What Started it All

People ask me from time to time when I first became interested in British cars, or just cars in general. Believe it or not, I know when it was exactly.

It was 1959 and my family was living in Sioux City, Iowa and one my dad's co-workers took delivery of a new Triumph TR3. If my memory serves ( I was four years old at the time) it was light pastel green. I remember riding on my mom's lap while Mr. Ziller drove us around and I was fascinated with the low cut doors and growly exhaust note.

Fast forward to 1973 and and friend of mine had a TR3 banger that he drove. I got to drive it few times and it was everything I thought a sports car should be. The next month he tells that he sold it because the brakes were pulling to one side. I never got a chance to make him an offer.

He sold it for $100.00

Honda Accord Optimumized

Was invited by my detailing buddy KC to assist with a detail on a black Honda Accord..... hmm.... he must think I'm some kind of black Accord expert of something.

By the time I arrived, KC had already washed and clayed the Accord with Optimum No Rinse (ONR).

The owner has been really careful about washing and waxing his car but unfortunately was not equipped with the right products and this was the result...

After many, many, many hours of compounding, polishing and finishing, we managed to get it to this condition.

Needless to say the owner bought some ONR and some quality microfiber towels to care for his car after seeing the results of our efforts.

To read more about the details of this detail, click the link below:
http://prodetailing.blogspot.com/2010/04/honda-accord-optimized-by-kc-and-seech.html

ONR Testimonials

Some great feedback from new ONR users:

Yup, always end washing session with the ONR used on the rims. Pretty awesome stuff. 

hey,...do you notice that the rim is not as dirty (covered with brake dust) after using ONR to wash it??? or is it just me? it's the 3rd day of the week and my rims are still...silverish...instead of blackish...hehe

Anyways, I think the ONR does help keep the rims cleaner for a longer period. 

Really hooked on the ONR. Haha. Saving loads of water this way. No more bubbly washes, although my other washing mitts look forlorn at their new arrival taking up all the fun in car washing. 


Taken from the bmwclubmalaysia forums:
http://www.bmwclubmalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34273

This is Where Your MG was Born

And very likely your Austin Healey and perhaps your Morris Minor van, too. This is Abingdon - the birthplace of MGs up to 1980. Yes, I know that there were cars built in Oxford prior, but stay with me here.

What you are seeing in the map below is the area occupied by the MG works. Most of it was torn down to build a commerce park. As you can see, there are a lot of individual buildings here housing many businesses. There's even a new hospital on the site. Note the names of the streets - names from MG's historic past.

The only former MG building still standing is the row of units facing Colwell Drive. Google Maps has incorrectly labeled one of the units as "McDonalds". The Golden Arches is actually a bit south of the place.
The standing MG buildings were known as the 'B Block' - nothing to do with MGBs it was just called that. I think minor support functions for the factory were housed there.


View Larger Map

It is possible to zoom in on the map and 'grab' and move it as well, although I recommend hitting the view larger map link above.

Next up: The Jaguar Browns Lane site.

TVR Back from the Brink?

One of Britain's most-often-on-life-support boutique car makers may be back with a vengeance.

TVR has a long history of building bars that were pretty much a step above a kit car in both quality and appearance. Most of them were powered with engines bought in from Ford, BMC or Rover.

TVR is owned by Nikolai Smolenski the 29 year-old son of a Russian oligarch. Smolenski bought TVR in 2004 with promises to keep TVR a British based company. Under Smolenski's leadership TVR went from producing 12 cars a week to 4.

Smolenski announced that TVR production would restart soon, this time building a vehicle powered by a Chevrolet V8 - possibly one with Corvette tuning. Rumor has it that TVR may make a return to the US market.

I'm not holding my breath.

ONR- Optimum No Rinse Guide

Step by step guide to using ONR.

Before:

ONR:

Wipe the dirt of with ONR + MicroFiber and wipe dry with MicroFiber:

50/50 after ONR:

Water beading after ONR:

After ONR + Optimum Polish II + Opti-Seal + Optimum Car Wax:

For a more detailed step-by-step guide click the link below:





Condition Before:

A layer of dirt and water spots present on the paint.

Bird droppings:

Dirt and dust on the surface.

Wiping the dirt off with just a towel and water will result in the dirt being trapped between the towel and the paint resulting in scratches and swirls.

Optimum No Rinse Wash and Shine (ONR) contains proprietary polymers which bond to the paint and encapsulate the dirt and the dirt is held in suspension in the water and washing medium to prevent it from scratching the paint and causing swirls.

It is therefore important that a quality MicroFiber (MF) towel be used in conjunction with ONR.

One MF towel is to be used to wipe the dirt off and two other MF towels are used to dry the car.

The recommended rate of ONR is 1 oz for 1-2 gallons of water. However, this can be adjusted based on the amount of water required to wash one car. After the first wash with ONR you should have a fairly good idea about the amount of water and ONR required. (1 oz. of ONR is approximately 3 caps.)

In this case, the amount of water is more than sufficient to wash one entire car. 2 capfuls of ONR were added to this bucket.

After mixing the ONR and water, just wipe the MF towel over the car and dry using the other two MF towels.

50/50 after the ONR wash. Note the dirt and water spots that have been removed with just one pass of ONR.

The polymers in ONR also leave behind a protective layer on the paint. This is demonstrated by pouring water on the 50/50 section.

Note that the water on the ONR washed side beads off more quickly than the unwashed portion.

This shows that ONR does leave behind a protective polymer film and will not remove any wax and sealants that have been used to protect the paint. In fact, washing regularly with ONR would extend the life of any wax and sealants as it would constantly coat the car with protective polymers leaving behind a glossy finish.

For bird droppings and other dirt, pre-soak the area with the ONR solution first and let it soak in for a few moments.

Then simply wipe off and wipe dry.

After ONR + Optimum Polish II+ Opti-Seal + Optimum Car Wax:

The washing medium is very important and we recommend using a quality MicroFiber (MF) towel. Due to the polymers in ONR, the dirt will be lifted off the paint and held in the solution and also in between the fibers of the MF towel to prevent any scratching to the paint.

Rinsing alone will not remove the trapped dirt.

Use some All Purpose Cleaner (APC) or a mild detergent to release the dirt from the MF towel.

Just spray on some APC and the dirt will just rinse off.

The amount of dirt trapped in the MF towel.

Check out our promotions for a special introductory offer on MF towels with a purchase of ONR.