One of the funnest aspects of picking up a vintage car in its original condition is seeing how well it shines up. The 914 proved to be stubborn in the shine department. The pictures make it look a bit shinier than it really was.

The reality was it had some heavy oxidation on the paint. The original color is L20C Nepal Orange which should be a bit darker than this. The Florida sun has lightened it up a bit but I believe it’ll come back.

For starters I had to decide what to use to cut the paint. First I tried Meguiars Cleaner Wax. This didn’t come close to cutting that oxidation. Don’t get me wrong, the Meguiars still has its place for use but not here. Next up I tried 3M rubbing compound. It worked better but still not enough grit to cut that layer. So, I resorted to Great Grandpa Duwaynes No 7 Rubbing Compound. He had it on his shelf in his garage last summer when I got my VW Camper. It’s about 35 years old, was brand new still sealed. He insisted I keep it and I’m so glad I did. I had to cut the paint 4 times with the No 7 Rubbing Compound. I went through a TON of towels and you probably don’t want to wash these in your wifes washing machine. So be prepared to throw them away.

After this process I used Griots polish. I had to repeat the polishing 3 times over the entire painted surface of the car to get down to a good quality finish. After each application I used Speed-Shine to help remove the polish. Speed Shine is absolutely awesome. Best spray on shiner I’ve ever used. I need more!

My final wax coat was tricky. I still needed the wax to pull out some haze left in the paint and nothing seemed to work. Then I remembered I had Zymol on my shelf. WOW. For this purpose Zymol worked better than anything else on my shelf Griots, Meguiars, 3m or Mothers. I still love Griots wax for a regular detailing. But for this purpose Zymol (blue bottle 2 pics up) pulled that haze right out of the paint. Amazing. I had to wax it 3 times.

Here’s a couple shots of the paint now.

The Wheels Are In Great Shape!

Perfect Original Sails

Aluminum Mirror Shined Up Nicely Too

All I had to do in the trunks was a light wipe down and vacuum. This is prior to me doing anything! (Doesn’t look much different than after I cleaned it). The front was even cleaner.

The interior basically needed light vacuuming and a good dust/grime clean on the vinyl. I used Meguiars Rubber and Vinyl spray. At first it leaves a shine that I don’t like. I’ve found that if I leave it on for a couple hours and then take a paper towel and wipe over it that takes the shine away and leaves a nice original looking finish. In this picture there’s still a bit of a shine left as I haven’t wiped it yet.

Part 3 will be paintless dent removal and Seat Recovering.