We hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving long weekend last week. Perhaps you were able to get some quality time with your car because today, November 28, is Car Wash Day in Japan. In fact, it’s one of two Car Wash Days, the other one being April 28. In Japanese, the numbers 1128 and 428 can be read as a homonym for the phrase “high luster” or “high gloss”. Here in southern California, it’s necessary to wash, clay, and wax twice a year to protect the paint, as the harsh sun tends to pulverize the clear coat and discolor plastics. That, and buying a whole ‘nother car that you don’t care about as a daily beater.
What does your car cleaning regimen consist of?
The most entertaining comment by next Monday will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “What’s your favorite childhood road trip memory?“.
Road trips certainly seemed like bigger occasions in simpler times. Even a trip in a Honda Civic CVCC from Olympia, Washington to Seattle elicited fond memories for f31roger. Fred Langille recalled how it took nearly three weeks to drive halfway across the country to visit grandma, and throughout the whole time there was no way to get updates about important events back home. Childhood road trips also presented opportunities to cast safety to the wind, not that we thought much about the topic back then. Mike P. remembered driver swaps on the fly, while Michael K. reminisced about playing in the back of the family wagon, and nlpnt proved the B-52’s correct about the size of old Chryslers.
This week MWC wins for his inspirational tale of a 9,000-mile trans-continental road trip in a J80 Land Cruiser. It’s the kind of travel the car was made for, though we shudder to think about how much the gas bill was.
What a topic! So many memories, non of them “favorite” LOL!! As the younger brother in the back of the Malibu Estate Wagon, all my road trips involved some kind of torture from my older brother! One of his favorites was finding new ways to hide snakes that he found at the road-side rest stops, and then throwing them on me when we were up to speed again. boy, Mom and Dad loved that one as well.
To add a JNC angle, lets FF 25 years, i got my trusty 80 series TLC and i am taking the family (wife, 3 sons) on an 9000 mile continental epic road trip – from up here in Canada’s Prairies, straight through the Rockies, hit a few logging trails for off-road adventure. then straight down the PCH to take my son to football camp at SDSU, Sea World, SD Zoo, then down to Baja Mexico, back up to White Sands NM to see the Trinity site…the AC broke, i got ripped off by a local shop in CA…we kept going for 3 weeks – it was a good time…
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Every evening at dusk I rub my G50 Century with hand-brewed, small-batch sake under twilight.
My other cars wear a protective, semi-permanent layer of filth similar to that afforded by naturally-cultivated dreadlocks.
You know, I tried Alan’s hand-brewed, small-batch sake myself. It would’ve worked on the S-Cargo but, as the brilliant blue paint wasn’t factory, it was prone to an alcoholic haze that only a liberal application of Mother’s got rid of properly. Instead, I used a tiny amount of the said product(s) on a tiny sponge after running the car through the do-it-yourself carwash (not a brush and tunnel … the sunroof … which STILL leaks, by the way! … would be like a sieve! After about 3 minutes of judicious polishing, I use a spray detailer and hand wax. The whole thing takes five minutes, including the white rims and blackwalls. Then, after shaking my head, I go to the nearest detail shop to have them fix it! An OPNOTE here, said detailer did a heckova job ridding my engine bay of 32 years of grime! Only then do I settle back with a Kirin or Sapporo beer, gleefully giving helpful hints to the detailers (they put up with me because I tip well!)