It’s Sunday, in my book a good day to do some car washing (which I truly have to do, actually). So it’s time to get your buckets, hoses, and soap ready. These images being in the past, there will be no high pressure hoses to help you. Instead, take the time to get reacquainted with your car as you clean it; its forms, and the many nicks and imperfections that it has gained through the years. All details that make it truly yours.
Should you care, part one of this photo series can be found HERE, and part two HERE.
Nice .
What I remember is : only needing to wash my vehicles once or twice a month .
Now it’s required weekly due to the dust accumulation .
-Nate
Here, it’s straight up grime, pollen, pollution.. Always wonder what our lungs look like round about the “DC region”.
Ladies in the fourth pic, appear to be at the post wash, drying stage, for their Ranch Wagon. Both of them appear to be using a chamois towel, to quickly draw the water beads from the paint surface. Likely traditional leather-based towels. I’ve used traditional towels, and the synthetic-type, never saw a significant performance difference. The synthetic-type, were easier to wring out.
Almost every liquid car wash product I used as a kid, and adult, recommended washing cars in the shade. To avoid water marks and streaks, while offering a cooler surface. As everyone in these pics, is washing in direct sunlight. haha Some of them appear to take their car washing, quite seriously. Like the guy in the last pic with his C2 Corvette.
I encountered some pretty ancient and leaky garden hoses in the 1970’s, washing my dad’s cars. The hoses were always some shade of opaque or translucent green rubber or vinyl/plastic. Never encountered black hoses, as in the second pic.
Wow, that third shot is an ultra-rare Mercury Sun Valley – the one with the plexiglass roof!
For some reason, my mother refused to let me wash our car until I was in my mid teens. So when I was finally allowed, I did it with great gusto. My car washing desire has cooled a lot since then. Now, when it comes to cleaning my car I usually cheat by running it through an automatic wash first and then doing the rest of the waxing/cleaning on my own in the driveway. I find that part a lot more satisfying than the washing.
I’d love to ride a spell, in one of those “plexi top” , mobiles! Always been curious how the “shade”, inside worked.
Anyone have experience?
By all accounts the plexiglass roofs cast a weird, unpleasant green light throughout the cabin and was prone to scratching and fogging. But the big problem in these days before A/C was heat. Occupants roasted in the summer sun. There was no built in shade, although Ford later offered a snap-in shade for those who wanted one. This feature proved unpopular and disappeared for 1957.
We had a Smart ForFour which had a panoramic roof divided in two sections, each with its own blind. Kids loved it.
I wash my car about as often as I change my oil. And when I do, I usually take it to the coin-op (well, credit card now, or tokens) car wash, which I think of as The Magic Wand because that was the name of the first such place I used in the Seventies. But I’ll always enjoy looking at pictures of other people doing it in their driveways or front lawns. Especially 50 or 60 year old pictures.
The Lemans convertible looks to have a Mike Salta Pontiac license plate frame. Salta was a Pontiac dealer in Long Beach CA..
I like the ’61 Impala, and as a bonus there’s an oval window VW in the background. I wonder what the owners would have said if they knew what those cars would be worth today?
I enjoy seeing these pictures of what are now highly sought after “classics” in everyday use. Keep em coming!
Have to say I wash my cars in shorts and not long pants. Being California, not hard with mild Bay Area weather, as I wash three cars every week. The other seven are always covered so only twice a year is needed.
Enjoyed looking through the pictures, somethings don’t change.
I’ve always enjoyed washing my cars in the driveway. It can be relaxing, stress relieving and the grandchildren sometimes help out.
Start them young like when the oldest grandson was around 4 years old. Here we’re cleaning up a Kia media vehicle I was going to return likely the next day.
So the car in the first pic was shown yesterday too. Anyone know what the “huge” numbers, bumper sticker is //was about?
The license plate is hidden so we don’t know what state this Pontiac is in, but California had temporary license plates that looked like that. Howver, most of the time they were taped to the inside of the rear window.
That’s absolutely a California yellow-on-black plate. The plate frame is for Mike Salta Pontiac in Long Beach. In California, the plates stay with the car, so in those days, if you bought a used car that was already wearing California plates, you had to have the temporary paper plate until the record was updated to show you as the new owner corresponding to the plate (I think the required period was 30 days).
You’re right that most people had them in the rear window, but that’s a convertible, so maybe the dealer put it on the bumper so it would be visible when the top was down.
T/y, hope it came off easily after that “30 days”.
I am related to people (from NYC) who have gone on record as saying that “We avoid washing our cars as a way to prevent theft.” As if thieves only steal clean cars.
Rationalization R Us.
I may not be the best car-washer by far, but I do love to do it on a nice warm day. And unlike my relatives, I do believe that having a presentable car is a good thing.
And I love the Invicta in the 7th picture.
I particularly like these photos as they all seem to be truly candid…except maybe for #3 (the girls at the car-washing event). So many of these photo series are posed photos. These, on the other hand (e.g. the lede photo) are clearly just snapshots capturing real people in unexpected photos.
To me, those are the best photos, period.
I love that two tone car in the seventh pic – is it a Buick? I’m British so most US cars of that era look the same to me but that one stands out.
That one caught my attention too. Do not recall ever seeing any vehicles of that “era”, save “Rambler’s”, painted in such a “tutone”.
On that model, it is quite attractive.
Top Photo:
The number on the bumper is the same as in the prior Pontiac series of a few days ago. Must be the same lady in both photos.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vintage-snapshots-and-photography/vintage-snapshots-a-pontiac-owners-gallery-in-the-50s-60s-from-streaks-to-wide-track/
Since I had my first car I have always tried to keep them as nice looking and clean as possible. Many people in my town say they know where I live because I am always washing one of the cars in the driveway. I never ever use a drive through car wash as I think they are hard on the paint. I also never let anyone else wash my cars. If I see some local kids having a benefit car wash I will stop by and pay for a wash as a donation and then leave. In the winter I have access to a heated garage set up for car washing at my car club. If I am in a pinch to get salt off in a hurry I do occasionally resort to using a do it yourself car wash. I guess I am kind of peculiar that way, but my paint jobs and trim last a long time. Rust has rarely been a problem .
^^^ THIS ^^^
Thanks, Rick!!!
You just saved me a lot of typing…. What HE said. 😁
Buck, the car in the 7th pic is a 1961 Buick LeSabre or Invicta; not too sure about the model, but it’s wearing three ventports … the ’61 Electra 225 had four. It also has the famous “bubble top” roof.
Coincidentally, I washed two vehicles today. One was filthy with blackened “honeydew” from the bugs in my pecan trees. I feel like the Karate Kid.
March 1978.
I was 13 years old and was hell bent on talking my dad into letting me wash his 1978 Dodge Magnum GT. This was a Saturday afternoon and a particularly warm day for March in the mountains of North Carolina.
He finally relented and threw me the keys. As I excitedly backed that brand new car around to position it near the house, so the water hose would reach, I realized a sudden stop & the sound of metal crunching. I had managed to back my Dad’s four month old Dodge Magnum into his 1977 Peterbilt tractor.
I had accepted the fact that I had had a good run in my 13 years, but life would soon come to an end. Apparently, dad had not heard the collision so I went inside to face my dire consequences.
Pop came outside to inspect the damage as I cowered over to the side. My father, being of Cherokee and Irish descent, was infamous for his explosive temper. He surveyed the damage and walked away in disgust. I heard him tell my step mom…”Well…I’m the dumb S.O.B. that handed him the keys.”
I fondly recalled that scene when my 12 year old son backed my three month old F-150 into a tree.