Porsche in the shop

Episode – Detail Peoria

Spring is in the air, and so is that “new car smell” air freshener you bought at the local auto parts store.

Don’t worry, we’re not judging you.

Matt Carter and Daryl Scott
Matt Carter of Detail Peoria and Daryl Scott

As soon as the nice weather arrives, most of us start thinking about cleaning our rides and washing off all of that caked-on winter salt and road grime. For those of us with hobby vehicles that never see such harsh conditions, we eagerly bust them out of their automotive cocoons to begin the seasonal preparations for the upcoming show season.

But before you pick up a bottle of Nu-Finish and drag out the orbital buffer you got for Christmas ’96, may we suggest you listen to this episode since it deals with the extremely important topic of automotive detailing. Don’t take our advice, we’re not the experts in making anything look good.

That’s where Matt Carter and Nick Whitaker come in.

Matt and Nick run Detail Peoria, an automotive detailing business that offers quality services for discerning motorists who want their cars and trucks to look better-than-new. Since their incredible work is visible on some fine vehicles at the local Cars & Coffee and around town, Eric and Daryl decided to pack up the gear and head up to North Peoria to do a show in the Detail Peoria wash bay!

About This Week’s Guests

Nick Whitaker and Matt Carter started this passion project a few years ago and have watched it grow. And grow.  And grow some more. Now they’re proud to say they’ve moved to a brand new location and expanded to meet growing customer demand.  Matt was kind enough to stick around after-hours on a busy weeknight to do some podcasting, and give us a tour of the new facility.

Here’s a brief video from their YouTube channel that offers an overview of their services.

In this episode of Throwin’ Wrenches, we get to know a little more about the art of auto detailing, and learned some fascinating tips. Matt also shared some common mistakes folks make when detailing at home, and answers the age-old question: Should you ever go to an automatic car wash?

We hope you enjoy our interview with Matt Carter, and we’d like to extend a heart-felt thank-you to him and Nick Whitaker for letting us drop by and talk shop.

Photo Credit: Arbyreed / Flickr/CC by 2.0

Get In Touch

For more information about all of Detail Peoria’s services, call (224) 572-9816 or visit them on their many channels.

Website | Instagram| Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

Pro Tip: The photography on their Instagram account is pretty slick, and worth following!

Episode Highlights

Projects

  • Eric shifts his summer plans into 4 wheel drive yet again for another trip to the Badlands ORV Park in Attica, Indiana, then he’s off to the Great Smoky Mountain Trail Ride with the Toyota Land Cruiser Association in May. He may even make it back to Ouray, Colorado for more wheelin’ later this summer.
  • Daryl is stockpiling cleaning supplies to get his fleet ready for spring. He also scored a few cases of Mobil 1 synthetic oil for cheap thanks to a sale at Costco, which also sells cheap hot dogs and liquor. Honestly, is there a better place on the planet than Costco?
  • Matt Carter shared his plans to further refine some management processes and procedures for Detail Peoria. In his free time, he hopes to be able to reassemble his 2004 Audi S4 and pave the way for the installation of a new suspension setup on his Ford Focus RS, along with new rolling stock and a custom exhaust.

Headlines

Car Buyers Face Financing Squeeze

Car buyers are at the center of a vehicle-finance tornado. Quarter after quarter, auto loan amounts, interest rates and monthly payments keep rising, and incentives keep falling. Those auto finance trends are starting to pinch hard, especially at the low end of the new-vehicle spectrum. And that’s driving some new-car shoppers into used vehicles, experts said. Patrick Manzi, senior economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, said new-car intenders switching to used are “absolutely” a factor in NADA’s 2019 light-vehicle sales forecast of 16.8 million, down about 3 percent from 17.3 million 2018. That’s after four straight years of more than 17 million.

Source: Automotive News

1988 Trans Am

What’s Old is New Again

In a bold move, Arkansas bumped the age requirement for antique auto license plates from 25 years to 45 years old. (Sorry, anyone born after the space race. Your stuff ain’t cool apparently.) The problem was a lot of folks were running around on lower-cost antique plates instead of regular license plates. This is akin to tax evasion of sorts, which contributes to people not paying their fair share, lower tax revenue, crumbling roads, etc.

First, the real issue is collector car plates in Arkansas only cost $7 a year. Folks may have been taking advantage, hanging them on their 91 S-10 pickup and driving to work each day instead of to the local cruise nights in the summer. Next, we can thank State Rep. Jack Fortner for ‘addressing this issue’. Fortner claims to own several antique vehicles, yet doesn’t quite understand that there were collector cars made after 1974. Finally, some might call this legislative agism, but Act 368 (formerly HB 1496)  is about solving a problem with folks skirting the system and the state losing much-needed revenue.

Story Link: The Drive

All of these stories, plus a sexy Moment of  Musk?

Just trust us on this one.

Cars of the Week

Each week, we pretend to have unlimited funds and we go hypothetical car-shopping-spree on our favorite websites to find the next project, dream car, or long-lost-love from our past.

VW EurovanEric: 2002 Volkswagen Eurovan

While Eric was surfing the web pricing vacations (and Vanagons) in Seattle, he stumbled upon this seldom-seen descendent of the classic VW Westfalia camper van. This “Aquarium” of a van sports a 200 horsepower 2.8 VR6 with 215,000 miles and has room for the whole family to camp out without forfeiting their favorite seat. The asking price is $14,500, which Eric points out is reasonable for what you get. Try camping in a 17 year-old Chrysler Town & Country. 

Daryl: 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE 3.5 Coupe

After watching a Petrolicious video of a British gentleman with a light blue ‘68 Coupe, Daryl quickly abandoned his love for four doors and searched for the perfect Mercedes hardtop coupe. This midnight blue Euro-spec ‘70 is in New York and features a rare Eurpoean market only 4 speed manual trans and the optional 3.5 liter V8. With a beautiful gauge cluster and rich leather that never seems to age, this fits the bill. The price is steep, but well worth the cost when you consider the build quality these had back in the day. Link:https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/mercedes-benz/280se/2239809.html

Enjoy this week’s show. Thanks for listening, and let us know how we’re doing at info@throwinwrenches.com

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