Detroit Abandoned Car Wash & Detail Shop Pics!!!!

[imported_WhyteWizard]

In 1980, there was a Ford plant in Pico Rivera, CA. `I was working for Hadley Auto Transport at the time in their rail yard, loading and unloading cars and trucks. `I bring up 1980 because two things happened that year that made a real difference. `


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One, Ford decided to build the 1980 Thunderbird - a terrible car - I mean truly a waste of the earth`s resources, but in line with the rest of their products outside some trucks. `The union was so disgusted with that car there was serious talk of a wildcat strike. `(A strike by line workers without the support of leadership.) ` No one wanted to build that car and ask people to spend hard earned money for it outside of Ford management. `So, brand loyalty when down the drain. `Before that, if you`d driven a Datsun into that parking lot there was a decent chance you`d be taking the bus home. `After that, no one was happy, even the people buying the other cars but what were we supposed to do? `Waste our money on cars we knew weren`t good? `Quality is always, always, always a management decision, Ford`s decision cost them loyalty from everyone. `


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Second, Ronald Reagan was elected and in the name of supply side economics, he got the top tax rate cut from 74% to 28%. `This gave people in that tax bracket an immense amount of extra income, which they used to build factories where they could make the highest return. `Ford came to the union and said, they`d like to modernize the plant and keep building cars in Pico Rivera, but they had workers in other places who`d work for a $1.25 an hour, so make a counter offer. `Obviously, there was no hope. `The factory and a lot of others left this country on the wave of investment money created by the Reagan tax cuts. `That`s what de-industrialized America and of course, tanked the US economy. `Now of course, Reagan did a stimulus program by way of huge defence spending - the Ford plant re-opened as a Northrup Grumman plant for awhile - but that was unsustainable and shut down a again a few years later. `Reagan tripled the national debt trying to save the economy but they way they spent the money did nothing for the country itself, didn`t better educate a work force, didn`t modernize transportation, didn`t rebuild and modernize energy production and distribution, etc. so the effect was short term and probably led to Bush Sr. being a one term President.


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The point of all this is - an economy has to have a strong middle class with money to spend - the middle class creates the jobs by creating demand for goods and services. `You can supply the best detail shop ever built, with the best machines, best trained staff, best and most efficient water and power and if there aren`t enough people with the money to use your service, you`re wasting your time. `


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Robert

[David Fermani]

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If you get a chance to take pics of the inside of some of these places, that would be great to see.`` Thanks for the pics so far!

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Don`t bet on it! My life is at risk just driving in these neighborhoods. Better yet getting out and walking into one of these hell holes. Maybe if I had a Police escort, but that`s highly unlikely seeing they are only responding to murder calls. `


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Would this be along the same condition as most of Detroit has fallen into ?

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Pretty much. Most of Detroit is full of abandoned and burned down buildings and homes. There are areas where 50% of the block is missing homes (vacant land), 25% are burned down and the other 25% look inhabitable.`


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Sad. Detailing is a luxury for a lot of customers. When you live in a place like Detroit, where you are likely underwater on your mortgage, and so many are unemployed, probably not an excess of disposable income

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In retrospect, there`s ALOT of really great things going on downtown and there`s new life being pumped into places left and right. I won`t say that I would want to live there, but living next to it is pretty awesome.`

[David Fermani]

Since posting this thread I`ve been able to capture pictures of about 15 more shops. I`ll get them up here asap.`

[Lonnie]

On a related note, many of these places were hand-wash places. Now we have automatic touchless car washes. We have a lot more cars on the road today, yet look at all detail/carwash shops from not too long ago`when there were less cars around. That`s what higher labor cost do; they create an economic viability that allows technology to replace human labor. Just look at the robots used in the auto industry, including high-end auto`manufacturers like Porsche and Ferrari,`that do today what human labor did not too long ago. Is it any wonder why we have higher unemployment?


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My point is this: There is a huge call to raise the minimum wage here in America. I`know many dealership/detail business-employed detailers would enjoy such a raise in wage. That includes a lot of other minimum-wage workers in many types of business as well. But I point out that by doing so, you make it economically feasible to invent some technology`that can replace you OR just do without your service. My other proof is in gas station attendants, or pump jockeys, as we called them when I was young in the 1960`s. Most drivers today cannot even remember having someone else pump your gas, check your oil, and clean your windshield for you. Today we do it ourselves and don`t even think of self-service as an inconvenience; it`s just the way things are. So be careful what you ask for: the higher wage you enjoy now may obsolete your job in the not-too-distant future. I am sorry if this sounds like a political/moral`observation/opinion TOTALLY unrelated to David`s photo journalism of the sad plight of car wash/detail shops in the Detroit area. Those pictures`makes you ask the question, "How and why did this happen?" Part of the answer is in the history of Detroit and its labor`conflicts`over wages of the past. We would all do well to learn from history, as it usually repeats itself.`


`(Note to moderator and OP: if this is too radical or opinionated, please remove it. I do not wish to offend anyone)

[imported_WhyteWizard]

What is the point of a moral economic system if not to provide everyone a way to make a contribution and to be compensated for that contribution in such a way that they can meet their basic needs? `


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We have become so much more efficient in production that workers have become redundant at rates not seen since the industrial revolution. `At some point we`re going to have to re-think distribution of wealth and take into account the fact that we don`t need anywhere near the number of workers we used to in order to produce more than what we need. `Maybe we should do what we`ve done in the past - raise wages and cut hours.


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<span style="font-size:14px;">BTW, more money in the pockets of people at the bottom of the economic strata means more money is going to be spent and that money flows through the system like oil in an engine and keeps things running more smoothly.`


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Robert

[Lonnie]

David:


This photo essay on`now-abandoned car washes is bittersweet: it`s an "interesting" visual picture of what was, but as most have commented, a sad commentary on what it`is currently like`in the`still-acclaimed`Motor City of Detroit.` I am looking forward to seeing more pictures, as stated above.


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`Maybe it really is true what the last line of lyrics from Carly Simon`s`early 70`s song "Anticipation"``states: "Stay right here, `cause these are the good-old days".


(OK, Gramps, turn off the 8-track player,`get out of your Chrysler Cordoba, and don`t forget to take your medication!!)

[Accumulator]

Lonnie- Now just stop it!` Quit mentioning 8-tracks (still remember the points at which certain songs got interrupted) and Cordobas (late 80s B-bodies: my Aunt Irene bought the`last big-block/towing package`Cordoba she could get when they phased out the 400cid, my Dad had a Midnight Charger, and I had a Magnum GT)... you`re putting me in the wayback-machine with all those `70s references.` And yeah, that Carly Simon song does it too

[David Fermani]

<span style="font-size:12pt;">I`ve gotten quite a bit of exposure with this project so I decided to keep looking for interesting car wash/detail shop related businesses to take photos of within the city of Detroit. Here`s some more to check out:


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<span style="font-size:12pt;">THIS PLACE IS HUGE!!!


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[David Fermani]

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[MattPersman]

So if you were not washing cars you we`re cutting hair in a lot of these places ? Neat pictures

[Accumulator]

I wonder how many of those buildings have the proper drainage/etc. setups for this kind of work...you know, trench-drains, oil separators, proper electrical, etc. etc.

[David Fermani]

I wonder how many of those buildings have the proper drainage/etc. setups for this kind of work...you know, trench-drains, oil separators, proper electrical, etc. etc.

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Probably not many. I think they are using the ole squeegee trick out the back door. `

[C. Charles Hahn]

So I have to ask, with all of these abandoned shops, how many would you say are actively in business at any given time in "inner city" Detroit? Surely you must be encountering some while looking for the shuttered ones...

[Accumulator]

David Fermani- Yeah, that`s kinda what I`d figured.` I was thinking of it from the potential-buyer perspective...you know- "oh, what a cool old building!"` What, it`ll cost *how* much to be able to wash my car in there?!?"

[David Fermani]

So I have to ask, with all of these abandoned shops, how many would you say are actively in business at any given time in "inner city" Detroit? Surely you must be encountering some while looking for the shuttered ones...

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Absolutely there are shops still in operation, but I would honestly have to say that if you took a sample of 50 shops, less than 10 would be open for business and 40 would be abandoned. I`m still willing to bet that there are well over 100 abandoned shops within the confines of Detroit. I hope to capture more as the time comes.`


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David Fermani- Yeah, that`s kinda what I`d figured.` I was thinking of it from the potential-buyer perspective...you know- "oh, what a cool old building!"` What, it`ll cost *how* much to be able to wash my car in there?!?"

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For how dirt cheap it would be to purchased one of these, the cost to add a nice drain system wouldn`t make the purchase all that bad. You`d also have to invest in one heck of a heavy duty security and fire suppression system. `