30 years!

It's hard to believe that it's been 30 years since that fateful Friday, May 1st, 1981, when Chris Fisher and I left the closing and headed over to our new business.  It was a beautiful sunny Friday (much like today!) and we were washing cars to beat the band!  We thought we were geniuses!

But it wasn't but a few days before things began to unravel and our inexperience would prove nearly fatal - literally and figuratively.  Ask Chris about doing electric work with 220 volts!  We made every mistake two or three times just to make sure it was a mistake.  And just when we thought we had gotten things on track, the bridge on I95 over the Mianus River collapses putting all the traffic on Route 1.  You might have thought that all those cars would be good for business, but nothing could be further from the truth.  If not for an understanding banker (Jim McCay at State National) and understanding landlords (John D'Elia and Fred DeCaro), we never would have made it!

We took over Carl's Auto Bath and renamed it "The Tahiti Auto Spa".  I'm sure there was some logic behind it at the time.  There are countless stories of those early days - both good and bad.  Chris found a picture of our Grand Opening Day.  I am trying to prevent it from surfacing anywhere.  Let's just say the length of shorts back then was slightly shorter than today's styles.

As we reflect back on how we got here, one things resounds - our team.  We have been blessed with some of the best people to help us run this business over the past 30 years.  And while Chris and I are the only 30 year vets, there are several boasting 10, 15, 20 year tenures.  Three of the guys hand washing your car in the tunnel in Greenwich are the same guys that were there 17 years ago when we opened the first hand wash.  We must love what we do to keep doing it for so long!

We start our celebration on Sunday with a contest where we'll pick a lucky person each week to win free car washes for life (or as long as we own Splash - my lawyer told me to put that in).  We'll have other great giveaways and a location celebration each week from now until June 12th.  Each site is preparing some festivities and giveaways, we'll have Elmo and Kung Fu Panda making appearances, and I'll be twittering form different sites with specials (how about a 1981 priced car wash?).

I'm sure to remember more stories as the month wears on, but I especially wanted to thank of all of our customers for making the past 30 years fabulous!  We definitely couldn't have done it without you!