Dear mid-60s Buick owners seeking to give their cars a little bit of extra shine,
Believe it or not, many years ago I purchased a tube of Flitz metal polish to improve the electrical conductivity of the rails of my model railroad. Here is the stuff on the Flitz website:
https://www.flitz.com/flitz-polish-paste/Before the Orinda car show, I was cleaning the engine bay and finding that "clean" wasn't enough. The chrome on parts like the A/C compressor was dull and needed some perking up. So I decided to see what Flitz could do. I was impressed!
It didn't simply make the parts look shiner, it changed their appearance, giving them a warmer hue. Once I got started, I decided to try Flitz all over the place. I was particularly pleased at how it improved the appearance of the valve covers:
The valve covers are painted with standard engine paint and the oil filler cap is a
"run of the mill" steel part, but both have a shine you wouldn't expect of stock materials.
I don't think the brand is particularly important, but you want a metal polish that is nonabrasive and can be used on materials like fiberglass. That way you won't damage any paint with it.
Unfortunately, the effect is very difficult to document. However, I tried to come up with some before and after pictures. Here is the passenger side of the engine bay in 2015:
Here is the same general region today:
The shine on the valve covers, compressor, and alternator is clearly stronger. This technique clearly could be used on an engine that is 100% stock to give it nonetheless a shine that you would never find coming off of a Buick factory in 1965.
Here is a front view in 2015:
Here is the equivalent view today:
This example also shows what detailing the hoses can do to improve the appearance of the engine bay. I cleaned the hoses with Griot's Garage rubber prep, but perhaps any degreaser would due. I then put tire dressing to provide some gloss. Finally, here is the driver's side in 2015:
Here is the same view today:
I think the comparison shows how much nicer the valve cover turned out with Flitz.
Detailing with Flitz does take a fair amount of time, and I only detailed a small fraction of the engine bay! Nonetheless, I honestly thought my wagon had the nicest engine bay of any car at the Orinda show and the difference was just that additional shine and warmth that Flitz provided. So if you really want
da' look, here is one recipe you can try!
Cheers, Edouard