Looking back... how'd you get hooked?

R

Rare Three Six

New member
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When i look back at my childhood, that Jaguar Vanden Plas was the beginning of a wonderful hobby...



Actually how it all began was somehow I ended up at age 8 with a detailing book, probably from the late 80's. I can still remember the car that was being used as a example. A 1988 Guards Red Porsche 944... I drooled over that car and dreamt of working on one...



12 years old and my uncle ends up with that Jaguar... leaks oil like crazy but he loves it. Every weekend he'd leave the car in our driveway and I'd sneak and suprise him by washing it... I fell in love with the feel of those round body panels holding the quad headlights.



16 years old... My uncle buys a Purple 1984 Honda V45 motorcycle to flip for profit...
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Every day after school for 2 solid weeks he would leave his garage door open for me to sneak in and polish/clean/steel wool that motorcycle into a near new condition... In exchange he let me ride it in the alley...



About 5 years ago after working in a muscle car restoration shop I discovered that the bottle of 3M Finesse it II I received as a gift from the shop was actually a polish, not just some miracle scuff remover... And ever since finding these forums and my first purchases of 1Z products I've been hooked to detailing...



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I've been into detailing cars since I can remember, but it was always OTC stuff that my dad got (but he knows little about doing it right).



My first addiction to true detailing came from this car. A 1995 Nissan Altima. It was my first nice car, with my previous vehicles being a good running cars with bad paint.



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Unknown to me at the time, this car was repainted with a single stage that deteriorated something fierce in the Florida sun and the interstate. So I bought my PC and supplies for essentially nothing b/c I didn't want to waste *cough* dollars of supplies on paint that wasn't worth it.



Fast foward 3 years and 75,000 miles later, and I'm back here with my new car, a 2002 Subaru Impreza, and I'm absorbing all the info I can for my detail coming soon. It was many paint chips on the front from highway use, but this car is truly nice, so I'm determined to keep it so.



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I owe many thanks to various people here for putting me on the right path. It's an expensive path, no doubt, but I love looking at my car in the parking lot against everyone else's and seeing the difference. The Impreza hasn't been corrected yet, but silver is forgiving.
 
For me it was when I bought a new '98 Firebird and got extremely frustrated when my baby didn't shine like it used to. Only then did I start my journey of learning proper washing techniques and exploring the vast world of detailing supplies (thanks to everyone here).



Previously I was using things that I found OTC and whatever my Dad used. Looking back - I never imagined how much there was to learn when it came to washing, prepping and waxing a car to a brilliant shine.



Despite everyone around me (at work and at home) teasing me on how "picky" I am, I am glad that I went down this path. Seeing people turn their heads and wonder why their car doesn't look nearly as good makes it all worth it.



It's an expensive and time consuming passion to keep a car looking at its best.. but ooooh so worth it.
 
My dad always took good care of his cars. I remember many weekends washing, waxing, and all the basic stuff.



In 05' we bough a old benz that was in need of a little love. No matter how much i waxed it, the paint still looked bad.

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I found autpoia, spent an outrageous amount of money and just got totally hooked when i saw results of all my hard work. Now i do cars for friends for a little $. About 8 per summer and i keep my familys other 6 looking fine. Detailing is a great hobby, espically for a car nut like me.
 
i've been detailing since i was about 13. my dad always had a nice car, for theday, and always kept them looking good, i just followed in his footsteps and kept going to the next level, it's a way of keeping busy, my therapy, and i've got a car that outshine most cars on the road, but that's not why i do it, i do it because i enjoy the process and the results, it makes me feel good.
 
I grew up in a boating family, so my first experience came at the age of 11 on a 28' cabin cruiser with a badly oxidized burgandy gel coat. Seeing the results of that first effort never fully left my subconcious, I guess, so when I bought my 325 a few years ago the addiction came flying out of it's 30-year remission. I had a detailing relapse of the worst kind, and have been off the wagon ever since.
 
black f250 that I never washed, took it to a car wash and they couldnt get the water spots off, so i went to autozone and asked what would remove the waterspots before my dad would see and get pissed (I was 16) they pointed me to turtle wax's cleaner wax..it worked and made the truck shine like nothing i have ever seen. since then i sold the truck and bought mustangs which always got megs gold class..till i discovered this forum in 05 and from there its become a sickness which didnt fully take off until i bought a PC in 07..and now i have a rotary that i am now learning little by little
 
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