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Slant Car Wash System

Etowah
Up until a few years ago, Valero (Diamond Shamrock then) had about 10 of these systems still in operation that I serviced. Real workhorses of their day.
 
That's pretty cool. I used to have two them. They were simple and easy to work on. I've still got some spare parts. A computer and a couple of new still in the box gear reducers made by Boston Gear.
 
Too bad some of these companies go out of business. I've seen 4-5 of these in commercial locations back in the '90's and every operator I spoke to raved about the machine. Judging by the comments posted above, most people seem happy with it.

If it were still made today, I could see pretty much the same design, but with a closed cell foam on the brushes. I always liked the two top brush design, covering the front and rear of the vehicle.

Gotta love the K.I.S. method of engineering.
 
Just to put in a commercial plug for Magic Wand, the engineer who worked for Slant, a Mr. Bill Rambo (yes that's his real name), has taken a lot of the concepts from that machine and turned it into a three brush rollover. It will be priced far below similar machines. It will do a car or truck in under two minutes, using less than 20 gallons of water. The electronics have been updated with current sensors and VFDs. It's been tested at the plant and the first field one is going in as we speak. Since the Slant was receiving such good comments, I thought that Bill wouldn't mind a cheap plug. Will post a video when available.
 
mac said:
Just to put in a commercial plug for Magic Wand, the engineer who worked for Slant, a Mr. Bill Rambo (yes that's his real name), has taken a lot of the concepts from that machine and turned it into a three brush rollover. It will be priced far below similar machines. It will do a car or truck in under two minutes, using less than 20 gallons of water. The electronics have been updated with current sensors and VFDs. It's been tested at the plant and the first field one is going in as we speak. Since the Slant was receiving such good comments, I thought that Bill wouldn't mind a cheap plug. Will post a video when available.
Click to expand...

Mac,

Thanks for sharing that - it is good to know. I'll look forward to a video sometime in the future.


Mike
 
I remember seeing these in the South 20 years ago. I was never impressed much by the wash quality and it loved to eat the antenna on the my 69' Olds.
 
If you notice in the video the brushes are VERY dense. Between the angle (slant) of the side brush and limited feed back to control the brush pressure there is no comparison to the old Ryko's. The old Ryko's were well designed work horses that ran forever. Set properly they work very well. Maybe the Slant worked better when set up right, I have no idea, I never worked on one. It just looked like old technology to me and this was almost 20 years ago. I would have to have more info to make a real comparison, but who cares anyway, we are talking about 20-30 year old machines.
 
There are still some of those around here in the South. Mostly operated by companies that wash their own vehicles. These machines are almost impossible to add on some of the extra service products like waxes and tri-foams operators need to improve profitability so they do not work well in a retail setting. In some respect the damage done to cars back then like bending antennas and ripping off hood ornaments, chrome strips and license plates brought on the demand for touch free automatics. It is a bit ironic that today most vehicles do not have any of those problem makers to deal with. I was there when Harry Matthews developed the first Mark VII touch free automatic. My company made the first chemicals for it. Unfortunately neither the machine or my touch free chemicals did a very good job at that time.
 
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Etowah
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