News Flash! ST. REGIS HOTEL SINGAPORE PURCHASES KOZAK TO KEEP FLEET OF BENTLEY'S CLEAN!

I'm very happy to tell you that the St. Regis Hotel in Singapore, the proud owner of a fleet of Bronze colored Bentley's has chosen to use the KozaK Auto DryWash Cloth to keep their fleet of cars sparkling clean and polished!

Here's the link to the hotel... it's a lovely place to stay in Singapore : http://www.starwoodhotels.com/stregis/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1533

Hey Joe... Use a KozaK!

Why is this guy washing his TranAm in the White House driveway? That's right... the White House driveway!!

Maybe he's trying to attract a few interns?? Ha-ha.. not with that body!

Hey Joe... get to the gym boy, and USE A KOZAK!

The KOZAK GIRL VIDEO

A friend of mine called and asked if I would please upload the full KozaK video.... so.. here she is!

I just spent a wonderful few hours recently with a very good friend of mine, Winston gan. Winston owns D'Best Respray Company at Malayan Motors in Singapore and he's been in the restoration business for almost 22 years. If it's broken on the island here, and you want it fixed right, you go to Winston... hands down!

Malayan Motors sells Bentley's, Jaguars, Lexus... nice cars! Winston and I were laughing over another mutual friend of ours who has a very lovely black Bentley coupe with a dark/light Red leather interior.

Seems like this chap's son did a bit of a number on the rear leather seats and he brought the car into Winston's shop for repair.

Now, Winston like me, uses Lexol Leather Cleaner, Lexol Leather Conditioner and the KozaK Auto DryWash cloth on many of the cars he works on. From a Bentley to a humble Volkswagon, he Lexol's and KozaK's them all. And, they look great afterwards!

This gentleman expected a huge bill for cleaning the p$%**k from the rear seat.. instead we whipped out a spray bottle of Lexol Cleaner and went to work. Within an hour, the seat was clean, fresh, and conditioned with Lexol Conditioner. The smell was gone, the car was like new again, and we had a very happy amigo, smiling from ear to ear!

His driver was polishig his Bentley with a terry cloth towel... I took the opportunity to straighten him out and gave him a demo of the KozaK cloth. In less than 5 minutes, his coupe was spotless and glowing... and his eyes were as big as saucers! The road dirt was gone in a flash.. no water, no scratches! I love that cloth!

I then showed him the video from ProMedUSA's website at http://www.kozakasia.com/. He was laughing so hard I thought he was going to wet his pants (well.. actually he may have, but I wasn't about to check!!)

Here's the video for you to enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXsnYkTwjKg

That brings me to a story about my first Rolls Royce. It was a 1971 Silver Shadow, much like the one in the photo, except it was Silver with Black sides, and black leather interior.

The leather seats were getting very stiff... I bought the car in 1982 for $15,000 from a dealer in St. Louis, MO (Charles Schmidt I think was his name) and the seats had never been conditioned. They were beginning to crack badly. RR suggested Connelly's Hide Food at about $50 a pop... it didn't do S%#T to fix the seats. I tried Lexol Conditioner... used about 4 or 5 light coats over a week's time, and the seats were restored to an almost new suppleness. Now, the cracks were still there... but the leather was fresh and soft. It worked great!

Winston loves the product as much as I do... no sweat car care.. quick, easy, clean and... IT WORKS!

My '57 Chevy...or why you don't raise your hand at an auction!

See the picture above? She's a beauty, no?? Well, imagine sitting in one of these beautifully restored 1957 Chevy's on a major expressway in Chicago... with no gas! That's what happened to me about 2 hours after I bought her... but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's start at the beginning...

I used to read Hemmings Automotive magazine, which is the "bible" for car collectors. I saw that there was to be an auction near Chicago of antique and mid-1950's - 1960's cars that weekend. We packed up a picnic lunch, and Saturday morning got into my Jeep Cherokee and headed north to Lake Bluff, Illinois. When we got to the auction site, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.



There must have been 200 cars lined up on display for a pre-auction inspection. One of them caught my eye immediately. Like the photo above, it was a cherry red and white 1957 Chevrolet 2 dr hardtop, with red and silver vinyl seats, power brakes, power windows (both of which were VERY rare in a 1957 model - supposedly they only made a few hundred of them). My childhood dream! (Well, not really... she got away, but that's a secret!)



The car looked really hot. I got behind the huge steering wheel, and them memories of my childhood came flowing back. I dreamed of driving along the highway, stopping at an A&W Root beer drive-in restaurant, grabbing a big frosty mug of root beer and a burger, teasing the waitresses, then roaring off in a cloud of dust!



Remember the old advertising jingle... "See the USA, in your Chevrolet..."??? YEAH!!!



The auction started... the cars flew by, the auctioneer droned on with his almost rapid fire, unintelligible babble of auctioneering semantics... when the Chevy came up...



The bidding was fast and furious in $100 then $500 clips... going once, going twice... silence...I don't know what got into me, but... I raised my hand... SOLD to the young man (I liked that auctioneer!!! HA HA) on the left! $13,5000 GONE!



Whew... my hands were shaking as I went to the sale booth and took out my checkbook.. a word to the wise here... NEVER GO TO AN AUCTION WITH YOUR CREDIT CARDS OR CHECKBOOK! BIG TROUBLE!!



I wrote out the check, and signed a few transfer papers, got a temporary license plate and the HOT CHERRY RED 1957 CHEVY was mine!



I should have asked if the gauges, and everything else was working, but I was too excited. I handed the Jeep keys to one of my friends, and the rest of us piled into the Chevy for the ride back to Chicago.



The gas gauge showed half a tank of gas... I should have known better! Anyway, after turning the key and the engine coming to life with a few huffs and then just a nice purrrrr, we drove off. It was quite an experience driving such a primitive car. First, the steering wheel was HUGE.. probably 15 inches or so across, maybe more. Then the steering was not power assisted.. so you really had to work to turn the wheels when you weren't moving. Also, it was very HOT inside, as the sun was baking on the rooftop of the car.



I remember opening the vents... yes, there were these little triangular "vents" or side windows you could open inwards to direct air into and onto the passengers and passenger compartment. I also remember that the gas gauge stayed on half... I was too excited to think about that until....brumpppPPPppp...putt putt putt... SILENCE! No freekin' gas!



OK... not so bad... we were on a major expressway, and just had to wait for a passing motorist to stop... fortunately one did, and one of my friends jumped into their car for a quick ride to a gas station. Shortly, he was back with a "jerry can" and 5 gallons of gas.



Things were looking up, right?? WRONG... do you remember where the gas filler cap is in a '57 Chevy?? Well, I didn't!! Neither did any of my friends. We looked everywhere... behind the license plate... every where! Couldn't find it... S!!#$%%T..



Luckily, an Illinois State Trooper pulled over, who was a car buff. Son, it's right behind the fin's chrome edge he said, and sure enough... that's where it was! (See photo).

Getting back underway, we naturally had to stop at every drive-in burger joint along the highway!! And, naturally, we had a lot of root beers and burgers!

When we got home, I parked her proudly in front of my driveway, stepped back... what a gorgeous car she was!

I drove her a lot actually... I used to love parking it in a lot, and waiting about 5 minutes.. there would be a huge crowd around her, admiring, pointing, gawking!

I used to care for her myself. I used a good grade of carnuba wax every few months, a good car wash detergent, and in between all of that, I would wipe her down before and after a drive with my KozaK Auto DryWash cloth. Waterlessly, the KozaK would take off all the road dirt and dust. It would polish the Chevy without water, and without scratching! The KozaK cloth was also great on the chrome... and this baby had a lot of it!

For the interior, I would spray it with a Lexol product called Vinylex, which would penetrate into the vinyl seats and dashboard and side panels (which were also Red and Silver) and remove the dirt, keep the vinyl protected with the built in UV Sunscreen, but never leave a greasy film or unnatural shine.

I can still see her now... gleaming in the sun, just waiting for someone to turn the key and bring her to life. I sold her a few years later... I wonder what ever happened to her???

Bitten by the VIPER! Dodge that is!

I can still remember that chilly day in October 1992 when I looked out of my office window overlooking Michigan Avenue and Lake Michigan in Chicago and saw the flatbed truck pull up. My assistant came barging into my office.."It's here... it's gorgeous!!"

I looked out and saw the two men offloading my latest addition to my growing collection of cars... a bright red, 1993 Dodge Viper...V10 engine... BRUTE power... and one of the first in Chicago.I hurried downstairs .. cursing the slow elevators in our old building.. I couldn't wait to see it close up. Actually, I had never seen one in real life, only in a brochure. I had to pay quite a bit over the sticker price to get it also... they were that much in demand.

Well, here it was. Real, shiny, smelling of leather, vinyl, all those wonderful new car smells. They handed over the documents for me to sign, and stepped back to allow me to look into the cockpit. There was a crowd gathering around us. Many of my employees were eagerly looking on, and also quite a few strangers just curious about this beautifully styled fiberglass and chrome sports car that many had been reading about, but few had seen.

I elbowed my way to the drivers side and opened the door. Ahhh, what a beautiful day! I can still smell the leather seats! I sat down and put the key in the ignition, checked that the gearshift lever was in neutral, pushed down the clutch and turned the key. RRRRRrrrrrrRRRRR VROOOOMMMMM... the 10 cylinder truck engine lit off and the car shook with the vibration of 10 cylinders firing in sync... wow... what a rush...!

I took my foot off the clutch and looked over the dash board and controls. I remember that the windows only went halfway down, and there were plastic inserts for rainy days. There was no air conditioning yet available for the Viper... too new on the marker for one to have been developed yet. You could feel the heat coming into the cockpit from the engine which was now warmed up and humming smoothly.

I checked the gas gauge and saw that it was near empty. Well, the first drive was going to be to the gas station. I asked everyone to step back. I adjusted the mirrors, depressed the clutch all the way down, and placed her in First gear then eased out the clutch. The car shuddered for a second, then...whoosh..shot away from the curb like a bat out of hell! Damn fast! I guess it could do 0-60mph in under 5 seconds.

I noticed that the rear end fishtailed as I pulled away, and the car's rear kept hopping around as I passed over the many ruts and cracks on Michigan Avenue as I headed for the gas station. It had a rather primitive rear end, that was unforgiving, and built just for speed, not comfort. And, it was a bone jarring ride!

I pulled into the gas station and immediately drew a crowd around me as I filled her up. I was glad to get out of the cockpit... this car was a lot of work to drive! And, even though it was chilly outside, it was hot inside the cockpit. Well, time for a drive!

That afternoon I put about 100 miles on the Viper. Expressways, up through the North Shore of Chicago through Winnetka, Highland Park, Lake Forest, and up to Lake Bluff where a good friend of mine, Brian Murphy had his Automotive shop and Service facility. Brian was anxious to see this beast also and was waiting outside as I pulled up. Frankly, I was tired! I flipped him the keys and said... give it a try...

Brian wasted no time, and took over the drivers seat. He expertly eased her into first, then second as we accelerated up through the Illinois - Wisconsin boarder and into the countryside. He agreed with me that this was one brute of a car. And, it was a lot of work to drive... but exhilarating at the same time.

Brian was no stranger to fast cars and exotic rides. He was a wiz at massaging the most out of the cars entrusted to him. He had built quite a clientele of traders and brokers from the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Young men with a lot of money and a passion for fast and expensive cars. On a daily basis Willow Automotive would see a stream of Ferrari's, Porsche's, Mercedes, AMG's, Aston Martin's, Audi's and even a Shelby Cobra or two (or three). Brian would pull an engine apart, "blueprint" the engine, change the computer chips, timing, suspensions and sometimes even add a supercharger or turbocharger. It all depended on how much you wanted to spend... the sky was the limit!

This was the first Viper he had ever seen, much less driven. We pulled a quick U-Turn, and headed back to his shop. He quickly popped the hood and stepped back to admire the power plant under it. It was a modified Chrysler 10 cylinder truck engine placed into a lightweight fiberglass body. Fast, furious and very powerful. "Not a lot of room under there for a supercharger" I recall him saying. He was already trying to figure out what he could do to add a few more horses to the probably 400+ already being generated at a cost of about an 8 mile per gallon thirst for hi octane gas.

"Don't even think of it" I told him and we both laughed. He pulled out a couple of sodas and admired the body styling, then went to his office. He came back with a KozaK Auto DryWash cloth and quickly wiped down the body removing the dust and grime from our drive into the country. The car was gleaming in the late afternoon sun.

Brian was a KozaK convert for many years. I had passed him one when we had first met in 1985 after my friend Terry sold me his 1985 Mercedes 500SEL AMG over a Christmas dinner. Terry had told me that Brian was the only mechanic he would allow to touch his stable of cars.. everything from a Jeep Cherokee to a couple of Ferrari Testarosa's, an old Maserati, an Audi and I think a Range Rover if I remember correctly. Brian had loved the color of that Mercedes. It was a very rich, very deep Navy Blue. It was a custom color, and I was using the KozaK to waterlessly wash that car every evening when I came home from trading.

One afternoon, I pulled into Brian's driveway, as one of my widows wasn't working. While I was waiting for Brian to come over, I opened the trunk and took out the Kozak and absentmindedly began wiping that huge car down. When I looked up, Brian was standing to the side, admiring how nice the car looked. The KozaK had nicely removed not only all the day's dirt and grime but also the dust that came up from Brian's gravel driveway.

"Wont that scratch the car" he asked? "Nope.. never scratched any of my cars" I replied. He was impressed that the KozaK had waterlessly and quickly restored the shine and polish to the Navy AMG... and he was very impressed that it took off the gravel dust without a drop of water, and without scratching.

Brian quickly looked under the hood and located the fuse box. He popped it open and quickly smiled as he held a burned out fuse from the errant window motor. After a moment he replaced the fuse and tested the window, which now worked again. I asked him "how much do I owe you" and he got that huge Irish smile across his face and pointed to the KozaK in my hand. "Even trade he said" and our deal was sealed!

I drove back into Chicago eager to get the car into my garage and grab some dinner. Later, I would pick up a copy of Hemming's magazine and look for the KozaK ad so I could order another to replace the one I gave to Brian.

Brian's still in business... in fact his business has grown nicely. Check it out at http://www.willowauto.com/ and eyeball some of the fabulous cars he has.

Check out KozaK at http://www.kozakasia.com/ if you're curious about the Auto DryWash cloth that I've used since 1969. It doesn't scratch!!! Honest!! But it does really clean and polish your car beautifully without a drop of water!

My grandfather Frank, my FIRST car...1969 Lotus Europa S2 and the KOZAK cloth!

I've been dreaming about my first car (well, the first one I actually paid for)... it was a 1969 Lotus Europa S2. Fiberglass body, Lotus Red in color, a Renault Engine (transversely mounted if I remember correctly) Dunlop Tires (more about those shit tires later!) and a US$4995.00 price tag! The car weighed only about 1000 pounds, so it had quite a good weight to horsepower ratio.

The car handled beautifully. I remember the day I bought it... I was living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the dealer was in Wilmington Delaware which was about a 1 hour drive away. My friend Otto.. the guy with the 1964 Red GTO convertible drove me there to pick it up.

When I walked into the dealer's showroom, there it was... all dirty and covered with something black and tarry looking!!! I was so disappointed! The dealer came over and said "Hey, Paul... we thought you were coming tomorrow!" My heart sank.. but he smiled and told us to go down for a MacDonald’s and come back in 2 hours.

Well, I never ate a cheeseburger and fries that slowly before! Otto was good enough to stay with me, and finally ZERO HOUR arrived! We motored back to the dealer and there she was... right in front of the dealership... all waxed, shiny and waiting for me... I can still remember the feeling of excitement even now as I am typing this!

It was beautiful... I signed the papers, and hopped in for the inaugural ride, with the salesman in the passenger seat. He gave me the 50 cent tour, and I kicked him out.. I couldn't wait to take her out on my own!

Well, it was also my first stick shift (manual shift for those of you younger than 30!) and it took a while to get used to the clutch. The mechanism back then was very primitive... just a clutch cable run along the floor and fastened to the fiberglass shell with rivets. And YUP... on the way home to Philadelphia, on my FIRST hill... the freekin' clutch cable broke loose! With no tension in it, I could not shift gears! We didn't have hand phones then... not invented yet... so.. I was STUCK! And, on a hill also, with other cars behind me!

Fortunately, for some reason the engine stalled out... I was able to put it into first gear, and limped back to the dealer. I was heartbroken.

The repair took about an hour, and I was on my way again! Made it home this time, parked the car in front of my house and went inside for a cold iced tea!

My grandfather, my Uncle Joe, my grandmother... after tea we all went out to have a look at the car. they said... not very practical, no trunk (boot) for groceries, no back seat, no room... UGH... I was really upset... BUT I LOVED THAT CAR.. My grandfather Frank, he knew how much I wanted that car. He took me aside and said softly..."let's take her out".

He climbed in, and off we went for a good 1 hour ride. When we came back, he went over to the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant and pulled out the KozaK Auto DryWash cloth and passed it to me "Son, here's what I have used to keep my car clean... try it.. It’s yours if you like it".

I wiped down the car, and the Red color just popped out... the car glistened in the afternoon sun.

I still remember the smile on his face as he watched me polishing my first car... I really miss him...

So... that's how I first started to use KozaK... more about the Lotus and those awful Dunlop tires later.

If you have a car you love, try the KozaK Auto DryWash cloth! My wife distributes KozaK in Asia. Go to her website

www.kozakasia.com and read about it.
It really does work!