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.”
 

Chrysler’s classy cruiser

I first saw our feature car, a 1970 V8-powered Regal 770 hardtop, towing a trailer carrying the tidy Ford Anglia classic racing saloon in Broadspeed racing colours that has featured in these pages. The coupe is comparatively rare here, which means anyone contemplating purchasing one of these big two-doors is sure to see prices continue to climb. The latter Charger has claimed much of the Aussie Chrysler limelight, but the simpler and classier lines of this car, which appeared dated soon after its introduction, now have a more timeless appeal.
Former owner, Balclutha motor engineer, Mike Verdoner, remembers the car well. He believes it came from Dunedin originally.
“I’m not sure about the car’s history, but I bought it off its owner at Kaitangata. Unusually, it was advertised in the local newspaper, the Clutha Leader, which was a surprise as these usually go for a lot more money on the internet. I had it for quite a few years. It needed a little bit of work to tidy it up, so I had to decide whether to spend the money on it to do it up, which could have been twenty grand. Its value at the time was not like it is now, so I sold it to Ewan. It’s probably now worth three or four times what I sold it for.”

The Pininfarina 230 SL

It’s October 1964, and imagine you’re an automotive journalist covering that year’s Paris Auto Show (Mondial de l’Automobile). As you approach the Pininfarina booth, you come across a car that looks a bit like the Mercedes-Benz 230 SL introduced the previous year at the Geneva Auto Show, a car then arriving at Mercedes-Benz dealerships around the world.
But looking closely, its styling and proportions seem to be a bit different. And it has a fixed roof, unlike the Pagoda-style greenhouse of the removable hardtop seen on the production 230 SL. While today, the styling of the W113, under the supervision of Head of Styling Friedrich Geiger, with lead designers Paul Bracq and Bela Barenyi, is considered a mid-century modern masterpiece, acceptance in-period was not universal. Some critics called out the concave design of its removable roof, which ultimately gave the car its “Pagoda” nickname.