Other than picking up trash around the car lot, my first job was cleaning up new Chevrolet's for final delivery to the customers (in the late 1970's).

I started taking the rougher trade-ins that were going to be wholesaled, adding some spit and polish, and making a salable unit for the used car department.  

I remember a very badly neglected Oldsmobile Cutlass trade-in that was supposed to be wholesaled out because it was too rough for retail sale, but it ran great and only had 55,000 miles on it.  I cleaned the junk out, gave the interior a proper cleaning, washed it, painted the steel wheels black, and installed some forgotten (and free) 'moon' hubcaps from the dust bin in the parts department.  The used car manager had put only $250 trade value into the car, just to make the deal.  I had about an hour-and-a-half of my time (about $12 back then), and a can of spray paint ($3) in the 'reconditioning.'  When he saw the car, he asked, "Where did that come from?"  (He didn't even recognize it.)  I said, "That's the one from the <customer name> deal yesterday."  He emphatically ordered me to "Put that thing in the second row, instead of the back lot."  That car sold the next day for about $2,100 to a father who needed a good first car for one of his kids.  When the paperwork was finished, the used car manager immediately looked me up, and told me to "Do that again!"

As time went on, the reconditioning guy Jimmy started showing me how to run a high speed polisher.  I made some mistakes on practice cars, and learned a great deal.

I watched him and what he did to really make a car stand out. 

But then I went to college and forgot about detailing cars...that is until I got tired of working for someone else.  In 1993 and 1994, I was selling big trucks, and we had a guy and his wife who came to us to prep our trucks for sale.  I talked to him quite a bit, and he even gave me a few pointers to get started.

So in 1995, I started doing mobile auto detail with a 1976 Buick pulling a 5 by 10 foot trailer. 



After 6 months I bought my truck, the 1990 Ford F-150 that I still have.

My wife owned a 1991 Acura Integra when we met.  When we sold that car in 2008, it had 203,000 miles on it.  This car made dozens of road trips, most of which included gravel roads.



I owned my 1989 Honda CRX for 19 1/2 years.  (2008 photo)




I bought my truck when it had 40,000 miles on it in 1995.  This is that same truck today.  It's 29 years old.



We replaced my wife's '91 Integra with this 2005 MDX in December of 2008 when it had 47,000 miles on it.  This picture is from September of 2017 and 152,000 miles.  This car makes a minimum of 2 road trips a year of more than 1,500 miles each time.  



I believe in taking good care of cars, and that it is possible to keep them feeling like new for a long time.  It just makes good sense to me to do that. 

But I believe that no one (including me) wants to drive a car that looks, and therefore feels tired.  Of course you have to take good care of the car mechanically.  

But keeping that car feeling new will allow you save quite a bit of your hard-earned money over the long-run.

Chris Fray,
The Clean Car Guy 
at
(501) 831-6094