Timeless Icons V is a Nissan Skyline R33 in Midnight Purple, a 40th Anniversary Edition. It came to our Southport studio with paint that was hiding its best colour. This is how we put that right.
Nissan built the 40th Anniversary Edition to mark four decades of the Skyline name, and the round emblem on the C-pillar gives it away. Its Midnight Purple paint moves from near-black to deep violet to bright magenta as the light changes.
That shifting colour is the car's signature. It is also unforgiving. Dark metallic paint shows every swirl and scratch.
Why It Came In
The owner brought this Nissan Skyline R33 to our Southport studio for one reason: the paint had stopped doing the colour justice. Over the years the finish had collected swirl marks, fine scratches, haze and sanding marks, and the depth that makes Midnight Purple special was getting lost underneath them.
The brief was simple. Bring the paint back to its best, then protect it so it stays there.
What We Found
Under strong light the damage was easy to read. Swirl marks ran across the panels, fine scratches gathered around the door handles, and the boot lid carried a haze that dulled its reflections. The roof told the biggest story: deep scratches left by poor wet sanding were embedded in the paint. Even the badges looked tired.
The marks were surface-level, and that mattered. It meant the paint could be corrected rather than cut back hard or repainted.
The Plan
We kept the plan simple: correct first, protect second. A coating locks in whatever sits underneath it, so the paint had to be right before anything went on top.
On a car this age and this colour, the aim was never to remove as much paint as possible. It was to remove only what the defects demanded, so more of the original finish stays on the Skyline for the long run. That meant a full paint correction, machine polished panel by panel, then sealing the result with a professional GYEON Infinite ceramic coating. Prep is everything: it decides how well a ceramic coating performs and how long it lasts.
Progress
Progress started with a strip wash to remove everything sitting on the paintwork, including old wax, sealant and bonded contamination. We also removed mineral deposits from the glass. Once decontamination confirmed the surface was completely clean, we taped the sensitive areas and began machine polishing, working panel by panel and checking each one under direct light before moving on.
The details show the difference best. The swirls around the door handle are gone, the badge is bright again, and the boot lid, which started out hazy, now holds a sharp reflection. We also removed the spoiler blade to reach the paint underneath, then polished it off the car.
With the paint corrected, the surface was ready for protection. We applied GYEON Infinite Base Type 2 first, a foundation layer that bonds to the freshly polished clear coat. Once that had flashed and been levelled, we followed with GYEON Infinite Top Coat Type 2 to add depth, gloss and the slick, water-shedding finish that makes the car easier to keep clean. Applied in the right order, the two layers work as one system, and the coating locks in the finish we had just spent hours creating.
A coating is only as good as the care it gets afterwards, so we sat down with the owner and walked him through it. For the first two weeks the car stays dry and unwashed while the coating cures. After that he brings it back to us for its first maintenance wash, and from there he knows exactly what to do and what to avoid to keep the Skyline looking this way.
The Result
The finish now does what Midnight Purple is supposed to do. Reflections run sharp across the bonnet, boot and quarters, and the colour travels from black to violet to magenta in one walk around the car. The swirls are gone, the metallic flake is clear, and the coating adds the glassy depth that holds it all together.
This wasn't about making a 1990s car look new. It was about letting a Timeless Icon look like itself again.
Book Your Car In
Every Timeless Icon starts with a conversation. Tell us about your car, how it has been looked after and what you’d like it to become, and we’ll recommend the right path, whether that’s paint correction, a GYEON ceramic coating, or both. As a GYEON certified studio in Southport, we take on a limited number of cars at a time so each one gets the attention it deserves.
To book your car in, visit our contact page or message us on Instagram. For more detail on what each service involves, explore our paint correction and GYEON ceramic coating pages.
