Car wash

Facility used to clean the exterior of motor vehicles A self-service car wash in Kłodzko, Poland A car wash, or auto wash, is a facility used to clean the exterior, and in some cases the interior, of cars. Car washes can be self-service, full-service (with attendants who wash the vehicle), or fully automated (possibly connected to a filling station). Car washes may also be events where people pay to have their cars washed by volunteers, often using less specialized equipment, as a fundraiser. History The first U.S. patent for a mechanized car wash was filed in 1900 and soon followed by "auto laundries". The Automobile Laundry in Detroit, Michigan, opened in 1914 by Frank McCormick and J.W. Hinkle, is considered the first business in the U.S. to adopt the name "car wash" for their services. Manual car wash operations, which used manpower to push or move the cars through stages, peaked at 32 drive-through facilities in the United States. The first semi-automatic car wash in the United States debuted in 1946 at a facility in Detroit, which used automatic pulley systems and manual brushing. Dan Hanna, encouraged by car washers in Detroit, founded a car wash in 1967 called the Rub-a-Du