# "Can you do something with this?"



## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

A friend needed a new car but had very little money and found this Ford Puma for £200, mechanically fine but a patched up body. It was one of the 1000 "Millennium" limited edition cars, so had all the options and a great Recaro leather interior and so I was asked "Can you do something with this?"










The birds had obviously liked the colour

























and some of it had been there a long, long time









What the birds had missed the trees covered.


















The car had been well used judging by the thick layer of traffic film

























and ingrained filth




































There was also a fair bit of really ground in contamination like this


















The interior was showing its age.


















As well as signs of dog occupancy.


















So, I had to start somewhere, so started with giving the wheels a good spray with AF Imperial and scrubbed the tyres and arches with BH Surfex









Then it was a good soaking all over with VP Citrus, then rinsed with the pressure washer









Followed by Tardis. The car needed two hits all over with the spray and still needed following up with a cloth dipped in Tardis to get rid of some really stubborn marks


















I couldn't make out what the mark on the door was but nothing had touched it so far and would need polishing out.









Next was the Korrosol. It was definitely needed.




































The car was rinsed again, snow foamed with BH Autofoam and finally rinsed again
Now I could really inspect the paint as I clayed it with the ADS clay cloth.
The paint was heavily oxidised on a lot of panels and others were obvious resprays.


















All of the paint was heavily swirled as you would expect, plus a fair few deep scratches that would have to be left alone









Most of the original painted panels gave readings between 90 -100 microns but some areas scarily read as low as 78, i guess through earlier heavy hands with the T-Cut, so I was going to need to be careful. In contrast there were some repainted parts with readings over 200 but i needed to keep a uniform look to the whole car, it would be no good polishing the thicker new paint to a mirror shine when the rest of the car could only have the lightest of touches.
This was the average on the original paint









The roof unsurprisingly had the best readings so was chosen for my test area. With so little paint to work with I needed something that with a single hit could remove the oxidation and give enough shine to mask the deeper scratches and the best results were from Rupes Keramik polish on a Rupes yellow pad using the Bigfoot 21 but with the 125mm MF plate from the 15 & 12. With the Puma having a fair few tightly curved panels I used the 150mm Rupes pad on the smaller backing plate. This gave a lovely soft leading edge that flowed over pretty much all of the curves. I only used the Rupes 75 Mini for the front splitter (which had proved a real pad and backing plate eater with the sharp edges on the grill) and the rear number plate recess 
You should be just able to make out the roof quarter that was my test panel.









It wasn't just the paint that had suffered UV damage and faded. All of the lights on the Puma have plastic covers and needed restoring.
Before








And after









The perforated leather of the rear seats showed evidence of a frequent muddy dog passenger that would need careful cleaning to avoid getting them too wet through the perforations. The lovely thick and gooey Gliptone cleaner was just the thing, helped with a nice soft brush.

















After









The finished interior


















And the finished car. It had been like trying to polish a bowl of custard, but i was pleased with how it turned out after 2 coats of Polish Angel Master Sealant.
My apologies for my poor photographic skills and the number of pictures but i was desperately trying to get something that showed how nice the car finally looked.












































































































































































I only had enough time left to give the engine bay a quick tidy up. No before pics im afraid but im sure you can imagine what it was like.




























Thanks for reading. It took two long days with all the constant stopping whenever i remembered to take pictures, but it was in a good cause. The car now belongs to a full-time foster mum who had been struggling without a car for far too long and it gave me a lot of pleasure to be able to hand back a car I know she will appreciate. I just wont be able to face a bowl of custard for a long, long time lol.


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

Great Job !

A challenge in a challenging colour !!


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## NMH (Apr 25, 2012)

Fantastic job there mate.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

A lot of work involved in that. 

Well done.


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## DuncanB (Oct 5, 2009)

WOW! You are some friend.


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## s29nta (Mar 9, 2013)

a vast improvement:thumb:


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## Guru (Aug 28, 2013)

Amazing turnaround there. I bet your friend had some difficulty recognizing the car afterwards.


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## TheGruffalo1 (Dec 11, 2013)

Brilliant job. :thumb:


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## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

A tremendous effort


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## bigup (Jun 4, 2009)

Great work 

Was the clay cloth ok after ? Lol


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## O`Neil (Aug 13, 2007)

Superb :thumb:


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## WAZ92 (Mar 26, 2014)

Nice work.


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## TonyH38 (Apr 7, 2013)

Great job done superb turn around


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## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

Nice work :thumb: I do like the Millies!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Nice improvment:thumb:


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## Kriminal (Jan 11, 2007)

PMSL.....for £200, it looks like you had seen the sunshine through the clouds. 

Brilliant work buddy. That car looks a million times better. I'd love to take it back to the person who sold it for £200 and show 'em what they SHOULD have owned  :thumb:


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## ianrobbo1 (Feb 13, 2007)

You've done a cracking job, shame you cant do as Kriminal said!!


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

Nice turnaround mate!


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## Sicskate (Oct 3, 2012)

That's fantastic!!

Added a fair bit of value to the car too.


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## tricky tree (Apr 15, 2013)

Top work...well done


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## E38_ross (May 10, 2010)

Just to echo the other comments, you've done a brilliant job there, looks absolutely fantastic. Massive transformation.


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## Ant21 (Oct 12, 2013)

What a turnaround! Top work


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## bigred1967 (Apr 27, 2014)

WOW a truly stunning job.


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## Paul04 (Jul 26, 2013)

Wow well done


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## neilb62 (Jul 30, 2007)

Superb work, bet your mate was pleased? :thumb:


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## steve204me (Jul 19, 2013)

You forgot the pic of the owner jumping for joy!

Superb transformation. Very, very well done.:thumb:



Steve.


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## chrissam (Aug 17, 2008)

Great turnaround pal. Well done indeed!


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## Mani (Mar 14, 2010)

super job there mate


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## lowejackson (Feb 23, 2006)

Impressive turnaround :thumb:


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## chngln (Jan 23, 2014)

good job


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## iPlod999 (Jun 23, 2012)

One of the best turnarounds I've seen on here.

I would have loved this as a challenge.

You and your friend must be well chuffed!


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## tv86 (May 3, 2014)

good work!
It's a reborn!


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## C-220 (Feb 28, 2014)

That's an eye opener of a job. Just goes to show what can be rescued from neglect. Bet the owner is over the moon with your hard work.......well done !


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## clubber01 (May 29, 2013)

Top top job there mate


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

Fantastic job there chum. I'd love to get stuck into something like that.

Cooks


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

*Update*

Many thanks for all the kind words. A quick update from the owner who was in tears when she saw the car, made the work well worthwhile. Anyway she phoned this morning to say that she has to keep going outside to look at it as she still can't believe how it looks - She thought she had bought a total shed but it was all she could afford, now she wants to know how to keep it looking nice. 
She's also given it a name, it's now the 'Minion' - if you've seen Despicable Me you will understand. Sometimes this hobby has some great rewards and not in money.


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Looks a lot better, good job :thumb:


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## realist (May 11, 2011)

Great turnaround, still like the puma, only got rid of ours cause of tin worm


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## 20vKarlos (Aug 8, 2009)

Great effort! 
I do have a slight soft spot for these in yellow!


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## JwilliamsM (Dec 20, 2011)

Wow!! What a state, but what a turnaround. Well done mate

Shame about the budget ditchfinders tyres though, but for £200 can't complain. I payed more than. £200 for one of my front tyres:lol:


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

Yeh, the tyres are a bit dire. They soaked up no end of tyre dressing, but there's a nice set of new Michelin Energy lined up for it and a full service from a mechanic mate.


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## IanG (Nov 21, 2007)

Good turnaround :thumb:


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Awesome work 

I dont think i've ever seen one of those before either.


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## Neno330 (Dec 19, 2013)

looks great now


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## NiallG (May 2, 2013)

Superb job, your friend must have been thrilled. This is what DW is all about...screw the Bugattis and Lambos, cracking work there!


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## T-5ones (Sep 12, 2006)

I agree with all that has been said. That is a crackin' job! Fair play to you. With all due respect to those who work on brand new motors, THIS must have been a proper hard job. So glad she obviously appreciated your good work.


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Great work - should be proud of your efforts there


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

Amazing transformation, Geoff, shows what can be achieved when you know how to tackle these issues, I bet the new owner is over the Moon
Thanks for your detailed report and photos
Dave


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## possul (Nov 14, 2008)

Quality turn around, wasnt expecting it look as good as that tbh


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## luke w (Dec 11, 2012)

Looks like a different car! Great read!


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## Rusty Sponge (Apr 15, 2014)

200 quid. That is a very good.bargain!!! As said.before it's a fantastic turnaround. Hope the new owner will take it to you for washes 

Bet your over the moon with the result though.


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## D.Taylor R26 (Feb 5, 2012)

Amazing turnaround. Fantastic work.


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## M20fes (Aug 28, 2012)

wow, what a massive difference, good job dude


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## vek (May 3, 2011)

totally impressed with what you did with that :thumb:,you must be a very good mate


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## griffin1907 (Mar 4, 2006)

WOW!!! what a bargain and an amazing turnaround. If ya mate sells it, make sure you get a cut from it !!


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## Steve (Mar 18, 2014)

Good work mate


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## TIFF (Aug 16, 2012)

brilliant job


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## ocdetailer (Apr 9, 2014)

Tremendous transformation, must have been very satisfying to do.


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## ryans2 (Apr 8, 2014)

Really nice turnaround mate!
id be embarrassed to drive the car like that. dont know how you could let a car get that dirty without giving it a wash!


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## weemax (Sep 30, 2008)

Top work, thanks for sharing.


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## Jack (May 14, 2007)

Great job. Amazing turn around. I'm sure the new owner willbe very happy.


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## Testor VTS (May 29, 2009)

WOW! Great Job! Just reminds my of my current 307 - I still find chocolate and various things under plastics and carpets I remove...

Your friend should sell the car immediately for like 6-700 and get an other one for 200 which you would clean again


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## Geordieexile (May 21, 2013)

What a difference, don't think I've ever seen iron contam like that before!

Excellent work, especially knowing how happy it made someone.


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## TallCivic (May 7, 2014)

Wow….i didn't expect those results! Good work that man! :thumb:


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## philT (Jun 23, 2008)

what a great turn around owner must have be amazed


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## Ia79 (Apr 13, 2014)

Great turnaround. Excellent work


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