel of this car.
Lisa applies some finishing touches early in the morning on the 18th fairway of the Pebble Beach Golf Links.
The engine still shows some age and patina... and history.
This is what Moss and Shelby would have seen while racing this iconic race car. Straddling the transmission tunnel, the clutch pedal is on the left side with the brake and gas pedals on the right side.
The bluing on the exhaust is just wonderful.
The word "dedication" doesn't seem to do justice to Scott's level of commitment to his craft. Sleep deprivation is part of the job here, but to have your work and talent on display at the greatest car show in the world is a pretty terrific reward, don't you think?
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