We need your help. Speedshow 2009

Final Touch is going to Speedshow in Greenlane in September
We'll be demonstrating our process - High quality Cut & Polishing using Meguiar's of course and the Final Touch StoneChip and Scratch repair system over the weekend and we're looking for some special vehicles to showcase the process on.
We'll approach some of our LMVD customers to see if they'd be keen supply cars but we're keen to get hold of some less typical vehicles with stonechips etc...
I really want to find a scratched/chipped/faded paint Ford F150 Lightning in either black or red if anyone knows of one. I have a couple of leads to follow but if you happen to have one or know of someone with one who might be happy to lend it to us for display over a weekend 19-20 September I'd love to talk to you, you can call me directly on (09) 3581141.

Swirl Free Polishing

Our 'Swirl Free Polish' skills were really put to the test with this one, less than a year old and with a vibrant paint job that shows every little mark, the boys had their work really cut out for themselves to get the vehicle looking this good.

The Lads were up to the task

Mopar Man

Ok so I know that a little while back I publicly stated that I'd fallen in love with the new Mustangs and that they were almost enough to turn the fascinations of a Mopar Man. This would remain so outside of the existence of the Dodge SRT cars and in particular the incredibly fine (coolest car in the world) that I was very privileged to be taken for a spin in yesterday.

As far as I know it's the only legal LHD 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT in the country and it is flippin cool. Riding on 22" American Racing Wheels with a complete Magnaflow exhaust system and coloured in Hemi orange it is just the coolest car I've ever been in (cooler than a Lambo)

Owned by a genuinely nice guy the car has already had an interesting life, it was purchased in the USA and driven down the coast where it was admired by many. I believe it was the first production Challenger to meet the great Mr Foose and it gained with his full approval while the guys were able to enjoy a pre-SEMA viewing of the 'Terracuda 'http://www.autoblog.com/2008/11/05/sema-2008-chip-foose-unveils-his-latest-creation-the-terracuda/ which was a rare privilege as was meeting the team from Lanzini's who were pretty keen to give the Hemi a good once over.

Shipped to NZ and taking the slow but careful route through compliance to the owners garage it is now being enjoyed as a weekend driver and I was very lucky to be a weekend passenger in it yesterday. One could go on about the raw power of the Hemi, the sweet notes emanating from the magnaflow or the sheer presence that it exudes even sitting silently in the driveway but it wouldn't do it justice. The most telling thing is that this car makes grown men stop and stare, forgetting themselves and whatever it might be they were doing at the time (including driving), it is completely attention arresting.

It is quite simply the coolest car. I hope to polish it one day although I know the owner will take a lot of pleasure out of doing it himself. More than anything it has increased my resolve to purchase one of the new Dodge's at some point in the future Challenger or Charger... 2 doors or 4...?

Coming Soon

There are some pretty exciting things in the pipeline at Final Touch and while we can't yet reveal what we're up to, we can say that we're adding a new service or two to the mix and we'll be working even more closely with other S.M.A.R.T Repair companies to help make caring for your vehicles even better.
Stay tuned, as soon as we have more information to give we'll let you know. "You'll hear it here first"

Rare as hens teeth,

It's not often that you get asked to work on truly rare cars, Rare Group B rally cars come up even less frequently so we couldn't not put a little post up about the car that Grant and Tiho were asked to work on recently.

Unfortunately the car was in a workshop when we went to see it so we've had to pinch some photo's off the owners own website but our guys were absolutely stoked to work on such a unique vehicle and they assure me that they left it looking top knotch when they's finished.

Thanks a lot to PJ for the opportunity to work on one of the coolest cars anywhere.

Ferrari Stonechips

Everybody (well almost everybody) loves Ferrari's and it's great to get an opportunity for some unique process photos so it was most fortunate that I had my camera on board when we were asked to touch up this beauty.

It was quite heavily chipped for a Ferrari, which means it's been driven and Ferrari's that actually get driven are the best kind.

More chips, (We'd polished it already)

With all the Stonechips sprayed out, you can really see how badly chipped she really was.

Partially wiped.

And again from a different angle.

It came up great.

All finished and ready to hand back to the customer.

Vehicles like this one have got us thinking seriously about adding a Premium Service option to our Business as we realise that there are quite a few people who are genuinely looking for something extra special in looking after their vehicle presentation. If you think you might be interested in this Premium Service please let me know. We'll announce more about the service in the near future.

Catching up with Dad.

Recently we went and caught up with Dad, (Neil as most Auto Industry people know him) I'm asked regularly about how he's doing and I hadn't seen him for quite a while so it was great to see him again. As you can see he's fit and well and really enjoying being back farming in Northern Southland again and he sends his best wishes to all his friends and former customers back in Auckland.

We all had a great time visiting on the farm, driving trucks, tractors, quad-bikes (especially the grand kids) baling hay etc... It was great to get the original Final Touch team back together for a few days; Meanwhile the team in Auckland were doing a great job of working hard and looking after our customers.

I couldn't resist another Mustang Photo.

This was a car that I was privileged to work on as a result of the 'Auckland All Ford Day' I was just repairing Stonechips and it came up really well. The owner was really pleased with the job. I left the site in love with the car, An 05 GT 500 Elanor. These new mustangs will just about turn this Mopar man to a ford fanatic.

Beach Hop Fame

Well maybe that sounds flasher than reality but we made the Beach Hop Pictorial for Beach Hop 2009. Admitedly it's a small photo tucked away at the back on page 68 but check your copy and there's Grant and Gordon showcasing the best Meguiars products on Jude Habib's 64 Mustang.

Stoked.

This was the mustang just as we were getting underway, the photo from the Pictorial was taken later on.

We had a lot of fun at the Beach Hop this year, it seems like ages ago now, just like summer seems like ages ago but we had a really productive time working with Meguiars again to ensure that the public was able to see the best products being used properly to get great results on great classic cars.

This car polished up beautifully, even I was impressed by the reflections that showed in the finished result.

This Roadster was pretty nice and another one that we polished up, the brightwork came up beautifully.

I can't help it, my favourite vehicle from the weekend was this Super Snake, it seems almost sacreligious considering the weekend's focus but I've fallen for the new generation Mustangs bigtime. They've managed to merge the best of the old mustangs with a totally modern look and feel and they don't come any better than this one.

I'm looking forward to Beach Hop 2010 already.

Site Upgrade

Well we've changed the formatt of www.finaltouch.co.nz and we hope you like the difference, we've tried to make it brighter and easier to read/navigate and we'll be re-stocking our store beginning later this week.
We'd appreciate any feedback. Cheers G