Old Cringe worthy Detailing Techniques

California Car Duster and those Water blades used to dry. I’m guilty of using those things in the past.

I still use a mini California duster inside the car, I keep it in the glove box. Just for those times I find dust on the dashboard and I’m not home.

I have the little hand held Swiffer and my own stash of Swiffer refill heads behind the truck seat. Lol
 
California Car Duster and those Water blades used to dry. I’m guilty of using those things in the past.

I still use a mini California duster inside the car, I keep it in the glove box. Just for those times I find dust on the dashboard and I’m not home.
I was tight there with you

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I use the water blade on the shower door now. At least it's seeing use. I actually use Swiffers on the engine compartment.It's a fast way to clean it up.
 
Back in about 1990 my car had chrome wheels, which I'd bought at a wrecker, I used fine grade steel wool and wd40 to remove the surface rust that kept appearing. I used so much pressure the the car would rock back and forward on the handbrake. On a side note, the wheels came with Uniroyal Wildcats on them, I learnt real fast about aquaplaning and car control.

Every morning I would break out the chamois to dry the dew off it, regardless of how long ago it had last been washed. I used to rave about how shiny it was.

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I use the water blade on the shower door now. At least it's seeing use. I actually use Swiffers on the engine compartment.It's a fast way to clean it up.

Wet or dri ones? Mop style or duster?


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Duster ones only on the handle. Just for quick touch ups works very well.
 
:laughing: I sometimes look back in fondness at the early 2000's when I'd buy the $129 Zaino Show Car Kit each Spring (thinking it was a silly amount of money) and that was pretty much the car care expenditure for the year for the black C5 Corvette.

To go back to the early 1980's it was wash the car in the driveway w/ Dawn, a bucket and a sponge, dry it with a cotton beach towel and then drive 10 miles up to the local park to wax with a tin of Rain Dance paste and another cotton beach towel and slather the BF Goodrich Radial TA's with Armor All. All with the air cleaner lid flipped for that 'ram air' effect on the 160hp (likely optimistic) 350-2bbl engine. Did have a floor shifter auto cuz, ya know...'race car'

All the cool kids had air shocks and Cragar's though so strictly 'pretender status' for me.
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Amor All! My neighbor used to slather the interior of his 1980 Trans Am in Amor All. I had PTSD from the thought of the smell lol. His son did the same thing before every outing. Doh!

They were still better than my other neighbor that used to spread Vaseline on his dash so it would melt in the hot Miami sun and add a nice gloss. Lol

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Duster ones only on the handle. Just for quick touch ups works very well.

Great for quick dashboard interior dusting as well. Had Amazon send me a pack and wife says "Oh, these will be great around the house for blinds and stuff" and, uh...no. These are for a far greater purpose. :laughing:

Amor All! My neighbor used to slather the interior of his 1980 Trans Am in Amor All. I had PTSD from the thought of the smell lol. His son did the same thing before every outing. Doh!


They were still better than my other neighbor that used to spread Vaseline on his dash so it would melt in the hot Miami sun and add a nice gloss. Lol


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Had a friend who did his entire interior on a car with a bench seat. First 'panic stop' led to some interesting repositioning of passengers.
 
I think the first time I washed a car, when I was done, I dumped the remaining soapy bucket water onto the hood and rinsed again. You know, cannot let that soap go to waste. Oooooff.
I was an "old t shirt for wax removal guy" when I was 16.

At least I was never the gas station scrub down (with the window washing squeegee) guy. I still see that happen.

Wow, that all sounds very familiar, down to the age-of. :laughing:

Dumping the wash bucket on the car post-wash was the first thing I thought of when thinking back to the early days. I was also a water blade offender...
 
Yep. I remember using Comet on my white walls. It did get them white.
 
I posted this a few times before, but back in the late 60's and early 70's, these techniques were commonplace and accepted. Washing consisted of one bucket with Dupont No. 7 soap powder from the silver can and a sponge or a car washing brush. Drying the car was with soft bath towels hopefully in the shade. Tires were cleaned with Comet cleanser and a scrub brush. White walls were cleaned with Brillo or SOS pads. Once the tires were cleaned, they were dressed with Lemon Pledge. The interior was cleaned with Formula 409 and dressed with Lemon Pledge. Once Armor All came out, we Armor All'd the crap out of the dash. Windows were cleaned with Windex and coarse paper towels. Chrome was polished with an old washcloth and Dupont Chrome Polish.
The paint was polished by hand with Dupont Polishing Compound and removed with an old bath towel. The paint was then treated with a wax and that wax would be applied with a foam applicator and removed with an old bath towel. That bath towel was not turned frequently. The wax was usually Kit, Rally, Turtle Wax with Brillium or Rain Dance.
My grandma always wondered what happened to her Lemon Pledge, SOS pads and bath towels.
 
by me bringing up the newspaper and you acknowledging it... we both gave away our age. LOL

I remember watching my dad waxed his car with a wax that came in a tin canister. He used his lighter to liquified the wax to make it easier to apply. That stuff was so hard to remove. :wowwow:

LOL I am old and remember my dad and I use news paper to clean glass....the funny thing it worked...also using simoniz wax....
 
Waxing the car with Turtle Wax and driving around all day with wax still on the car while it "cures".
Must have been fun removing that !

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I posted this a few times before, but back in the late 60's and early 70's, these techniques were commonplace and accepted. Washing consisted of one bucket with Dupont No. 7 soap powder from the silver can and a sponge or a car washing brush. Drying the car was with soft bath towels hopefully in the shade. Tires were cleaned with Comet cleanser and a scrub brush. White walls were cleaned with Brillo or SOS pads. Once the tires were cleaned, they were dressed with Lemon Pledge. The interior was cleaned with Formula 409 and dressed with Lemon Pledge. Once Armor All came out, we Armor All'd the crap out of the dash. Windows were cleaned with Windex and coarse paper towels. Chrome was polished with an old washcloth and Dupont Chrome Polish.
The paint was polished by hand with Dupont Polishing Compound and removed with an old bath towel. The paint was then treated with a wax and that wax would be applied with a foam applicator and removed with an old bath towel. That bath towel was not turned frequently. The wax was usually Kit, Rally, Turtle Wax with Brillium or Rain Dance.
My grandma always wondered what happened to her Lemon Pledge, SOS pads and bath towels.

Funny you mentioned the chrome...forgot all about that....old washcloths and Noxon in the shiny green can. You can still buy it today, although I doubt the formula is the same.
 
I posted this a few times before, but back in the late 60's and early 70's, these techniques were commonplace and accepted. Washing consisted of one bucket with Dupont No. 7 soap powder from the silver can and a sponge or a car washing brush. Drying the car was with soft bath towels hopefully in the shade. Tires were cleaned with Comet cleanser and a scrub brush. White walls were cleaned with Brillo or SOS pads. Once the tires were cleaned, they were dressed with Lemon Pledge. The interior was cleaned with Formula 409 and dressed with Lemon Pledge. Once Armor All came out, we Armor All'd the crap out of the dash. Windows were cleaned with Windex and coarse paper towels. Chrome was polished with an old washcloth and Dupont Chrome Polish.
The paint was polished by hand with Dupont Polishing Compound and removed with an old bath towel. The paint was then treated with a wax and that wax would be applied with a foam applicator and removed with an old bath towel. That bath towel was not turned frequently. The wax was usually Kit, Rally, Turtle Wax with Brillium or Rain Dance.
My grandma always wondered what happened to her Lemon Pledge, SOS pads and bath towels.

i remember those days
 
I remember using original Bleache-White in that horribly designed sprayer, who's with me

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Bleach-White was a step up from Comet and Brillo
 
I remember washing an old White Toyota/Honda can't remember exactly I was very young but we used AJAX and the bluer it got the cleaner the paint got.

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