Zombie Window Cleaners?

I came across this article & thought wouldn't it be great if window cleaners could get in on the act? Just imagine putting some coloring in your normal cleaning solution & making a fundraiser or Halloween special out of the concept. Make sure you watch the video at the bottom for the public reactions from a marketing stunt in NYC to bring back a zombie TV series...

 

Car Wash of the Living Dead - There were buckets of blood and suds aplenty at yesterday's fundraiser for the Toronto Zombie Walk. When zombies are around, trouble looms. Whether caused by disease, viral outbreaks, space debris, or science gone bad, a gathering of the undead tends not to turn out well for the living. And yet even though logic dictates that one should run when faced with a mass of shambling, shuffling creatures, curiosity draws us to them despite the mortal danger. I’m guilty of this. How else can I explain why I ventured into the middle of a gathering of zombies who appeared to be…washing cars?

I had heard rumours that the undead were being used to clean the vehicles of the living. The washes are reputed to serve as a fundraising effort for the annual zombie walk through the streets of Toronto. Further rumours suggested that the Heart and Stroke Foundation is a partner in this year’s walk. As I pulled into the Classic Coin Car Wash at College Street and Lansdowne Avenue, my heart jumped a little. Was I putting my life on the line to discover if a zombie could wash my vehicle? Perhaps, but I had to find out if the undead could do a better job than some of the mechanized car washes around town, whose programmed cleaning cycles can miss a spot or two.

Judging from her fresh-looking gaping wounds and relatively peachy colour, it appeared the zombie collecting my money had recently joined the undead. Her partner was grey and slower-moving, which made it easy to close the window on him when he attempted to eat my brains. I was motioned to park the car and wait for a bay to open up. Since the air lacked agonized screaming, I figured the situation was under enough control that it was safe to wander the lot. There was a table where several zombies had been pressed into bake sale/T-shirt-selling duty. Even the undead have embraced the cupcake craze: frosting swirled like a brain was a good match with the chocolate cake, even if I tried not to ponder what (or who) might have gone into the sweet topping.

As I drove my car into an open bay, it was swarmed by a legion of groaning zombies. Their eyes spoke of their inner longing to have me for lunch as they slowly spread blood across my vehicle. Their slow, jerky motions shook the car a bit, which was unnerving until I realized they were spreading their bloody mess onto every spot of dirt. Still, the thought that they might turn on me at any second made me want to flee the car the second the horde shuffled off to work on another car.

Back in the lot, more zombies had ventured to the curb to draw in traffic. Their efforts appeared to be working, as a line snaked westward along College Street. While some undead mumbled about brains, others offered children cotton candy. One brave kid smiled when a zombie grunted that he could leave a bloody print on the child’s t-shirt (with parental approval, of course). Any lingering worries about a sudden attack evaporated.

Soon it was time to drive off. I looked over the car and determined that training the undead to clean vehicles might have been a good idea. The car smelled fresh and soapy. The blood had been washed off. With the zombies’ attentions turned to other drivers who shared my morbid sense of curiosity, I drove out of the lot. Just to be to safe, I checked the trunk a few miles down the road just to make sure nothing had crawled in while I wasn’t looking.

Lesson For All Window Cleaners From A Car Washer

World's most expensive car wash: £7,200: Gurcharn Sahota, 30, takes up to 250 hours to clean each vehicle with an array of 100 cleaning fluids and wax that costs £8,200 per tub. His premier wash includes polishing and buffing every inch of the car inside and out five times. He even uses a computerised microscope – normally used by forensic scientists – to examine the bodywork for the minutest scratch not even visible to the naked eye. Mr Sahota, who drives a clapped-out VW Golf himself, started the business five years ago by washing his neighbour's cars with a bucket and sponge. Pictured - Gurchan Sahota, using the electronic meter to measure the depth of the paintwork on the car.

But he has since cleaned hundreds of supercars and now boasts a string of celebrity clients. He said: ''When I was younger I washed neighbours' cars and my dad's car whenever I could. ''They never paid me, I loved it so much I did it for free. ''Things have built up from there and now I'm cleaning some of the fastest, most powerful sports cars in the world. ''People come to me and they want the best treatment going for their car.



''If you've got a £500,000 car then a few grand for cleaning is worth it. ''Sometimes I'll work through the night to get a car looking absolutely pristine. ''They're world class motors that deserve a world class wash.'' Mr Sahota, who lives with his parents in Derbyshire, has converted their double garage into a hi-tech workshop.

He built a Formula 1-style pit for scrubbing the underneath of cars and layered the entire workshop floor and walls with specialist tiles imported from Italy which help reflect flecks of dirt on the cars. He begins every clean in the same way – washing it with a lambwool mitten and soapy water. He said: ''I treat every car like an individual project, I want them to leave my workshop looking better than they have ever done.



''I have my processes which I go through and I am meticulous about each one. ''If you're paying £150,000 for a car then you're going to want it to be perfect. ''The first time I cleaned a Ferrari Enzo it took a week and when I tried to sleep all I could see was Ferrari red. ''The car has to be free from all contaminants like dust and dirt before you start otherwise it's going to get scratched. ''I just want perfection. Finishing is the best part because you know what it was like when you started. That gives me great satisfaction.''

After spending hundreds of hours cleaning by hand he uses a £5,000 computerised microscope which examines the car for blotches and scratches. A buffer is linked to a highly sensitive paint gauge which scans the car to prevent patching on the bodywork. Finally, he uses a specialist clay which he rubs over the bodywork to remove any imperfections. Mr Sahota, who works alone, started cleaning cars while he studied for a degree in accountancy at Birmingham University.



After graduating he begged a local Aston Martin dealer to let him clean a DB9 for free. The dealer, who reluctantly agreed, was so impressed with the results he passed on his details to clients and began using him on a regular basis. He then established his own firm – Elite Detailing – and has opened a second workshop in Worcester. He said: ''The work just started flying in. My reputation was great and word just spread.''

His parents Gurbinder, 55, and Amarjit, 53, were so impressed with their son's work they converted their double garage into a hi-tech workshop for his business. Since then he has washed hundreds of supercars including Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches. His proudest moment cleaning the world's most expensive car – the McLaren F1 GTR worth up to £3 million. He said: ''The McLaren F1 GTR is without doubt my favourite car. It is so exclusive you hardly see any of them on the roads. ''They are a very attractive car and every inch of them is perfect – they are a work of art.''

He does not disclose the identities of his celebrity clients identities but one of his customers is the lawyer Nick Freeman – known as Mr Loophole – who regularly sends his Aston Martin DBS Volante to him for a clean. His other customers include Premiership footballers, rock stars, actors and stockbrokers.



Mr Sahota's car washing tips:

1. Use warm soapy water.
2. Add warm water mixed with a PH neutral shampoo in one and plain water in the other.
3. Use a lamb's wool wash mitt which only costs £8 and is better than a sponge.
4. Always wash from the top down.
5. Use different cloths on the bodywork and wheels.
6. Avoid acidic and high-alkaline wheel cleaners and any silicone-based products because they stain.
7. Use a towel instead of a chamois leather to dry the car.
8. Always check the cleaning materials regularly to make sure there's no dirt in them.
9. Always dry the bodywork in small circles to prevent streaking.
10. Take your time and enjoy washing the car.

Find this story hard to believe? - £30,000 for 8 windows coming soon.