Removing nicotine/tar residue
 

I looked at an estate car that has been in a dry garage since 1983. The car has remained very dry and out of the elements, but it appears the late original owner (who passed away in her late 70s) went out and smoked in her garage every day from then on. The whole car looks like it has been sprayed with matte finish amber shellac, I've never seen anything like it. If anyone has dealt with this before and found a good way to remove the tough film from the glass and finish, I'll pass the info on to the estate.

Pics

Did you buy it? I love those cars!

409 does it

Dawn dish soap cuts grease, it should cut that too.

Thanks for input. It was pretty sharp looking in its freshly done (1981 or so) guise.

Simple Green ...

Hair shampoo. Have a detailer friend that uses it for the first wash whenever he gets a real dirtball.

Ammonia .

dollar store la awesome diluted

Liquid hand sanitizer 80%

Isopropyl is what I used the last time... 62 Impala I SWORE the aluminum interior trim had been gold anodized.
FWIW my parents owned an antique furniture restoration and sales store from late 70's until the late 80's and murphys oil soap is what we used to remove nicotine from furniture.

Seriously ?? Have you used that ? It seems rather strong for paint. Do you dilute it a bunch ?
I've used White Vinegar for cleaning mold off homes, but never ammonia.

I forgot about Simple Green. I have used that for mild cleaning and still have some...somewhere in my mess.

Is the car for sale?

The executor will be selling the car after they review my report and set a price. They won't do a full detail, but I wanted to be able to suggest a fairly simple wash protocol that won't screw things up but make it show more like the car it is. Its an automatic, one owner w/window sticker and records car with some light collision damage history but spent its life in AZ, OR, and WA, so for a 240Z its pretty damn solid.

1971Ls6 interesting you should mention hand sanitizer. I am currently in a spat with the one step hand sanitizer people. That product ruined the finish on the arm rest and gear shift area of my car, and also the door set of the entry door to my house.

I am very interested. Do you have any idea where they will be selling it?

PM sent

That Z looks really familiar. Was it ever in Socal?

The hand sanitizer I am using comes from one of my distillery’s and is 80% with nothing else added, dilute it to start.

On another note, hand sanitizer is the best at removing gas from your hands, try it

She bought it new in AZ, went to OR briefly and then WA. Pulled off the road in 83 when WA wouldn’t smog certify it after owner gave up on getting impossible 73 flat-top SU carbs to work and swapped on 72 round top SUs. Parked it and just never got back to it (bought a Harley instead).

Ah okay :)

Make use of an hair shampoo

we also use hand sanitizer in our detailing business to soften globs of pine tar on painted surfaces. Nothing works better.