Spruce up your interior with Luxxio

3 April, 2017

 

Your car’s interior may see more wear and tear than its exterior, depending on how you treat it, so make sure you treat it right — to find out how, we spoke to Jack Crichton from Luxxio.

Interior Touch Up

“At Luxxio, we process hundreds of cars a month for private and commercial industry, so we needed an interior cleaner that was going to get the job done right the first time and quickly. We created a formula that increases the surface tension of the dirty surface, maximising our ability to clean with minimal passes.

“We also needed a solution that was safe for use on all surfaces — plastics, leathers and metallic surfaces. The product worked so well that we made it available for retail. You really cannot go wrong in applying the formula, either spray directly onto the surface (if it needs a soaking) or your all-purpose Microfibre cloth for a quick and clean wipe. The product will do the work for you.”

Plastic Defence

“Now the surface is clean, we wanted a coating to keep it protected, most products have strong chemicals that can cause more damage than good so we developed an olive oil-based product that nourishes and protect the surface. It smells amazing, prevents UV damage, permeates deep into the plastic to restore colour and adds water repellency, plus it has an anti-static agent to reduce dust while naturally protecting the plastic from further aging.

“Super versatile, it’s great for black plastic skirting, rubber seals, tires and a variety of other plastic and rubber surfaces. Apply a fair amount onto a clean microfibre cloth and wipe onto surface, let it sink in for a few minutes, then wipe any excess solution away for a non-greasy and refreshed looking finish.”

Leather Defence

“When it comes to interiors, leather is arguably the most sophisticated and elegant option there is, but keeping it healthy can be far from easy — Leather Defence works to increase the life and durability of leather by increasing its protection against harsh UV, dust and mould while providing essential nutrients and moisturisers to keep it flexible and resilient. A built-in protective film provides anti-static and moisture resistance, meaning less work on future cleans.

“For the best results, clean the leather surface with the interior cleaner, then apply Leather Defence to provide protection. Again, you cannot go wrong in application, liberally apply onto a clean microfibre cloth, apply to the surface, let sit for a few minutes and wipe excess away. Note that all leather is different, so do a test spot on an inconspicuous area to see how your leather may react to the oils.”
 

Design accord

You can’t get much more of an art deco car than a Cord — so much so that new owners, Paul McCarthy and his wife, Sarah Selwood, went ahead and took their Beverly 812 to Napier’s Art Deco Festival this year, even though the festival itself had been cancelled.
“We took delivery of the vehicle 12 days before heading off to Napier. We still drove it all around at the festival,” says Paul.
The utterly distinctive chrome grille wrapping around the Cord’s famous coffin-shaped nose, and the pure, clean lines of the front wing wheel arches, thanks to its retractable headlamps, are the essence of deco. This model, the Beverly, has the finishing touch of the bustle boot that is missing from the Westchester saloon.

Motorman: When New Zealand built the Model T Ford

History has a way of surrounding us, hidden in plain sight. I was one of a group who had been working for years in an editorial office in Augustus Terrace in the Auckland city fringe suburb of Parnell who had no idea that motoring history had been made right around the corner. Our premises actually backed onto a century-old brick building in adjacent Fox Street that had seen the wonder of the age, brand-new Model T Fords, rolling out the front door seven decades earlier.
Today, the building is an award-winning two-level office building, comprehensively refurbished in 2012. Happily, 6 Fox Street honours its one time claim to motoring fame. Next door are eight upmarket loft apartments, also on the site where the Fords were completed. Elsewhere, at 89 Courtenay Place, Wellington, and Sophia Street, Timaru, semi-knocked-down Model Ts were also being put together, completing a motor vehicle that would later become known as the Car of the Century.