# Mercedes 540K at Villa d'Este



## Spyco

I believe most of you are familiar with the status of the Concorso d'Eleganza event in Villa d'Este. Only a small amount of the finest world's classic cars were accepted to this event and I was extremely honored to prepare this amazingly classy Mercedes 540K



In order to achieve this level of shine there was a lot of work to be done.
Regarding the paint, it had about average swirls as you can in the following pics







Some deeper imperfections that had to be individually handled.









Unfortunately the major issue was on the passenger's side, where moisture from the garage's ceiling that had flooded due to extreme weather conditions, dropped on the car creating some major stains. This is what I was up against.











The first step was to use a clay bar in order to remove as much above surface drop marks as possible



Even though it did help, still far away from fully removing them. The next step was to wet sand it. However that ceiling paint marks where really hard and stubborn that my initial sanding attempts hardly touch them.



That meant war. Ok then, divide and conquer. Changed my tactic from having a full go at the mark to creating small pressure points with the sanding paper in order to inflict some tiny spaces.



Getting to this



then to this



and finaly to this



Then polished it using a heavy cut compound





Also corrected the bottom



and then polished with Menzerna's PF2300 leaving the final refinement for the end



Moving on to the top of the wing to remove further imperfections







And finally to the most difficult part which was close to the engine bay.





In order to reach the lower part safely some components had to be removed













Only to reveal this



Clayed again to see what I was up against









and finally











Putting the parts back in place





At this point I would like to take the opportunity to say a something I 've learned working with classics. True classics are most about beauty, prestige and harmony. So looking at he above pic there something missing. If you take a moment to notice the head of the screws, they all look to different direction. Now notice the screws here



Now I can say it is ready



Corrected the rest of the paint drops





Then concentrated on dealing with the swirls

















I am certain the designer of the 540 this is what he had in mind designing the side lamps



Right before final paint jeweling it was time to deal with under chassis and engine. Started with the engine.



















And then underneath























The interior was in a really good condition so just the typical there, polishing the wood, dusting off and nourishing the leather.











This is the status reached having refined the paint.



Having finished with the paint the last step was to seal the top work that had be carried out so far. While I was polishing I 've noticed some really tiny metal flakes in the paint. These flakes were so tiny that were only visible under certain circumstances and lighting, but still it was not able to capture them on camera without a dedicated macro lens. For that reason I wanted a carnauba wax that could be as crystal as possible but still wet enough for such a concours event. Since I knew what I wanted I thought why not make a wax to my specs and obviously not talking about scents or colors. So I wanted someone not only with proficient knowledge in blending but with a strong customer support. And BMD did just that. Between Stevie from BMD and myself more than 40 or so emails exchanged discussing oils, mixtures, scents and various sample prototypes were made for my personal testing. Did it worth it? Well, please judge for yourselves.

































Finally I had the pleasure to meet Matthew Price, a really talented automotive photographer that took these pictures for me from the actual day of the event.









and some HDR ones.









Thank you very much for looking. I sincerely hope you have enjoyed it as much as i did.

Kostas


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## torkertony

A simply stunning car! And such amazing work! :argie: 

Thank you for taking the time to post the detail :thumb:


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## Rabidracoon28

One word; stunning.

A true master at work


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## stangalang

Stunning kostas, truly stunning :thumb:


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## shaunwistow

Simple reply...... Genius


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## AaronGTi

Outstanding Kostas, lovely work on a stunning classic.


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## Ross

Stunning work,love the colour suits the car very well.


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## Black Magic Detail

A detail of epic proportions with a finish to match ,simply stunning work Kostas and a great write up to boot


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## Racer

Amazing skills and work , Kostas you are an artist my friend


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## Vossman

Absolute perfection, you did an amazing job, a pleasure to read this thread.


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## sprocketser

Great job on that Classic mate !


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## Titanium Htail

A wonderful example for professional detailing as an art form, a quality write-up in every way possible and well presented. 

Many Thanks, John THt.


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## JBirchy

Epic! Incredible attention to detail and a worthy wax to finish!


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## Jim_S

The effort you put into this detail is amazing, wonderful work!
May I ask which polishing pads you are using? Is your worklight a LED light 50 watts?


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## Pedro.Malheiro

really amazing result!! congratulations!


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## nuberlis

Awesome detailing work and fantastic result!Congrats Kostas!


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## Eric the Red

Agree with all other comments simply stunning, just out of interest how much is that car worth.


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## Porkypig

That my friend is the most stunning bit of work and fabulous motor car I have seen on this site (and there have been some great ones!). Great write up and simply beautiful set of pics. Thank you for sharing! :thumb:
Also green with envy....


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## Luis

Good Work , Amazing :thumb:


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## Denzle

What a mammoth task! Hat's off to you on a superb job. Well done Sir.


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## Wax-IT.be

Great work! 

But I really dont like the HDR pics..


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## MattOz

Kostas,

That's absolutely one of the best details I've seen on DW. Fantastic attention to detail and the results speak for themselves. The bar has well and truly been raised! 

Matt


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## tonyy

Stunning :thumb:


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## Spyco

Jim_S said:


> The effort you put into this detail is amazing, wonderful work!
> May I ask which polishing pads you are using? Is your worklight a LED light 50 watts?


Thank you very much. 
Most of the pads used were 5.5" Chemical Guys Hexlogic and 3.5" Scholl.
Regarding the light I was using a Metal Halide projector on a tripod and 20Watt portable LED flood lights. To my experience 50 Watts LED flood light could be quite strong and bright so you can end up masking certain defects instead of showing them.


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## 123quackers

OMG!! :doublesho:argie:

Not only is that one of the most stunning cars I've seen on here but possible the finest detail to go with it... You Sir are a true artisan!

Thanks for sharing this epic car and the epic effort to bring her back to the true beauty she is.....


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## Kotsos

All I can say these kind of jobs separate men from boys.

It needs mega knowledge, passion, dedication and of course huge balls to do a multi million 1936 beauty like this come out better than new.

I guess when you are doing a car belongs to the Kings of road class of the competition an exclusive treatment is not enough and royal treatment is what deserved. 

Also congrats to Stevie for his amazing wax.

Thanks for posting and waiting for the next write ups


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## Spyco

Thank you all very much for your kind words. It means a lot to me.


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## Spyco

Kotsos said:


> All I can say these kind of jobs separate men from boys.
> 
> It needs mega knowledge, passion, dedication and of course huge balls to do a multi million 1936 beauty like this come out better than new.
> 
> I guess when you are doing a car belongs to the Kings of road class of the competition an exclusive treatment is not enough and royal treatment is what deserved.
> 
> Also congrats to Stevie for his amazing wax.
> 
> Thanks for posting and waiting for the next write ups


Kotsos, thanks a lot mate for your generous words. It was indeed an overwhelming experience this special and rather large car both in size and in its detailing needs.

Even though I did enjoy your comment, very much so, I am not too keen on using terminology like exclusive or royal etc, feels like I am trying to convince for something, but I 've got my work to speak for it. Do you remember your first rotary lessons, where you were taught to... dance? That is the secret buddy, feel not show!!!!


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## wanner69

Truly amazing kostas, I love following your work. Talented is an understatment:thumb:


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## Squadrone Rosso

I saw the car out there - stunning


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## R7KY D

Wow , What I find incredible is that bar all the mod cons abs, dtc , air con , etc etc that the quality of work MB where chucking out back then is incredible , Just had to google the car to see it was made between 1935-1940 , Unbelievable craft and skill and a job well done preparing it


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## brettblade

Absolutely love the B&W HDR pic, so much so I have it set as my phone background!


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## Poul

what can one say amazing, loved reading this


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## -Raven-

Oh no! Gone over bandwidth.  

I'm sure it was good, I want to see it!!!


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## spiros

First of all it needs a lot of <<nuts>> to wetsand a car in that age ,second it needs to much skills to handle the makita with that way ..
Gograts Kostas you are the man :argie:


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## -Raven-

Absolutely stunning work Kostas! You are truly a master detailer mate! 

Every inch of that car looks perfect! Just look at those wheels! Those alone must have taken a day each!


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## PugIain

That is gorgeous :argie:
Great work.


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## DMH-01

Looks stunning, great job :thumb:


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## Spotless Detailing

now thats a detail

callum


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## blackjz

awesome car. n marvellous detail


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## Mr Face

Awesome, stunning attention to detail, big respect.

Thank you for taking the time to post this great detail.


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## CraigQQ

Fantastic attention to detail, quality detailing work.


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## Bristle Hound

Amazing!!! :doublesho

Attention to detail is second to none. Pat on the back guys! :thumb:


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## than00liz.

What can i say about your job? Stunning Kostas. Awesome!


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## Mr Face

Detail of the year :thumb: quite simply, out standing !!!


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## Pedro92

fantastic car, fantastic job !!! Thanks !!!:thumb:


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## Spyco

Thank you very much to each one of you. Much appreciated.


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## -Kev-

awesome!


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## alxg

You are an extremely talented person indeed; I have just been looking over some of your other work and the standard is truly astonishing. :thumb:

Thanks for sharing your endeavours :buffer:


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## Eurogloss

This is the work of a true artisan Kostas :thumb:
Excellent job once again !

Mario


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## Demetrios

Just saw it again in this forum and I can only say that you have given us a true detailing lesson, on how things should be and how to get the max out of it.

I am not going to comment on the car itself, I am sure that what we all saw, is more that enough.


I am a happy man now :wave:


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## hibberd

ABSOLUTELY SUPERB.. attention to detail is amazing and the result..is stunning...what a gorgeous car..


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## tommyboy40

Terrifying job, fantastic results


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## Bartl

Perfection.


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## fast_sebil

what a massive car, massive work and massive result !
The result with the wet reflects is wonderful : i really think that everybody here expected such a result on our cars.

excellent work and result : you should been proud to see your work at this official presentation :thumb:


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## Spyco

Thank you very much for your kind words.


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## cocos

Awsome!


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## ted11

I know from personal experience the amount of effort and attention to detail it takes to create a finish of this standard and goes far beyond what the thread shows, you could have probably put another hundred pictures on the thread and still not shown all the effort that you put in.
You are a true master of your trade and set the levels of quality for the rest of us to aspire to copy.


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## surgemaster

Beautiful car & your work is outstanding only thing I would say is, with regards to lining up the screw heads make the slots point north to south to prevent water sitting in the slots (assuming this beauty ever sees water outside of a spruce up)


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## Megs Lad

absolutely breath taking what an amazing car :argie: truly a piece of art


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## SBM

Absolutely stunning:thumb:

I am in awe and wonder! a total Master of Detailing at work here.

Inspirational

Ben


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## Bruce865

such amazing job! love the complete attention to detail! brilliant!


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## Spyco

Thank you very much once again for your support.

@ted11
Thanks Ted, I 've seen your excellent work on the XK and I am certain you know what it takes to present a car in an event.

@surgemaster
Regarding the screws line up, the problem is not so much if water will stay in the slot but the authenticity aspect of things. Having spoken to international Concours judges and restorers some of them do not like this as they can very well claim the car originally did not left the factory with the screws lined up. However in this particular car I had to to go with flow since all the other screws were identical.


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## taz007

that is awesome


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## Big_Mike

I want this car!!!  Great detailing!


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## bonelorry

Absolutely amazing! What a detail


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