Quality, not Quantity

I am not in the business of volume.

I am in the business of craftsmanship.

Anyone who appreciates articles of true quality knows most of the time, the difference in quality lies more in the quality of the craftsmanship than the materials needed to produce it. The best kitchen cabinets in the world cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, but are still made out of the same wood and cut with the same saws as cabinets costing a tenth of the price. A Rolls Royce is made out of the same metals and leathers and magical materials as other high-end luxury vehicles, but the sum of the parts definitely doesn’t equal the same whole. The craftsmanship makes the difference.

My likes and interests tell the story. I like books, which take not only time to write but to read. I like wine and whiskey, drinks literally heralded for their years to produce. I like fountain pens, a simple writing instrument which takes time to produce, is comically uncommon, and rewards care, practice, and patience.

There is only one of me. I only have one dry ice blasting machine. Even if I had more employees the results would be dependent on my eye, my attention to detail, my time. I’ve structured my business this way, because I have structured my whole life this way. I like quality, not quantity.

It isn’t the smartest business decision either, and I know it. I have enough customer interest to hire people and get more machines and up the number of cars that come in and out of my shop. I could clean more cars, and make more money. But that isn’t what seems right to me; it’s not what I really want.

Don’t get me wrong, I want more money, but I’m only going to be happy earning it my way. If I upped the volume, I don’t think the quality would be the same, and that’s not OK. The finished product of every single car I do is how customers judge me, so it’s how I judge myself. I’m not OK with anything other than the best. Anything other than my best. I may not always believe in myself, but I definitely believe in my work.

Maybe that’s hubris, or selfishness, or me thinking too highly of myself. Believe me, nobody is harder on my decision making than me. So to compensate for that doubt and uncertainty, I push myself as hard as I can on every car to do more, to be better.

Paint It Black

There is no denying it, Italians know what looks good.

Their cars have a flow and a flair and a vibe all their own, and from the 1950s onward it takes only the most basic glance to know that you are looking at something Italian; they are just sexy.

Something many people don’t realize, they cheat. They do something nobody else does; they control your eyes. They use curves and flares and colors and chrome to draw your attention to certain areas, and they use satin black to draw your attention away from others. Addition through subtraction; It’s a strategy employed by many outside the automotive world to enhance your experience by eliminating distractions subconsciously, and it absolutely works. Disney has their own specific color they use for this, called “Go Away Green” which is painted on plain buildings and walls and doors in their theme parks so you only pay attention to what they want you to; your brain simply ignores it because subconsciously it thinks it’s insignificant, and like magic, it disappears.

The downside I have discovered of this strategy and how well it works, is many restoration shops employ this to hide issues and flaws they don’t want you to notice. Rather than fix rusted panels or flaking old underbody finishes, they simply paint everything black so it looks good in photographs and pass the issue on to the next owner. It’s a strategy that obviously works, but with the rise of dry ice blasting, I’m hoping we can start bringing it to an end.

When I got a particular car in the shop last week, I had high hopes. It’s incredibly rare, spectacularly gorgeous, and steeped with Italian heritage. I had figured that it’s pedigree would ensure a lifetime of the highest quality care, but as I got it on the lift and got the wheels off, I saw that was not exactly the case. The fender wells showed layer after layer of thick undercoating, and I don’t think that’s EVER a good sign. It wasn’t.

I respect this car too much to tarnish its history, so it will have to suffice I found things I shouldn’t have, things that were hidden. My frustration here lies with intention, burying flaws underneath layers of thick undercoating and satin black paint to hide them from inquisitive eyes. Until the rise of dry ice blasting, there wasn’t a good, non-destructive way, to clean and remove these types of materials to expose the true condition of the panels and finishes underneath Now, secrets will be revealed.

I’m trying to use dry ice blasting and dry ice cleaning for the most good I can. In this case, it’s finding hidden problems so that they can be expertly repaired. That car will soon be the car it should be, from every angle and on every surface.

The other side of the coin is how dry ice blasting can be used to highlight just how great a vehicle’s condition is. Removing old undercoating from cars in excellent condition can remove all doubt of what lies underneath. I cleaned a 1979 10th Anniversary Pontiac Trans-Am recently, and the sole purpose of removing the dealer installed undercoating was to illustrate the exemplary condition of the car. Nothing was hidden, there were no surprises, every card on the table was face up. The car was spectacular, and the seller wanted everything exposed and out in the open to tell its own amazing story.

I don’t like surprises. My goal is always to give customers a car in the best possible condition, and to exceed expectations. But when I discover hidden problems, what I’m doing then is revealing a car’s potential; showing what needs to be done to make it better. I’m a detailer. I’m an archeologist. Sometimes my digging uncovers gold, sometimes….not. The only way to know what is in Pandora’s Box is to open it.

Confidence

I was excited to get my first car for a lot of reasons. It meant freedom and independence. It meant shifting gears and going fast. But, maybe more than anything else, it meant finally had a chance to be cool.

I was absolutely not cool growing up. I definitely wasn’t cool in high school. I was a nerd who read lots of books and got good grades and wore many different sweater vests. I didn’t smoke or drink or do drugs, I didn’t listen to the coolest music. I still don’t really. I didn’t know how to make myself cool or be cool or act cool. But, I did know what a cool car was, and I could buy one of those.

I know I am not alone in this in the car world as many of us got into cars because we needed a prosthesis of cool we could strap on at will, I think it’s one of the subconscious things that ties us together. I love to drive and I love to go fast and I love to work and clean my car, but I’m not afraid to admit my cars have always been a lot cooler than me.

I felt confident leading with what car I drove because it made a first impression I was more comfortable with than me alone. Self-esteem isn’t a strong suit of mine, it never has been. I’m a shy introvert, an INFJ to be specific for the uber-nerds who know what that means, and a cool car was a way into situations I wouldn’t be confident in alone.

For a long time it was my go-to misdirection, until my work started to define me. I am comfortable leading with my work, just like I was comfortable leading with my car. It isn’t me, but it’s something I’m very, very proud of.

I have a lot of confidence in my work, but I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself.

That strange congruence causes issues in places that you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

I was trying to add pictures to this website, and I was struggling to choose the right ones. I take a lot of pictures of every car I do, many more of the after than the before, and I found myself simply choosing too many. That’s not bad necessarily, but it definitely doesn’t tell much of a story. At least, I don’t think that it tells the story that I really want.

In my head, I want to show every inch of every Ferrari I have ever done. The issue is, there are lots of inches to cover, and I do a lot of Ferraris. So if I add 400 pictures of nearly identical 355s and Testarossas, nobody is going to scroll through them all and think, “Look how thorough he is!” “Look how many Ferraris he does!” Instead, they are likely to think things more like, “I’m bored,” and “I get it already, it looks like it was built in a shed and it’s really clean now.”

A well made gallery of work examples is absolutely a case of “less is more.” Show some highlights, tease the viewers brain, and make them want to see more. It’s not important to show everything, the most interesting stories are the ones where your brain can fill in the gaps left by the author. It’s about showing enough, and just enough.

But, my insecure brain tells me, “why do less when you can do MORE!??!?! MORE IS MORE!” It’s why I talk too much, say too much, ramble on, and write overly verbose blog posts like this. Short and sweet isn’t my thing I guess.

I added more pictures, although not as many as I originally selected. There are lots of Ferraris and Porsches and Rolls Royces that have been meticulous dry ice cleaned. They show some of what I can do. They tell part of the story.

I believe in my work, I’m very proud of it and I know how good it is. I believe in my writing too, even though it’s quality is questionable.

JE

Where It All Starts

I have had something like a blog for a while.

My Instagram posts aren’t traditional, at least among the automotive or detailing space. Most guys simply describe what is in the pictures that are posted, it’s pretty basic. I personally think the pictures tell a decent story on their own, so instead, I have taken that space and that exposure to try and educate my followers more about myself than the car that’s pictured.

Maybe it’s a good idea. Maybe it’s a bad one. I’m not really sure.

In addition to look at the pictures, I hope that people will read whatever strange tanget I have gone upon that week, whether it be about my motivations or books I like or whatever, and it will resonate with them. In today’s world of reality TV and social media, “authenticity” reigns king, so rather than put out text based content on my Instagram posts that mirrors the images or is motivated purely by business, I put out what resonates with me. The idea behind it is to create a bond between me and my customers; for them to see me as a friend rather than a vendor.

I want their business. I want their money. But, I also want their friendship. The car community is a good place if you know where to look, so in a way I started a blog as a way of fishing to find people within that community that are like me.

If you want to know about the work I do, on Instagram at least, then look at the pictures. I think they tell a story and illustrate my competence when it comes to my job. They show what I labored to produce, they show something rare and interesting and not often seen, and they show what’s possible.

Beyond that, I’m going to try and use this space to enhance what I was trying previously do to there. Educate fans and customers and strangers about me and my work, expand their understanding of dry ice cleaning, and expand my business in a new and different way.

I hope you like it. I hope you continue to read it. Tell me what you think.

Jonathan