BRING OUT YOUR BEST

The Tricks, Techniques, and Tools of Professional Detailers

- TIM BERNSAU

The famous hot rod shops building cars that win the top-level awards know that a car isn’t ready to show until it’s been perfected. They know that show judges at the Grand National Roadster Show, the Detroit Autorama, or Pebble Beach are going to be fanatically scrutinizing their work, looking for the slightest flaw as closely as a crime scene detective looks for a fingerprint or a strand of hair. Professional builders rely on professional detailers to eliminate any hint of imperfection in the paint, interior, engine compartment, and tires and wheels of the cars they submit for judging.

Claude Harris Jr. is one of the people builders call to make sure those judges don’t find any flaws. He began his career almost 30 years ago as a mobile detailer—essentially a traveling car washer—with a trunk full of wash buckets and brushes, a car vacuum, and a homemade T-shirt with his logo on it. Today, he is the owner of Final Appearance Auto Detailing in Santa Fe Springs, California, a member of the International Detailers’ Association, and the 2020 Detailer of the Year.

He has participated on the Competition Ready TV show on Velocity (now Motor- Trend TV), and he works with elite-level shops and personal collectors, taking cars to their ultimate level.

HOT ROD visited Claude at his shop where he showed us some of the tools, told us some of the techniques, and described some of the terms that pro detailers use. Your car might not be competing at the highest levels, but much of the information that Claude shared in this basic overview can be adopted by hot rodders at any level.