15
ARCH 13 -19, 1985
bU·
by
By Ray Rite
If you're selling your car -
or perhap trading it, obviously
you're interested in making the
be t deal po ible. One way to
ccomplish this is to give the old
buggy mart, n look. Some
hard wor and few dollar
isely pent can incre the
selling price by veral hundred
doll rs.
Giving a beauty treatment
to an old car . kno n as
appearance reconditioning and,
properly done, it can make a
dramatic difference. The or
could range from a few simple
chore, such as cleaning the
trunk, polishing the exterior,
and dding a new t of floor
mats to removing dent and
other body damage, refinishing
the chrome on the bumper
and painting th exterior.
Begin by checking the overall
condition of the car's exterior.
If the fmish is in good con­
dition and there is no maier
body d mage, all that may
required is a good a h and
polish. Shine the chrome and
touch up any r tche or chip­
ped paint. The touch-up may
not look perfect, but it. ill
improve appearance and help
retard ru damage.
ext, clean the vinyl top.
any car owners complain they
can't keep the top clean. In
most ca s, they're cleaning it
wrong. Wash the vinyl with
mild oap sud and luke warm
water. U a ft bri tie bru h
and scrub in a circular mo ion.
This type of cleaning with a
, DQt.t'T "nUN K
PEOPLE SHoU
USE A�' ALS AS
GU\NEA PlGS!
commercial mild' remover will
also help elimin te fungu . Fol­
Io cleaning with a vinyl top
dre ing. A thorough job will
m ke the top look new.
Should you h ve any body
dent, you can repair them.
Depending on the extent of the
damage, YO\1 m decide
whether it's worth doing the
job yourself. The work involved
include tapping or pulling the
dent out, nding th dam ged
area, adding a ruler compound,
smoothing the fill r to the
contour -,.,0 the car's y,
feather edging the filler to
attain a ooth fini h between
the filler and old metal, pply­
ing primer and refmishin .
After th exterior .work i
done, clean and p li the
interior. If th interior vinyl
u fled 0 di colored it can
be re to red with vinyl spray
pint. Burn hole in the carpet
can be rep 'red by replacing it
ith piece of. carpet from
under the t.
:-
re uch mor you can
d to be utify your car. Clean
the trunk. Add a fe accessor­
ie . Scrub the whitewall,
and po ibly paint t tire .
You might even consider a new
pai job.
Q. H.A. C.
The front ti
R
ant to kno :
on" my '81
earin un enly.
t ca thi condition?
A. Th troubl could b
cau d by improper
worn ball joint 'Or '��I������
or balance may e �
Check tir pre ure before hav­
ing frontend i!}sp�cted.
HElP FIGHT
BIRTH DEFECTS
J