When this rare 1980s coupe was last cleaned, the first iPhone hadn’t been released. When did you last wash your car?
We feel guilty when the car goes without a wash for a week, maybe two at a stretch if the weather is fine. If you leave it too long between baths, all that dirt and grime can really start to cake on and cause real damage to the surface of the paint.
But what if you’ve left it too long, can the car ever be clean again?
The team at WD Detailing in Ohio, USA think so, with this video showing a car receiving its first deep clean in over 15 years, to surprising results.
The car in question, a 1988 Buick Reatta, was last parked in 2007 and was left outdoors and abandoned, at the full mercy of the elements and surrounding wildlife.
While no one-of-one Ferrari, the Reatta is still a rare car with 19,314 coupes produced (along with a further 2436 convertibles) over the car’s four-year run between 1988 and 1991. For context, in 1988 alone Ford built 146,221 Mustang coupes.
Marketed as a grand tourer, the Reatta cost $US25,000 new, when a slightly more pedestrian Ford Thunderbird was available for $US13,500. The Reatta featured pop-up headlamps, a touch-screen audio and climate control interface (yes, really!) and a 3.5-litre V6 putting 123kW and 285Nm down through the front wheels.
Needless to say, it wasn’t hugely popular, which makes it a rare and arguably ‘niche’ collectible modern classic today.
The restoration video shows how much of a difference a deep clean can make, and that even terminal-looking cases of automotive neglect can be treated with the right tools and skills.
The process is very satisfying to watch as the team employ specific techniques in each area of the interior and exterior to remove more than a decade and seven Transformers movies worth of dirt, leaves and mouse poo.
Some elements couldn’t be saved, with some significant parts of the Buick’s paint shown chipped away around the bumpers. That said, the car is in far better condition post-clean than it was when recovered, and it at least shows where the Buick will need attention from a prospective buyer looking to bring it back to its niche-automotive glory.
What’s more, the WD Detailing team’s Instagram account also shows another Reatta, this time a white one not cleaned in over 20 years, receiving a very therapeutic high-pressure wash.
So while we’ll never encourage leaving your car for over a decade between cleans, the videos show there is always hope at the end of some good old-fashioned hard work.
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