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Every one of you who would talk about washing your car for hours. I'd make fun of you. Think to myself, "look at this guy. buys an amazing car and does nothing but wash it all day." Even after I bought my Corvette, I'd still think you all were nuts. "What a poser. Just wants to show off his car. Spends time outside around the Corvette but never actually driving it." I admit it.
Now, for the 3rd Saturday in a row, I've gotten up early and spent 2 hours washing and lovingly wiping down every surface of the car. I get it. There really is a small joy in just shining her up. Yes, I still drive it every day. My little blue coupe is my every day work commuter and grocery getter. All of a sudden, it matters to me that she looks good. But not for anybody else. For me. I enjoy looking at a beautiful car. And now I drive one. So when I look out across the hood, or when I grab the door handles, I enjoy seeing her clean and sparkling.
What's gotten into me? Have I become an old fuddy-duddy? Is there some magic in the Corvette seat that makes you buy Meguires and Aerospace 303? Did the microfiber shammy guys implant a chip in my brain while I was sleeping?
Either way, I get it now. (and i apologize for all those times I thought you were crazy)
Every one of you who would talk about washing your car for hours. I'd make fun of you. Think to myself, "look at this guy. buys an amazing car and does nothing but wash it all day." Even after I bought my Corvette, I'd still think you all were nuts. "What a poser. Just wants to show off his car. Spends time outside around the Corvette but never actually driving it." I admit it.
Now, for the 3rd Saturday in a row, I've gotten up early and spent 2 hours washing and lovingly wiping down every surface of the car. I get it. There really is a small joy in just shining her up. Yes, I still drive it every day. My little blue coupe is my every day work commuter and grocery getter. All of a sudden, it matters to me that she looks good. But not for anybody else. For me. I enjoy looking at a beautiful car. And now I drive one. So when I look out across the hood, or when I grab the door handles, I enjoy seeing her clean and sparkling.
What's gotten into me? Have I become an old fuddy-duddy? Is there some magic in the Corvette seat that makes you buy Meguires and Aerospace 303? Did the microfiber shammy guys implant a chip in my brain while I was sleeping?
Either way, I get it now. (and i apologize for all those times I thought you were crazy)
I learned this 40 years ago when I drove my first V8 car home; a maroon '70 Nova that I bought from a speed shop. I've since treated every car the same way, no matter what it was. I will admit, though, that I do spend more time on my Corvette than I ever did on any other car, but then I did build it to show it off.
This pic was taken last year after taking a week off from work to prep the car for the show season. I spent the entire nine days off cleaning, polishing, and detailing the entire car from front to back, top to bottom, and I loved every minute I spent on it. I ended up with seven trophies to show for it.
Last edited by Corvette_Ed; 05-19-2018 at 03:29 PM.
Every one of you who would talk about washing your car for hours. I'd make fun of you. Think to myself, "look at this guy. buys an amazing car and does nothing but wash it all day." Even after I bought my Corvette, I'd still think you all were nuts. "What a poser. Just wants to show off his car. Spends time outside around the Corvette but never actually driving it." I admit it.
Now, for the 3rd Saturday in a row, I've gotten up early and spent 2 hours washing and lovingly wiping down every surface of the car. I get it. There really is a small joy in just shining her up. Yes, I still drive it every day. My little blue coupe is my every day work commuter and grocery getter. All of a sudden, it matters to me that she looks good. But not for anybody else. For me. I enjoy looking at a beautiful car. And now I drive one. So when I look out across the hood, or when I grab the door handles, I enjoy seeing her clean and sparkling.
What's gotten into me? Have I become an old fuddy-duddy? Is there some magic in the Corvette seat that makes you buy Meguires and Aerospace 303? Did the microfiber shammy guys implant a chip in my brain while I was sleeping?
Either way, I get it now. (and i apologize for all those times I thought you were crazy)
I'm pushing 68, and this is the first really nice car I've had that was just a toy. Had junkers and hotrods when young, motorcycles for 45 years, and trucks for general transportation.
Most of the motorcycles I kept fairly clean except for the last one -- an '88 Harley I bought new. As the years went on, I got less and less interested in spit-shining it and it turned into a "rat Harley."
But my C6 is a fair-weather summer toy and I see no thrill in driving a high-powered sports car in the rain -- so I don't do it. Plus it takes too much to get it clean again. I like to keep it looking new outside, inside, and under the hood, and if you don't drive it in crap weather it's easy to keep clean.
I've never been a persistent washer/waxer or student of the various finishes one can apply to shine things up even further. I prefer time spent driving.
Yet I've never laughed on or thought poorly of those who go on and on about this or that finish of how to properly clay a car and all the other minutia of detail car care. I figure it's your car. If you get great joy out of making it look like it'd shame the entries in a Monterrey Concours Show, go for it.
When I was in Porsche world, many said it's a waste of my car that I don't race it. So I raced it and found it unrewarding. Now I figure it's my car and my way.
I've never been a persistent washer/waxer or student of the various finishes one can apply to shine things up even further. I prefer time spent driving.
Yet I've never laughed on or thought poorly of those who go on and on about this or that finish of how to properly clay a car and all the other minutia of detail car care. I figure it's your car. If you get great joy out of making it look like it'd shame the entries in a Monterrey Concours Show, go for it.
When I was in Porsche world, many said it's a waste of my car that I don't race it. So I raced it and found it unrewarding. Now I figure it's my car and my way.
I've always seen myself as one of the oddballs of the car world. I built my Vette specifically for show, but I take it on cross-country trips without hesitation, and you can also find me at the drag strip every chance I get. If not for the fact that it's a vert and would need a roll cage I'd be out at the road course every weekend too. I like to enjoy every aspect of my car whether it's waxing, driving, OR racing. I love it all, and I enjoy every second I spend on and in my car.
I learned this 40 years ago when I drove my first V8 car home; a maroon '70 Nova that I bought from a speed shop. I've since treated every car the same way, no matter what it was. I will admit, though, that I do spend more time on my Corvette than I ever did on any other car, but then I did build it to show it off.
This pic was taken last year after taking a week off from work to prep the car for the show season. I spent the entire nine days off cleaning, polishing, and detailing the entire car from front to back, top to bottom, and I loved every minute I spent on it. I ended up with seven trophies to show for it.
Talk about having a touch of OCD! We are in the love bug season here, and you can't drive the car without having to spend an hour or more cleaning them off when you get back. It's driving me crazy, do I clean it everytime I drive it or don't drive it at all. I just can't stand looking at it when it's dirty.
Talk about having a touch of OCD! We are in the love bug season here, and you can't drive the car without having to spend an hour or more cleaning them off when you get back. It's driving me crazy, do I clean it everytime I drive it or don't drive it at all. I just can't stand looking at it when it's dirty.
They have them down in the Houston area (used to have to deal with that ) but we don't have them in Dallas (thanks to the car gods). Those things will eat right through the clear coat and into the paint.
Meh. I wash mine once a month...maybe.
The Torch Red paint always tricks people into thinking I wash it every day anyways.
Wish I could spend more time cleaning it but working 7 days a week doesn't allow for much else. Once a month is about all I get to give her a decent wash.
She may not look the cleanest but she sounds good
When I was in Porsche world, many said it's a waste of my car that I don't race it. So I raced it and found it unrewarding. Now I figure it's my car and my way.
Completely agree with you. Trying to enjoy your car vicariously through the lens of others is futile.
I'm a wrencher at heart. No matter what I own, I get the most satisfaction taking it apart, putting it back together, stretching the mechanical limits, stretching my mechanical knowledge.
I keep it clean and enjoy the waxing, polishing. Frankly, I don't enjoy driving it that much. My drives consisted of 89% street tuning, then returning home and taking it apart again.
Very few understand it. But it's what I like. I do like driving, just not the Corvette, my favorite drive is in another car worlds away from a Corvette.
For the first 6-8K miles, I washed/cleaned my '08 every week. After hitting the dragstrip, my heart remembered the fun I used to have about 25 years earlier and cleanliness took a back seat to the quest for more power and speed. Planning for road trips included running at tracks as far as NJ and FL to the East and CA to the West. Now cleaning is going to the 3 minute drive-through, maybe once a month or so and a semi-annual deeper clean and Rejex.
Everybody enjoys their cars differently.
05-19-2018, 02:22 PM
I used to make fun of you all
) but we don't have them in Dallas (thanks to the car gods). Those things will eat right through the clear coat and into the paint.
