Huntington & Newport Beach Detailer Preserves Vintage WWII-era Aircraft at New Mexico’s War Eagles Air Museum
by: Kimberly Ballard
Published: May 6, 2024
Stevie D'Sanchez with the P-38 Lightning after polishing it at the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, NM
HUNTINGTON BEACH...Orange County detailer Estefano (Stevie) D’Sanchez of Stevie’s Details LLC just returned from the War Eagles Air Museum in Santa Teresa, New Mexico where he was one of 22 celebrity detailers selected to revive the paint and return the shine to several vintage aircraft and exotic cars on display at the museum. The planes and cars had not been deeply cleaned or detailed in over 20 years.
The project included five vintage “warbirds” and two classic cars including a historic Hawker Sea Fury warbird; a Douglas DC 3 built in 1932 and one of the most recognizable and impactful aircraft on the history of air travel; the 1944 Chance-Vought F4U Corsair known as “Whistling Death” due to the distinctive high-pitched sound it made when wind passed through the engine vents; an all-aluminum Lockheed Silver Star 3 by Canadair; and a Lockheed P-38 Lightning used for aerial survey work in South America from 1953-1957.
The two vintage automobiles included a prewar 1935 Auburn Boattail sports car and a 1936 Super 8 Packard Roadster convertible.
Dually certified by the International Detailing Association, and recently admitted into The Detail Mafia, the most accomplished and technologically advanced team of detailers in the U.S., the War Eagles project was D’Sanchez’s first jaunt with the team and what an experience it was!
The Detail Mafia is famous nationwide for restoring, preserving and maintaining multimillion-dollar exotic and classic vehicles and aircraft at museums and prestigious car and aircraft events across the country on a pro bono basis.
D’Sanchez has found success in detailing after graduating with Bachelor’s degree from California State University at Fullerton where he was pursuing law enforcement until he discovered his real passion was for detailing and making paint shine.
He said he was prepared for the meticulous detailing work at the museum, but he was not prepared for the reverence he experienced standing in the shadow of the iconic military WWII-era aircraft.
“I found myself not just a detailer cleaning beautiful cars, but part of preserving history, and it was just incredible,” D’Sanchez said. “I did a lot of work on the P-38 Lightning which I really enjoyed because it is black, and no other color vehicle or painted object shows scratches, swirls and dirt more clearly than black; but once those flaws are removed, nothing shines up quite like flawless black paint. It is one of my favorite aspects of detailing and it gives me a tremendous sense of satisfaction to see the result.”
The team was led by El Paso’s Anthony Aguilar of Revive Auto Solutions who had done smaller, one- to two-man projects for the museum before.
“This is a bigger project than I have performed at the museum in the past and I needed help, so who better than the team who has the prestigious car and aircraft resume?” said Aguilar. “Some of the members have spent 20 years restoring car and aircraft paint while others like Stevie have the skills required but haven’t had the opportunity to use them on a big project like this. War Eagles was an opportunity for him to experience the kind of amazing work we do on extremely expensive, even priceless airplanes and vehicles.”
All team members are successful detailing business owners across the country. They donate their time and skills to similar projects, but the expertise and experience is significant to their everyday car customers.
Whether you are a carpooling mom driving an SUV, a luxury car or classic vehicle, D’Sanchez is a go-to detailer in Orange County from Irvine to Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.
“I never dreamed when I became a detailer, I would ever work on priceless, iconic aircraft! It was truly an honor,” he said.
For more information and for an interview with Stevie D’Sanchez about his work at the War Eagle Air Museum, contact him at (714) 800-9788 or contact PR agent Kimberly Ballard at (256) 653-4003. Photo:Kimberly Ballard