Washlopnik Odyssey: A Rough Volvo and a Stalwart Toyota

"Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available" (whoistheleader2) 03/27/2020 at 18:00 • Filed to: Washlopnik, cleaning, Toyota Tundra, volvo xc90, Dirty cars

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Many of you will think me a fool for washing not one but two cars during the peak of pollen season, but I have several good reasons. For one, I absolutely had to get in some catharsis and there is little more relaxing to me than washing a car. Even better, washing two cars for someone who will appreciate it. Second, both these cars were so dirty that no amount of pollen could hide the difference.

Let’s start chronologically with the 2007 Vovlo XC90.

This poor Swede is in rough shape. Looking at it you might suspect a low speed accident had occurred. It’s really more like a dozen low speed collisions but very few of them caused damage or were at-fault.

First I grabbed someone’s toothpaste to polish up the faded headlamps. This one had some packing tape covering some fatal flaws, which needed replacement. Unfortunately the tape was so damaged by the UV it wasn’t worth it to peel all of it off. The quick release headlight design is about the only thing I can appreciate in this under-powered FWD tank.

When this pandemic is over I’ll visit a junkyard to pick up some headlights and taillights. Maybe replace the passenger side doors if they have a silver one.

Much much better. Silver doesn’t really show the results as well as the green Tundra to come, but the car cleaned up nicely. The tar spots were hard to get off with the limited tools I had access to. I also had trouble with the wipers falling off the arms.

Now for the main event: one 2002 Toyota Tundra TRD Limited guest starring V8 and 4WD!

This beautiful green example was in a sorry state. Clouded headlights, faded plastics. Just look at this. Svend, avert your eyes.

Ouch. That is really really bad. So bad I wonder I didn’t drop everything to save the day sooner.

The first thing I did was defog the headlights with the aforementioned toothpaste. These headlights respond well to a quick and dirty shine. Sadly I had neither the tools nor the time to address the engine bay.

That is a massive difference.

Wow. I can finally appreciate that color. Just a breathtakingly classy ride.

I didn’t have time to do paint correction. I may try that tomorrow.

I have a hypothesis that these are future classics. They are great fun to drive. The V8s are powerful and durable. And these last forever if you keep them away from salt.

Meanwhile: 30 minutes later. POLLEN!

SiennaMan > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/27/2020 at 18:15

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So toothpaste does work well?  Do you just a toothbrush?  I should try to hit the family fleet once it warms up a touch..

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > SiennaMan 03/27/2020 at 18:19

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No no no no no do NOT use a toothbrush. I used a stiff plastic bristle brush like you might use in the kitchen that I usually use on wheels.

That method only works if it is older than about 2010 since after that they started putting rubberized coatings on the headlights. You can tell easily enough it is just a spray on UV coating from the factory.

SiennaMan > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/27/2020 at 18:33

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 Good to know,  thanks.   Yeah,  no worries on the age, our "new" car is a 2010.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > SiennaMan 03/27/2020 at 18:36

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Tape around the edges, pop the hood, and scrub really hard. Then wipe down with dry paper towels as much as you can. Then hose off. Any other order will be disastrous, but the results are great without too much time/effort commitment.

Under_Score > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/27/2020 at 19:27

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Faded “Toyota Superstore” plateframe from before it became Nalley of Roswell, the VOVOway.com plate frame, and the new plates you were forced to get to replace the On My Mind ones in 2012 even though most people didn’t do that. That is my automotive enthusiasm.

I need to start collecting defunct Atlanta dealer plate frames NOW.

The one I really want is dealer merchandise for Chris Volvo in Marietta. It’s like Google image search forgot that these places existed.

Edit: Oh wait, that’s a 2007-2011 .gov plate on the truck. I remember people got mad that their specialty plates weren’t benefiting organizations, so there was a big transition to .gov plates c.2011, too. Now, there are people putting hideous faded On My Mind plates on 2020 model year cars.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Under_Score 03/27/2020 at 19:37

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The plate frame on the Toyota just fits so perfectly and is color matched so well I would never take it off. The truck also has a decal from the original dealer reading Toyota of Roswell. All those really add to the local history of the truck.

I don’t know about the Volvoway frame. There is a great Volvo specialist off Lower Roswell Road that is so good I even take my Cruze there. I don’t know Chris Volvo.

The new plates with the peaches  on a hill are in my mind much better than the generic old peach background ones. The Olympics edition one was pretty good too. I find it fascinating how you can tell the history of a car from the plates and frame alone. Unexpectedly accurate spot there.

Under_Score > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/27/2020 at 21:27

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Chris Volvo -> VOVOway? -> Nalley Volvo -> Volvo Cars of Marietta. Nalley Infiniti is where Nalley Volvo used to be. I only know it was called Chris Volvo because my parents tell a story about a Volvo wagon they looked at LONG AGO (2000) and hated.

My RAV was purchased only a few months after the license plate transition, so it’s hard to tell that it’s running on the original plate! It’s a PD plate; they started issuing them in May 2012 as PA, so that tells you how hard they were pushing the switch Summer 2012. I even found a news article about it.

After May 2015, when my dad got a PZ plate for his old xB, the plate sequence began to make absolutely no sense. It’s on RV now or something for the peach plates, and let’s not get started with the white ones!

Also, that’s nice about the truck. Are the Tundra and the Volvo one owner? There’s an Odyssey in my neighborhood with a plate frame for HANK AARON HONDA, which hasn’t existed since like 2006, and a gray www.Georgia.gov plate. Once you get to early-2000’s cars with completely faded plate frames and On My Mind plates, you know you’re in dedicated, one-owner  old person territory.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Under_Score 03/27/2020 at 23:03

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All the cars in my family’s fleet are two owner, I believe.

I am surprised that you can remember that complicated dealer history. And I never quite realized that you could still get away with On my Mind plates

This wall in my parents house has a pretty cool history of their plates. The Fours Bros Datsun is cool, as is the Olympic one 

Under_Score > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/27/2020 at 23:37

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Big fan of those, especially the Datsun plate.

There was a Cadenza near me (now replaced with a Telluride) running around with an On My Mind plate. Other notable offenders I’ve seen include a 2019 RAV4, a new Explorer ST, and a 2020 CR-V. The craziest one has to be a 2018 Accord Hybrid (I’m shocked, too) with a 1234AB On My Mind plate, a very rare configuration.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Under_Score 03/27/2020 at 23:42

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1234AB has to be a vanity. Right?

Under_Score > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 03/28/2020 at 09:12

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Nope, just a plate formatted like this! They’re usually on super old trailers.