Sunday was a gorgeous Easter afternoon here in southern California, and while most people want to get outside and lay in the sun, walk along the beach, go surfing (cough Dan), or just enjoy spring in the air with family, my fanatical instinct kicked in to give the GTI a bath and a wax.  Living in an apartment has many downfalls.  Idiot neighbors making obscene amounts of noise at 4am, being confined to a little box, paying tons of money for something you don’t own, but worse of all, no space to work on, clean, or enjoy your ride.  Naturally, I had to look for a DIY car wash (quarter wash to many) and having stumbled across one on Saturday after venturing to a new area of town, I knew just where to go.

One of the best parts about going to the quarter wash is that I can meticulously clean the car to my beyond fanatical standards.  Sure I could pay someone to wash my car for me (and it seems most Californian’s do seeing as how there’s only one quarter wash in my area) but that’s like paying someone else to drink all your beer and punch you in the face at the end of the night so you wake up the next morning with the same effect.  Nope, I want to wash my own car and no stupid cramped apartment or lack of quarter washes will stop me.

The place I found looked like it had started life as a wagon wash in the gold rush era.  It was old as old could be, but it was laid out brilliantly.  Two rows of wash bays, followed by a row of vacuums, and finally in the back the pièce de résistance: a huge parking lot all in the shade for drying.  Feeding the hose and foamy brush some 5 bucks in quarters, I cleaned all the dust, bug splatter, and dirt that had been driving me nuts for the past week. Afterwards, I blindly made my way to the heavenly drying area resisting the urge to clear the windshield with the wipers (I really did not want streaks).  Once there, it’s like a car guy’s Mecca.

I pulled up next to this guy named Jack with a 55 Ford pick-up.  It was a clean, perfect driver that was nice enough to draw attention, but not something you’d be afraid to drive.  It was evident that Jack loved his truck, and as he dried and polished away on his historic gem, I got to work on my now brilliant red dubber.  Other guys started to fill in around us, all meticulously drying their cars as well with a quiet somber very much reminiscent of a Sunday morning church service.  Jack broke the silence with “I love coming down here, it’s meditative to me.”  I looked at him and nodded “Yep, that’s why I wash my own car.”

I’m not saying I’ve never taken my car through a quick gas station wash (touchless ONLY) just to get some grime off, but to me a true fanatic can appreciate an afternoon of quiet reflection scrubbing, drying, detailing, rubbing, shining, their ride to their perfect image.  Now for the next few days when I walk out to get in the car, I’ll see the spotless paint gleaming under a coat of McGuires Tech Wax, the wheels devoid of any brake dust, tires dripping wet with tire shine and I’ll smile.  Not only because it looks better than new, but I personally made it that way. See, to a true fanatic, it’s not just the destination.  It’s the journey.  And that goes for car washes too.  Anyone else with me?

Tags: Car, car wash, car wax, detail