IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS
by Daryl Ashley

If your paint has faded, you've got swirls in your finish or there's mud on your tires then man have we got a solution for you. Lifted Imports met up with Adam Pitale, founder/detailer of Adam's Premium Car Care Products out of Boulder, Colorado when he and his team hosted a product demonstration at Ricky & Ronnies Diner in Torrance, California Saturday.

Adam's manufacturers a complete line of high quality cleaners, polishes, waxes and custom accessories for fully detailing your vehicle from the inside out. They even offer 'The Truck Survival Kit' designed with the truck owner in mind. This kit includes an Undercarriage Spray (their number one seller by the way), Vinyl Rubber and Tire Dressing, Detail Spray, Leather and Interior Cleaner, Microfiber Polishing Towel, Microfiber Applicator Pad and Dressing Applicator Sponge. It's the total package for restoring your truck after a day driving around town or kicking up mud in the desert.

The Adam's legacy began in San Juan Capistrano where, at the age of 9, a very young yet ambitious Adam held down two paper routes and started a bicycle care and cleaning business. Conscious of his customers needs, even then, Adam hand delivered every newspaper to every subscriber's front door and meticulously detailed every greasy chain, dirt covered pedal and dull lustered handlebar on every bike that was left in his care.

By the time he was 12, Adam had transitioned from bicycles to vehicles of the four wheel kind and made quite a name for himself in the neighborhood turning his driveway and garage into a home for his detail business. His product of choice was Der Shiny Stuff, a once very popular polishing compound that became the catalyst for eventually developing his own line.

At 16, Adam bought a 1988 Mitsubishi Van which he loaded up with supplies and went mobile. In high school Adam landed his first steady paying customer and realized he needed help and hired his first team to fill in for him during the morning hours.

After aggressively cramming a two year program into one at Saddleback College he then went on to attend USC. After college, Adam was encouraged to look for a 'real job' and went into real estate only to find he had spent way too many years working for himself so, in 2000, Adam started up his own business again as a distributor of Der Shiny Stuff buying out the stock of a local dealer.

During this time he was approached by a man who said he owned some trucks that had turned pink over time from their original red color and would Adam come to Los Angeles to see if there was anything he could do to prevent them from having to be repainted. It turned out that the man was the fleet manager for Coca Cola Bottling Company.

Adam took on the challenge of detailing the Coke fleet in 2002 and in an effort to reduce the time spent on each truck he discovered that by mixing three or four products together he could get good results in less time. Adam also found that if he bottled the mix himself he could turn a better profit so with that he made an offer to buy out Der Stuff but they turned him down. Without missing a beat he sought out a chemical manufacturer to make his own product. The manufacturer was given only three requirements for his concoction, make it pink, make it creamy and make it smell like roses (well almost like roses).

This is one remarkable man. He is a collector of antique Schwinns, a cyclist in his own right, owner of an eclectic stable of vehicles, conscientious of the environment and an ever evolving force in the car care business. When asked about the future Adam told us they are moving into more aggressive compounds for professional use, has plans to expand their instructional video line and become the first in the industry to go green offering post consumer recyclable product in compostable bottles.

You can find Adam's Premium Car Care Products at www.adamspolishes.com.