# 1961 Chrysler New Yorker Original Single Stage Paint restored by Mike Phillips



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

*1961 Chrysler New Yorker Original Single Stage Paint restored by Mike Phillips*

*1961 Chrysler New Yorker*










*Backstory*
The original owner of this 1961 Chrysler New Yorker purchased it new and the current owner, his son, inherited it. That makes this a 2-owner car, kept in the family since new. As I type in the year 2021 this car is 60 years old and thus the original single stage paint is 60 years old.

*Hood Repainted*
There were some serious problems with the paint on the hood so the owner had it repainted. This fixed one problem but created a second problem - the rest of the car looked horrible due to how badly it was swirled-out, oxidized and covered in water spots and surface staining. (the law of unintended consequences)

The current owner was given my name and recommended by my neighbors Bob and Ellen (thank you Bob and Ellen). When it comes to fixing paint like this the most important tool you can possess is *experience* plus quality abrasive technology. 

*Here's the car in the owner's garage. *










*Swirl shots in the Sun*

I had the owner back the car out of the garage so I could document the current condition of the paint. It's probably around 8:30am in the morning so the sun is low in the sky.










*For the below shot, I cropped out the upper fin area and also the swirls into different photos.*










*Major swirling going on throughout the entire car. This same level of swirling is in the original paint that surrounds the freshly painted hood. It's completely obvious.*










*This panel directly under the top of the fin had a lot of issues. It had the same swirls as the rest of the paint but there was also a lot of oxidation, staining and overall splotchy appearance.*










*The swirls were horrendous!*










*Here's a little closer shot of the above swirls...*










*Even closer - OUCH! This hurts our eyes to look at!*










*Moving down the side of the car, using the sun to light up the vertical panels.*



















*Massive staining of paint in driver's front fender*



















*No way of knowing what caused this but keep in mind - the stains you see are IN the paint - not ON the paint. After these pictures we moved the car back inside and I did a waterless wash and clay and the stains remained.*










*The black paint is turned whitish where it's stained.*










*More damage over the years...*










*Not sure what happened here but I'll try to fix when doing the paint correction step.*










*Some extreme oxidation around the edges of the trunk lid next to the body panel.*










*Over time, the places on a car that get the least amount of attention or "touching" also tend to be the most oxidized.*



















*The furthest back thin body panel under the trunk lid was in really bad shape.*










*Here you can see the paint in-between the letters in the emblem has turned white with oxidation.*




























*The paint in the area I'm pointing has physically wrinkled.*




























*Some missing paint on the top of the fin - looks like something scratched it off.*



















*Another area with some scratches that go through the black paint to primer.*




























*TOGWA*

Years ago I coined the acronym *TOGWA* or *The Other Guy's Wax*.

Here's the deal, when we as detailers detail someone else's car, we tend to get stuck removing the other guys wax. The other guy left some kind of wax or sealant behind in all the cracks and crevices and over time this dried wax residue tends to case-harden. Now we have to remove it as a part of *our* detail work.

Why?

Because most car owner's don't pay attention to how their car looks presently and in most cases are not even aware of old wax or sealant that has dried and turned white in all the tight areas around trim and components. BUT - when are finished with our work and present the car back to the owner - NOW they grow *new eyes* and are able to see and point out anything they "think" we have missed - like _the other guy's wax_.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

More...

No action shots - I was a tick busy running my FLEX Supa BEAST wide open.

*Process*

3D Waterless Wash using 3D Waterless Wash
3D Detailing Clay Towel.
3D AAT 501 Cutting Compound - For the worst areas - about 20% of the car, mostly around the hood.
3D AAT 505 Correction Glaze - SPEED on Steroids - I used on 80% of the car.
3D POXY - To seal the paint.

*In the picture below what you see is the 505 Correction Glaze over the entire car.*










*In the picture below what you see is a thin, machine applied layer of 3D POXY over the entire car.*


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

More...

*Results...*

Here's the beauty shots showing the results after seriously chopping really hard on the paint on this car.



















*3D AAC 505 Correction Glaze*
505 is what Tunch calls a blender. He created this formula to be like SPEED but more aggressive for use in body shops. It's real common for a body shop to only repair a section of a car that's been in a fender-bender. A quality shop will re-place and re-paint the affected panel and then spray the re-paint (basecoat and clearcoat), partially into nearby panels so as to camouflage the repaint in case there's no a perfect color or tint match.

The result is beautifully, clean shiny paint in the repair area while all the rest of the car is dull with years of swirls and scratches. So Tunch created the 505 to be a product the body shop can use to buff out the rest of the car to restore the original paint back to clear, glossy and shiny so the entire car looks nice for when the customer picks it up. Like 3D SPEED - 505 offers amazing correction, zero dusting, excellent gloss and shine plus easy wipe-off. It's for doing fast, high quality work in a production shop environment.

Because *ONLY* the hood had been repainted - the goal was to remove the swirls, scratches, oxidation, water spots and staining to the rest of the car and especially all the paint surrounding the hood to *BLEND* the two different paints together for a uniform appearance.

As you look at the below pictures - don't focus on the hood, focus on the adjacent panels. Remember how badly swirled-out and oxidized the paint was in the before shots? ALL the paint looked like this - now it's all black again. Mission accomplished.































































































































*Here's what saved the day...*



















*Very picturesque - like a post car from the 1960's*


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

More...

*Products and tools used...*

3D AAT 501 Cutting Compound

3D AAT 505 Correction Glaze

3D POXY

FLEX Supa BEAST - Factory part number = FLEX XCE 10-8 125

3D Dual Action Polisher - 8mm Free Spinning Random Orbital Polisher

*Not shown*

Detailing Clay Towel

3D Waterless Car Wash


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

More...

*Interesting feature for late model 1960's era Chrysler's is the Astrodome Dash*



















*From Automotive Mileposts

1960 Chrysler's - Panelescent Lights

PANELESCENT LIGHT*
Most cars use conventional light bulbs to backlight gauges and instruments for night time driving. This works quite well, but can cause eye strain and glare. Over the years, car manufacturers have tested various colors of light, including green, orange, and white, in an attempt to improve visibility and safety, while reducing strain on the driver's eyes.

In 1960, Chrysler introduced electroluminescent lighting for its instrument panels, including the Imperial, New Yorker, 300 models. Chrysler referred to the lighting as Panelescent Light on the 1960 Imperial, and the difference between the soft green glow emitted by Panelescent Light and conventional light bulbs is impressive. One truly must see the effect first hand to fully understand the advancement in lighting this truly was. To think this concept came from the same folks that introduced something as off the wall as the Highway Hi-Fi to America's roadways shows that Chrysler was seeking ways to make driving safer as well as more enjoyable.

*HOW IT WORKS*
Developed by Sylvania for Chrysler Corporation, Panelescent Light uses a power converter mounted above the left kick panel to convert 12 volt DC power from the car battery to high voltage AC current. This AC current is fed through white-colored, insulated wires to a multi-layered phosphorescent substrate panel, (which resembles long, thin rods), within the instrument panel assembly. This layered panel glows when power is applied to it.

The phosphorescent substrate panel consists of several layers, beginning with a steel plate upon which a blue phosphorescent electroluminescent layer is applied. On top of that, a foil electrically-conductive sheet is applied, followed by a white outer protective coating. Even the needles in the gauges are layered with this special phosphorescent material, although they emit a red-orange color when they glow. Tiny wires attached to the ends of the gauge needles feed the power to the needles.

*Here's a few random pictures of this unique dash from the past.*





































Here's the unit out of the car...










If you ever see a 1960's era Chrysler - take a moment to peek at the dash. It's worth the look.


----------



## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Fabulous work Mike, that looked hard work and the results speak for themselves. A lovely car also. :buffer:


----------



## GSD (Feb 6, 2011)

Excellent job lovely old car.


----------



## Mike Phillips (Jan 26, 2007)

Soul boy 68 said:


> Fabulous work Mike, that looked hard work and the results speak for themselves. A lovely car also. :buffer:


Thank you and I agree, a very nice representation of the transition of the 1950's look to the 1960's look for luxury Detroit Iron.



GSD said:


> Excellent job lovely old car.


Thank you.

There's a chance this car will be over to our brand new shop for some further refining.

The epoxy floors were painted last week. Next week high speed Internet is being installed and we hope and plan to start shooting new video content next week - the last week of 2021.

*The brand new 3D Training Center in Stuart, Florida!*










*Indoor Wash Bay*
This is our indoor wash bay - when it comes to detailing cars, one of the most important aspects of a quality detail starts with getting the car super clean. Here in Stuart, Florida, (South Florida), it's both HOT and HUMID outside pretty much year-around.

Having an indoor wash bay for our detailing classes means you'll get to learn extreme prep washing techniques and also maintenance washing techniques out of the blistering sun. In are car detailing classes, this will keep our guests COOL as we work through about a dozen different car washing tasks for a proper Prep Wash.










*Boat Detailing Section*
This long section of the new training garage is where the boat detailing classes will take place. We have enough room to have *THREE* huge center console boats completely inside the garage at one time. Stay tuned for pictures as our first *boat detailing class* is Sunday, February 13th.










*Oh yeah... boats will fit here nicely with lots of elbow room.*











Stay tuned...


----------



## ridders66 (May 24, 2019)

What a brilliant turnaround on the car. What a stunning car too, I love 1960s/70s American cars. What did you do with the white rough area at the rear? Did you blow it in or did you manage to polish it out?


----------

