Cheap But It Ain't Free

 

Mirror Finish '48 Boles Aero in Tow

Well I'd planned to do the polishing of my Boles myself. After all I'd done nearly everything else except the welding (I'll do that on my next project). But reality set in quickly when I gave it a go.

I was finishing up a weekend of small projects on the Boles and decided to give polishing a try. A few hours later my arms were fatigued and I'd made little progress. Not to mention I'd done only a half ass job. I did some rough math and realized it was going to take 30-40 hours to complete the job. And if you factor in that I'd probably only be able to accomplish 4 hours per day before pooping out, that meant 7-10 days or 4-5 weekends.

My Attempt at Polishing

Polishing isn't cheap. 30-40 hours of labor in any industry is a pricy prospect. And the polishing of vintage and current model airstreams is a hot business. But the prospect of finishing the Boles this Spring and doing it without visiting the Dr for tendonitis won the day.

I asked my Facebook friends (lots of very active vintage trailer restoration groups there) for recommendations and almost universally they recommended Gogos Polishing in Hesperia, CA. I contacted Jonathan, we swapped some pictures, and I was quickly planning the first trip the Boles had taken in probably decades.

Boles on its way to Gogos Polishing

After getting a little reinforcement welding done on the axle attachment points (a task I'd been putting off till the end), I got the Boles hooked up and ready to drop off for polishing. The drive to Hesperia was uneventful and when we arrived at Gogos Jonathan gave us a tour of his yard. The vintage trailer "museum" he has there was worth the drive itself!

Over the next week Jonathan and his dad worked on the Boles. He sent me "teaser" pictures of his progress each day and it got me really excited. I work a 5/4/9 schedule and it was a "long" workweek. I was like a kid that know they get to go to Disneyland on the weekend - antsy and excited.

Jonathan and his Dad

The wait was worth it. The Boles is shiny and I'm quite pleased. There are plenty of dings and scratches that no polishing in the world could remove, after what 74 year old doesn't have those? But I think it turned out great. And I didn't spend 2 months dreading the weekends to get it done! My thanks go to the professionals at Gogos Polishing!