BLOG (2014-2021)
FOLLOW ALONG WITH WHAT I GOT GOING ON
I will be feasting my eyes on it tonight at the Porsche Centre Calgary launch event. I'll be sure to post some pics from what promises to be an awesome evening of cars, food and schmoozing. I'm going with my teaching partner. We are both very excited.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Calgary International Auto & Truck Show. I've been to many of them, including the first twenty! I moved overseas in the late-90's so I missed a few, but I've attended this show every year I have lived in Calgary. This year, there's a bit of a disappointment for me. Some of the prestige brands have pulled out of the show and I guess that's a sign of the times. When I spoke with a guy I know at Audi, he said the Internet has changed the way people view and research cars. Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are all sitting this one out. Regardless, I will be attending this Friday evening with my buddy. It's our annual meet-up and I hope it isn't the last time we share a mediocre burger while talking cars for hours on end. Of the manufacturers that will be represented at the show, I'm probably most excited about the Genesis exhibit. The new GV80 looks like an amazing luxury SUV. I'm also hoping I will run into Carlo over at Ferrari and convince him to give my school's "Car Club" another epic tour of his amazing facility. I'll be sure to update the blog with some pics and stories from the 2020 Calgary International Auto & Truck Show!
Vanguard Motor Sales is a used car dealership down in Plymouth, Michigan that specializes in selling pristine, low mileage vehicles. They have a steady stream of cars from my childhood coming in and out their doors. I have been following them on YouTube for a while now and they never cease to amaze me with the quality survivor cars they find and sell. I honestly don't know where they find them, but here are some of my absolute favorites. As you will see in their videos, they do a wonderful job of showcasing the overall condition of each car. They take them for test drives as well as put them on the lift to show the condition of the undercarriage. Check them out on YouTube or visit their website to see if they have your dream car for sale!
Leave a comment below telling me which one of their videos brings your childhood memories rushing back!
I have washed my SQ5 countless times. I have documented many of them through the creation of videos, but I feel my most recent wash is as close to perfection as I have ever come. Here's the video: I'm pleased to announce that I am able to offer a discount code for Carzilla.ca purchases. Use "RADGARAGE" at checkout to receive 5% off your next Carzilla order. To head over to the comprehensive Carzilla online shop, just click here.
When you wash your car as often as I do, you have to enjoy the process and appreciate the beauty of that process. This video tries to capture the beauty behind the process. I hope you find it as satisfying and relaxing as I do. Once my SQ5 was re-coated with Adam's Ceramic Coating, I was excited to see how the finish would behave during a thorough 2-bucket wash. I was very impressed with how the coating behaved and the video I filmed does an effective job of demonstrating this fact. To say it has.been a while since I updated my blog is a massive understatement. I have no excuse other than I have been busy with other aspects of life. But, I am back and I wanted to update readers on what has been going on in my "car and garage life". Project: Audi A6 Full DetailThis project involved a friend's 2012 Audi A6 that was in serious need of a thorough interior/exterior detail. We agreed on an 8-hour timeline and I set to work. The video does a nice job of demonstrating the various processes I went through returning this car to extremely clean condition. The paint remains in need of correction,. but I am hopeful I can take a crack at that in the Spring. This video has been my most popular post to date with over 120k views! Ceramic coating my SQ5Back in the Fall, I had a lot of fun re-coating my SQ5. I used Adam's Ceramic Coating and the process was highly satisfying and enjoyable. It is a few months into winter and I am very pleased with the performance of the coating to date. This video demonstrates all the stages I went through to get the SQ5 re-coated.
I recently met an Audi RS6 driver. Dave and I connected through Instagram and together we spent the better part of a Saturday in my garage bringing the finish of his car's Daytona Grey paint back to life. The results were stunning considering this car is now over 15 years old. He recently had SunTek PPF installed on a significant portion of his car so the shine will be fully protected from the elements. I used a variety of Adam's Polishes pads and polishes. Here's a little vid I put together. I wish I could have done a complete video, but there just wasn't time. Follow Dave and his amazing collection of Audi avant models on Instagram: @blau_RS2
I am amazed by the number of amazing supercars that are out there in the world today. When I was a kid, I clamored for recently released books and magazines that featured the radical supercars of the day. I was often disappointed with the cars featured, as there just wasn't much in the way of exotics in the early to mid-80's. In fact, some of the cars publishers tried to pass off as "supercars" were downright hideous. Here's a good sampling of what I had to deal with growing up. As you'll see, there were some cool rides that have definitely stood the test of time, but the list quickly devolves into ridiculousness. What was you favorite "supercar" of the 80's, and what was your least favorite? Comment below: The only thing more destructive to a car's interior than a dog is two dogs. The owners of this car love their dogs and take them to the dog park daily, so it takes a toll on the interior. I spent some time bringing this A4 back to life recently, and the results were highly satisfying. I snapped these pics close to the end, so you might see a few hair fibers, but I think I removed them all by the time the job was complete. Before and afterMore after picsBeing our family's daily driver, the SQ5 sees plenty of action. Right now, the hockey season is starting up so we are spending even more time in our car. This makes keeping the interior clean a bit more challenging, but I think I am maintaining pretty well.
I spent Friday night and a good portion of Saturday working on a Macan GTS belonging to friends. It is such a beautiful SUV. Here's a video that showcases the project. I hope to see this amazing Porsche back in the future. Tyson Hugie put a neat little video together showcasing his recent visit to my garage and a few other aspects of his recent stay in Calgary. The video features some questions he asked me about the garage. If you are interested in watching, I have posted it below. In 1987, I was 15 years old and completely obsessed with cars, mostly Porsches. As I explained in an earlier blog post, my parents had purchased an electric typewriter and I spent hours on that thing churning out sophisticated sounding letters to car companies requesting "literature". One day, a delivery guy showed up on the doorstep asking for my father. My dad signed for the big package and then said it was from Porsche. It was three black boxes, each with a die cast of the 1987 model lineup and a fancy brochure. It was sent from Porsche headquarters somewhere out East. I have held on to them all this time, but unfortunately, the 911 model is long gone. That was a great day and it shows how mighty the pen can be (or electric typewriter in this case(!
As I was rifling through this old brochure collection of mine, I came upon a folder I have had for well over 30 years. It was given to me by Gary Cooke, who owned the original Porsche dealership in Calgary. My dad and Gary had a mutual acquaintance so we always received the royal treatment when we visited the Cooke Motors showroom on Centre Street. In fact, I remember Gary and his wife visiting us and he parked his black 928S4 on our driveway for all the neighborhood kids to admire. I am curious if anyone else remembers Cooke Motors. The building is now a Shoppers/Tim Hortons.
With a quick Internet search, I tracked down Gary Cooke. He is the lease portfolio manager at Hyatt Infiniti. He remembered my dad and said the folder brought back good memories for him as well. Very cool. In 1984, my parents purchased an electric typewriter. I would spend hours at that thing knocking out letters to every car dealership on the continent. I was quite proud of how sophisticated my letters sounded and I did get a decent amount of responses. What I was after was brochures.
Recently, I was going through my collection of over 300 brochures and I came across this handwritten note from a sales person named Ken Lust, who worked for a local Mercedes dealer in Calgary. I have been trying to track him down via the Internet with no luck. I called an Audi dealership in Edmonton as well as two Mercedes-Benz dealers, but can't find him. I wanted to personally thank him for taking the time to send me a brochure as well as for the kind note. The fact that he addressed me as "Mr." when it would have been quite obvious from my writing style that I was a kid is pure class in my opinion. I have been holding on to a pile of brochures from the 80's, 90's and beyond. I'm not sure what I want to do with them. They are all quite special to me, so today I took some time to take a photo of each cover. I think I'll hold on to the very special ones and let the others go. Either to a collector or maybe even the recycling bin - I'm not sure yet. At any rate, here's a little video along with a photo gallery of the 300+ brochures I have collected over the years. Let me know if any stick out to you. Here's a gallery of the collection: I've followed Tyson for a long time. He has a crazy collection of Acura's and he converted his Arizona double garage into a triple tandem to house six of his cars. I was honored to have him visit me and check out the garage over the weekend. We spent a few hours chatting and asking each other questions, and I captured some of that conversation on camera. Here's a video that gives you a good taste of what our visit was like. I hope to one day make it down to Arizona to visit his garage. It's crazy how many cool people I have met through this garage/car/detailing world. I had a lot of fun putting my touch on this little Golf R finished in Indium Grey. The owner reached out via my website to see if I could perform a detail on this well-maintained hot hatch. I have never detailed a Golf, so I accepted the challenge. A friend from Saskatchewan was in town so he joined me for the exterior wash and assisted me in capturing some great video footage using my new DJI Osmo Mobile gimbal. The final results on the car were highly satisfying as was the video. I hope to see this car back in the RAD environment at some point because I would like to give it a full detail including a polish and coating. I invested northward of twenty hours in a 2015 Mercedes Benz AMG E63S this past week. I put four or five hours in each day for four days and the results were highly satisfying. The car belongs to a friend in the neighborhood and he recently purchased it from the original owner. It was well maintained, but a few areas had been neglected, especially the wheels. I put my arsenal of Adam's Polishes products to the test as I took this remarkable machine through a litany of detailing processes including decontamination, polishing and coating with ceramic spray. The video does a nice job of highlighting all the details that went into this project. I hope you will enjoy and feel free to leave and questions or comments you may have. I was growing tired of the constant polishing necessary to remove the swirls that inevitably formed on the A, B, C and D pillars of the SQ5. The plastic material Audi uses is so highly prone to scratching and marring. I took the car to Thompson Graphics a few weeks ago and had them apply SunTek self-healing PPF to each of the trim pieces and now I don't have to worry about them. I had this annoying squeak coming from the brake pedal. It worsened in recent weeks, so I had it in to the dealer and they were able to lube up the mechanism and now the squeak is gone. Thank goodness. Here are a couple of quick vids to show the before and after. The squeak you hear in the "after" vid is my shoes, not the pedal.
The dealership recently changed their service loaner policy, but I still get a loaner. What's crazy is their insurance carries a $10,.000 deductible and you have to pay extra if you want coverage for damage or a rock chip in the windscreen. Can you believe that? At least I got a nice vehicle for the day:
A little while back I had a set of bucket decals made up by the boys over at @customdecals.yyc They made me three sets, actually. Since I only needed one, I did a little giveaway contents on Instagram. Here's a quick video revealing the two winners! I was stoked to put my touch on an Azores Orange McLaren 720S yesterday. Washing a machine of this caliber was exciting, but I also realized how intricate a job it was once I got rolling on it. There are so many tricky nooks and crannies that just don't exist on a "normal" car. I put six hours of passion into it and to say it looked amazing is an understatement. Once it was clean, I applied a layer of Adam's Polishes Ceramic Spray Coating. I look forward to its return in the Fall, or possibly sooner. Here's a video I put together along with a slideshow of images captured on my DSLR. Enjoy. |
RAD GARAGE is my personal detailing theatre. I am a teacher who finds immense pleasure in completing deeply therapeutic, thorough and highly satisfying detailing projects in my residential garage. I have converted my suburban double car garage into a world class detailing environment and I enjoy caring for my own car and select cars belonging to others. The garage and the work I complete in it have allowed me to connect with other detailing enthusiasts from around the world.
I have teamed up with Teespring to offer viewers an opportunity to grab some RAD gear! Click here to see the current inventory of RAD merchandise available at my Teespring store!
Use "RAD10" to save yourself 10% until the end of March, 2021.
Carzilla is a local detailing store that caters to the North American community of professional and enthusiast detailers. I have been a longtime customer and I am fortunate to call the owner a friend. Besides stocking a vast quantity of top quality detailing products, the owner has supported various garage and detailing projects of mine over the years.
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