If I were to rank the amount of effort I put into cleaning my car, I’d probably fall somewhere in the middle. On one extreme end, there are people (see also: crazies) who never wash their cars. And on the other, there are obsessives like Larry Kosilla of AMMO NYC. He’s the guy you call when you need a Formula One car detailed.
The car is the McLaren MP4-19B race car from 2004 with a V10 engine from Mercedes-Benz that ran out to something in the ballpark of 19,000 RPM. It sounds goddamn wicked. Mmm.
Anyway!
The McLaren is now in private hands and Kosilla was hired to polish it up. Obviously, it’s not like you can just spray it down, two-bucket-method soap it and spray it down again. It’s open cockpit and the paint is incredibly thin, so very special measures need to be taken.
Nearly the whole project, for example, needs to be done by hand to make sure that no damage would be caused. Also, Kosilla brings a whole arsenal of differently sized orbitals in order to get into all the car’s nooks and crannies. There are a lot.
This is a project I would have been very nervous about undertaking. One wrong move and you could scrape off paint, marring the car. Someone has to do it, though. Check out the video to see one of the most extensive detailing jobs I’ve ever seen.