First off, let me say that I hate car washes. I always hand wash my cars. That being said..............

One of my prized posessions is a 1973 lincoln continental MKIV. It has a brand new leather top, leather interior, BUILT 429, and a brand new paint job. I spent over a month sanding, priming, sanding, priming, sanding, painting. Well, I had to leave the car in riverside, CA because I could only drive one car to reno, NV, and my blazer gets way better gas mileage than a 429

The lincoln hadnt been washed since I left, so over a month . They decided to take it to the "car-spa" on van buren. It went in with a $5000 dollar paint job (not including labor which I did myself)

Came out with a gash on the drivers fender, a scrape up almost 3/4 of the way up the fender on the top, and paint scraped all the way down to the metal, which is 4 layers of primer, 3 coats of old paint, plus the original color coat and primer/sealer, and damage to the hood................

When the manager was informed of the damage he claimed that it "CAME" into the car wash that way. He threatened to tow the lincoln and corvette off the property if they didnt leave. My grampa who is 77 and in the last stages of emphezema, had to go down there. The beaners were talking ****, not knowing that my grampa, who is full blooded spaniard, is quite fluent in spanish (english is his second language) told them politely to shove it

Anyways, the car wash CALLED THE COPS. Thats right. CALLED THE COPS. All my mom and step dad were told is that it is a civil matter.


What can I do. Where do I start. My neighbor is taking pics of the damage, and I will post them when I get them. He is going to take pics of the chamois at the car wash too, and compare the damage to the height of the rollers..........

Ive been in tears since I was told. This car is really special to me. My grampa has owned it since new, and gave it to me...If the car wash doesnt fix it, I dont know If I will have the money to fix it again....It might have to stay in primer for a while, and all I can do right now is cry. Im 700 miles away, and HEATED at the car wash..............


thank you for letting me vent......


here are the pics

 

Wow, that stinks. What a idiot car wash owner, calling the police for something that's pretty much his fault. And a liar too, oh I hate liars who lie to the police.

 

I'm sorry for the loss man.

Even though washing the car is a chore, I find it quite relaxing on a saturday morning, I don't mind spending 3 hours washing/waxing. The only thing that bugs me is the squirrel crap/pee that happens not an hour after the final coat goes on. At least, it doesnt require a new paint job :\

 

I usually wash it, or my grampa does, but he is getting older quicker, and it was just easier to get it washed...I have better pics, but for some reason, it shows as a dogear'd piece of paper in my pic library. If I werent 700 miles away, i would have washed it


I dont know why the paint looks like that in the pic!?!?!?!. its like glass in person. camera phone I guess

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes. I hate automatic car washes. I have gone through one a couple of times with my blazer just because I needed a quick wash. The first time one of the arms ripped one of my bumper lights out and the second time it cracked my antennea in half. My dad took it through one time while I was out of the state for the weekend and it bent one of the trim peices over the wheel wells to a 90 degree angle. I ended up taking all the trim off (looks better anyway).Sue the pants off the car wash owner. If the rollers match the damage, get a new paint job on the car wash. I would.

 

i hope we win. Im gonna persue this as far as I can. As far as the paint....its only maybe 4 months old. I havent even fully buffed it out yet. Ive been too busy

 

Sucks to hear that, hope you get it fixed soon


I actually like to car my car. I wash every other weekend, unless it get dirty and wax about once a month

 

Ouch, that sucks. That's why I always wash by hand in my driveway. At least then if something gets ruined I only have myself to blame lol. Besides, I'm very **** about cleaning my vehicles so car washes can't even come close to clean enough compared to my hand washes lol. I love detailing cars though, so that's just me.

 

see if theres any websites designed for posting stuff like this. so if people google that place they will find out what happened. might be others too.

ill never go to a autowash. my first job was detailing cars and probably once a month someone would come in with scratches or messed up cars for us to fix.

 

PICTURES of the continental PLEASE