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ELGIN ARNOLD began his drive to automate car washes

bucket, a hose and a dream.

NEWS photo Mike Wakstield

decades ago with little more than a

No plans made for retirement

From page 24

house located in the 5300-block of
Kingsway. He knocked some holes
in it, converted it to a rudimen-

tary car wash, and found himself ~

with a thriving enterprise.

’ “We washed seven cars in one
day, and we thought we were do-
ing pretty. good. Then we got up
to 40 cars in a day and we had a

. little party.’’

. Many. clean wheels were turned,
time went on and Arnojd bought
some more property and built -a
truly automated car wash behind
the old house. oo
_ In! 1953, on the last day. of
business cleaning cars in the con-

verted house, Arnold and com-_

' pany washed 250 vehicles.

The new operation, the guts of_
which eventually included equip- °.
“ment .designed by Arnold and-

mechanically | minded . employee
- Ted Parkinson, incorporated the
chain drive,:an essential element, -
of the time-motion equation as it
pertains to the world of automated
car washing. .”;

Explains Arnold, ‘‘We. decided
“that. we couldn’t have our: cus-
tomers driving ‘their cars through,
because too many mistakes were
being made.

“When a customer drove the.

car. we would give them a bang on

the fender:and get them'to move:

up until we mopped the top. Then
we would'open the hand-control -
led water valve, and then bang on
the car, and he’d slowly drive
through it.

“It was time and motion. Peo-
ple were nervous. Once you lose
control of the automobile, you
lose control of the business. To
this day we put a car on a con-
veyor chain. As long a3 it is on a
conveyor chain, it’s ours. We can
speed it up, slow it down,’ he
added.

Parkinson was to remain with

’ Arnold for 37 years.

The machinery they designed
and ‘built, the Elgin Car Wash
System, remains in use at the
Oasis Car Wash plants in. North
Vancouver, Burnaby and West
Vancouver. :

Said Arnold, ‘‘We figured that
_we used to have two men on
-steam guns and another two men
-telieving on steam guns...

'. We figured .if. we had a

. machine that would do this for us

we wouldn’t need so many men to

“sdo' the job..”

In 1963 Arnold opened the Park
Royal car wash.
At the time it was advertised as
' “Western -Canada’s largest and
finest automated car wash.”
The wash opened with a 15-car
assembly line, came completely

blacktopped, had a glassed-in
lounge and served hot and’ cold
drinks.

Auto-trendy tires are spun and
rinsed and the well-to-do con-
tinue to wheel, in their, Mercedes
and Saabs for the weekly wash.

The system, as Arnold has de-
veloped it, combines automation
with hands-on service.

**We wash the finest cars-in the

world. We've got a customer. here -

who brings in a Rolls Royce: eight
years ago he paid $170,000 for it.

. “He drives a Mercedes. His
-wife and daughter drive? a
Mercedes. We wash them every
week. If the weather is decent, the
Rolls Royce comes through, ” Ar-
~nold said.

Given the changes planned by;
the new Park Royal management,
Arnold’s continued . matiagement
of the Park Royal location is in
doubt, but he says he ha 8 no plans
of retiring. ;

And just what is it about. a
clean car that continues to seduce
him back to work after decades i ine
the business?

“I’ve seen people come in. with

a car where you couldn’t tell what,

make or what color it was.

“Within six or seven ‘ minutes”

they stand out front, and they just
look. at you in amazement.»

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