“Rumors Of The Demise Of SWG Were Greatly Exaggerated”
“Bleep-blurp” was the sound that the badge reader made as the great door on The Great Wall by The Outer Moat of Autopia opened wide before me. It’s similar to Castle Grayskull, but without the drawbridge and skull fascia. I can’t believe that Matt has kept my security badge active for all this time while I was away in the wild (my last post was a hot minute ago), but here I was back within the walls; standing in the Great Halls in Autopian HQ. And it feels good to be back; I missed this place.
Looking around I see that some things have changed and some haven’t. Editor-In-Chief David Tracy has sold his AMC Golden Eagle and has grown a new obsession for a pair of electric BMWs (which I totally didn’t see coming, did you?); talk about an epic curve-ball! I did drive Dave’s i3 in L.A. last Fall when the two of us were on the way to the LA Auto Show and was blown away by it, so there’s that.
Here are some more updates:
- Publisher Matt Hardigree has finally moved on after his abusive relationship with his problematic Subaru, and has a shiny new Honda. Matt is a great guy; I’m a longtime fan.
- Aussie engineer Lewin Day continues to impress with his engineering knowledge and background and will hopefully have his BMW diesel sold in short order since he’s now an Urban Cowboy.
- Our other Aussie Mech (and good buddy) Lawrence Rogers seems to have some exciting wrenching coming from his shed; it’s great to see how consistently awesome his antics, builds and repairs are.
- Thomas Hundal is still one of the greatest car culture minds I’ve ever met, and his taste in choosing/appreciation of yellow cars puts he and I in a Venn Diagram overlap regardless of his liking of BMWs and Porsches and me liking this.
- The Bishop has been keeping the imagination running wild, Steven Balistreri finally got his Audi A8 back in fighting shape and newbie Rivers is doing great.
- My homie Peter Vieira is as busy as ever with his move to the Production side of the house and has been churning out the best digital topshots and editing in the business.
- Mark Tucker seems to have successfully finished up Mark’s Big Adventure (that now has him much closer to my wrenching lair under that volcano in Wilmington NC) and officially settling into life as an East Coaster Autopian.
- Luckily for all of Autopia, Co-Founding Wizard Jason seems to be in much better health as of late and hopefully he and I will get a chance to fix up his old Beetle or RV sometime soon. We recently had sushi together in Castle Hayne, NC with his son Otto when he became stranded on his way to pick up that Power Wagon he recently reviewed; it was nice.
Ok, so that was a quick glance around to see what everyone has been up to while I was out. Actually, David, Jason & Matt just warmly welcomed me back on their way out the door to their Pebble Beach gig with Beau. Wicked stoked for those dudes!
So what brought me back to Autopia from my Sabbatical Of Deeper Learning From The Enchanting Wizard Of Rhythm, out in the wild, beyond the far reaches of the Outer Walls of our Great Realm? Why, it was Mercedes Streeter!
Note: I’m purposely leaving Adrian Clarke out of the above staff status rundown to exacerbate/ elevate/escalate his response in the Comments for your reading pleasure.
From The Jalopnik Comments Section To The Cape Fear
You see, Mercedes and I first crossed paths in the Comments Section of Jalopnik when David and Jason were busy making 2015 SWG a Certified Fan. Mercedes caught my eye with her interesting perspective on various articles over there and with her unique taste in cars/fleet choices. As someone who has repeatedly been told (even here at The Autopian) that I have horrible taste in cars, Mercedes and I seemed to be kindred spirits in our approach to doing what we wanted with cars and not following the crowd.
As you may have seen a couple of weeks back in Mercedes’ excellent recollection (click if you missed it), a treasure trove of late-40s Mopars (specifically Plymouths and DeSotos) were uncovered by an ex-colleague of mine during a failed real estate deal. He reached out to me to let me know about these ancient, beautiful cars that were sitting an hour away from my Evil Wrenching Lair in Wilmington NC, and asked for an exorbitant finders fee if I was interested (50% of the purchase price, per car). Yes, I did pay him his fee for the Citroen 2CV purchase that I made. No, I’m not a fan of him.
I immediately shared it in the Autopian Slack channel and the rest is history. Mercedes came down to Wilmington with a Press fleet F-250 all the way from IL. We hit the ocean, went to my girlfriend’s Italian restaurant in Downtown Wilmington that was featured in this classic Autopian tale and spent a little time with The Gossin Fleet, before heading out to Garland, NC to get Mercedes’ Plymouth. Mission: Success.
Score one for The Good Guys.
But Wait, That’s Only One Old Mopar!
That right and good ‘on ya (Laurence Rogers-speak) for recalling that there were multiple old Mopars for sale on that property and Mercedes only picked up one of them. The next-best car there was a ‘48 DeSoto S11 Custom with “Fluid Drive” that the seller was asking $500 for. Just look at this absolute gem:
After reading Mercedes’ article on the cars for sale, intrepid fellow Autopian Colton Paxton, aka user handle “5.7WK2” reached out to me cold on social media with interest in rescuing one of the cars on the property. He had his sights set on that DeSoto, since it was 2 brands “up-level” on the Chrysler brand ladder from the Plymouth that Mercedes bought, and was thus outfitted with a greater level of luxury.
Colton and I became fast friends (as we are also kindred Autopian spirits) and we arranged for a meet-up at the property the following weekend.
Wait, What’s A Fluid Drive?
I thought the same thing when I saw the badge. Apparently it was Chrysler’s offering in the marketplace in those early days of automatic transmissions; it wasn’t an automatic as we know them today, but the proto-version. Here’s what Mopar Bible Site “Allpar” has to say about it:
“Chrysler’s first fluid drive cars were introduced in 1939. They were equipped with a standard 3-speed manual transmission and clutch, but had a fluid coupling in place of the conventional flywheel. This set-up was available on all Chrysler models from 1940 through 1948, and on DeSoto and Dodge models from 1941 through 1946, at a slight extra cost. From 1947 through 1952, the fluid coupling/3-speed manual transmission combination was standard equipment on all Dodge models and optional on DeSotos.”
So, Colton was super pumped about having the optional Fluid Drive on the DeSoto he had his eye upon. If you look closely at the below photo, it comes with a wicked badass jewel at the end of the shifter. That’s baller as all hell, son!
Fun Side Note: DeSoto was named by Walter Chrysler after his favorite Conquistador, Hernando. The keys and trim of the car all have a Conquistador theme. Minus the historical records of terror they brought to The New World hundreds of years ago, that’s some wicked trim.
Did Someone Say “Backyard Auto Rescue”?!
This is the fun part of the story. So that following weekend (after Mercedes left with her Plymouth and I picked up my Citroen 2CV) Colton and I met in the exurbs of Garland NC, which is truly the middle of nowhere (Mercedes said the same thing the prior week). Colton arrives with his Hemi-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee, with a massive trailer that he borrowed from his buddy.
I showed up with fellow Autopian reader, fellow Wilmingtonian and friend Anthony Raynor (user handle “Turbo TicTac”, who is pictured on the cover shot of Mercedes piece helping her get the Plymouth ready to be loaded). Anthony had come out to help Mercedes and me the prior week and had spotted an old motorcycle trailer on the property that caught his eye.
He worked out a deal on it with the seller, Mr. Willie Shaw, and also scored a nearly new engine hoist as a part of the deal. The hoist went on the trailer, the trailer hooked up to his sweet S-10 and he was set!
We’ve Got a Job to Do.
The DeSoto extraction posed a few potential challenges. The car had been sitting for what looked to be 11 to 12 years, per the date stamp on the license plate. But the tires were still holding air! Those cars had four-wheel drum brakes, so there was a decent possibility that at least one of them was locked up since the car was sitting on grass, and moisture wicks upward in that grassy scenario.
I brought an extra winch, thinking that in the unfortunate possibility that all four wheels were locked up we may need some extra pulling power to get the old heavy steel Mopar onto the trailer. Speaking of “heavy” I probably should note that these cars were actually about the same weight as modern cars, and certainly lighter than modern EVs! That DeSoto Custom only weighs 3620lbs, the same as a ’25 Camry.
Colton showed up with a couple of his buddies, one of which was a locksmith, so they started their magic on getting the car opened up and in neutral, while Colton pulled the Hemi Grand Cherokee back into position.
Next was The Big Moment Of Truth regarding whether or not this car would be able to be removed from its decade-plus slumber in this backyard cove in the middle of nowhere.
It was go time (similar to “Bo Time”, but without the fried chicken. I live near a Bojangles)
Luckily for us none of the wheels locked and the Grand Cherokee effortlessly pulled the beautiful, stately DeSoto out of the cove, and into position to be loaded on the trailer.
Mission: Accomplished. Cheers, Autopians.
I told Colton that I was going to write my “SWG Comeback Special” piece on his DeSoto rescue and he responded with the below:
“The story is about the car, I’m just its new keeper. Just trying to find a 6v battery local that’s not for golf carts. Speaking of, I’ve messed with it some. Parking brake works phenomenally. Hydraulic brakes, not so much. Have to pull a panel in the floorboard to get to the master cylinder. After all this rain, seals held up amazingly.
Slight leak on the corner vent windows, not enough to do damage but a small seep. I think I can seal it with some silicone. As far as reverse being out, haven’t had a chance to try it much but I’m fairly certain it’s the linkage. Column shift manuals do that shit.
I think I got it to where it’ll go in reverse (but who knows if reverse does work?). Last thing, I did find a leaky freeze plug I’ll have to replace. Luckily there’s gobs of room in there. All the coolant appears to have seeped out of there judging by the corrosion/rust build up around it. I cleaned up around it. Thought about trying to seal it with Indian head shellac, but since the engine is dry I’m probably going to replace all the freeze plugs with brass ones. They seem to hold up better in my experience.”
Now if that doesn’t sound like the exact kind of person that should get this car then I don’t know my Metrics from my SAEs. I’m wicked pumped that it went to a good home.
I was so wicked pumped at how well the extraction portion of the rescue went that I had a celebratory Stanley Tucci Negroni once back at The Evil Wrenching Lair.
So What’s Left Of Willie’s Collection?
Sadly, all that remains with four wheels are parts cars that are beyond saving (unless you’re a true maniac, then you could probably save two with parts from the 5 that are there). They’re all Plymouths and DeSotos from ’46-’48 and all parts are interchangeable; Willie knew what he liked.
He also liked bikes though, and has this (prized-to-him) BMW that was his last bike sitting in a shed with a title for $1500 if anyone is interested.
Time Comes For Us All, And For Our Cars.
When I first heard that there were a bunch of cool old cars for sale sitting in a hidden cove, on a rural property, about an hour Northwest of Wilmington, it seemed like a daunting task. Each of the cars have been there for over 10 years, with the resulting flat tires, dead batteries, bad gas, bugs/spiders (I got a nasty spider bite/swollen arm), ticks (got 2 bites), overgrowth, trailering concerns, purchasing concerns, key concerns, title concerns, logistical concerns and of course, mechanical concerns.
I became fast friends with Mr Willie Shaw, the owner of the cars and property. The man is a true Autopian at heart, and has an incredibly storied past. He ran and completed the Boston Marathon, and was a motorcycle cop in New York City in the ’70s-’80s, with some amazing stories. He once survived flipping his police cruiser on the Verrazano Bridge during a high-speed chase, and ferried numerous VIPs to the UN, and in and out of the city’s airports over the years on his police bike.
As will happen with each of us, life got to a point where Willie’s cars just weren’t needed nor were a priority any longer for him, although they were clearly still near and dear to his heart.
I saw the look on his face and I saw the heaviness in his eyes when he watched Colton pull away with his DeSoto, as he watched Mercedes pull away with his Plymouth, and as he watched me pull away with his last-remaining Citroën 2CV.
You could sense the feeling that the man was watching years of his time, his toils, wrenching, money, effort, blood, tears and love pull away and drive away into the sunset with somebody else.
But there also was an underlying gratitude and happiness there, as Willie told me multiple times that he was happy that the cars were going to True Car Folks, those who would love them and treat them as he did over the years. He was happy they were going to be in good hands for the foreseeable future.
Each of us will have a day where we will have to say goodbye to our cars (and to all of our worldly goods). Hopefully, that day is far off on the horizon for each of us. This experience made me realize that the years in between really do matter so much, and that life is too short to drive something that doesn’t truly move your soul. Mr Shaw’s face immediately lights up when speaking of his robust and glorious past with his many cars and bikes.
Willie lived out all of his dreams with his cars with the time he was given for them and with them; he made the most of it and seems to have done it well, and done it right.
A big special thanks to Mr. Willie Shaw for making the future dreams of others come true out of the remnants of his past dreams.
If only we all could be so lucky to be able to look backward with a smile and to also look forward with his kind grace and calming strength of acceptance of the autumn of our driving days.
88MPH into the future.
More S.W.G. below.
All photos by Stephen Walter Gossin unless otherwise noted.
- Why The Dirt-Cheap Broken Jaguar X-Type For Sale In Every Town Might Actually Be Worth Buying And Fixing
- I Took On A Bad GM Design In A Hail-Mary Attempt To Fix My Friends Broken Suburban But It Was Too Little Too Late
- I Have More Cars Than Parking Spaces. Help Me Decide What Stays And What Goes
An SWG story about car rescues and a guy who has been enjoying his life.
Right in the feels.
If I was closer, that R100 would be in my garage right now. It’s a late model, so it has the 4puck Brembos up front.
Sneaky fast on backroads.
Wish I had the funds/money/time/space to rescue it too. It’s new enough to be reliable but old enough to be (fairly) easy to work on. Pictures don’t do it justice, it would clean up very nicely.
It’s essentially just a wash, a battery, and a tank of fuel away from at least running I would bet. It could likely use a rebuild on the carbs and new tires but I doubt it needs much beyond that. Willie did mention he thought it was coming up on needing a clutch however.
$1500 is a bargain, but for me, on the west coast, shipping would be prohibitive. Plus, I have a 1984 R100CS Last Edition I restored in the garage already. But man. Those things are severely underappreciated.
“life is too short to drive something that doesn’t truly move your soul.”
Damn… Can we get this on a license plate frame? Or shirt, or both?
I don’t wear shirts with writing or logos on them. I’m not a billboard.
But…
I would reconsider for one of those.
I like it.
THIS needs to be the next Autopian shirt.
Mister Willie(as he told me to call him immediately) was such an amazing person to talk to. Before going out there I spent 45 minutes on a call with him 95% of which was just trading car stories and facts. The property was a veritable treasure trove of automotive memorabilia attached to stories you couldn’t help but engage with. He was a true lover of anything with an engine; and was just as excited to see pictures of and hear about my multiple Miata projects and my 04 Mach 1 Mustang as he was to share his own history.
When I told him about my recent engine rebuild he compared rebuilding an engine to a pair of shoes. “What is more comfortable, putting on a new pair of shoes, or cleaning up old ones? The new ones have to be broken in and eventually will be comfortable, but those old ones are familiar and slide right on your feet ready to go.” I think that comparison said a lot about him as a person and why he chose the cars he did. The passion poured into them was clear and it was obvious at a glance that he maintained those cars well until his health would no longer allow it.
I look forward to completing my restoration of the trailer and the many years of use I intend to get out of it. Already it has been used to move a friends motorcycle out of storage along with hauling my new engine hoist home. I have added new tires, all new wiring, and new leds all the way around. The next steps are painting the frame and laying boards across it so it can serve as a utility trailer and parts hauler. The intention is also to use it to haul tires, tools, and parts behind a 1300whp Cobra on future drag and drive events. Mister Willie was thrilled when I told him!
Using a bike trailer as a utility trailer is a really good idea since it should be built to comfortably pull nicely behind a car at 65 mph
It has 4 leafsprings per side. Definitely beefy suspension for a trailer of this size. I pulled my friends Honda motorcycle with my little S10 and couldn’t feel a thing in the truck. My friend followed me in his Tahoe and said the trailer was remarkably smooth and the motorcycle hardly moved when hitting bumps.
100% this!!!! I’ve given up on trying to explain it to those who aren’t ‘car people’ though. This is the sort of thing that got me into cars…outstanding update!! Willie is awesome!
And I knew Jason broke down on I-40, but I didn’t realize it was near Faison!!! XD My deepest sympathies!!! (I grew up there; last visited in ’07 and haven’t been back since.)
Thanks for reading and for the kind comment! Isn’t Faison pickle country?
Faison was ‘The Pickle Capital’ for years thanks to the Cates Pickle Company, but a series of buyouts has left the company a shadow of its former self. (They’re called Treehouse Foods now, I think, but I’m not sure what they pack.) Mount Olive Pickle Company, which is just up the road from Faison, is doing quite well!
That’s more or less what I say to people when I pull into the lawn clippings dump site, or the house center to pick up 4×8 sheets of plywood, or the launch area towing a utility/kayak trailer with a GR86. I had a beater Camry until I asked myself why I was wasting potentially enjoyable time driving a car I hated.
Mister Shaw sounds like a true gentleman. And that motorcycle cop photo? You can’t repel swagga of that magnitude!
That is for sure! Becoming friends with such an awesome person was the best part about this story for me.
Thanks a ton for reading and for the comment!
Symphonic
Writing
Guru
I’ll take it, thanks Hoonicus!
“So you’ll be an Austrian nobleman
Commissioning a symphony in C
Which defies all earthly descriptions
You’ll be commissioning a symphony in C
With money you squeeze from the peasants
To your nephew you can give it as a present
This magnificent symphony in C
You’ll be commissioning, a symphony, in C”
-Cake, Symphony in C
“If only we all could be so lucky to be able to look backward with a smile and to also look forward with his kind grace and calming strength of acceptance of the autumn of our driving days.”
After losing my dad recently, this hit me so hard.
You’re a fantastic writer, but I wasn’t prepared for that. Time is so limited, and after absorbing my dad vehicle collection (4 cars, 3 boats, a motorcycle, a custom freightliner built to tow one of the boats) on top of my fleet (8 cars, 4 boats, 6 snowmobiles) I am completely, and totally overwhelmed. Saying goodbye to projects is hard sometimes, especially ones with personal history, but at the end of the day, it’s just ‘stuff’, which does not matter.
What matters are experiences the stuff creates, the memories, and the connections we make.
Cheers!
My sincere condolences regarding your late father, my friend. Thank you for the kind sentiment and for reading.
I have submitted this for COTD.
+1 for COTD
Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively in his Meditations (just his notes for himself) about the need to do things right at any given moment, in any given circumstance. We often can’t control your circumstances, but we can control our outlook; and if it’s to focus on pursuing that right thing, we achieve not only virtue, but happiness of a real sort.
Both Willie Shaw and SWG remind me of how to do it in style – cars as both means and ends to that virtue.
And that’s a great motorcycle trailer that Turbotictac scored. Perfect size for nearly anything and love the always more useful than you imagine storage box.
I am thrilled with the trailer purchase, I used it to move a friends motorcycle last week before bringing it home and removing the ramps to begin the modification process. It has all new tires, wiring, led lights, and is getting a fresh paint job this weekend. The plan is to use it to pull tires, tools, and spare parts behind a ~1300whp twin turbo 04 Cobra on an upcoming drag week!
Now, that’s giving an old trailer a new life right.
Kudos—and I hope your drag week goes well.
Thanks! Surprisingly the trailer is much newer than I expected, the sticker indicates it was manufactured in 2008. The tires were brand new and still had the stickers on them indicating they were replaced in 2010. Seems like it has sat since that time for whatever reason.
Ha, Wow did not have a mention of Marcus Aurelius on my bingo card for today.
I’m reading Marcus Aurelius Meditations: A new translation by Gregory Hays right now!
This is supposed to be The best / clearest version. The 50 some pages of introduction Hays adds alone is worth for the contextual framing;
most interestingly how he notes that Marcus’s writing are more a reflection of a lifetime of his own experiences and him reminding himself to remain true to the fundamental philosophical teachings of his upbringing which were Stoic and also Retorical, Practical as well as Epicurean
Thanks for the tip – I didn’t know about that one! I’ve got a couple of editions, including the cheapo Dover one that I keep in bag in case I’m in need of a reminder of how to deal with things like an adult.
My favorite part is his near constant refrain, clearly reflecting his sincere beliefs since these were never intended for anyone else to read, that in the future, nobody will remember him or what he did (as a way to remember to focus on living well in the present) – he’d be shocked that we’re reading him!
Yeah, that box is great! I built a utility trailer this year and could have used something like that. All I could find that were shaped to fit the triangular tongue area were heavy and expensive metal units, so I ended up with something smaller and rectangular that I had to build a retaining frame for. It’s fine enough, but that plastic one is perfect.
I’ve always appreciated your outlook, Jack.
Thanks for the kind words and for reading, my man.
Mister C would be proud of your DeSoto.
Excellent writing SWG, and it’s great to hear from you! Hope to hear more from your wrenching lair.
Mr. Shaw is definitely a man who is a shining example of a life well lived. His grace and wisdom in letting go of his collection and making sure it ends up in the hands of appropriate care takers is exceptional. We could all learn a thing or twelve from him.
This one hits right in the feels! Such a great bit of writing SWG!
The “Covid period of reflection” taught me a few things, but my key takeaway was to start enjoying things more. I’d worked pretty hard up to that point on my career, but didn’t really take time for myself and my family. I bought the MGB and the Airstream during those times. Both have been at least mildly life changing in a good way. We are getting out camping more, meeting more people with similar interest, seeing more sites, and enjoying our drives. The Miata purchase a couple months ago was a continuation of that. Even the commute to and from work can be fun if you can throw the top down and be in the open air with a fun to drive car. I don’t want to wait until I’m retirement age to enjoy myself. Time keeps accelerating the older you get.
Willie sounds like a fun guy who lived life to the fullest! And that’s awesome!
“If only we all could be so lucky to be able to look backward with a smile and to also look forward with his kind grace and calming strength of acceptance of the autumn of our driving days.” Yes, Yes, Yes! Life goals!
Also, looking forward to the Jag article!
That’s great to hear, and thank you for the kindness!
“I don’t want to wait until I’m retirement age to enjoy myself.” Wise words.
Once again, God bless Willie. A true American hero here.
And great stuff here SWG. Many thanks.
Very nice write up SWG!
Hope to see the Jag post soon.
As a frequent passenger in my parents ’47 DeSoto, I really, really enjoyed this story. Please let’s have lots more.
Did you see it? In the pic of Willie when he was a cop…is that a Plymouth Cricket? AKA Hillman Avenger? Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Smoothest auto rescue I’ve ever attempted! Huge thanks to SWG for being rescue coordinator and dispatch, Anthony (turbotictac) for his support and my rescue co-pilots Bobby and Jimmy. And a final thanks to Mr. Shaw for allowing us into his life and collection. Hoping to get this orphan back on the road before fall!
It couldn’t have gone much smoother! It was great to meet you and I look forward to seeing the progress of your new project.
We demand updates on the DeSoto!
I’ll try to pass them along best I can. I’m not a writer (and will never claim to be one) but did join the discord server. Suppose I can pass along updates there. Or I’ll send them to SWG and let him do the updating lol. It’s not going to be as quick as I like. Two little kids, a 50+ hour a week job, and a 1.5hr daily commute suck up any time I have. Wrenching at night with a headlamp, or 30 minute “guerilla” wrenching sessions, is how I get things done these days.
“Do all the things now that you can’t do with bad knees” – Someone Else’s Grandma
Lovely writing, Thanks Stephen, if you’re ever down in Charleston look me up.
Very nice story and good to see your byline again. Would be cool if everyone could get their Willie rides on the road in time for a Runnin’ Reunion in Garland (so close to Carland) so that Mr Shaw might enjoy them once again. Immortality is that about us which survives beyond our sojourn in this world. His is now written.
I’m roughly 3 hours away from him. Hoping to atleast personally be able to do something like you describe. Fairly certain once I get a few of my “missing pieces” I need I’ll have it running (not sure how reliably yet)
Good luck! Hope to hear more about your progress. That DeSoto is a grand old car. Glad you could rescue it.
If you go back for a reunion let me know, I would love to bring one or two of my projects up there to show him after telling him all about them.
You know it man. You and SWG will be the first ones to know if I can make it happen.
You’re a philosopher and would surely be a righteous king.
Wow that DeSoto looks fantastic after just a car wash! I’m very excited for more articles about the 2CV as well.
Welcome back SWG! We are all still impatiently awaiting your Jaaag article next!
Also, dang that paint cleaned up nice with just a wash!
Went back to dull once it dried, but does show that it’s able to be saved. Once it’s running (step #1 of any project car) I’ll be doing a deeper clean, followed by a polish. Think I can save the paint for the most part.
That makes sense. Still, yeah polish and wax and the paint is in business!
The same thing happened with my Plymouth. I’m thinking about experimenting with something like the VGG “Shine Juice” because there’s still good left in the paint of these cars!
Mercedes I’ve eyeballed the “Shine Juice” (it’s rebottled Poppy’s Patina). I’m saving it as my 2nd to last resort. Last resort being a complete repaint. I don’t recall the Plymouth’s paint condition but if it was similar, I’m thinking this single stage can be shined up without the extra coatings.
I aspire to be a tenth as cool as Mr Shaw or SWG…
Would you settle for being cooler than DT trying to act cool while taking a pic with SWG?