Detailing suits me. If you’ve ever seen the BBS television show Top Gear, you’ve no doubt met “Captain Slow,” James May. James and I share an affliction for having our cars just so.
- James May claims that there is one item in his car – a paintbrush, to brush dust out of the crevices between buttons and whatnot. I do that too (although mine doesn’t happen to be a paintbrush)
- During the “Cheap Porsche Challenge (Season 5, episode 6),” the other two presenters do outlandish things to their cars to impress the Porsche Club judges. James has his engine bay detailed. Which is what I’d have done.
- There is a similar challenge involving Alfa Romeos (Season 11, episode 3). Similarly to the Cheap Porsche Challenge, there is a car show that the guys take their cars to. True to form, Jeremy and Richard do ridiculous things. James polishes the paint on his. Which is what I’d have done.
- James has often spoken of his compulsion regarding the vent registers in his car. They all have to be pointing in exactly the same direction. I’m the same way. When I’ve got passengers, and they move the vents, I don’t stop them – but as soon as I’m finished carrying them around, I return them to their correct position.
This kind of compulsion is what drives me to do something like polish the bare metal under the hood of my S2000. I started off with the hard A/C lines. They’re made out of aluminum, and are uninsulated in parts. They were looking oxidized and white, like aluminum often does. So, I polished them. Shortly after doing so, I discovered that the lettering on the spark plug cover is unpainted. So, it all had to match:
More shiny A/C line goodness:
Now, a “before” photo of the spark plug cover lettering:
After polishing:
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