Day in the bay – paint thickness

Remember the name valeter? Well it seems more are now calling themselves a detailer. There is of course a little more to it than that…

Some of you will have spotted the trend some time ago, but, in my view at least, part of the challenge is that detailing is more scientific.

What’s even more interesting is that owners are wising up, too. You can’t just take a polisher to a panel, there’s multiple stages of decontamination before any machine work should take place. This is in part the reason for the post as the last few jobs we’ve take on have actually been where the owner or previous has tried to remove swirls and scratches elsewhere and hasn't been happy with the result.

Once the surface is prepared one can begin the scientific part – measuring the paint depth. This gives you an idea of what you have to work with ie the remaining lacquer or clear coat. From that number you can begin to give yourself and more importantly the owner an idea of the percentage correction available. There is no such thing as a full or 100% correction. Typically a 60% correction is achievable with an enhancement detail and you can often get into the 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s if you’re lucky with a two or three stage.

Often a good place to take an original reading from is just inside the door. From there you move around the car noting down and comparing the measurements – increments in the paint world are measured in microns.

Top consumer tip, you get more bang for your buck the less you spend. For example, when machining it’s natural for a detailer to want to remove the scratch and often we take a second or third pass simply because we enjoy it! Unless it’s perfection you’re after or money is no object my advice is take our enhancement detail and then add say, a wheels off arch clean and ceramic the barrels at the same time – much more therapeutic!

Up next is this rather lovely Estoril Blue E36 M3 (no it’s not mine!:) followed by a family owned Jaguar S-Type which I believe was his late fathers car. After helping see to the mechanicals via our local Jag Specialist the fun part can now begin!

For anyone interested in finding out a little more about our work feel free to give me a shout – would love to show you some in-store examples of what’s achievable.

New everything!*

*OK, so, maybe not everything – I’ve not bought a new car (this month), the media continue to report apocalyptic times, Richard still has the dream man cave and my girlfriend’s not left me!

First up I must start with an apology for not writing sooner, getting you lovely lot out to all the Summer parties looking your best kept all my attention on the cars. I must also thank Brett for everything he did, too – you’ll still see him around, he’s just in his Cab a little more.

While on the people note, please join me in extending a huge welcome to Adam who joined us last week and will be bolstering our detailing, photography and general car concierge abilities. You can read more about him here.

On from there we thought it was about time Standon got some love so we re roofed it over Summer adding not only the obvious protection but a layer of insulation, too – and if that wasn’t enough we installed some ramps along the back wall at the same time!

Ware also got its fare share of improvements this Summer with the concrete finally going down outside. We have also been able to complete the internal self service to support the Care Pack owners which some of you will have experienced by now.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, we also opened in Epping, too! There’s lots more on that here.

Oh, and of course – you need to meet Sid, our new load lugger. After a real dice throw in the classifieds we might have just rolled a 6. Click here to read all about him.

Digitally we also started working on a booking app which we aim to go into beta testing around Christmas time, look out for more info coming soon on that.

On reflection, sat here writing to you I’ve surprised myself what was achieved. Yet somehow, among all of it I managed to move house and have a baby! (Ettie, pictured above with my partner at the Standon facility:).

This little lot leaves me with some pretty big thank yous to be honest, and there are many. But the two no wait, three big ones are as follows; As mentioned above, thank you to Brett for running our busiest Friday on record while Tassie went into labour. I will never forget having to remove my iWatch going into theatre with all the notifications blowing up! The second? It’s you. Thank you for your continued trust, believe, referrals, Google reviews, feedback, baby gifts, etc. you name it. The GQ ‘no dick head’ policy really paid dividends this year! I have of course saved the biggest until last – thank you to my partner Tassie for a). not leaving me and b). for bringing Ettie into the world.

As the clocks now go back and the season turns again, my favourite time of year is upon us. There’s something very special about a sunny autumnal day and a clean car – where will you go? Perhaps to Fred & Dougs, or perhaps your own favourite location, we’d love to know. Whatever you do, Adam and I look forward to supporting you.

See you next time.

Local experience – Epping

Given it’s our first newsletter since GQ Epping it would be rude not to show everyone who’s been fuelling us while we’ve been working late.

Fred & Doug's is a cool little coffee shop right on the high street not far from Epping tube station.

It’s named in memory of cousins, James & Max Berndes, grandparents. With a passion for artisan coffee and fresh quality produce Fred and Doug's mission is to bring the best coffee and brunch experience to Epping High Street. Offering everything from fresh juices, coffee and cakes to their brunch menu.

So, come grab your car, head down the leafy high street and nab a lucky spot outside the door. Or alternatively get me to pick you up from the tube, I’ll take us both!

Fred and Dougs
148 High Street
Epping
Essex
CM16 4AG

P.S. Thanks to fellow owner Harry for the tip off!

Changing hands

We all like a thumb through the classifieds of a Sunday morning. Here’s three nice examples all from fellow GQ owners thinking of selling.

BMW M2 CS – One of the GQ family has decided that it is time to let this 149 mile, (yes you are reading that correctly) M2 CS change hands. Work has taken him away from the UK for the foreseeable and the famous used car sales line of ‘find another one’ springs to mind! Get in touch if you'd like to find out more.

Bentley Continental - A tidy example of this uber smooth and powerful V12 GT car. Owned by our client for the last 2 years as a must have bucket list car and only taken out on high days and holiday’s. Double glazed rocket ship, anyone?

Ferrari 360 spider - For sale off market within the GQ family is this manual F360 showing 28,528 miles and in immaculate condition. Seriously, I dare not touch it it’s so clean. Get in touch if you'd like to find out more.

Need a hand selling your car, drop us a line to see if can connect some dots.

2021 A Year in review

2021 has seen tremendous change within the business. We are in a different place to where we were this time last year. We’ve done it with hard work, long hours, investment, and most importantly the faith that all of you have shown in us – and for that all we can say is “Thank You”. 2021 has not been without problems, but with that we can say we’ve learnt, developed and can confidently look to 2022 knowing we’re better equipped for it.

The new storage lifts at Ware have added a significant change to the running of the site and as Graeme likes to joke “it’s now playing Tetris on 2 levels”. We couldn’t be happier with them and those of you that have seen them have also been impressed. Read the ‘in-depth’ here. Feel free to get in touch if you want to come for a coffee in the New Year.

Some highlights to mention, driving the 800+bhp HSV from Ware to Standon – it’s not far, but it certainly was memorable (Thank you Richard)! The Le Mans Blue F355 detail, moving into the new Ware unit, driving the Dodge Challenger (Thank you Peter), the day we got a Lotus Carlton through the door, hearing a 360 Challenge Stradale singing from at least 5 miles away. There’s honestly too many to mention but we’ve had a blast.

Looking back to this time last year we couldn’t have predicted all the twists and turns and we cannot thank you all enough in helping us get here. We’ve always said that we need you guys and girls to come on the journey with us and we’re the first to admit that we haven't made Rome, yet. So, thank you one last time for your patience and support in getting thus far – next stop more ramps, climate control, more investment and no doubt yet more insurance cover!

A little throw back to those warmer days!

Ramping it UP!

One of the key things to GQ is space. A crude way of looking at it is that the start of what we sell. The need is a daily struggle, and how we effectively and efficiently manage what we have is a never-ending task. Our standards are extremely high, and we know that is what you guys and girls like. We reached a neat point with Ware two and were able to re consider our approach.

Taking on more space was given some consideration; but the cons greatly outweighed the pros. The only solution I thought was most effective was to go up in the world and utilise the space we are already paying for. This also finally enabled the more presentable plan of running down the sides with a turning circle out and down the middle. May (some) of the hair follicles start to return.

Then came the fun part – shopping for car lifts! While there is an abundance of ‘car lifts’; ‘storage lifts’ are a slightly different prospect. We are a storage company so we needed to look for the best solution to our needs. We’ve found that the most fastidiously maintained car regardless of age can develop leaks. While some places might settle for conventional finger lifts, we know that all it takes is a single drip of brake fluid to fall on the car underneath and you’re in a spot of bother. The lifts we have chosen have a tray base, so all drips and drops are caught long before reaching the car underneath. It also helps monitor what’s going on with the car on the tray. On from there, you’ll notice these leg share to the rear, (don’t ask me how 🤯) thus space not only down the line but in the turning circle on exit.

Installation was very straight forward and came together surprisingly quickly. Thank you to those of you that helped in letting us move your cars to other sites while this work was carried out. We are still getting used to how they have changed the operation of the facility to be honest but those of you that have seen them have been impressed, we certainly are happy with them. While it would be great to have added more we’ll need a while to recover from the expense(!) However, it also allows us to observe, learn and perhaps evolve differently if required next year.

If you’d like to come for a coffee and see them for yourself, do get in touch, we’re really happy showing them off, Merry Christmas to GQ!

GQ Social: Bicester Scramble

With the New Year we are (again) going to try and start up the GQ Social (I’m aware as I type Omicrom is looming ever larger). We have in advance hope purchased a limited number of tickets for the Sunday Scramble at Bicester Heritage on the 16th January 2022. We are offering them complimentary to our Care Pack owners. These are on a first come first serve basis, so, if you’d like one please get in touch via the button below or via your chosen channel.

Naturally if you are not a care pack customer, you are more than welcome to come along - tickets can be purchased directly from Bicester Heritage but we’d still ask you to confirm attendance via the button below by 2nd January 2022.

As you can imagine, hosting such an event brings logical challenges so please do work with us as we look to bring back the GQ Owners Socials next year.

Omicrom not invited!

Review: Silverstone Lap of Lights

For the past couple of years Silverstone have decided to convert their circuit into a light and laser show over the festive period to fill the void that gets left once the race season finishes. Well, I took the family along to see if it’s worth the journey. I’ll start by saying it was my son’s 5th birthday on the night we decided to take our lap, so we were all on a bit of a sugar high – but then I suppose that could well have aided in our enjoyment of the lap. 

I’m not a track day specialist by any stretch so the thought of driving the circuit was quite a big pull for me. There could have been a few marshalls with torches and laser pointers dotted around the lap and they would have pulled a crowd in. But there is so much more than that.

You start by joining the circuit at Luffield and drive the old start/finish line into Copse (looking to see if there’s any remnants of Max’s Red Bull still in the gravel trap – there wasn’t), then the full show gets going just before you turn into the Maggots/Becketts complex, you then get wow’d by lasers, lights, classic trucks, and more all the way past the Wing and out the other side to Village corner where you then exit the circuit. I obviously made sure I hit my apexes just right, my wife and kids were left astounded by my sheer raw untapped driving ability. This is not a fast lap though. They send out pace cars to keep you at a sensible 5mph and your just in an extremely long line of cars all trundling round, there isn’t really the opportunity to ‘open the taps a little’ – but you wouldn’t want to.

In the wing they have a “Lodge” set up where you can buy food, memorabilia, or more sugar for the kids. I will say the pig in blanket with stuffing hot dog is exceptional. Typical event prices apply, on any reasonable day you’d say it was too expensive – but you get in the spirit of it and buy one anyway. I didn’t feel especially hard done by, and I think the whole event was good value for money.

It was a little disorganised on our arrival, some to-ing and fro-ing where to access the event from as we had a buggy. But you could just as easily put that down to we got there early-ish and they weren’t totally set up. If you do go and have a buggy, they want you to park in the blue badge car park.

It was a great afternoon/evening’s entertainment with plenty to occupy the family. But it’s just as engaging without kids. There’s even a free soft drink to the designated driver so they are trying to cater to everyone. There is still plenty of availability and you can book all the way into the new year; my 2p is it’s definitely worth a visit.

 To see the 2019 Mercedes W10 with Ant Davidson at the wheel take on the lap at great speed, then look no further!