# Bikini car washes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 8, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129 "2015-02-08T16:02:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/21 "2015-02-09T13:56:39Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#):
>
> \*\*Freudian Slit \*\*- As a teen, I owned a couple of 2-piece bathing suits that were similar in coverage to granny panties and a Playtex cross-your-heart bra. Kinda like [this](http://productshots1.modcloth.net/productshots/0138/9183/0911fdb2fc1d06c5824e00d517f88d3e.jpg?1392155835). My mother would never permit me to wear something so low-cut that my belly button would show!!! :eek:so agree that under-18 should be prohibited, since it’s not about washing cars.
Interesting! Thanks. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/22 "2015-02-09T14:05:33Z")
It would probably suit women more if the teenaged girls didn’t wear bikini tops at the car wash.
Anyone who suggest they should is a discriminatory misogynist.
Three cheers for feminism!
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/23 "2015-02-09T14:21:01Z")
The only bikini car washes I ever see are high schoolers at corners waving towels and swiveling their hips with a giant “Car Wash” sign. I find it creepy to even look in their direction.
If, for some strange reason, I ever did decide to have these teenagers-in-bikinis wash my vehicle, I wouldn’t even know what to do while they scrubbed. Do I watch them and smile? Keep my eyes fixed upon my phone? Stare steely-eyed into the distance? Lay back and close my eyes? It’s just all too awkward.
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### Author:  [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/24 "2015-02-09T14:46:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Have you ever taken your car to a bikini car wash? If so, did you take any pictures, and if you did, how did the girls or women respond?
Yes, I took my car to one of those car washes for charity. No, I didn’t take any pictures.
There was a pretty girl holding up a sign saying “Car Wash” and I could see several other, high-school-aged girls in bikinis (and boys in shorts, but I didn’t care about them). So I pulled in, paid my $10 or whatever it was, and went over to a picnic bench where I was served lemonade and cheap cookies while the cute girls (and guys) washed my car. Yes, I watched them - they were cute teenage girls in bikinis. I didn’t fondle myself or make crass comments. IIRC it was some high school charity.
> [@](#):
>
> Do you think there should be a minimum age for a girl to participate in one? Would you let your daughter participate in one?
I suppose the minimum age should be whenever they are interesting to look at in a bikini. They develop young these days, so maybe 13 or 14.
My daughter did participate in such an event, also for charity. As I recall it was her boyfriend’s motorcycle club doing some event to fund spay-and-neuter for pets. So she spent an afternoon washing cars in her bikini. No doubt some dirty old man watched her just like I watched the cute teen age girls washing my car. It happens.
Newsflash: Men like to look at pretty girls in bikinis. The charity gets money, my car gets clean, I get to look at pretty girls in bikinis. Wins all around.
Regards,
Shodan
---
### Author:  [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/25 "2015-02-09T15:12:06Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> Part 2–for the men.
> Have you ever taken your car to a bikini car wash? If so, did you take any pictures, and if you did, how did the girls or women respond?
No, and thus, no pictures. I care about my vehicles.🙂
> [@](#):
>
> Part 3–non-gender specific.
> Do you think there should be a minimum age for a girl to participate in one? Would you let your daughter participate in one?
I think there should be a minimum age (as with most things), and after a certain age, it would be my daughters choice, not really mine.
> [@](#):
>
> Feel free to add other questions or thoughts as you desire.
I think they’re a bit cheesy, personally, but some people (men and women) like it, so to each their own.
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Sorry, is this actually a thing that happens outside of bad comedy movies aimed at teenagers?
Yep, it’s definitely a thing. When I used to frequent car shows during the nice-weather months, they’d have them. It’s usually by college age groups doing their thing, but as someone else said, they usually have shorts on.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/26 "2015-02-09T15:30:38Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> For the trivia-obsessed Dopers looking in, this may be a legacy of the car washing scene in **Cool Hand Luke**
>
> [Joy Harmon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Harmon), perhaps not the first woman in history to wash a car with her tits but certainly a pioneer in its popularization, is now 74, and no longer participates in this. Instead she runs a [bakery](http://auntjoyscakes.com/)
>
> Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
She could still do lowriders.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/27 "2015-02-09T15:36:52Z")
Once I saw signs near the veterinarian school at a university advertising a charity dog wash. I thought that if they had any stones, they’d offer a charity cat wash.
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### Author:  [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/28 "2015-02-09T16:13:27Z")
They had one of these near where I live last summer. It turned out to be a scam - while one of them was cleaning the outside, the other vacuumed the interior, except that this was just an excuse so that while the one on the outside was stretched over the windscreen with her soap-covered boobs pressed against the glass, the one on the inside could steal your wallet.
I got caught that way one Sunday afternoon, and also Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (twice), not on Thursday as they weren’t there, and last thing on Friday. Helpfully though, the local street market had a stall that knocked out imitation Morocco leather wallets for only £1.50.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/29 "2015-02-09T18:16:19Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> So it’s an invasion of privacy for 2000 people to see them, but it’s not for 1000? Isn’t the reason they’re there in the first place is for people to see them?
You know how they say, “Take a picture, it’ll last longer”? People have the right to control how their image is used. A picture on the internet lasts longer than a brief glimpse in public. Just because they’re OK with being seen in public in a bikini doesn’t mean they have to be OK with the possibility of someone fapping off to their picture, which can exist for years after the event. If you haven’t considered that possibility, I sure as hell don’t want you taking my picture. Not that I’m fap-worthy material, but a photographer should not have an issue with someone refusing to have their picture taken.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/30 "2015-02-09T18:49:27Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> So it’s an invasion of privacy for 2000 people to see them, but it’s not for 1000? Isn’t the reason they’re there in the first place is for people to see them?
You take pictures and put them on the 'net, you’re preserving the pictures in perpetuity.
You really don’t see the problem with this?
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### Author:  [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/31 "2015-02-09T20:07:41Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#):
>
> They had one of these near where I live last summer. It turned out to be a scam - while one of them was cleaning the outside, the other vacuumed the interior, except that this was just an excuse so that while the one on the outside was stretched over the windscreen with her soap-covered boobs pressed against the glass, the one on the inside could steal your wallet.
>
> I got caught that way one Sunday afternoon, and also Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (twice), not on Thursday as they weren’t there, and last thing on Friday. Helpfully though, the local street market had a stall that knocked out imitation Morocco leather wallets for only £1.50.
Why would you leave your wallet in the car for them to steal?
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/32 "2015-02-09T20:11:26Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#):
>
> Why would you leave your wallet in the car for them to steal?
Cost of admission, if I’m reading the story right :).
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### Author:  [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/33 "2015-02-09T20:30:19Z")
That’s a joke, ah say, that’s a joke, son.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/34 "2015-02-09T21:06:56Z")
The vacuum cleaner’s not the only thing that goes whoosh!
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/35 "2015-02-09T21:36:50Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#):
>
> 1. Did not participate, was never asked. They didn’t have bikini’s when I was the age it would be suitable to participate.
The song, “[Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Bitsy_Teenie_Weenie_Yellow_Polka_Dot_Bikini)” was a hit during the summer of 19 **60**.
Damn, you’re old. 😉
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### Author:  [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/36 "2015-02-10T01:05:08Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> The song, “[Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itsy_Bitsy_Teenie_Weenie_Yellow_Polka_Dot_Bikini)” was a hit during the summer of 19 **60**.
>
> Damn, you’re old. 😉
😛
No, Older than that. I realize that I mentally had the bikini song in my first grade repertoire. That was incorrect, the song in my first grade repertoire was Purple People Eater. I was not a great sophisticate in grade school.
> [@](#):
>
> There are two piece swimsuits that aren’t bikinis?
Yes, they covered the belly button. And if you were a really.nice.girl they had a little skirt.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/37 "2015-02-10T02:19:09Z")
_Part 2–for the men.
Have you ever taken your car to a bikini car wash? If so, did you take any pictures, and if you did, how did the girls or women respond?_
Nope.
_Part 3–non-gender specific.
Do you think there should be a minimum age for a girl to participate in one? Would you let your daughter participate in one?_
Yes, 18 or whatever the age of the jurisdiction is for things like strippers or whatever (not that it’s the same thing, just saying the age should be the same)
I have no daughter, but if I did, I certainly wouldn’t want her to. Nor would I want any female I’m close to doing it. Would I “let”, I don’t know that it would be something I’d be able to control other than a minor, which, again, I don’t think any minors should be able to participate.
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### Author:  [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/38 "2015-02-10T02:23:35Z")
> [@DigitalC](#):
>
> They have underage girls at places specifically marketed as “bikini carwashes”? cause i have seen highschool age kids washing cars in their swim suits because they are outdoors in the middle of summer in Florida and expecting to get wet, but there is a vast difference between that and a car wash were hot women in bikinis wash your car while looking sexy.
Yeah, my answers were based on the ones meant to titillate, not innocent fundraiser type stuff where they may be dressed less than fully, but still not inappropriately.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/39 "2015-02-10T02:35:50Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> You take pictures and put them on the 'net, you’re preserving the pictures in perpetuity.
>
> You really don’t see the problem with this?
A _problem_? You don’t see an _advantage_ in this?
I take photos and more recently, videos, of a wide variety of local events. One of the intentions is to preserve the pictures in perpetuity. You betcha. Many of the subjects of the pix have since died, others have grown up, and places have changed. When I wrote a 150 year history book, pix from many sources made the book more appealing than merely text. You may not be aware of how many people have praised my records of people and events, and as time goes on, it will probably be more important than now.
So why is a teenage carwash so different from any other current event? How about the same participants in a mud pig wrestling? In a sporting event? Those people _pay_ me to record it. Why would they treat the events so differently?
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### Author:  [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bikini-car-washes/712129/40 "2015-02-10T02:44:30Z")
P.S. - I live in the San Francisco area. We have had several charity “tighty whity” car washes with buff men.
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