The Old Coot cleans up

By Merlin Lessler —

I washed my car the other day. Actually, it was my wife’s car – mine is in Florida, braving the hot muggy weather, much hotter and muggier than here. Which is why I cherish my New York State summer residency, in spite of all the state mandates we are forced to live with, not to mention the taxes. 

Anyhow, I hosed it off, and then got at it with a sudsy mitt and a long handled soft bristle brush. You don’t see many people in their driveways doing this anymore. It once was a Saturday ritual for many men, some women and teenagers lucky enough to have their own vehicles. 

According to “experts,” only 28% of automobile owners wash their own cars. It’s off to the car wash for them. It’s down from 50% thirty years ago. We’ve become a commercial car wash society, reported to be a 33-billion-dollar industry, with 60,000 car wash establishments across the country. 

Waxing a car is something else again. I suspect the percentage of people doing that is pretty low. Even I gave that up years ago; clear coat finishes eliminated the need. Simonize wax was king in the old days. Applying it and rubbing it in took over an hour. 

The first time I waxed my father’s car when I was a teenager I did the windows as well as the car body. I learned that lesson the hard way. He wasn’t very pleased when he turned on the wipers during a rainstorm to face a blurry mess out the windshield. 

When I wash my car I consider it an exercise session. A lot of bending, squatting, stooping, stretching and reaching, and I pay myself the $20 a car wash place would have charged me. You don’t have to be an old coot like me to do this. Anyone can.   

Comments, good or bad. Send to mlessler7@gmail.com.