There’s a small fleet of cars in the driveway. A black GMC monster truck (because you ain’t as man without a truck), a green Miata for the race track, a vintage ’92 Subaru SVX, plus a couple more daily drivers. The weatherman was calling for heavy snow, so it was time to put some of them into winter storage.
Daniel drove the ’99 Miata to the Jet-Kleen coin wash to get rid of any dirt and debris. Otherwise, the abrasion from the car cover would be like sandpaper on the paint. After that, the Miata was parked underground, cable to the battery removed, car cover on, good-night.
The retro 1992 SVX was supposed to get put away, too. But it is an all-wheel-drive Subaru. Even with summer tires, it should be good for some fun in the snow. Just one more day on the road before hibernation.
Waking up on Saturday morning to find 6″ of fluffy snow on the cars was like Christmas! After brushing off the snow, it was back to Jet-Kleen to blast all the ice away and make the car sparkle. Got plenty of thumbs-up driving around town while people shoveled their driveways.
Once downtown, it got a little stressful. The SVX is not an expensive car, but it is super rare, and finding parts is always a challenge. What if some goofball lost control and skidded into the back of the car? Only way to protect this ‘vehicular investment‘ was to drive away as fast as possible.
It took three trips to the car wash to keep the car looking good all day long. At the end of the night, the car had to be hosed down one more time to get all that salt off…but it was worth it. Plenty of power and hardly any grip made for a fun combination.
Driving a rust-free, vintage car in the winter isn’t a good idea. But it’s still a car, and it wants to go fast and have fun, just like the guys at Subaru intended when they built it 33 years ago.
Can’t wait for it to snow again!
three passes through the car wash in one day! i feel you. i thought i was being a little excessive going twice in three days but the way things are right now i ought to make it a daily habit. nice videos as usual, chris! the audio makes it even more fun!
At the coin wash (when you tap your card) it automatically spits out $10 in tokens. But it only takes 3-4 minutes to hose off the car…especially the 2nd time.
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I knew I would be shooting video and taking pics, so it just had to be sparkly.
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Those ASMR driving videos can be cool, but it’s no fun to be driving around in the car without radio just to get the ambient sound. So, the synthwave music added to the videos is something I really like. Hope you do too!
Fun in the snow. We don’t have any more of the self-spray car washes left on my side of town. They’ve been replaced with the automatic car washes with rolling brushes, etc.
It’s funny because I never go to the Jet Kleen coin wash. There a couple gas stations in the area with automatic scrubby brushes type car washes. They cost the same as the DIY, so why would I get my shoes wet!
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But all I really needed to do was blast the ice off the car. So, the power washer was ideal.
The DIYs were cheap compared to the auto washes. The owners must have figured they would do better with auto washes and charging 20 times the price of what they charged for the coin op DIY washers.
I’m guessing some unscrupulous car-wash owners in New Mexico have been watching ‘Breaking Bad’ and figured out how to clean cash through those places.
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When I tapped my debit card, the DIY coin wash automatically charged me $10. I used those coins to just hose off the snow and ice, but I would have 100% needed at least $15 to properly wash the car with foaming soap.
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By comparison, the auto-wash at the Petro-Canada up the street is $14.99 for the basic wash, and sometimes they have 2 for 1 specials.
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Why would I bother doing the work myself!
When the DIYs were available, they took quarters. For two quarters I could rinse the mud and dust off the car, which is all I needed most of the time. It’s $10 for the basic wash at the auto washers.
It seems like your DIY sprayers are taking you all to the cleaners.
OK Mr. Price, because I like you, I’m going to share a hack I learned. It is not technically legal (OK, it is totally illegal) but if you have a subwoofer lying around your basement, bring it with you and try this…
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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v8OiTrrPd3A
I don’t have a basement, but I doo have subwoofers in my infinite shed of doom.
Enjoyable ride with you in the video.
Thanks, buddy. And for the record, there’s a microphone right over the muffler, so it just sounds like I’m going fast. Plus the 60 FPS gives the videos a zoom-zoom look.
It defiantly sounded like you were jumping on it.