Not too bad on first glance from a distance.

That sonorous 4.3lt V8

Start to look closely though.....Swirls, scratches and buffer trails abound. Literally years worth of them.

A nice big scratch which will have to be dealt with

Along with this scuff on the front bumper

More buffer trails and scratches. The car was starting to look a little like a topographical map

I started with the wheels. These took over and hour of cleaning and several rounds of chemical decontamination before I was satisfied with them

Also several applications of APC were needed for under the guards. Some Wheel Woolie action

Getting in and around the wheel barrels

Foam wash

Brushwork around the badges and many grilles on the car

Post decontamination the car was inspected under lights. Large amounts of marring were present

Some paint depth readings thankfully said there was a reasonable base with which to work on

Before

Post correction

50/50 sill

Nasty RID on passenger side roof sill

Corrected

50/50 rear C pillar. There were some very deep RIDS which could only be minimised unfortunately.

Finished compounding. A further refining stage required

Boot before

After compounding (prior to refining)

Boot lid. Starting to get a good idea of just how low in orange peel Astons are from the factory.

50/50 of driver's door. Here we see just how much clarity has been slowly robbed from the paint over the years

Post compounding. Massive clarity gains found already

Passenger front guard has had a beating

After compounding

Some nice reflections

An unobstructed look at that nasty RID on the passenger side door

Compounded out

Refining stage

Though I didn't need it for filling (the correction took care of the swirls and all but the deepest scratches), I went around the car with a glaze because I wanted to employ its darkening abilities to complement this metallic black paint Here you can see the bonnet in progress. The clear line defines the left hand side, which has had glaze applied, and the right which is bare panel. The glaze has quite a darkening effect, which is just stunning.

Close up

Final outdoor pics

Simply iconic....everyone loves an Aston

Reflection from the boot lid showing how flat and peel free Aston paint is