The oldest known tin of T-Cut in the UK has been found in Ormskirk, with the 50-year-old bottle still being used today after restoring the paintwork on multiple cars and motorcycles.
The tin is owned by motoring enthusiast Martin Pagett, who has been using it to bring a new lease of life to bikes and cars for friends and family since he bought it in 1965 – 11 years after the product first went on sale.
Martin contacted Tetrosyl – the company behind the best-selling restoration product – and a national campaign to find the oldest tin.
“I’ve always been interested in cars and motorcycles,” says Martin, who heads up the specialist classic car and motorcycle insurance broker, Lynbrook Insurance.
Over the years, he has renovated or restored a 1964 Austin Mini Cooper – his first car – a 1960 Riley 1.5, a 1957 Austin A35, a 1964 Austin A40, a 1973 MG Midget which he bought in 1975 and still owns today, a 1965 Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle and also a 1966 Triumph T100SS motorcycle.
“I still own the latter two and am presently working on them as I do enjoy maintaining and improving cars and motorcycles,” he said. In total, he has used T-Cut on 17 cars and 21 motorcycles.
For Martin, T-Cut first came to the rescue when he had a red Mini Cooper with a black roof. “I lived quarter of a mile away from the North-East coast,” he reflects. “After a few years of sun and salt-laden air, my new once-red car turned pink. T-Cut was frequently deployed to restore the colour to near-original, followed by some solid wax.”
Martin uses both T-Cut Original and T-Cut Metallic, for both old and modern paint finishes. T-Cut Metallic has been formulated to work on modern paint finishes, removing tiny layers of lacquer to bring out the car’s original colour.
However, T-Cut Original is ideal for issues as minor as dried-on insects, road grime and tar spots, to smoothing and polishing out tougher scuffs and scrapes, as well as removing oxidisation.
Today the range of T-Cut products is wider than ever, and now includes pre-restoration, shampoo, waxes, Which? Magazine’s Best Buy T-Cut Scratch Remover range, scratch-removal pens, headlight and bumper restoration kits.
