LONDON -- Maybe your rugged SUV never goes anywhere wilder than the mall, but you can look like a wilderness adventurer with Spray-On Mud.
For owners who don't want it to look like they're driving an unnecessary gas-guzzler, a little splash signals that the vehicle spends time tackling the back country.
The product is the brainchild of Colin Dowse, a businessman from Shropshire, England, a village close to the Welsh border.
"Spray-On Mud is an urban camouflage designed to give the impression that you are a serious off-roader," he said.
Dowse, a Web designer, came up with the idea about a year ago while sharing a few pints with friends at a local pub.
It's genuine local dirt -- strained to remove stones and other debris -- mixed with water and a secret ingredient that Dowse says helps it stick to a vehicle's bodywork.
But don't use it to obscure the numbers on one's license plate, he warns on his Web site -- that's a fineable offense.
Dowse said he can barely keep up with Internet sales of the product at $14.50 a quart.
"We're selling it from Japan to New York," he said. "It's also getting very, very big in Germany, which is kind of strange, bearing in mind that they like to keep their cars a bit cleaner than we do."
Distribution is to begin in the United States and Canada within a few months.
Ron DeFore, communications director at the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America, a nonprofit consumer group in Washington, said he wouldn't be surprised if the product sold well in America.
"There are some who would buy this product to show how macho they are," he said.
But he also fears the product could fuel more SUV-bashing.
"Some will hold this product up as evidence that there's a bunch of people out there who aren't taking these vehicles off-road and therefore don't really need them," he said.
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2002 Taurus SES Sport - Fully Loaded
04 Explorer XLT - Wife's
95 Tracer Wagon - Beater
But I do see people around here driving vehicles covered with mud... the only spot on the vehicle sometimes that doesn't have mud on it is where the windshield wiper runs.
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2005 F-150 Reg Cab Flareside 5.4L
Chemical Engineers: More refined than the rest.
That stuff is expensive too - I mean cmon, all you've gotta do is toss it in 4wd, stop on a dirt road, and hammer it . Throw in a few buckets of water if you're feeling fancy.
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Once you buff black, you never go back
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. Throw in a few buckets of water if you're feeling fancy.
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