See how the world's rarest Ferraris are washed and detailed.
Ammo NYC founder Larry Kocila, a car detailing evangelist, produces YouTube videos that show the ins and outs of detailing; this video, shot in early 2021, shows a one-off Glickenhaus Ferrari P4/5 in Kocila's store The video shows a one-off Glickenhaus Ferrari P4/5 being worked on in Kossila's shop.
To review, the P4/5 was commissioned by wealthy car enthusiast Jim Glickenhaus and built by Pininfarina in 2006. The custom bodywork is inspired by the 1960s Ferrari 330 P4 racing car, but underneath is a Ferrari Enzo chassis, powertrain, and other hardware.
Glickenhaus then followed the P4/5 road car with a track version of the Competition. Based on the Ferrari F430 GT2 racing car of the time, the car lapped the Nürburgring Nordschliefe in 6 minutes 51 seconds during qualifying for the 2012 Nürburgring 24-hour race. He then purchased a 1970 Ferrari 512S Modulo Concept from Pininfarina and had it reworked into a roadworthy car.
The cool thing about this project is that Glickenhaus needed a one-off car to drive. The car comes into the store with bug spray, road grime, and even paint scratches and swirls, so the process begins with a simple wash using soap, bubble soap, and water. Next, the paint is washed down to the smallest areas using a brush. Next, the interior of the car is washed with foam, not water. The same goes for the engine.
Next, Koshira and his two partners move on to the interior. The interior process includes foam, steam, microfiber towels, and towels with steam for synthetic suede. Foam and interior brushes keep the steering wheel buttons dry.
Next, the paint is corrected. This process includes polishing, but the method varies from detailer to detailer. All use polishing compounds, polishing discs, and wool applied with a buffing wheel. In addition, they may use larger or smaller discs, or even towels to get into the finer details. The interior and the inside of the body, which is heavily made of carbon fiber, are also polished. The car is washed again because the polishing process generates a lot of dust.
The final step is ceramic paint protection to protect the finish and facilitate future cleaning. Kocila uses Ammo products manufactured in-house, but the various products used here are provided by several companies.
The P4/5 road car and the Competizione track version marked Glickenhaus' shift from car collector to serious car builder. He then founded Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG), which became a race team and small-batch manufacturer of sports cars and boot off-roaders.
SCG currently competes in the Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) class of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with 007. Glickenhaus is also interested in fuel cells and has directed the team to design concepts for a hydrogen supercar and pickup truck.
It remains to be seen whether these fuel cell vehicles will make it to production and how SCG will fare in the WEC against the much larger Toyota factory team.
In the meantime, watch the full video to see how the professionals detail their one-of-a-kind supercars.
