Dodo Juice Giveaway - Story Time!

Nick@Autogeek said:
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
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First time I washed a car for money was 1963 it was my aunts black ford, brand new. We were bothering the adults so she said wash my car and I will pay you 5$ that was big in the day . So I went in my grandmothers kitchen got out the Brillo and the rest is history. till this day no one talks about that brand new black ford.
 
I was 15 and I had a 76 Camaro. The royal blue paint was so dull and chalky looking. I went and bought some compound and wax by turtle wax. Did it all by hand. Of course I washed the dirt of with tide powder in a bucket of water first, to get the grime off. Took me a whole saturday to get it looking the same as 5 min before I started. That's probably why I get sick to my stomach when I see anything that says turtle wax.
 
My first detail was my dad's bread truck. He work for a small company asociated with Interstate Brands Co. It looked similar to the UPS trucks. I started washing it every week when I was about 12 or 13 for $5.00 a wash. I decided that I needed more money and asked if I could earn more by "detailing" his truck. I washed it and waxed it by hand using auto parts purchased wax. Took me most of the day to do it and earned an extra $10.00. That was the first and last time I "detailed" my dad's truck.
 
The first "detail" I remember attempting was when I was maybe 7 or 8. My Dad had a 1970 Dodge Coronet 440 6-pack car that he waxed all the time in the garage.

This particular time he was kind of half way in the middle of waxing it when he called it quits for the day. Without remembering specifically what I had done, I managed to get in trouble with the old man and got chewed out pretty good, so to make it up to him I went to the garage and started removing the wax that was on the car and trying to apply wax to the rest of the paint that needed it. I know I didn't complete the job because that car was freakin' huge! I did manage to get a good guilt trip out of my Dad though, lol.

That's the earliest memory I have of doing any auto detailing up until about middle school when I'd help wash and wax the family cars.
 
The year was 1989,I was 16 and after much begging and pleading with my grandma,she sold me my grandfathers 1978 thunderbird.Champagne red,white vinyl roof,wire wheels,white leather and all the options including a 351m sittin under the hood.The car had sat in her garage since 1985 when my grandfather passed.

several washes and a very,very,very thick coat of TW(never put wax on again like that) and I was rolling the streets like a pimp. owned that car for 10yrs till some jack wad decided that it needed a fresh paint job on one side provided by his car. insurance company totaled it.

but that car started a deep love of detailing and thunderbirds.
 
I bought a 1978 robin's egg blue Ford Granada 4 door when I was in my early twenties. The previous owner decided that it would be a good idea to try to cover or protect the stone chips in the paint with dark blue spray paint. There were streaks of navy blue spray paint all over this car.

When I bought the car it already had a 302 cid. engine that was all chromed out that looked pretty cool. One day I went to the local Pep Boys and bought a can each of Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound and Turtle Wax Polishing Compound. The rubbing compound was like toothpaste and beach sand mixed with rust red dye in a plastic can.

I bought a couple of cotton terry applicators, parked the car beside a dam with about a 5 foot tall waterfall on the Yellow Breaches Creek here in New Cumberland Borough park. It was a cool, cloudy and quiet setting with only the sounds of geese, other birds and the water falling over the dam. Occasionally a catfish or small rock bass would disturb the calm of the water above the dam. It was rather serene to be quite honest.

My goal was actually just to remove the spray paint marks from the car so that the car would be a uniform robin's egg blue. I did get the spray paint rubbed off the car using some vigorous rubbing with the rubbing compound and applicators. I remember that my fingertips were getting so hot from the friction of rubbing so hard to get the spray paint streaks off of the car that I thought I would have blisters from it.

The muscles in my arms were getting so sore that I would switch up from left to right to allow each arm to rest for a while and this was just the rubbing compound. The thought of going over the entire car with this stuff was completely insane to me but... Remember I was in my early twenties and this was my hot rod Granada, affectionately named "The Granade".

I did stay there that day until dark and completely rub out the paint on the entire car with both the rubbing compound and the polishing compound. I was so proud of how that car looked by the time I was done with it that I couldn't wait to show my girlfriend when I got home that night.

When I got home that night and went to show her the fruits of my intense labor all she had to say was " I was worried sick about you where have you been all day!!!?" She wanted to go to the grocery store and do some other shopping and visit her mom etc. etc.

We all know that detailing cars is much more important than eating and shopping and visiting the mother in law etc. etc. but I just couldn't get her to see things my way.

A few days later while at the DQ enjoying a soft serve cone she looked at me and said, "The car looks brand new, how did you do that.?"
I really Miss her, and the Granade. Sorry, no pictures of the Granade. I didn't even have a cellular phone back then let alone a camera.

I hope you enjoyed the story of my first true detail. TD
 
This was my first real detail...It was 1999 and I was 16 years old...I had my 1986 Iroc-Z Camaro...I had joined a local F-Body car club called F-Bodies Unlimited...I was young so I didn't get to do a whole lot with them but when the guys would tell me something I would take it as gold...One of the guys in club was a Zaino Reseller...It was on...We had a meet and he came in with his 1987 Iroc-Z with a LT1 and T56 swap and the car was just as clean and sexy as I thought a car could be...That sold me...I had to have my car be that shiny...

However there was a couple issues...Well first was the fact I was a broke high school kid who was spending his spare money on trying to be coolest kid I could be and hang out with people who I thought were the bees knees...So I couldn't afford a buffer...Second issue was the fact that a couple weeks before finding this club I was driving around with a prospective girlfriend who was dressed somewhat bountiful and I kinda tapped the back of a guys LTD at an intersection while I was completely out of mind staring at her chest (I was 16...I wasn't looking at her personality...I'm at least honest)...Third issue is I had no clue WTF I was doing...When someone asked if I ever clay barred a car I asked them why I would put mud on a perfectly clean car...

So on I went on my quest for the shrine that was the shiny paint and slick looking car that would surely make me that much more irresistible to the ladies...At 16 there isn't much more that matters...I asked Bob (I remember his real name but for the protection of his reputation I will leave his name as bob) what I should do...We had a walk around my car and he said I needed a repaint on my front bumper...Which I told him couldn't happen as I didn't have that kinda money...And I couldn't ask my parents for it as I would have to explain why I tapped the LTD...SO he told me my next best idea was to get a bra for the car...Which was $50...I could handle that...Then I asked how I would go about getting my car shiny...He said he would share his secrets with me BUT first I had to pony up $160 for the end all be all detailing kit from Zaino...I of course said "Hell to the yes!!" and made plans to meet with him a few weeks later after I had the bra and the $160 for the kit...He showed me how I was saving so much money on it and all that...

I remember the kit...It was a clay bar, clay lube (qd also z6), the locking liquid (it was gray), the wax liquid (it was pink), z-6, a sticker and a special bonus prize since I was so cool of a HIGH END microfiber...I was the bees knees and I thought everyone knew it...He showed me how to use it all for an additional $40...So for $200 I had it all...Or so I thought...He only showed me on the fender as he didn't have time for the whole car as he said his detailing rate was $100 an hour and I only had $40...So after the detailing instructions from who I thought was my Mr.Miagi to me the karate kid I was ready to get to work...

I went home and washed the car with dawn...And I scrubbed the hell out of the car with my tire brush and my sponge...Then came the clay...I literally was pouring it on the paint...So much it took the entire bottle of the Zaino clay lube and 2 bottles of Mothers QD to finish the car...My mom had made me some sammiches so I put the lay bar in my pocket for safe keeping because what better place to keep it then in your baggy jort pockets?

After eating and finishing the clay of the car it was time for the lock coat of Z1 (I believe)...I slathered the car in it thinking more is better right? Yea not so much...I had this stuff EVERYWHERE! At one point my dad told me the idea was to polish the car and not my shins...But I got it done...I then wiped it off with one of my mom finest bath towels as it was soft and surely would only glide on the paint...

After that was done I put a coat of Z2 on the car...Once again slathering it everywhere...I let this coat sit on the paint for like 8 hours because it had to soak in good...After all that was said and done I used the same towel that I took the Z1 off to take the Z2 off...But of coarse I flipped it over to not have the Z1 and Z2 touch as I figured if they crossed streams the world would blow up...

Now that the car was looking like a gem I hit it with the Z6 and a new bath towel...I knew my mom would get mad about me using so many of her towels but she would have to understand that this was a rough job and needed to be done...

After that was all done I then went to work on the engine...As my TPI 305 had to be hot too...I had already weeks before made my own RAM AIR INDUCTION to the split filters on the car with dryer duct running from it to the front of the car secured with zip ties and soup cans to make sure the air flowed right...Bob didn't say anything about the engine so I called him...He said the best idea for me was to go buy a bunch or armorall tire stuff and spray it all over the engine and to be very liberal with the application as I need to hit all the stuff under there...So I went through 4 bottles of the armorall spray stuff...I soaked the engine...Let it sit for 12 hours...

The car looked stunning...Here is a picture I dug up:

1986Iroc-Z.jpg


Sadly a few weeks after this picture a guy I went to school with rear-ended the car doing 35mph and totaled it...

I then started the process over with this:

1989 5.0 Notch
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Then I blew this car up...Dropped a 331 in it and sprayed it until I felt better about life...Then blew the T5 up and sold it...

Then I bought this...

1991 5.0 LX
1991MustangGTFixed.jpg


This car got the same Zaino and Armorall Treatment and then I forgot to pull the ebrake and we lived on a hill and it rolled into a tree...So it got ended up with a white hood and fobra badging...This car already had a 347 in it so what was next? Spray the crank out of it...Then I sold it...

Then comes about 6 years later and I decide to hit my 2002 Gt with some zaino action...

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Since I had already thrown more money then the car was worth at it I had to get it clean...LOL

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And now it bring us to present day where I only have Zaino Leather CLeaner and conditioner in my garage and I have found much better ways to live my detailing life...
 
Seriously, the first car I ever detailed would have been my parents cars while I was just a kid. I must have been an easy mark, or already enjoyed detailing as I thought it was a fun job to go out and wash the cars. My parents properly equipped me with dish soap, a sea sponge and an old grimy shammy. I cringe at the thought today.

Thankfully I have learned a lot since those days ;)
 
The first time I detailed a vehicle was my own fault. I was about 13 years old when it happened. The car was my dads '92 Areostar van, it was suppose to be red, but when I started it was blue. Why you ask? Well funny story. I spilled a quart of sky blue paint all over the passenger side of the van.
So he laughed at me, backed the van out of the garage and gave me a sponge and a bucket of soap and water and set me to work.
After that, he proceeded to give me a can of wax and told me to have at it, remembering Mr. miyagi wax on, wax off I set to work waxing the van.
He (my dad) feeling pretty good about himself at this point (and I deserved this) he gave me the wet dry vac and told me to vaccume out the car and I could be done.
So I started around 7pm that night (thankfully summer so there was still day light) and I ended up finishing around 9:30pm that night.
I learned a very important lesson that night.
Never every have a can of paint around a car.
 
I grew up on a farm in the middle of (no where) ND . The first "details" I remember consisted of washing & waxing the (2) grain trucks before every harvesting season. That was a horrible job. We washed with pressure washer, dish soap (not because we wanted to remove contaminants -- we always used dish soap for washing back then), and old wash cloths. Dried with old towels. We typically used some lousy OTC wax -- which was really hard to remove. We applied using the "more is better" philosophy. We'd also clean/vacuum/dust the interiors -- which often smelt/consisted of mouse turds. Ah-- the good ol' days...
 
Ohh yes, I remember the 1st vehicle I detailed.



It was my first car, a 1969 Chevy Corvair in yellow as pictured below:



Corvair.jpg


When I purchased it the vehicle wasn't even running nor did I even have my license (I was 15).

The notion to detail it came about when I and a girl I was seeing had planned to go to a movie and come back to my place since my mom was out for dinner, we had plans to ahem "talk .

When we got to my place to my surprise my mom didn't end up going out to dinner so my female "friend" and I say and "talked" in the Corvair. I remember wishing it showed (and smelled) a little better so the next day I got to fixing that problem.

I did not want to spend a load of money (that I didn't have) on supplies to accomplish this task so I raided my moms household supplies (didn;t live with dad at the time). Washed the car with Dawn, dried it with kitchen towels and the used pledge on the paintwork (I had seen one of my friends dad use pledge).

For the chrome pieces I used some metal polish my mom had laying around (maybe for silverware?). For the interior I used a ton of Windex and Lysol and yep, more pledge.

All in all, it was a valiant effort that had a pretty decent outcome.. The next time I needed a place to "talk" with a "friend" I did so with just a little more pride...

Good times....
 
After a few cars that weren’t deserving of anything more than wash jobs, I was looking forward to a “nice” car, with a clean body and good paint with no primer spots. Being a broke college student with a couple part-time jobs, my level of energy and enthusiasm far outweighed my meager bank account, so this one arrived in my driveway in the spring of '71 on the hook, with a crashed front end and quarter panel. Here's a pic that was shot during teardown:
67Chevellebefore.jpg





After replacing the front clip and straightening the quarter, endless priming and sanding prepared it for a color change. Thanks to having a painter in the family, the boring white was covered with a unique metallic copper and topped with a few coats of clear lacquer. Not wanting to trust me with a rotary, my uncle the painter gave me a short lesson in color sanding and a can of orange Dupont compound, "rocks in a bottle' as we say today. After an adequate cure, the next month’s worth of free time was spent sanding and rubbing, sanding and rubbing and more sanding and rubbing. Thankfully, my then- 20 year old arms were up to the task. Finally I had paint free of orange peel and with a respectable level of gloss, but it wasn’t quite there yet, still infested with minute scratches from the compound, so it was time for a visit to the local paint supplier.
Requesting the best stuff I could afford, I left the store with a can of Classic polish, Meguiar (not Meguiar’s) Competition Finish Conditioner and Classic Slipstream Wax.
After three more intense laps around my Malibu (albeit far less grueling than the compounding step), it was now “there”, with a clearer, deeper gloss than most new cars of the day Unfortunately, the scan of a 40 year old point & shoot photo doesn’t quite do it justice.
67Chevelleafter.jpg


In the last 40 years, gallons of products and countless hours of effort have been expended on many, many cars and trucks. Some were done for the income, most were done purely for the pride of accomplishment. But the memory of the first one, especially the level of satisfaction upon its completion, will never be forgotten.


Bill
 
TLMitchell said:
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.
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I agree!! The TW super hard shell was the nastiest wax ever!! Dried to a powdery haze and clogged the mf quite badly!!

+ all the powdery dried mess used to get in every nook and cranny!

It was just so frustrating cuz the post wax cleanup used to be so extensive and the LSP's gloss wasn't worth the effort!!

I too tried that for the first time and too thick lol! was a big PITA to get it off and then cleanup every nook and cranny again!! :mad:

Now I use stuff from AG and love it! I kick myself for not researching enough before buying the TW and applying it!

Biggest ever lesson!(Really thin coats!!)
 
When I was 11, my father bought a 92 Corvette, black on black on black. Every Friday when I got out of school, I would take the car out of the garage, wash it and add a layer of turtle wax to it. I always had it done before my father would come home from work, just so he would have a nice car to drive for the weekend. I never did it for money, and I still don't. I just did it because I enojyed it (detailing is a passion of mine, not a profession) Still to this day, my father has the corvette and it still looks like the day he bought it. Here is a picture one day after I cleaned it up, keep in mind, i took a picture of the picture so it may not look that great.
 
I guess it would have to be Dad's 1974 corvette. The whole process started with a good wash using Mom's diswashing soap, a sponge, and a leather chamois. Drying was finished with old t-shirts. The wax was a brand I can't remember, but yellow with a yellow applicator. Put it on the whole car and remove with old t-shirts :D
 
Keep 'em coming, one more day until the winners are announced! :buffing:
 
I was 16 with my first car when I started to get into detailing. I was blessed with taking ownership of my dad's 2002 325xi. It was a 5 speed manual, and I learned how to drive on that car.

I was bored one day and it was a beautiful day out, high 70s and the sun was starting to set. I was cleaning up the garage and I got my hands on some Meguiars Liquid wax. I found a decent towel at the time and went to work. The memory of me watching the Karate Kid came into my mind, as I had absolutely no clue what I was doing.

A couple hours later after I removed all of the haze I pulled it into the garage and was done. My dad was just coming home 30 minutes after I was done and I heard him screaming my name like I did something wrong. I ran downstairs to see him holding the wax in his hand and asking me where did I get that from.

Uh oh, did I do something wrong? It seemed like he was upset. I explained what I did and he was astonished of my explanation "I was just bored and wanted the car to look nice". It took him a second to process it and then he said word for word: "Wow, I'm truly impressed. I'm glad someone can appreciate this car and keep it in fantastic condition. I've never seen this car so clean. I'm happy you were able to appreciate this car and not take it for granted."

From there it was a straight addiction, but getting my dad's approval for caring for my car made it seem extra ordinary for some odd reason.

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Nothing too extraordinary for me. I work at a Honda dealership, so for a few years (when I first started working there - I've been there for 5 years) I used to take it to the dealership and wash it sometimes. One bucket, brush, some Ardex soap (probably had about a half a cup's worth of soap in our bucket), chamois, greasy tire shine, the whole bit. :eek: Then I got the brilliant idea :idea: that I should get "the good stuff" and start doing my details at home. I got some stuff from both Auto Magic and Ardex, Turtle Wax and Armor All from Wal-Mart, and some odd stuff from here and there. Never tried Meguiar's though - my dad had used some of their stuff in the past so I thought that was too old school for me. I thought I was the shizzle. But my tires were always greasy and collected dust like crazy, my dash always had an inch of dust on it after a week, I could never get all the wax off my car, my windows were always streaky, and I never really had fun "detailing." :help: I also used to think that detailing stuff that was sold online was a ripoff and just as good as the stuff you could buy locally, just more expensive. It was only after I tried the Turtle Wax Ice line and experienced it as a failure, decided to try Meguiar's, found Meguiar's Online, and just kept learning and growing from there. Finally I found Autogeek, and that's why I'm here today. Im the MAN
 
I should add that most of this "torture" was inflicted on my Olds, pictured in my avatar. I also did some "damage" to my parents' Hondas. Thankfully, it wasn't so bad it couldn't be fixed, thanks to the knowledge I gained through MOL and AGO.
 
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