Dodo Juice Giveaway - Story Time!

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Nick McKees37

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Do you remember the first vehicle that you detailed? I'll use the term "detailed" lightly, because I remember the first car that I "detailed" consisted of nothing more than a simple coat of wax from the local auto parts store. Nothing more, nothing less.

I was about 13 years old and my father had just purchased a brand new GMC Sierra SLT Extended Cab. It was burgundy with the optional 17" chrome wheels and had every option available at the time. He was proud of it, and wanted to keep it looking nice. I was looking for a little extra spending money to keep me occupied during the summer months, so he proposed that I wax his new truck. I said sure! It was simple, pour a quarter size amount of wax on a towel and wipe it on the paint until it started to turn clear and then add more. Wipe off every 15 minutes or so. Sounded easy enough! An hour or so later, I was $20 richer. Im the MAN


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I have three 30ml pots of Dodo Juice DoubleWax sitting on my desk along with a couple Cobra Microfiber Towels that I'll be giving away to three lucky people who are willing to share the story of the first vehicle that they "detailed" or simply waxed. There are hundreds of members online at any given time and I have a pretty good feeling that most of you have waxed a car some time or another. :props:

Share your story, and even include a couple pictures if you have some available. The three winners will be announced on Friday, July 1st.

Don't be shy! Feed back please
 
in for the first one!!!

always took my car to automated car wash cause i get them for free. lsp beading was not present on my cars. this year i started applying 845 from autogeek to my cars with fantastic beading results
 
My first "detail" was my Dad's blue and white1960 Chevy Kingswood Station Wagon. I don't remember being offered any money for doing it but in those days you just did it because you were asked.
I'm guessing that the car was probably six months old and we had taken it on vacation to St. Marys, Ohio and parked it under a Mullberry tree. Mullberries are similar to blackberries and can cause a Gawd awful mess to the finish of an automobile.
As I recall the only thing I could find was a green can of Dupont
rubbing compound to extract the stains from the berries. If I thought it looked bad prior to the "detailing" with the compound you should have seen it after my efforts... That stuff was like sandpaper....
Needless to say, Dad was less than thrilled with the job and I was never asked again to wax his car.

anyway, these are my recollections.... I learned a good lesson on what not to do.....
 
When I was 14 I got my first car, it was a project car. A 1966 VW Bug! It was kinda trashed and needed a new motor, brakes, and much more but the paint was in ok shape. I decided to "detail" it and went at it... I vacuumed it out then wiped all of the seats down. I then moved to the paint... That was interesting as I wanted it to look as good as the show cars that I loved seeing. I had my mom take me to Checker auto parts and we bought some of the redish TW heavy cut compound and some TW "show car" wax. I got home whipped out the terry cloth bathroom towels (mom didn't know) and started hand buffing. I read the can thoroughly and followed the directions on it closely. I did that to every painted surface on that car spent about 3 days doing it and it came out to what I would consider now a "hack" job but hey it was a start right?

After doing that to my Bug I decided to try it on my dad's Gremlin which was severely oxidized and that UGLY baby poop green color. I couldn't make it super shiny but my dad thought it was a good try. Mom wouldn't let me do the brand new Caravan but that is because she bought the "detailer's package" from the dealer...

That's my first go at detailing and I would love the DoDo winnings... Never tried Double Wax...
 
It was a Maroon '72 Impala. I bought it from my Uncle, the paint was slightly oxidized and washing and waxing did little to help the situation. I ended up using a rubbing compound and lots of elbow grease (I wish I had my Flex then...lol) to get it back into shape.

Wow, that was many years ago, thanks for helping me dig up old memories!:xyxthumbs:
 
My first detail: My first detail consisted of a white 2001 Mitsubishi Galant back in 2003. I was taught on how to properly wax the car by my uncle who happened to be a huge car enthusiast. I thought it was awesome that you could spread a paste (wax) on the paint and it would protect it for 6 weeks or so. This happens 9 or so years ago. It drove me to become more interested in the industry and I thank him for where I am today.
 
Man, the first one is gonna be tough to recall! I used to hit the parents cars with Turtle Wax, the puke-colored stuff in the green bottle. I think I probably left half of it in the nooks and crannies. It was brutal stuff when it dried.

The toughest early attempt I recall was someone's '66 black VW bug. They insisted on Simonize. I didn't have a clue what thin meant then. :doh: Probably would've been easier to remove with a hammer and chisel! IIRC, I learned a harsh lesson on waxing in the sun on that one. :bash:

Owner was happy because it shined and beaded. My mind's eye tells me it was probably a smeary mess.

Got a lot of experience at my first job at age 14 at Willey's Supersonic Car Wash. Steam guns and vac in the back, standard pull-through whirling brushes and mondo blower coming through at the end. One guy jumped in the back to do the windows and rear deck & seats, one in the front to drive it out to the 4 dryer guys and hit the front windows, dash, pedals etc. I got to do the driving even at 14 because the full-timers weren't exactly Einsteins. On rainy days we did hand wax jobs with Blue Diamond cleaner/wax. Usually tar encrusted relics we used dry cleaning fluid to remove all the crud.

2 bucks for a wash & dry, an extra $.50 for "hot wax". 3rd degree swirls were no extra charge. I got richer at $1/hr at a time, plus tips! Paid for my first car at age 16 though!

Ah, the good old days.... NOT!

TL
 
Man...my first one...1964 Rambler convertible my parents gave me. I can remember working on that thing with Rain Dance car wax and tons of other Dupont products...I remember when Meguiars first out with their Quick Detailer in the maroon bottle. I thought it was revolutionary lol.
 
When I was a teenager my dad taught me how to wax the family car - a 1951 Buick Special Sedan, dark green with a white top. Using an old t-shirt to apply the Simoniz wax in the yellow can, I wiped it on the hood vigorously then waited for it to haze then wiped it off with an old cotton towel. That wax was a bear to get off when it dried too much but the paint was really shiny. My arms were sore for 3 days afterward.
 
My first "detail" was waxing the family's 57 Chevy wagon. My father had a large hardware store that you could pull a car into and my grandfather had stables in the back part where he sold horses and mules. It was mid Summer in NC, with no ventilation other than a crosswind from the front open door and rear open door. Between the horse/mule aroma, woking with a can of wax with the consistency of Johnson's Bowling Alley Wax and a car that looked longer than a football field, I managed to finish without passing out or having my arm falling out. The payoff...."Good job son, we'll have to bring your granfather's 56 Buick in".
 
The first vehicle I ever waxed was a, new to me, 1989 Chevy HD 3/4 ton pick-up. It was Sky Blue. I'll never forget my first time cleaning her up. Little did I know when I started that I was about to embarq upon a tedious and maddening task. Don't ever apply wax in hot sun, and keep the layer frog hair thin.

That truck was a beauty! I adorned her with some of the finest minor accessories of the day; new white lettered Michelin tires, a new $300 tonneau cover, bug shield, rain guards, a new blue seat from a wrecked '94 Silverado, a Kenwood stereo, a ham radio with glass mount antenea's, and a new chrome super heavy duty drop bumper which ultimately saved my life when I wrecked the truck. I left everything else stock; the rubber floor (which I still prefer), to the stock 350 small block, and the 400 turbo tranny. With her 410 gears and limited slip rearend you could drop her in low, mash the pedal to the floor and when she hit 45 mph she'd crack your head against the glass when she hit second. I though I was the shizzle! I also learned the hard way never to do that on a wet road. YeHaw!!

When I first got her she was a mess, but I knew this truck had potential. I started on the inside with some Meguire's #36 (now #39...I still have the original empty bottle somewhere) cleaning the rubber floor. I had tried everything on that floor and nothing seemed to work. I had found that bottle of #36 at the local NAPA and man would that stuff make the dirt role. It worked much like foaming cleaners do on carpet, the dirt just seemed to lift up and out of the pores from that rubber floor. For a little while I thought that #36 would eat right through the floor. LOL! My black floor had suddenly turned blue, and now matched the dash. Awesome! After it was completed I applied the #40 vynil/rubber cleaner/conditioner on the floor, doors, and dash. I then cleaned the glass with distilled water and corn starch.

While I was at NAPA I had also picked up some Westley's white wall cleaner, Mothers cleaner wax paste, Mothers aluminum mag and wheel polish, and some Meguire's yellow #26 paste wax. I also purchased Meguire's #10, #17, and #18 to take care of the rain guards and the bug shield.


After cleaning the wheels wells with #36 I moved to cleaning the tires, center caps, and beauty rings. They looked sort of like rally wheels. Then the fun began as I moved to the paint.

I wasn't aware of claying back then, so I began with a thorough wash and dry, then moved in with the Mothers cleaner wax paste. The paint was oxidized fairly bad and really didn't have much shine. My idea at the time was to work the cleaner wax in, remove the oxidation as best as possible, then wipe it off before drying. Even on this light colored blue paint, applying and removing the wax wasn't that hard for two reasons: one being oxidation removal allowed me to see my work area, and two, I wasn't allowing the wax to dry. It seemed to work well and I decided to go over the entire truck a second time. It too worked well and removed easily. The truck was really looking sweet after all that hard work. Hind sight being 20/20 I should have stopped there. But noooooo! I had to keep going.

The next morning I got up real early and re-washed the truck just to remove the dew and any dust that may have been in it so I wouldn't scratch the paint. After drying the truck I wanted to let her sit in the early morning sun for awhile. This was just the beginning of many mistakes.

That freshly cleaned up paint was so nice looking and light colored now that I couldn't tell where I was at, so I applied more and more wax. At the time I was thinking I needed to make the wax thick simply so I could tell if I missed any spots during removal. I applied wax to the whole truck. Huhhh...you sigh. LOL!

I'll tell you what...I never knew of Mike's term of opening up and creeping out, but by gholly that's how I had to remove it...with the crappiest, harshest cotton taddy towels you ever seen. A soft, plush, cotton towel wouldn't begin to touch it. It was rock hard. I rubbed, and rubbed, and rubbed, and rubbed and...well, you get the picture. One thing for sure, there wasn't a speck of oxidized paint left on it after that, or wax because I rubbed it all off. LOL! Good thing it wasn't a dark colored paint...because I garuntee you from all of that rubbing that you could have laid underneath the truck and seen all the swirls I put in that paint. LOL! They weren't easy to see from 3 feet away, but knowing what I know now, they were there and by the zillions. I finally got her cleaned up and for a long time I blamed the problem on the wax. Where's the duh emoticon when I need it? LOL!

Moral of the story..."Don't ever apply wax in hot sun, and keep the layer frog hair thin." -Hoytman

I learned a ton shortly after that excursion. Even what I learned thereafter is small in comparison to what I've learned since the two months searching, reading, and now posting on autogeek. If I don't win anything, the lessons learned from those here have been sufficient payment.

Thanks for the chance to win these products. I'll see if I can round up a picture of my old Chevy truck.

Bill
 
I remember using Rain Dance car wash and some Rain Dance liquid wax with some very soft and safe used dish drying towels and some bucket of unknown origin. I may even rinsed the bucket out before I used it. I just let it air dry to prevent swirls. ;). Over applied and took time to buff off.
 
I remember back when I was a kid, couldn't have been maybe 9 or 10, my parents had bought a brand new Citation X-11. My dad loved that car. I would help him wash it and my pride was keeping the outline white letter Eagle GT's clean and dressed along with the wheels. I even remember when I was running low on tire cleaner and dressing, I would make him take me to the auto parts store to restock. I guess that's where it started for me. 6 or 7 years later my parents gave that car to me.
 
My passion for cars started after we rented a car on a vacation to Florida. I thought it was so cool to have a different car and kept pushing for my parents to get a new one. Before I was able to influence my dad into buying cars more frequently, we could keep them for years and years until it wasnt feasible to put money into them anymore. At this time I was about 9 or 10, and we had a '95 Voyager. We always kept our house and cars meticulous and I wanted to learn how my dad would keep the car clean so I started helping him vacuum and wax the van. He liked to use Nu-Finish liquid wax bc it was easier than a paste and looked good- nothing special but seemed decent to a 10 yr old... After I learned, I cleaned it regularly but once we got rid of the van for a '03 CR-V, I would consider that when I really started my passion for detailing. I kept that car immaculate (that, and every other car we purchased afterwards!) Little by little I would learn more about detailing. What I consider my first major detail I do not have pictures of but here are pictures of this car at 5 years old a few months before trading it. All that was used was a 3M hand glaze and Collinite #915. After seeing the results of these products was when I started becoming interested in the better products on the market, detailing my cars to perfection and becoming the detailing fanatic I am!

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I can only imagine how that car would have looked had I known then what I know today! (Wish I took better pictures too!)
 
My first detail was my s10 before I owned it. The truck was still my dad's DD, he'd give me $5 or so do give it a good wash. I used the cheapest Meg's wash soap at the time, and a funny looking wash mit. About once a week I would do this. Just a wash bucket, Meg's soap, a hose, and a mit. No drying but the sun and the wind.

My dad finally gave me the keys and said it was my problem now. Wish I had done a better job back then!:dig:
 
My first detail was when I was around 7 years old. My grandfather let me pick out a truck that he would leave to me when he passed on. It was a 1995 GMC Sonoma that was fully loaded with running boards and everything. My grandfather told me there was one exception to me getting the truck. I had to take care of it when he had passed on. So when he first got the truck home I went out into his garage and I got a bottle of wax out of his cabinet and waxed it for him the way that he tought me to. He use to own a car dealership so he knew what he was doing. When my grandfather passed in 2004 the truck was left to me as my first car. The truck is still in pristine condition on the outside and it only had 50000 miles on it. I don't plan on ever getting rid of it unless hard times come by. Great memories!
 
I have always helped my step dad wash the cars growin up. We used any cheap car soap or dawn, then turtle wax, never shined the tires, armor all interior, windex the windows.
First car I "detailed" was a black 84 Cougar I purchased used in 98 as my first car. I washed with Meguiars soap, meguairs clay bar, Meguiars deep crystal step 1, 2 and 3 by hand, armor all on tires, armor all the red dash and windex on the windows. I would wax it every month and alternate between Meguiars Deep Crystal, the blue Zymol you buy at autostores and Liquid Glass (the metal tin). I used sponges to wash, one bucket, chamois to dry, MF app to apply wax and old white t shirts to remove wax.
 
helping my dad out on his ford ltd. mid seventies. brown. i think everyone owned that car. typical saturday afternoon with simonize paste! took forever to get off that one stage paint! he had special cheese cloths for removal. he is no longer with me, but i miss and think about him every day. and i recall the green can with red rubbing compound to remove scratches etc. and no.7 white powder car wash in the silver container. that soap rocked!! i really cant remember when i caught the bug?
 
My dad worked in a Honda/Yamaha shop in the early eighties and I would go there after school and wipe off all of the motorcycles with a shop rag and Lemon Pledge. I didn't get paid, but whenever the shop owner was in a good mood (wasn't often) he would let me ride a pos 90cc Honda 3 wheeler.
Three wheel ATVs were starting to get popular and this was before 4 wheel ATVs. Every time there was a county fair or celebration of some kind, someone would put on an ATV race. A teenager showed up for one race on a Honda Big Red which was geared toward heavy duty work. It had a hitch, racks, wench, and shotgun holster and the kid beat everybody. I just knew I could beat him if given the chance but the 90cc ATV wasn't going to cut it. A friend of my dad had a 225cc Yamaha 3 wheeler and I begged him to let me race it the next time they held a race. At first he said no, but then I offered to detail it for him and he said yes. He went for a long ride before handing the thing over to me before the race, so I had to wash it before and after the race. I finished dead last in the race and the guy on the Big Red killed everyone again. After the race I had the thing all sorts of shiny thanks to Armor All.
Later I found out that Armor All on seats was not a good idea. I got a great opportunity to go on a snowmobile ride with the guys from my dad's work. This was my first time getting to go with the big boys (I think I was in junior high). In order to go, I had to clean up a used snowmobile that was a trade in. I put Armor All over that thing and found out how slick it gets when snow ends up between your butt and the seat. I was sliding all over the place!
 
1976 Chevy 4x4 Step side

It was a few years back and a friend of the family was stopping on a route from Dallas to Chicago to bring the next project car to my dad. His wife was wanting a sort of vacation and lived a few hours from the route he normally drove, so she stopped at the house as a "get-away" from their home, and gave her a chance to visit.

He was the first to arrive at the house, and packed into the back of the semi trailer was the 55 nomad we were about to rebuild. While unloading, his wife arrove in the bright red 76 Chevy. It was turning dark when we finished moving the car to the work shop and noone had yet seen the road bugers on the red chevy truck.

The next morning it was spotted by her husband, and he promptly drove the truck to a local car wash in attempt to remove the tar and bugs from her journey. several quarters later at the car wash, a few bugs less and almost no impact on the tar; my opportunity arose!

Back at the house, he was searching through a few products used to polish on his semi, but nothing appeared to meet the needs. A quick trip to the local auto parts store and i was handed a red rag with an unknown product and told to gently rub the tar to remove it. 2 hours later, and a small stack of red rags the tar had been removed.

Now it was time to use some steel wool on the chrome rings of the wheels, followed with something that looked like cotton on the center caps and rings afterward. Spray window cleaner on the windows, dash and door pannels were some of the finishing touches.

Looking back, I wonder just how badly i damaged the paint with those red cotton shop rags.

chris<pixelmonkey>:D
 
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