Not long ago, I was in a large bookstore – Borders, Barnes and Noble, something like that – and was looking through the “Transportation” section.  I saw the inevitable Chilton’s manual, and books with like “A Million Projects for your Air-Cooled Volkswagen.”  There were some neat photo books, and some how-to books on stuff like setting up a garage, welding, repairing vehicle electrical systems.  So, a lot of books on a variety of different topics.

Know what I didn’t see?  A book on detailing.

Well, that’s not totally true.  I’ve seen one.  Ultimate Auto Detailing Projects, by David H. Jacobs Jr.  I own a copy.  It’s okay.  There are some decent tips in it.  But the book hasn’t aged well, and is missing a lot of stuff that I’d call fundamental.  And…it was the only book in the store about auto detailing.

That seems a shame.  Let’s face it – there are a lot of people out there who care very much about their cars and trucks, and derive a lot of pleasure out of owning them.  It seems reasonable to assume that many of these people are interested in making their cars look as good as they can.  So why the lack of information?

Is it all on the internet?  Well, no, it isn’t.  The internet is full of bad information on detailing.  One of my favorite things on YouTube is the detailing how-to videos from so-called experts.  Some of them really are good.  Most of them aren’t.

Anyway, this is what finally got me started on this blog.  In the 20 years I’ve owned and loved cars, I’ve learned a lot about keeping up with them and making them look their best.  I hope it helps someone.