About Paul Dalton
37 years.
Not one
shortcut.
How a teenage mountain biker washing cars for pocket money in Surrey ended up detailing Bugattis, Koenigseggs, and a LaFerrari that out-shone Pebble Beach.
Years in the craft
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Years in the trade
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+
Bugatti Veyrons
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Koenigseggs
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National newspapers
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TV appearances
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Paul Dalton — Ferrari Monza SP · Andreas Jansson
Photography
Photography
The beginning
It started with an
Astra mk2 GTE and
a need for pocket money.
Paul Dalton was 13 years old. A sponsored mountain biker who needed to earn some cash. The first car he clearly remembers detailing was an Astra mk2 GTE for an insurance man down the road. Nobody knew then — including Paul — that this was the beginning of a 37-year obsession.
He discovered quickly that he couldn’t simply clean a car. He had to make it perfect. That instinct has never left him.
Miracle Detail was founded in 1994. The standard Paul set on day one has never changed. And the clients who found him when he first opened his doors are still with him today.
Thirty-seven years of that same instinct, applied to more than 10,000 cars, adds up to something that can’t be bought or fast-tracked: a working knowledge of how dozens of different manufacturers’ paint systems age, scratch, oxidise and respond to correction — built one panel at a time, not from a textbook.
The full story
From a Surrey driveway
to
Monaco and beyond.
1988
It starts — age 13
A sponsored teenage mountain biker starts washing cars for pocket money in Surrey. The first car he clearly remembers: an Astra mk2 GTE for an insurance man down the road. Nobody suspects this is the beginning of a 37-year obsession — least of all Paul. He discovers he cannot simply clean a car. He has to make it perfect.
1994
Miracle Detail is established
What started as pocket money becomes a business. Miracle Detail is founded, operating mobile across London — detailing high profile clientele at their homes and premises. From the very first day, the approach is the same — Paul works alone, every car is treated as if it were his own, and there are no shortcuts.
2005
Swissvax — the Crystal Rock Wax collaboration
Paul collaborates with Swissvax on Crystal Rock Wax, sold worldwide through Swissvax’s authorised reseller network. The partnership runs until 2022.
2006
Fifth Gear — and the £5,000 car wash
Paul appears on Fifth Gear to detail a Maserati MC12 — one of only 50 ever made. 61 stages. 64 hours. £5,000. The segment is broadcast globally and covered by seven national newspapers. Phone calls come in from across the world for a week. A generation of detailers still cites it as the moment they understood what the craft could become. In the same year, Paul begins installing PPF — making him the UK’s longest-serving active PPF installer.
Maserati MC12
Sunday Mirror, 2006
2006
Autocar — the £5,000 car wash
Autocar magazine runs a feature on Paul and the £5,000 car wash, shot at Romans International supercar dealership in Fleet, Surrey. The piece asks whether the world’s most expensive car wash is worth it — and answers its own question.
Maserati MC12
2008
MPH — Top Gear Live, London
Paul attends MPH at Top Gear Live in London, putting the final polish on a Koenigsegg CCX on the show stand. Even surrounded by cameras and crowds rather than a quiet studio, the standard does not move — every car gets the same attention, wherever it is being prepared.
Koenigsegg CCX
On the stand
Final polish
2008
The Middle East — a Bugatti and a Ferrari 599
Paul travels to the Middle East to detail a Bugatti Veyron and a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, working alongside cars most detailers only ever see in photographs. The standard travels with him — the same studio discipline, a long way from Surrey.
Ferrari 599, Middle East
2008
RTL — German television
Paul appears on RTL in Germany, taking the same detailing message to a European audience two years after Fifth Gear.
RTL Germany, 2008
2008
Japanese television — Broughtons, Pangbourne
Paul appears on Japanese television, filmed at Broughtons — the Koenigsegg and Spyker dealer in Pangbourne, near Reading. The detailing message travelling from Surrey to two different continents within months of each other.
Nippon Television, 2008
Paul Dalton — Miracle Detail
Broughtons, Pangbourne
2008
London Concours, the Burlington
Paul prepares a car for the London Concours at the Burlington — one of the early entries in what becomes a 100% win record at UK concours events.
Koenigsegg CCX, London Concours
The Burlington, 2008
Koenigsegg, London Concours, The Burlington
2009
A studio at Dunsfold Park — home of Top Gear
As the business grew, Paul established his first studio unit at Dunsfold Park in Surrey — the airfield made famous worldwide as the home of Top Gear, and a working test facility where the world’s leading manufacturers push their latest hypercars to the limit. For a detailer whose work was already attracting the finest cars in private ownership, the surroundings were entirely fitting.
458 Speciale, Dunsfold
2009
A Ferrari 599, ten thousand miles from Surrey
Paul travels to Hong Kong to detail a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano for a private client — proof that the call for the right standard of work doesn’t stop at a postcode. The car gets the same treatment it would in Lingfield, just with a longer flight either side of it.
Ferrari 599, Hong Kong
2009
3M Car Care
Paul partners with 3M, advising on their car care range — chemistry and product development alongside the detailing work itself.
2010
Inside the Koenigsegg factory, Sweden
Paul is invited inside the Koenigsegg factory itself — a level of access most detailers never get near. The relationship with the marque runs deeper than a single show stand: hand-built, hand-finished cars deserve a finish to match, and that standard holds whether the work happens in a factory in Sweden or a studio in Surrey.
Factory floor
Koenigsegg CCX
2014
First in the UK to use dry ice cleaning
Paul introduces dry ice cleaning to his studio — the first detailer in the United Kingdom to do so. While most of the industry was still unaware the technology existed in an automotive context, Paul was already using it on engine bays, underbodies and interiors of some of the rarest cars in private ownership. He has been doing it for over a decade since.
Dry ice cleaning
2015
LaFerrari — the GF Williams shoot
GF Williams, the car photographer, comes down to Dunsfold Park while Paul is in the middle of a week-long detail on a LaFerrari — there for over a week, getting the shots while the work itself is still going on.
LaFerrari, GF Williams
2016
Ferrari F40 — and a LaFerrari that rivalled Pebble Beach
Paul travels to Monaco to detail a Ferrari F40 — one of the most iconic and valuable road cars ever made. The work leads to an ongoing relationship with a Monaco-based private client whose LaFerrari, after Paul’s attention, prompts a response that says more than any review could: “My LaFerrari looks better than cars prepared for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.” The world’s most prestigious automotive show. The highest bar in the industry.
Ferrari F40
Monaco garage
Final detail
Paul working on the Ferrari F40 — Monaco private collection
2018
Motorheads — back on television
Paul appears on Motorheads, talking detailing to a national audience over a decade on from Fifth Gear. Different show, same message — the work only counts if it’s done properly, camera or no camera.
On location
Motorheads studio
2019
Mercedes 600 — £10,000 show car finish
A Mercedes 600 (600 EXY) arrives at the studio for a full paint wet-sand and correction — the goal a completely orange-peel-free finish worthy of the concours circuit. £10,000 of work later, the result speaks for itself. The car goes on to be displayed at Mercedes World in Woking, Surrey, and has won every concours show it has since entered.
Mercedes 600 — before and after
Mercedes World, Woking
Flawless finish
600 EXY
Mercedes 600, Mercedes World
Show-ready
2020
Portugal — a week on the road
Paul drives to Portugal in his purpose-built VW Caddy — engineered specifically for mobile detailing, carrying everything the studio carries — to detail two Ferraris and a Porsche GT3 RS over a week. A Ferrari 599 GTO and an F12 TDF, both brought to the same standard they’d receive in Surrey. The studio discipline taken on tour, this time south.
Ferrari F12 TDF — Portugal
Ferrari 599 GTO — Portugal
Ferrari F12 TDF — blue
Miracle Detail VW Caddy — purpose-built mobile studio
2021
Ferrari Monza SP2 — Oslo Motor Show
Paul takes a Ferrari Monza SP2 to the Oslo Motor Show — a barchetta built in tiny numbers, with no windscreen and nowhere for a mistake to hide. The car gets the full studio treatment before going on display, and is finished again on the stand itself, in front of the crowds it was built to stop.
Monza SP2
Studio detail
Final polish
Engine bay
Engine bay
Oslo Motor Show
Concours
Every concours car prepared by Paul has won its class
Over the years, Paul has prepared cars for UK concours events on multiple occasions. The record is straightforward: every car Paul has ever prepared for a concours event has won its category or won the show. Every single one.
Morgan Aero 8 — concours
2023
A talk at Glansz, the Netherlands
Paul is invited to Glansz detailing studio in the Netherlands to talk about his life as a detailer — 37 years of craft distilled into a room of people who understand exactly how much work sits behind every finish.
Glansz, Netherlands
2024
The Japanese Detailers World Detailing Tour visits HQ
A group of Japan’s leading detailers stop at Miracle Detail as part of their World Detailing Tour of the UK — proof that the studio in Lingfield is a destination on a map that stretches a lot further than Surrey.
Japanese Detailers World Tour
2025
Global ambassador — and a coating with Paul's name on it
Paul becomes Feynlab’s only global ambassador — not UK ambassador, global. He collaborates with Feynlab’s chemists to develop Ceramic by Paul Dalton, a professional-grade coating sold worldwide through the Feynlab website and used daily by professional detailers across the industry. His name is on the bottle. The coating launches in 2024.
Launch, 2024
Ceramic by Paul Dalton
2026
A new studio — 32 years in the making
In July 2026, Miracle Detail opens its new purpose-built studio in Lingfield, Surrey. Climate controlled, with a specialist light tunnel, dedicated correction and PPF bays, a dedicated dry ice and industrial underside coating bay, and smart lighting throughout. This is what 32 years of craft looks like when it has the space it deserves.
The new studio, Lingfield
Fifth Gear, 2006
The £5,000 car wash —
61 stages, 64 hours..
In 2006, Paul appeared on Fifth Gear to detail a Maserati MC12 — one of only 50 ever built — properly. 61 stages. 64 hours. £5,000. It gave a television audience their first real look at what obsessive paint correction actually involves — not a wash and wax, but full inspection, correction and protection carried out to a standard most viewers didn’t know existed. The segment was broadcast globally and picked up by seven national newspapers.
The response was immediate and international. Phone calls came in from around the world for a week. Requests from Hong Kong, Monaco, Portugal and the Middle East followed. A generation of detailers — many of whom are now prominent in the industry — point to that segment as the moment they understood what detailing could actually be.
Stages
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Hours
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National newspapers
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Maserati MC12 · Fifth Gear · 2006 · One of only 50 ever made
“A generation of detailers cites this as the moment they understood what the craft could become.”
Fifth Gear · 2006 · Broadcast globally
The work itself
What paint correction
actually does.
Before correction
Swirls under inspection light
Every panel, by hand
Background
A few credentials,
for context.
I
Feynlab's Only Global Ambassador
Worldwide — not just UK
Paul is the only detailer in the world to hold Feynlab’s global ambassador status. He collaborated with Feynlab’s chemists to co-develop Ceramic by Paul Dalton — a coating sold worldwide and used daily by professionals across the industry.
II
PPF Since 2006
Longest-serving UK PPF installer
Paul has been installing Paint Protection Film since 2006 — longer than any other active detailer in the United Kingdom. Nearly two decades of experience on everything from daily drivers to Bugattis and Koenigseggs.
III
First UK Dry Ice Detailer
Since 2014
Paul was the first detailer in the United Kingdom to use dry ice cleaning, in 2014. While the industry was still catching up, Paul had already been using the technology on some of the rarest cars in private ownership for years.
IV
Concours Record
100% win rate
Every car Paul has ever prepared for a UK concours event has won its category. Every single one. Including Bugatti Veyrons and Koenigseggs among the most extraordinary machinery that competes.
V
30+ Years — Clients Who Stay
Since 1994
The clients who found Paul when he first opened his doors in 1994 are still with him today. No advertising. No promotions. A business built entirely on the quality of the work and the trust it creates.
“One detailer. Every car. No exceptions.”
Paul Dalton — Ferrari Monza SP · Photography: Andreas Jansson
"My LaFerrari looks better than cars prepared for the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance."
Private Client — Monaco
New to detailing?
Not sure what
your car
actually needs?
Most people who contact Paul don’t know exactly what they want — they just know they want their car to look better and be protected. That’s enough. Paul will tell you honestly what the car needs, what he recommends, and what it will cost before any commitment is made.
There’s no pressure, no upselling and no jargon. Just an honest conversation about your car.
Paint looks dull or hazy
Most people who contact Paul don’t know exactly what they want — they just know they want their car to look better and be protected. That’s enough. Paul will tell you honestly what the car needs, what he recommends, and what it will cost before any commitment is made.
Scratches and chips
Paul checks with a paint depth gauge before touching the car. Surface scratches polish out. Anything down to bare metal needs repair first — not polish.
Want long-term protection
Paul’s view: correct the paint properly first, then protect it. A ceramic coating on top of bad paint just seals in whatever was already there.
New car — want to protect it from day one
Paul rarely sees a new car arrive in perfect condition — dealer prep and transport leave their mark. He corrects it once, properly, before it’s driven anywhere in anger.
Not sure — just ask
Tell Paul about the car and what concerns you. He’ll tell you what he sees and what he recommends. No obligation, no pressure.
On price
Yes, Paul costs more.
Here is exactly why.
Paul doesn’t apologise for his pricing and he doesn’t discount. The work is done to one standard, by one person, with the same instruments and products every time. There are no packages designed to maximise revenue. There is a fair price for work done properly.
Clients who have been with Paul since 1994 have never gone elsewhere. That is the only endorsement that matters.
One detailer — every job
Paul does every job himself. 37 years of experience is applied to your car personally — not delegated to an assistant.
Instruments most detailers don’t own
A £4,000 gloss and orange peel measurement instrument. A digital microscope. Paint depth gauges. Assessment before anything else.
No shortcuts — ever
The standard doesn’t change based on the car’s value or the client’s budget. Every car receives the same approach.
Products Paul helped develop
Feynlab coatings applied by the person who helped create one of them. The chemistry and the expertise together.
Ferrari Monza SP
Ferrari 599 · Bugatti Veyron
Ferrari F50
Ferrari 458 Speciale
Ferrari F40
Google Reviews
Ready to talk
about your
car?
Every conversation starts honestly. Paul will tell you what the car needs and what he recommends — before any commitment is made.