Strangest Request...

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imported_broker99

New member
What is the strangest request by a customer you have ever had for a detail. Here is mine and I still laugh about it to this day. When I was in high school and just started detailing, I would details my neighbors cars from time to time. My neighbors were always doing crazy, off the wall things so you would never know when to take them too seriously. The first job I did for them my neighbor instructed me that he wanted the car cleaned inside and out but he really did not care about anything else as long as the trunk was cleaned. I just thought he was joking because who really cares about the trunk but I still made and extra effort to make sure the trunk was clean. A couple weeks later he had me detail his other car. Again he told me he really only cares about the trunk and to spend extra time on it if I needed to. This time I could tell that he was totally serious. Now here is where the story gets even funnier, he would only buy old Caddys. You know the big ones with the big trunks that. I never found baseball bats or a tire iron out of place or any hair samples but I always wondered why he had such a big thing for a clean trunk. He has now passed on, so I guess that I will never know.
 
IME I have found that the older customers just really want a clean trunk. Most of the older customers I have specifically ask me to clean the trunk, while most middle aged guys couldn't care less (which is obvious by the amount of crap they leave in there, I'm not gonna spend 20 minutes emptying out a trunk so I can clean it, I make this clear to them up front).

I have a neighbor who is a wholesaler and a cop, he brought me a Buick Century (blahh...) with a bunch of rust around the bottom of the doors. He told me he wanted me to touch it up, I told him I really didn't want to, seeing as it is just poor practice and a hack (think used car lot) technique. I started on the car, which was in terrible shape.

A few hours later he brought over the touch up paint and told me to have at it (ugh), so here I am touching up these 1"x1" rust patches with silver touch up paint that was intended for Chrysler silver. I never felt like more of a hack in my life.
 
This guy was in Youngstown Oh were I grew up. They had more bodies than cars there. I am sure you came across some bodies and Caddies in your day JH.
 
th0001 said:
Isn't Youngstown home to Kelly Pavlick?
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I was not sure how Kelly Pavlick was but I googled him and you are right. I know the part of town that he grew up in very Italian neighborhood. It is about 20 min out of Youngstown. This is going back a way but another famous boxing is from the same town, Ray (Boom Boom) Mancini. That part of the country has been in a recession for the last 40 years.
 
After deswirling a Sparkling Graphite BMW 330i, the customer asked me if I would take a look at his black baby grand piano in his house. He stated that taking scratches and swirls out of car paint has to be the same as removing scratches in his mirror finish $15,000 piano!

Needless to say I declined the offer explaining to him the distinct differences and suggested he inquire around to furniture refinishers. I will admit to thinking about it during the drive home. KBM? (j/k).
 
Puckman said:
After deswirling a Sparkling Graphite BMW 330i, the customer asked me if I would take a look at his black baby grand piano in his house. He stated that taking scratches and swirls out of car paint has to be the same as removing scratches in his mirror finish $15,000 piano!

Needless to say I declined the offer explaining to him the distinct differences and suggested he inquire around to furniture refinishers. I will admit to thinking about it during the drive home. KBM? (j/k).
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You know I think that I remember seeing that Menzerna makes a polish for guitars. Maybe Classic Motoring needs a new division.
 
Although I wouldn't call it "strange", most of the women that I detail for, ONLY want the interior cleaned.

"You don't want me to wash the car?"

"Not if you expect me to pay for it!"
 
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