TUSTIN : How About a Coffee and Wax to Go?

The suds being sloshed at this bar are for your car--unless, of course, you like your cappuccino extra frothy.

Cafe Auto Spa, open since February, is a novel approach to both the carwash and the coffee bar. The Tustin business, the only of its kind in Orange or Los Angeles counties, is a fusion of the two that gives coffee lovers a reason to spruce up their vehicles.

Or is it the other way around?

“The idea is very slick and very clever,” said Irvine resident Nicole Gage, who brought her convertible Saab in for a detail job recently.

Gage passed on the coffee. But at a nearby table on the shop’s tiled patio, Rita Goodyear and her daughter Allison sipped cappuccino and contemplated whether they were really at Cafe Auto Spa truly for the sake of their Nissan.

“The coffee is good, and the atmosphere is so nice,” said Rita Goodyear. “This might be a nice trend.”

No matter whether the customers come for the coffee or the carwash, owner Richard Gall said his business, which he runs with partner and high school buddy Steve Goold, lets everyone experience the royal treatment.

“Anybody can go to a carwash,” said Gall, 41. “We give the ordinary person the chance to get a fair deal and be treated like they are at the Ritz.”

A flat wash costs $6.95, and for $2 more you can sip cappuccino, espresso or a variety of other beverages on the patio by a fountain, or at the indoor bar with a view of the washing bay.

Plans are already underway to open several other Cafe Auto Spas as far north as Sacramento, Gall said.

The idea of combining a coffee bar and carwash was in the genes, Gall said. He said he is a descendant of the Jacuzzi family that created the oversize tubs of the same name, and he has always had an affinity for coffee joints.

Aside from the novelty of its coffee connection, Cafe Auto Spa is an architectural anomaly as far as carwashes go. The design is that of a spacious Spanish villa and is accented with hand-painted tile and stone imported from Mexico.

Gall, the architect behind the design, said he hopes to add another element to the business in the coming months. He plans to exhibit exotic art for customers if watching their cars being hand-washed isn’t entertainment enough.

Further additions to the ambience will include a small flower stand and music from around the globe, along with the aroma of fresh-ground coffee. Gall said his hope is to make Cafe Auto Spa a kind of mini-bazaar.

“We are going to make this a kind of cross-cultural eclectic happening,” he said.