We would not have believed...
We would not have believed what transpired on day two of our weekend resto if we had not witnessed it ourselves. We drove the Valiant to Classy Cars Auto Detailing in Huntington Beach, California, where proprietor Jeff Jeppesen showed us the optimal way to use this magical grouping of Mothers car care products. Let the magic begin …
Moving along, we researched our wheel and tire sizes on the
Moparts.org and
ForABodiesOnly.com forums before buying wheels and tires. If you’re already into Mopars or just getting into them, let’s face it, there is no better place to go for your online A-Body tech fix. But be forewarned, if you post on their forum, the
Moparts.org people will not cut you any slack if you’re a dumbass—they’re in your face, and they’re deadpan honest. Don’t go snooping around there with no Chevy—that’s as bad as picante sauce from New York City.
ForABodiesOnly.com is a little more family friendly, and they’ve actually got a specific section devoted to A-Body wheels and tires. We gathered enough good info from both forums to inform our selection of 15x8 Coker steelies in the rear, and 15x6 Coker steelies in front. (Unless you go custom offsets, there is no choice in backspacing, and only the larger 5x4.5-inch bolt pattern is available.) We also gathered tire size data, paying particular attention to the larger sizes that were being used successfully with stock wheelwells, and chose 225/60R15s for the rear and 215/65R15s for the front—both in Coker’s beautifully reproduced BFG Silvertown redline radial. All together, our Coker rolling stock (tires, rims, hubcaps) set us back $1,592. We do suggest one thing, however, when placing an order with Coker: Some items aren’t always on the website—like our O.E. Mopar hubcaps ($55 each). We recommend you phone a Coker product specialist after browsing the website, that way you won’t miss anything.
Our ’68 Valiant had an SS-1...
Our ’68 Valiant had an SS-1 paint code, telling us that our aging single-stage repaint was the original Sunfire Yellow. While there are a few dozen chips and minor surface rust spots peppering the Valiant, the repaint was deemed salvageable by Jeppesen. His first move was to use the Mothers Clay Bar System on it. After washing and drying the paint, spay a small section with the included Mothers Showtime Detailer (used as a lubricant), and rub the sprayed area with the clay bar. To finish, just wipe dry with a microfiber towel. The clay will remove embedded dirt and smooth the finish. Many cars will only need this process to look nearly new.
Being a Slant Six, the Valiant sports the low-performance 5x4-inch bolt circle. Nobody makes cool wheels for this, so don’t even try looking. No worries though. We got the large bolt circle wheels and mounted them to the Valiant using Trans-Dapt hub adapters designed for the purpose. Be mindful that these aren’t high-performance parts—they’re designed for light to normal road use. Don’t plan on hitting the autocross, dragstrip, or road course with them, as the stock spindles and bearings will not be able to handle the extra shear load. They are, however, perfect for cruising, and that’s what we intend to do until we upgrade our spindles and axles.
We got our rolling stock all together, and headed down to Picture Car Warehouse in Northridge, California, for our first day of rehab. We washed the grime off with Mothers California Gold Car Wash, mounted the spacers and Coker rolling stock, lowered the front ride height, addressed clearance issues with the fender lips and such, straightened some bent trim, and restored the grille with a Dupli-Color spray bomb.
Day two of our weekend resto was spent at Classy Cars Auto Detailing in Huntington Beach, California. You have two choices here: Use the techniques shown here by proprietor Jeff Jeppesen and burn your own elbow grease (in which case you’d only be out $95 or so for the Mothers car care products we used), or you can take your diamond in the rough to Classy Cars and let them work their paintless auto restoration magic while you take a stroll on the beach. (Easy there, Captain Check Writer.) Jeppesen quotes approximately $1,000 to do a job like ours, which may seem like a lot, but just know that he leaves no stone unturned—it will look nearly as good as a new paintjob when he’s done, or he won’t do it. What we particularly like is that before quoting a job, Jeppesen will test individual products and techniques in small areas of the paint to see what products are best and what results are possible. Unlike a paintjob, you actually get to see the end result before any of the work is done. Jeppesen is a big proponent of Mothers car care products because they flat-out work. When your livelihood depends on being able to work magic on a daily basis, the stuff in the bottle better deliver the results, or you’re out of business.
Though much improved by the...
Though much improved by the Mothers Clay Bar System, the Valiant’s paint still had a dull, chalky look. Jeppesen tested a small area with a high-speed (1,200 rpm) orbital buffer and some Mothers Professional Foam Pad Polish, and discovered there was nice paint still waiting to get out. That’s the thing about older single-stage paintjobs—the lack of a clearcoat often means there’s a nice thick layer of serviceable paint available below the oxidation.
Under this hard florescent...
Under this hard florescent lighting, you can see the difference between the area treated to just the clay bar (right) and the area treated to the clay bar and the Professional Foam Pad Polish (left). You can even see the reflection of the florescent tubes on the left side of the blue tape.
Once you bring the paint back...
Once you bring the paint back from the dead, you’ll start noticing how crappy the stainless steel and chrome trim looks. Here, Jeppesen has masked off the stainless trim so that the polish process doesn’t damage the rubber or paint, and has applied some Mothers Billet Metal Polish to a Mothers PowerBall Mini and is working the trim area with a Makita drill.
With the Mothers Billet Metal...
With the Mothers Billet Metal Polish, you can see the difference between the polished area and the unpolished area (right); the before/after difference is just as dramatic for the stainless trim as it was for the paint.
Our bumpers were borderline...
Our bumpers were borderline unsalvageable—their only saving grace is that they weren’t bent. Jeppesen pulled out every trick he knew, using triple-X steel wool with Mothers Billet Metal Polish and lots of elbow grease. While we fell short of restoring the bumpers to a new condition, they now look good enough to be seen in public. At least the front bumper was in better shape than the rear. Now they look like well-cared-for 44-year-old bumpers that fit car’s vibe.
The final touch was a coating...
The final touch was a coating of Mothers Pure Brazilian Carnauba Wax, lovingly applied by a Mothers Wax Attack dual-action polisher/applicator—available from Mothers for around $80.