In my family, Sunday was always a slow day. Stores were closed, TV was old movie reruns, and there was little to do. Why not deal with the silent member of the family? The car? It certainly always needed some cleansing. It was time for Mom, Brother, and I to grab a good-sized bucket, a few rags, some soapy water and get to work.
Age has turned me lazy and I rarely ever wash cars in such a way. Car wash stations in California got me used to quick jobs, while cheap labor takes care of the task where I currently live. Still, once in a while, I grab a bucket and do it the old way. As one cleans a car inch by inch by hand, even mundane models come under a new light and find -at the very least- a bit of love. On such occasions, I remind myself that old-style washing isn’t such a chore, and that spending some time up close is a good way to reacquaint with the family ride.
You would think ladders would be prevalent today but I never see them. And it now slowly dawns on me that I am actually the only person in my entire neighborhood that washes my own car. People must think I’m some sort of lunatic.
I wash mine only when it rains out. My water is so hard that I let the rain rinse it off. I can only imagine what the neighbors and passers by think.
I don’t use a ladder to wash our minivans. For the front, I just open the doors and stand on the sill to sponge the roof – for the rear, I climb up on the rear tire. And rinsing can be done from the ground. It works for me – I’m curious what other folks’ solutions are for washing SUV or minivan roofs.
The step ladder has emerged several times for the Econoline. That has only been in times of extreme tree sap or bird droppings. However, I’ve gotten to the point in life in which I don’t care how the roof looks – the thing is so damn tall nobody sees the roof anyway.
However, you’ve given me an idea…there is a retaining wall next to the lower driveway; I could park it close and put a rag on a handle and wash the roof while standing at the top of the wall.
If I’m washing a pickup, I just stand in the bed and reach forward to get the top of the cab.
Thank you for expressing my exact feeling about the roof of the car that I cannot reach to wash. 🙂
“put a rag on a handle” We call that a mop. 🙂
Actually those cheap sponge mop things that have the squeeze mechanism work well for this part of the operation as long as you keep the pressure light and start with a wet roof.
Same as yours. I open the doors and stand on the door sills
When I was a teen and my best friend’s father had a big Dodge van, my friend’s older brother was given the job of waxing it. He used a ladder to crawl onto the roof wearing his football knee pads.
That’s an inventive approach. I bet your friend’s dad missed his designated van-roof washer when his son eventually moved away!
That’s exactly what I do, stand in the door or on top of the rear tire.
I find myself washing cars more these days, our neighbors’ linden tree is infested with aphids, and we get sticky sap goo all over whatever vehicle is sitting under it. Highly annoying for me, but the hornets love it…
Great observation.
I wash my own cars. So that makes 2 of us in MA. We may be the only two as I absolutely NEVER see anyone washing their own cars (but observe lines at car washes).
I also mow my own yard. I think I’m the only person in my town who does that as well.
I don’t often use a ladder through…which means that the top of my Highlander (the only car where I can’t easily reach the roof) is probably dirtier than it should be.
Ive seen “ladders//step stools”, used for cleaning vans, truxcks, suv’. (oh, and holiday decorating)
I am one of the few in my neighborhood as well. I actually still enjoy it at 64 years old.
In the 80s I worked with a woman who drove an Aerostar. She was quite short and our parking at the office was outside. When it snowed during the day when she went to leave she would open the back door on the Aerostar and pull out a folding stool with 3 steps. It was was what I would call a kitchen stepladder. She needed it to clean the snow off the windshield.
Short of washing a big SUV, the stepladder rarely makes an appearance for me. I’m not sure it would be necessary for that DeSoto (?) in the second to last photo but it depends on height of the car and the height of the person.
In my driveway it is therapeutic and fun to properly wash a car. I did it yesterday morning. The interior comes first – mostly vacuum then a spritz to the dash or door panels where needed. Next comes wheels, tires and wheel wells. Rockers and lowest parts of the front for tar/bugs. Then wash and dry (nice “micro fiber” towels from Harbor Freight) the car and don’t forget to get the door jambs and trunk/hatch openings.
Real rock music (remember that?) from an i-pod and Bose makes it go faster (don’t care what music neighbors or passers by like). If it is a late and hot afternoon I’ll have a couple cans of beer too. Usually start to finish is an hour and half or so but the Roadmaster Estate Wagon certainly takes longer.
A once a year or so a wax job may follow a wash from the prior day. Fun too, but a bit more work. Still using paste wax.
Car cleaning in a drive or garage is satisfying. I think it is good for neighbors to know you take care of your own car but like Andy I am certainly the only one who does this in my neighborhood.
I agree – I consider both car washing and lawn mowing therapeutic… just doing simple work to make something look better.
And I too am one of the few in my neighborhood who do either for myself. While mowing my lawn (and shoveling snow, for that matter), I’ve occasionally been stopped by people and asked how much I charge. When I explain I live here, and I’m mowing my own lawn, they’re surprised. It’s an odd world.
That’s a ’58 Dodge Coronet 2 dr coupe in the 2nd to last.
We use a boat washing brush – soft brush on a 5 ft extendable handle – for reaching the tops of our Xterras, standing in the door openings as mentioned above.
Oh and we mow the lawns of our houses and do the snow removal ourselves as well, we need the exercise!
Thanks for the ID on the Dodge! At first I thought it was a “Dodge Spitzer.” 😉
I checked the license plate and sure enough it’s from Ohio, so there’s a decent chance the photo was taken in Columbus or the surrounding area. Spitzer was one of the more prevalent Dodge dealerships for several decades and their script-style logo was plastered on thousands of trunk lids.
One day in the early 80’s while I was working in Nationwise Auto Parts, a nice lady comes in and asks for an air filter or something similar. When I asked what make of car, she proudly said “Dodge.” When I asked the model, she seemed puzzled and then said “Spitzer!” I then diplomatically suggested that I take a look at her car and she willingly obliged. Turned out it was a Dodge Aspen.
Washing the family cars with my father was a joy when I was young; it was something I could competently do with him (after some brief guidance like wash high first, then low, and finally the wheels). We used some fancy brush gadgets that attached to the hose (they fit nicely into the ’50 Buick’s teeth) and then dried it all with a chamois, cleaning the windows inside and out.
It was a hope my two sons would feel the same way, but sadly no. They acted like they’d rather go to the dentist than help me wash a car. Now, their own cars are unpleasantly dirty, inside and out.
For good clean exercise in nice weather that shows clear results of a job well done, you can’t beat washing a car (or truck). Then there is always “a wax job”, college work compared to high school washing.
A neighbor with a new white CX-30 carefully washes her car by hand, clearly showing pride of ownership. Between her and me, we’re about the only ones who do this task around here.
While technically a mid-sized truck, the Tacoma’s roof is reachable from the ground only with an extended brush held high. Like Jason Shafer, I can also stand in the bed to reach 3/4 of the cab’s roof with the drying towel. But then, who else can really see it?
So interesting to see period pictures of average people washing average cars, which contrary to the deluxe fully accessorized versions you tend to see at car shows today were often boring 2 and 4 door sedans in the lower trim lines with non-deluxe wheel covers and blackwall tires.
Last week in North West England we had a storm which deposited sand on everything – from the Sahara according to the news.
I was one of the few people to wash it off my car, and I need steps to reach the middle of the roof, car is about 63″ high and I’m only 65″.
I used to wash the roofs of my VW vans twice a year whether they needed it or not. Some strange things grow up there, especially the vans with gutters.
If the Car Wash Industry is to be believed (and I have my doubts, but still) car wash facilities are more water efficient and environmentally safe than at-home car washing. I’ll leave the work to them.
Don’t let the roof get too full of droppings. It will hurt your aerodynamics.
Great story, and don’t mean to correct you grammatically, but in paragraph one the proper wording is: “It was time for Mom, brother and me to grab……”. Not “I”. This is a very common mistake that 90% of Americans make when speaking or writing. But it is not correct to use “I” in this case. “Me” is the proper word in instances like this.
Yes! My biggest grammar pet peave. If you’re not sure which to use, the test is to take the other person (or people) out of the sentence: you wouldn’t say “It was time for I to grab…”
Bruce ;
Is it possible the correct usage has changed ? .
When I was in grade school one of the few things I remember was them teaching us to use “I” how many here consider their pet peeves .
Grammar nazis are PIA but I’m still learning .
-Nate
I cannot remember the last time I washed my own car. Even as a teen when I did a full, deep clean on cars, I would run through a cheap car-wash as my first step because it was so much less time-consuming, and I could spend that time on other cleaning tasks that the car wash couldn’t do.
I will admit to being more than mildly OCD about washing and waxing my cars, starting young with my parents’ cars.
Especially so with my 2002 Miata. It’s a fair-weather car with 80K kms, never winter driven, and it remains in showroom condition inside and out (including under the hood). I actually don’t wash it that often, since I (carefully) clean a lightly dusted car with detailer and microfiber cloths.
I find the process quite relaxing and the end result satisfying. With my main vehicle (2015 Infiniti QX50, 100K kms), it’s more of a chore each spring to undo the effects of a long, messy and salty Quebec winter.
A couple of anecdotes to illustrate my (near) obsession:
1) Back in 1986, I traded my 1979 BMW 528i for a 1986 1/2 Toyota Supra. The Toyota salesman dragged his vehicle prep guy out to see my BMW, and told him he wanted his showroom cars to be as well detailed as my car. Oh, and he personally purchased my car for his wife!
2) For over a decade, I’ve been taking my cars to the same local shop for maintenance. Whenever possible, I clean my cars before dropping them off at the shop, in the (most probably delusional) hope that I might get slightly better service.
Well, somebody noticed… The owner of the shop turned 50 a few years ago, and to celebrate, purchased a pre-owned 2011 Maserati Granturismo 4.7 coupe, imported from the U.S. As a paying customer, one might be tempted to begrudge him such an extravagance, but this man is a workaholic and a savvy businessman, so good for him.
Last year, he asked me (very nicely) if I would consider detailing his car, specifically the interior. He explained that Maserati had (along with many other manufacturers) used a special coating on many plastic interior parts to give them a uniform satin texture.
Unfortunately, this (alcohol-based) coating degrades and becomes quite sticky with time, and exposure to UV rays. Virtually every plastic part – panel, button, control, faceplate, etc. – becomes unpleasantly sticky, and attracts dirt.
I’m retired, not looking for work, so I hesitated. Then it occurred to me that I could do this for charity, i.e. I’ll do the work, and he would make a donation to Montreal’s McGill University Health Center Foundation. Long story short: 35 hours labour, nearly 400 (medical style) alcohol swabs, and a CA$1,000 donation to the Foundation. The MUHC treated and ultimately cured my stage 4 melanoma from 2015 to 2018 thanks to surgery, radiotherapy and especially immunotherapy.
I had the car for a week, and his permission to take it for a spin. It’s a true GT, fast and luxurious, but nowhere near as nimble as my Miata. The GT has a Ferrari-based 4.7L V8 which makes the most glorious mechanical and exhaust music you can imagine – I drove it with the windows open even though it was quite cold.
Here’s the Granturismo. No interior pics since it’s not possible to show stickiness or lack thereof!
One more…
..last one
Those are some mighty nice looking cars. Kudus to you! 🙂
A few years ago Debbie and I were walking past a shiny Maserati 4 door sedan (Quattroporte?) in the grade school pick up lane and I told her it was a Maserati.
Debbie (not a car person) said “it looks like an Impala”.
The male driver had the window down and most likely this conversation.
I tried to semi-fix this by saying “it’s not”, but the damage was done.
Louis D, Bravo on the stage 4 reprieve. Unfortunately there are some stage 4 diagnoses where the word “cure” is not a possibility. I am glad this worked out for you and and that your detailing skills are being put to the greatest good possible.
And, your tan over blue NB2 MX5 is MUCH nicer than my black over silver 99 NB1, which has all the dents and scratches of 25 years of parking at the Shop Rite grocery store.
Spitzer is still around and uses the same emblem after all these years. Located in OH, PA and FL. Growing up in NC, I have seen their emblem every now and then in traffic as far back as I can recall:
https://www.spitzer.com/
Washed my car today in fact, it’s just fun to me on a pleasant day. I’ll go through a “soft cloth” wash sometimes, but I think for every time, it’s too harsh/scratchy.
What kind of car is this?
Here is a circa 1952 picture of dad washing the family car. He preferred Pontiac. I don’t remember if this was the car with the illuminated Pontiac hood ornament and a rear window ledge big enough for me to lay down (never while riding).
Thanks
1946 Pontiac would be my guess. Front fender extending back well into the door makes it a Pontiac rather than a similar Chevrolet. Chrome strip a few inches below the windows would make it a ’46.
(I flipped the picture, below, but let’s see if it actually works…)
I was never as good at detailing as some are but I always liked my vehicles to be clean and oil free in the nether bits and kept them hand waxed, no electric buffers because that’s the fastest way to burn the paint .
I’d wax the doorjambs too .
I never thought about it but I’m the only person I ever see wahsing the vehicle, I do it before the sun hits the paint to avoid scratches .
I used to unbolt & remove the seats and carpets to ensure there was nothing in the crevices that might smell or cause rust .
These days my collective injuries make it hard so my vehicles are always dusty and it makes me sad but the thought of washing much less waxing makes me shudder in anticipated pain and misery for a day or three afterwards .
I stood in the open doors or clambered into the bed of my truck to reach the roof .
It never occurred to me to use rubber boots, I have working shoes that gets comments because they’re wingtips, old and battered but wingtips all the same .
Thanx for explaining how/why some interiors turn sticky even in non smokers cars .
having the kids help out was a non starter ~ I tried but they’d always drop a sponge or rag on the ground then pick it up and begin rubbing the paint with the now abrasive filed item.
I think I like the ’55 Chevy best of all these, the blue Dodge is pretty sharp too .
-Nate
I much prefer to wash my own car in my driveway rather than a drive through car wash. However in the winter, it is impractical, so unless I go to one of the last remaining coin operated wand style car wash, it’s through the touchless wash at the gas station. I have just completed a complete interior detailing of my cars, and have yet to complete some final paint touch ups before the weather turns.
My neighbour to the left and to the right of my house wash their own cars. One guy across the street does his. All the rest of the street rely on rainfall, which is completely inadequate.
As a kid, I used to wash and wax all my dad’s cars growing up. I became an authority on the car care product section of the Canadian Tire catalog, circa 1977 through 1984.
To save a buck, I used STP Son of a Gun back then, what seemed an inferior alternative to ArmorAll. Remarkable, that product hung on. Products like Turtle Wax Hard Shell, Blue Poly (with the Parrot logo), Rain Dance, NuFinish, Simoniz, and others, were part of my rotating tests, for the best wax.
Was impressed by the Turtle Extra ads.
When I was a kid, dad assigned me the task of cleaning the wheels, while he washed the rest of the car. I can’t say that arrangement really made me happy. We happened to have two cars with challenging wheels to clean too – mom’s Subaru wagon with white wheels, and dad’s Plymouth Voyager with wire hubcaps. It took forever to clean those.
Eventually, dad trusted me enough to wash the whole car (I stood on a milk crates to reach the roof). It was a relief to wash something other than a wheel.
Washing and waxing, were generally fun, and not too labour-intensive tasks. It was removing the dried-on wax, that required more patience. Older waxes requiring serious elbow grease, to remove.
I miss the “do it yourself ” car washes that used to be “all around”.
I have been washing family cars since I was 12 years old circa 1966. I still wash cars every weekend now and I am almost 70. Two cars were washed this morning when there was shade. That is routine every weekend except in the winter when it rains.
Now getting my son to help me is a bit of a chore at the age of 14. He looses interest fairly fast and rather play with the hose and water after soaping the car leaving the rest to me. That is assuming I can even get him out of the house. We will see how he behaves when he is 16 as I won’t be washing his car.
An on-going concern for years, for many Canadian car owners, was commercial car washes that recycled road salt-saturated water. Always a challenge, to ensure your favourite station, was spraying your car with fresh (and clean) water.
Memories of my 1966 Dynamic88!
Late to the party here, but I had to share.
To paraphrase Robert Shaw’s character Quint from JAWS, “You all know me. You know what I do…”
Car washing has always been a pleasure for me. I’m probably the only person in the history of wintertime salt infested Baltimore to have owned a ’73 LTD that NEVER rusted as everyone says they do.
I wash my cars year-round, including and ESPECIALLY in the winter. I almost always do it by hand, although in the winter that can be more difficult. If I MUST use a carwash, it is always one with a wand, and I pre-wash the brush before it ever touches the car. Usually, since you can’t get the wheels clean enough at such a place, I’ll take a bucket of hot soapy (and another bucket of hot rinse) water out to the car BEFORE going up the car wash. This way, I can have it almost looking as good as doing it by hand. Almost.
At 63, I had a first experience earlier this year (62 at the time). I had to come up with a way to reach the roof of a new-to-us Mazda CX-5. I’m just about 6 foot tall, and can just reach the center of the roof with the rag, but can’t see if I actually got it. So every third wash or so, I go out back and grab the steps to my hot-tub and carry them out to the driveway. Those two steps are just enough to reach, AND see. Contrary to what others above have said about “Who cares about the roof? No one can see it anyway!”, I just can’t let that go. I’d sooner skip (and do regularly) doing the interior if taking the lazy approach!
Sure, if I wash all three cars in my fleet, requiring 24+ squats (we all called them deep knee bends back in the day) to clean the wheels (each gets washed at least twice each time I do the car), at my age, I am feeling it for a few days. But as we age, we need to keep moving, and this is productive exercise as opposed to wasting time at a gym. (No offense to you fine folks that stay in shape this way.)
Others have mentioned liking to mow the lawn. My wife and I fight over this chore. Not who HAS to do it, but over who GETS to do it. We both love that mindless task and the exercise it provides. 😉
As to the neighbors, yeah, I’m the only one on our dead-end cul-de-sac who regularly washes my cars by hand, or even at all for that matter.
The Fleet at Curbside after a car washing in May of this year… I think… they may’ve just simply been clean….
Nice Rick ;
I remember in about 1967 in Winchendon, Mass. (the closest town) had a drive through car wash with the wand & brush, they added a chassis sprayer that washed odd the worse of those large & ugly accumulations of salty ice .
One of the screws who liked me took me into town to show me this device and in the middle of Winter drove slowly through it, explaining he hoped to slow the inevitable rusting .
-Nate
Always wash my own cars, except in winter. There used to be a detail place nearby that would also do excellent hand washes and interior cleaning for $25, but they stopped. Owner said it just wasn’t worth it. Most of the automatic places do a so-so job, so I usually do it myself. When I bought my first SUV and had trouble washing the roof, I bought a small step stool that works fine.
I keep trying to find a good wheel cleaner that will tackle the brake dust and grime. Have tried number brands and some are OK, but really don’t get the wheel sparking clean. I’m afraid of using a solvent or something strong for fear of damaging the wheel. I have found that Meguiars “Back to Black” is excellent for the flat black trim parts. Nu Finish wax once a year keeps the shine. Inexpensive and better than many far more experienced products.
I’ve washed cars since I was about eight, because no-one else in the family ever did, and because I was and remain a car nut, and I love the results. But I have always detested the task. Love the sinner, hate the sin, or something. Scratches, cuts, leaking hoses, cold hands, wet pants, strains and sprains – and that was before I’d begun (I was and remain a clumsy child). I know it has a practical outcome for preservation, but it feels so pointless, and it’s boring beyond belief, apart from the odd highlight of finding things like a tiny dead bird wedged way under a headlight (such gruesomeness-as-highlight saying all it needs to about the task, really, you know: looking underneath with the hose, “Ooh, look, THAT’S where Granny went”).
However, I developed some sort of zen detachment about the rotten task, and plunged in, and persisted for years, suffering for my art, which would be that shiny result and as good an art as ever I’m going to make.
But no more, not for a good ten years now. Too many roadgrime-grey cars owned helped: who could tell when it was clean, let alone care? And one too many mystery birds with asses the apparent size of a camels providing unwonted white repaints not five minutes after the job was done. No, now I leave it to the folk who do it for a living, and that only every now and again.
I guess I admire those who enjoy it, but confess too that I don’t understand you.
HA ! .
Well said Justy .
I’m discovering I no longer seem to have the urge to keep my vehicles well washed and waxed , I’m even getting lazy about vacuuming and dirt & gravel in the carpet / on the rubber mat is dead slowly and surely .
On the other had, today’s job was to pull the old Mercedes’ two piece driveshaft out for a new center support and I think I’ll upgrade the U-Joint to a greasable typ while I’m at it .
So, car up on jack stands, the driveshaft is out, let’s take a look ’round ~ phooey .
One CV joint boot has a little round hole in it with grease slung out over one side of the rear suspension, the differential is grimy as it the tailshaft of the tranny and the driveshaft body cavity is covered in 1/8″ coating of oil and accumulated road munge .
Car’s up in the air, I’m wearing a monkey suit , might as well, right ? several hours later I’m in blackface and the underside at least looks nice .
My concrete driveway is *much* cleaner too .
I wonder where I stashed those rebuildable German OEM drive 1/2 shafts…..
-Nate