Ferrari F50

[Jimmeh]

Ferrari F50

How lucky am I? Having previously worked on the owners F355 Spider, Porsche and Mercedes, I was asked to return to complete a similar job on his pride and joy.. a Ferrari F50.

“The Ferrari F50 was designed to commemorate Ferrari's 50th anniversary in 1996.
The 12-cylinder, 4.75-litre, rear-mounted engine slams out 520 horsepower, flashing the car from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds and taking the carbon-fiber body to a top speed of 203 mph.
Only 349 F50s were made in Ferrari's factory near Modena in northern Italy. Ferrari declaring 175 having been reserved before the car was introduced.”

The surface area on this iconic car is vast… The attention to detail required in the engine/boot compartments, the long flowing curves and the tricky air-intakes/vents made for an epic task. Because of this, and the nature of the car (full carbon fibre body), I called upon a good friend, Rob Leys, to assist in the detail.

The brief was to enhance, add gloss, clarity and depth of shine whilst removing some light swirling without compromise to the already thin clearcoat.

It is worth mentioning at this point that some of the following photographs are mine, and a handful are Robs. Having owned my Sony a100 D-SLR camera for five years now, I was keen to get my hands on Robs Nikon and compare the two. Needless to say, I barely took any photographs on my own unit.. The Nikon felt much more refined, user friendly and professional?! I am proud to announce I am now the owner of a Nikon D90 with an Nikkor AF-S 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR II lens. (Watch this space!)


Product (difficult to list this really as between us we were mixing and matching throughout the detail..)

• 3M Glass Cleaner (a great new product!)
• AutoSmart G101
• AutoSmart Tardis
• AutoGlym Vinyl and Rubber Care
• Belgom ALU
• Brilliant metal polish twins
• Clearkote Red Moose Glaze
• Chemical Guys JetSEAL 109
• Dodo Juice SuperNatural
• Jeffs Werkstat Prime
• Menzerna 85RD 3.02
• Menzerna 203s
• Menzerna 106FA
• Meguiars APC
• OptiSeal
• ONR
• Swissvax Pneu
• Zaino Z8


Vehicle inspection..

Before I’d even unpacked my kit, Rob was stuck in and making a start on the engine bay..

I on the other hand was making a similar approach but on the luggage area upfront..

“luggage area” being the important word here.. Cases, bags and holdalls removed to be treated.

After:

Carbon Fibre areas treated to Jeffs Prime and plastics dressed where appropriate.

Rob had finalised the engine compartment and we’re now working out the next best approach..

Before and after series on the exhaust silencer..

Fini.

Wheels, arches, panel gaps and badges cleaned with AutoSmart G101 and various brushes..

 

[Jimmeh]

IMG]http://i566.photobucket.com/albums/ss102/WhiteDetails/Ferrari%20F50/f50052wd.jpg[/IMG]

Flies softened on the front end to later be removed..

As the sun was on our side, once the vehicle was washed, decontaminated and dry, we could see what we were up against..

Moved inside and blown dry to remove water from panel gaps and crevices etc..

Taped up and let the games begin!

Polish and pad combinations were tested.. Initial findings were the paint was quite hard! Requiring a mix of 85RD 3.02 and 203s to make an impact and at the same time finish down nicely while keeping clearcoat removal to a minimum.

I got stuck in on the front end and O/S; Rob tackled the N/S and worked his way around the back.

An attempted 50/50 by me on the upper bonnet. (The Nikon camera captured the ‘red’ much better than my Sony..)

O/S upper bonnet before:

N/S upper bonnet after:

Before:

After:

A series of nasty deeper scratches dotted around..

Before on the O/S rear quarter (look at the carbon fibre weave!)

and after:

Front bumper before:

After:

 

[Jimmeh]

It was around this time we called it for day one.. ~9 hours teamwork on the first day; looking forward to the larger shandy at the Local and a medium-rare steak to fill us up before bedtime..

Taken outside to check our work:

Day two.

Headlights and engine cover polished with spot pads and Menz 106FA:

Prior to attacking the perspex cover already on the car, we got hold of a spare so test runs and combos could be done on here first (replacement covers are £15k alone!!)

An in-action 50/50:

Once we were happy with the machine work at hand and after an IPA wipedown, we put the F50 back outside into the suns path to check our work..

…..coming together quite nicely now!


Werkstat Prime applied to all under carriage CF areas and remaining areas in the luggage/engine compartments..

3M finishing pad loaded with Clearkote Red Moose Glaze to add the richness and gloss to the paint..

Supernatural applied and allowed to cure..

Alloys sealed, glass cleaned, tyres and arches dressed..

Exterior grilles protected with OptiSeal. Prancing Horse badges cleaned and protected. Interior wiped and leather cleaned. Doorshuts polished and protected.

Some final tooth pickery work and tidying up and we’re about there..

 

[Jimmeh]

…..what can I say? Awesome, huh?

Massive thanks to the owner for allowing the job to go ahead and also to Rob for lending a much needed helping hand.

Thanks for reading.. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed working it

Jim.

 

[Nilz]

WOW!!!

Well done on bagging that job mate, it looks amazing!!!

Before, in between and even more afterwards!!!

Quick one to make you laugh, was driving on the motorway a while ago, missus asleep next to me and one of these roared past on the other side, she JUMPED, i was like WTF, her response was "Man that was a low flying aeroplane!!!" My response was it was a Ferrari on the other side u div!!

Anyway, nice one dude

 

[jojo]

Awesome! :icon_thumright:

 

[Sarah's A3]

Simply Stunning car and once again a superb job! Dont blame you getting help! Huge car! You get some lovely vehicles to work on.....

 

[Steve_N]

That looks awsome!! If thats the kind of cars you get to work on, do want an apprentice?

Cracking pics, that red looks so deep, probably better now than when it left the factory.

 

[Purple Princess]

Stunning as always matey, great job :icon_thumright:

 

[a3_dan]

Wicked job!!

Can you ask if they could spare a Ferrari for me? Dame how the other half live!!! Or drive....

 

[S3 Rav]

Saw this over on dw mate. Class car and great job.

 

[Jimmeh]

Thanks all! Yeah, quite nice to make a re-apperance over on DW.. Still not sure as though I want to fork out the monies to be a fully fledged 'supporter' though..

Again, thank you for th ekind words. The feedback throughout the various forums I post has been awe-some.

A truly EPIC car and one I'm very proud to have in my portfolio.

Next? His California

 

[JD09]

Yeah, alright, stop showing off Mr White, you're still in my bad books

But on a serious note, backing up the "epic" comments from CS. Well done pal, very well done.

 

[Hunty]

His california! Is this bloke Chris Evans?! The F50 is a great feat of engineering, but the California is one of the coolest cars on earth, just behind an Audi A3 3.2 V6! Yeah right

 

[Sarah's A3]

hmm tough call that! lol, think id take his ferrari!

 

[NHN]

Great job even if I cant stand the car.

 

[Gops]

Jim who is this guy? How many cars does he have!! Lol! Lovelyy car, always loved the F40's and 50's!! Was waiting for this one for a long time!

 

[phoenixv6quattro]

The F40's are SOOOOOOOO much nicer.

 

[Jimmeh]

Many thanks all.

Client will not be named due to confidentiality reasons

F40 you say? I managed to get chatting to an F40 owner over the weekend at the Ferrari Owners Club.. He took a card, so, fingers crossed eh!!?

Will have some new pics for you to browse a little later this afternoon.

Jim

 

[Jimmeh]

Ferrari Owners club – Walton Hall Hotel, 04/07/2010

After prepping the car earlier that week I was invited along to the show by the owner to see if more interest in my services could be had!

A convoyed run with me in the Avant and a 360 Spider saw us arrive ~10am time.. What a turnout this show was... A stunning day (weather wise). A stunning venue and utterly stunning cars.

Below are a mix of the best shots that were captured throughout the day.

The F50 was one of three on display there that day:

A friend of mine overheard a conversation between two old boys in that the F50 on the end (‘my’ one) was by far the best presented there. Good to know!

Found myself engaged in conversation pretty much straight away:

Continued to wipe the car down..

Portfolio and cards on display:

A brand firing new 458 Italia that was on Ferrari’s main stand..

 

[Jimmeh]

Shocking condition for ANY new car, nevermind a £200k Ferrari. (Poor Dealer prep!!)


Band played some music..

A near perfect setting for the F50 to be sited:

One of Ferrari’s other ‘F’ cars. The F60 (Enzo)

(How’s that for a registration? (EN20))

One of the Ferrari Owner’s Club members took his Hurricane Bomber up for a display. Excellent!

F40:

And a few more from the ride home:

 

[Jimmeh]

A cracking day out!

Jim

 

[Gops]

I just came.

 

[The Doctor]

"A Ferrari club member took his Hurricane out"...

My God I'm living in a different world to that guy!

Still have a nice shiny car though, just not a Ferrari!.

 

[quattrojames]

How did I miss this...? Must check in here more often!

Cracking work, and what an opportunity! I'm not the F50's biggest fan, but the below pic has changed my mind (would still have an F40 tho lol)

 

[subaru swift]

wow that looks well nice now & what do you charge for a basic detail ?, as i have just got my new audi see sig & it needs a good clean & that.

cheers

 

[crazy88]

For me the F40 wins in looks, but amazing job on the detailing Jimmeh. You really are pretty damn good at it aren't you!!

 

[1animal1]

absolutely stunning Jim...... im in absolute awe mate....brilliant work

 

[S3RYE]

amazing work... i know robs cracking cause he did my car last year!!! not long till i call upon him again!!

 

[tdia4]

Stunning results there. Whast a great car to work on aswell.

 

[N8]

WOW

 

[reggieroo]

What a brilliant job you did on that F50. I used to a be a valeter for many years & then went into smart repair doing mopping & polishing etc. I don't give praise very often for jobs that people do as I'd imagine you yourself know that most people haven't got a clue. Nice to see someone after my own heart who does the job right........well done!