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Writer's picturePhil

Protecting Automotive Art at NVN London.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of being invited down to NVN London with my camera. This is a company I have long admired for their attention to detail and clean work ethic, so to be invited down and I forgot to mention to have the place to myself was absolutely brilliant, Yes I was given total access to the whole facility, just me and my camera.


As you enter NVN London you go in through the NVN Lounge which is fully decked out by Timothy Oulton and is an official lounge signed off by the team at Timothy Oulton. The attention to detail and quality feel of the materials is second to none, I just didn't know where to look from the glass table that is supported by a genuine ships propeller to the Tomcat chairs.


The whole place just oozes quality (side note all the retro pieces are genuine nothing is a copy or remake) the hats that are scattered throughout the lounge just tie the entire place together all sat a top of a reclaimed village/sports hall floor, there is no mistaking where you are and that you are somewhere truly special.



Once you get over the lounge and actually look out through the large glass partitions into the heart of the facility you are just struck with how clean and perfect it is. You can just stand there and see the entire line from the was bay right through all the steps and processes through to the final inspection area and hand over bay. If you are one of the lucky few who get to venture into this world which I was you will never look at the detailing and protection of cars the same way again. Once you walk through the large glass sliding doors you will never look back.

This is a world of perfection, where you talk about 10ths of a mm as a large measurement. A world that most people do not think is necessary as they simply do not understand the difference. I am in the lucky position to know a small bit about detailing and protecting cars prior to visiting however once I walked around the facility with one of the managing partners of the business I was blown away by the attention to detail that these very talented people go to, ensuring the perfect finish.


Just to give a small example, all the three body colour panels on the photo of the Ferrari 488 Pista below have been through the process and are at the final inspection stage... no seems, no edges, go swirls, no paint imperfections. Perfection personified. Even the interiors are beyond next level protected.

Once I had been given a tour of the facility and been told the process each car goes through I was left to my own thoughts with millions of pounds worth of cars all sat waiting for me to point my camera at. Just to give a few example of the cars in at the time we had 3 Ferrari 488 Pistas, 2 Aston Martin DBS, a Ferrari 458 Speciale, a Nissan R32 Skyline, a Rolls Royce and a Rather well known Ferrari F12 TDF... you know just to name a few, HA!


One aspect I found absolutely fascinating was when a car comes in to go from gloss paint to Satin or Matt. The team use Xpel Protection film with there own custom templates for both the Gloss and Satin finishes. The magic is really seen when a car goes from Gloss to Satin as there is no margin for error as a missed spot of gloss will stand out like a sore thumb on a satin finish. One car going through this at the time was one the the Aston Martin DBS' which sculpture wise is exquisite but looks to be a hell of a challenge to protect with film, however, the team had nailed the satin film they had laid on the car and the difference was, well staggering. Also on a personal note I love satin cars as it shows the cars lines so much better than gloss ever could and it has the added bonus of not showing awful reflections when photographing them.

The Large glass partitions do not only provide clean safe working areas for each of the stages but also double as the perfect surface to put the pre-cut pieces of Xpel film prior to fitting to the car so it can be inspected before fitting while leaving the entire workshop with a light and airy feel.


Once I had been close up and personal with all the cars I then walked up the stairs to the balcony area atop of the re-purposed shipping containers that are offices and storage areas for the staff. This gave be a birds eye view of the workspace area looking out over a vast amount of automotive art being protected to perfection. I just stood up there and leant on the railing just admiring the quality and talent on display in front of me and pinching myself that I was one of the lucky people who get to witness the truly epic contents of this place.


I just want to thank the team at NVN London and NVN Motorworks for inviting me down it was an experience and lesson in what can be achieved by hard working determined individuals who are masters of their trade.


Phil

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