Detailing Dirtiest Car Ever! First Wash in 37 Years Mercedes 280 SL

[Music] [Music] so this is my father's 1969 280 SL he purchased the car is the second owner actually purchased the car while my mother was in the hospital just after she gave birth to me and he drove this car every day for 10 years back and forth into the Bronx right now the car has over a hundred thousand miles but it has been sitting since 1982 for he originally purchased a 62 Impala convertible I had always wanted a convertible purchase the car took it to his office near the Bronx was stolen in a day eventually purchased another car wasn't very happy with bought this car in January of 1972 and drove it every single day back and forth to the Bronx for ten years it has been sitting like this since probably mid 1982 so it's been 37 years the first step was to clear out the old bushes and weed so we'd have clean access to pull the car out when the garage was eventually emptied based on a very quick inspection I noticed there was a ton of mouse droppings everywhere so I wanted to wear full safety gear which I think is appropriate after the years of dust and whatever else I'm sure to find as we emptied the garage out which was built in 1942 as we were clearing up the space I felt like I was going back into a time capsule from the 1960s there was bottles of rubbing alcohol on the Shelf from 67 alkyd based paint commonly referred to as oil-based enamel paint from the 70s a bottle of diazinon used as a pesticide until it was cancelled from residential use in 2004 and iran s'en butane aerosol can torch sitting next to a gallon of torch fuel so it was a miracle that the Mercedes is still in one piece now since the tires dry rodded years ago we jacked up the rear in placed wheel dollies also known as wheel skates under each tire now in hindsight I should have brought my hydraulic go jacks these are perfect for tight spaces flat tires or really low cars like on the f1 detail the front was even tighter and we couldn't get the jack there because of all the extra in the garage and the car was parked too close to the front wall so the jack wouldn't fit there either so we lifted each side one at a time at first glance though while looking for the lift points the undercarriage is in decent condition all things considering with the flat tires off the ground and on the dollies and after a quick sweeping to make sure that that momentum wasn't killed by a tiny little pebble we pulled and pushed the wheels over the garage floor hump and into the sunlight for the first time in 37 years which was pretty cool next I opened the door and let in the first fresh air in a very long time and I will say that the interior smelled absolutely awful a mixture of mold sort of musty ish kind of smell and decaying animals it was really gross clearly much of the interior will need to be replaced but for now the goal is to clean it up enough to surprise his father when he gets home later this evening and to prepare the car for the Mercedes text in the following week as you can see the door handle was really moldy the steering wheel and the dash buttons were completely roached out but to see David's expression of the memories as a kid in the backseat and him telling us stories off-camera made this a very special detail for me when we opened the hood I was expecting a bit more corrosion but it actually looked pretty good although I did find the source of the horrific odor more on this later opening the trunk for the first time in many years I found the original highway flares in the box Mercedes literature and maps and manuals with gorgeous engine diagrams and pop outs for repair as well as other directions or guides in German from 1969 now with all the treasure hunting done it's time to remove the mold to do this we're using lather in the aerator a scrub pad and the interior brush that was cut down to an inch for detailing like this it can be helpful to have two different length brushes to do this take my normal size interior brush and simply cut it down with scissors making it stiffer and more aggressive when appropriate when working on moldy cars always throw away your towels when you're done there's no sense in washing or reusing them so it's best to use cheap tarry towels for round two we used a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water and increased its cleaning ability by using a steam machine all without introducing a stronger ratio of acidity [Music] [Music] while Dan was working on the moldy leather I was vacuuming out the heavy dust dry flaky plastic pieces that had disintegrated years ago spider webs mouse poop and egg corns and of course I remove the mats and carpet where possible to make shampooing easier from there we scrubbed a vacuum steamed and then shampooed everything to kill or at least reduce the smell at this point in the detail we had each blown through three pairs of blue gloves so I went to the store and bought venom steal rip resistant gloves before we win any further with the job [Music] with the mats in the Sun we moved to the steering wheel notice the color of the steam drips off the bottom of the steering wheel are very gross we also used a long or normal bristle linked brush here after cleaning up the dash a bit Dan switched back to the short hairbrush for the gearbox covered along with lather and the steam machine with the direct spray tip while Dan was working on the front I focused on the rear leather and seat belts now my goal was to kill and remove the mold but obviously I don't recommend using seat belts in this condition and age clearly all this is being replaced upon restoration but I don't want mechanic that gets sick in the process much the same idea as the Eagle Talon restoration the car was stuck in the woods for many years and was getting shipped out of the country but we needed to clean it enough so that I would not get rejected by customs but not so much that it didn't make financial sense for the owner because it would soon be ripped apart in the restoration project as well so it's the same kind of idea here with the interior in better shape we left the ozone machine in for a bit and focused on the exterior step one is kind of my favorite remove all the nests and hope nothing is still living in them as you can see we had a few tenants but their time had passed next up we used compressed air before potentially spraying water now we do this because cleaning this much debris with water only makes it a soaking wet blob of leaves and grass once the layers upon layers of poop and dust were blown off the paint we soak the car in frothy hose --less lubricant to make sure all the seals were functioning properly before power washing it this also gave the dry and brittle paint a bit of dwell time to lift as much of the baked in grime before we hit it with water while the paint was soaking we installed a swivel head nozzle to the power washer to clean the subframe from the spiders and all the dust over the many years of pulling out cars from woods and Barnes mechanics always thank us for power-washing the subframe so they don't have to reach their hands into a nest and get bitten by a spider when the car is on the lift which I would have never thought of so I always make sure to give it a good blast after our frothy test and knowing that the seals are tight we thoroughly power wash the years of dirt off the paint next step was the wheels trim and engine bonnet before quickly agitating with a wet microfiber towel and soap and a degreaser then power washed it once again okay now at this point in the process we've cleaned the inside we've taken most of the mold off and we moved removed a lot of the mouse droppings and of course the nests and whatnot now a lot of you're gonna be asking hey what about the top here now the owner specifically asked if we could keep that top on for a couple of reasons but one being they're gonna flat bet it and take it to a restoration shop and it's gonna be an open flatbed so they don't want to take it off with fear that we're not gonna be able put it back on so that kind of makes sense so no problem we can work around that the second thing is I know a lot of you are gonna be asking hey how come you take the seats out he specifically said hey can you do me a favor leave the seats in why because his dad is gonna come home he doesn't know that we're doing this and his son David of course is doing that for his dad and he wants him to sit in the car and kind of feel the way that he felt back then etc there's more important thing sometimes than just detailing he wants his dad to kind of remember this this whole experience so at this point we've I'm using air quotes here we've washed it we really didn't wash it wash it we kind of just agitated it to get a lot of the mold and stuff off specifically so that when we polish I'm not using the microfiber pad to soak up a lot of the junk I wanted to use a microfiber pad to sort of abrade the surface and lift off all the old dead skin but not necessarily the mold and in the dirt I hope that makes sense so it's not like a traditional wash we were just kind of pounding away here just to loosen up anything in case when the Machine comes by it jiggles it out and now I have a dirty pad and now I'm scratching the paint you know etc etc so sometimes yeah I used a little judgment with respect to washing so this wasn't this was by no means the greatest wash but in terms of this car it was exactly what it needed so we're gonna dry it off take a little bit of a breath because it's super hot we're wearing these you know crazy things cuz it is really on it I can't describe the smell it's very very moldy and it doesn't like it you know like oh my god he smells so bad it just hits you in the back of the throat it makes you cough so that's that's the ones I get a little bit nervous about so we're wearing protective gear and they're gonna polish this thing out and then go back inside and of course hit it again you know we still got a lot more work doing the inside but it's it's as clean as it's ever been to restore the dry oxidized paint I first tried the Meigs microfiber pad with 210 instead of 105 or 110 as you know managing residue is going to be the main concern here and naturally it was after you buffed the paint if you can't remove the polish or wipe it clean revealing the paint underneath you as the detailer must stop and reassess what you're doing the amount of dead paint being removed is overwhelming the pad and the liquid or in other words there's more dead paint than there is polish the dead paint encapsulate the polish and it sticks to the paint so it's time to change a variable and a technique so instead I used a red foam pad 210 polish and the modown technique and it worked as expected for a step-by-step guide and specifics on how and why to perform the modown technique click the video link above on a new Ford GT to see graphics that help explain the technical aspects if you're interested now the name of the game with old oxidized paint is to develop a feel when your pad is so full of dead paint that it's time to blow it out and start all over again the Motown process is similar in theory to a massive snowstorm that dropped two feet of snow on your driveway you don't shovel the full two feet at once you boil your back out you take off thin layers at a time so you don't overwhelm the snowblower and have it bogged down this concept is equivalent to the polish sticking or in this case bogging down to the paint to avoid the common issue take smaller fewer and shallower bites to avoid bogging down and sticking to the paint for extra pop on single stage paint we polished with a yellow loop as pad and 2/10 notice I put my suit back on here because it was getting late in the day and the mosquitoes were eating me alive [Music] afterwards we quickly worked on the trim using a power drill polishing wheel and flits metal polish I also worked a few tight spots of the trim by hand with 2/10 and a microfiber towel well guys the car is basically done now the big thing is David's father is actually showing up coming home from work from New York City and we want to do the reveal now we have a few things left to do I have to finish up a bunch of the chrome but you can see the areas over here have really been done well we're gonna do some chrome here just finish that up I'll do the other side play with the windows of course vacuum do a few more things but more importantly David's father's 83 years old he hasn't seen the car meaning hasn't pulled out in 37 years kind of a big deal we've worked really hard dan and I most of the day here it's kind of the moment of truth so I'm gonna pull the camera back there Davis file is gonna be coming from that direction and I think all of our hard work is going to be worth the effort once we see his face so I'm pretty excited so I'm gonna go hide in the corner and then wait for him to come out David you want to go to your dad [Music] there you go good like to hear that [Music] after seeing the car cleaned up he agreed with the Sun it's time to fully restore the family car and pass it down to his grandchildren as long as I can I was born in 81 [Applause] [Music] [Music] and as luck would have it naturally after all that work it started to thunder so we needed to pull it back inside quickly before it gets pulled back out again next week on its way to the restoration shop [Music] Oh guys we did it mission accomplished David is actually taking the car in and getting it restored so hopefully I have some footage of that the next couple of months or years now again my mission with this video and with this job because it wasn't real job is to restore the car and kind of just motivate his dad to be like oh my gosh I remember what this looked like let's go in and kind of restore it and pass it down to the family so very cool a quick note of thanks to David a lot of times I don't get to fill me so every time I post a video I usually have five or six or seven videos that I can't post meaning you know for one reason or another the family doesn't want that on there and I can respect that in this case David did so thank you because we got to shoot a really cool video and it was a fun experience and sort of be there when his dad experienced that was certainly you know emotional off-camera and that kind of thing so thank you for allowing us to share this so if you guys liked this kind of video please subscribe and make sure you check out the Eagle Talon video where I pulled it out of the woods absolutely discussing the same kind of idea so if you dig this video I'm sure you'll like that one as always guys thanks for watching I'll see you next time [Music] [Music]

Channel: AMMO NYC

Views: 3,288,668

Rating: 4.9177918 out of 5

Keywords: Top Detailing Tips, Larry Kosilla Detailing, AMMO Products, AMMO Detailing, detailing the dirtiest car ever, Detailing a moldy interior, First car wash in 37 years, biohazard detailing dirtiest car ever first wash in 10 years, first car wash in 20 years, first car wash in years, mercedes 280sl restoration, barn find restoration, barn find restoration project, barn find restoration mercedes, car interior cleaning, carpet cleaning, deep cleaning car, interior car detailing

Id: UyTrkAqnkFI

Length: 18min 20sec (1100 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 18 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Vegan_Harvest]

Yeah, I couldn't have done this job. I just lose it when there's poop involved.