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Business Sells ‘Dry Cleaning’ for Dusty Cars

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

For the Southern Californian who hates to drive around town in a dirty car but feels guilty about all the water it takes to wash it, Jim DeFrank says he has a solution.

DeFrank is president and co-owner of California Magic Car Duster Co. in Van Nuys, which sells hand-held cotton car dusters that mop up dust from the surface of an auto’s finish without using water.

The dusters don’t clean cars that are really dirty--only dusty ones--so they don’t eliminate the need for an occasional wash. But DeFrank says a minute-long dusting of a car each day can mean going several weeks without washing with water.

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The Department of Water and Power says consumers use from 20 gallons of water to several hundred gallons each time they wash a car. With California in its fifth year of drought and mandatory water rationing now in effect, DeFrank’s obscure product might have arrived at the right time.

DeFrank, 49, a car buff who also owns a company that sells car covers, developed the duster about two years ago. The idea for the product came to him after going to car shows and seeing that owners removed dust from their cars by washing them or wiping them with cloths that sometimes scratched the surface.

The 26-inch-long duster, which is manufactured in Korea, has a wooden handle with long cotton threads attached to the head. The cotton is treated with baked-in paraffin, a waxy substance that DeFrank says helps pick up dust without damaging a car’s surface.

Until recently, DeFrank sold the duster at car shows and swap meets, and ran ads in automotive trade magazines. “When we first developed this product, the drought never came into my mind,” he said. “But after reading about it and hearing about it, I realized this is something that can help everybody.”

In early November, DeFrank lowered the price of a car duster from $29.95 to $19.95 and began running commercials on cable networks and television stations around the country. He said the company has sold more than $1.3 million worth of the dusters, including sales in excess of $600,000 from November through February. Most of the sales have been in Southern California.

California Magic Car Duster is in the process of putting its product in mass-merchandise retail outlets such as Fedco, Home Depot and Pep Boys. It also takes orders by mail and phone, and ships the dusters from its small office in Van Nuys and through another company based in the San Fernando Valley.

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The company has a dozen employees, but DeFrank says he will soon have to hire more to handle the growing volume.

DeFrank’s love of cars prompted him to move to car-crazy Southern California from his native Pittsburgh, Pa., 26 years ago. He began selling automotive equipment and later bought an auto accessories store with a partner.

After selling his interest in the store, DeFrank started an auto accessories catalogue business with a partner but sold his share of that company two years ago to concentrate on car covers and dusters. DeFrank says he has a 50% partner in the duster company, but he declined to give his name.

Car dusters might be a good way to conserve water, but DeFrank said his business is also a means for him to indulge his passion for cars. He owns a dozen autos, including classics such as a 1932 Ford convertible, a 1946 Ford Woody and a 1966 Corvette fastback.

“I love cars,” DeFrank said, but mostly, “I love clean cars.”

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