Used Cars of Soap
An offhand remark. A years-long obsession. A few classic cars, and a bar of soap
There have been a few interactions on the street over the past eight years while taking photos that have stuck with me. Acts of kindness, random connections, near misses, compliments, and heated arguments, are all regular occurrences to see when you’re spending time wandering a metropolitan area and interacting with random passerby. I could recall at least a story or two to cover each of those categories, as either being part of them first hand or viewing them as a bystander.
This little project was inspired by one interaction in particular that I have not been able to shake since the day it happened.
I’ve been taking photos of cars for about as long as I’ve been taking photos of people. There are always interesting older vehicles in the neighborhood; generally they seem to be relics that have stood the test of time and continue to be daily beaters for the characters that drive them, or, are cherished collectors items that get taken out once or twice the year to showboat in an eclectic neighborhood like Commercial or Main. Regardless of the reason they still exist, my eye has always been drawn to an older car. Super preserved or super rusted out, either way, if it has some sort of character, I’ll stop and take a few snaps to see what comes out. I can’t say I’m a huge “car guy”, but I’ve always had an appreciation for engineering and design. I’ve also appreciated the ability for certain items to stand the test of time. To see these older cars still driving around is a testament to either the quality of their build, or the quality of the care to maintain them this long…or maybe a mix of both.
At this point I have a folder of hundreds of these types of photos, and every time I take one, I always think back to a particular interaction.
On the surface, this will not seem like the most profound or exciting event, but what I find fascinating is how one small mundane interaction was able to stay in my brain for so long, culminating in this small project.
The Interaction
It was a rainy spring afternoon and I was running a few errands on Commercial. As usual, I brought my camera for the off chance that the rain would stop and I could snap a few photos.
There was a classic car parked out front of The Drive Skateshop and the beads of rain were sitting perfectly on the headlight hood. I quickly took out my camera to try and snap a few photos without my camera getting too wet. As I was looking through the view finder, I could sense someone stopping beside me to also admire the vehicle I was shooting. This of course is not a rare occurrence; often when I stop to take a photo of a car others are taking a look as well, sometimes even offering a small bit of conversation…
“yea, she’s a beaut, hey?”,
“oh, my dad used to have one of those, but wasn’t as nice as this one!”
or the classic line from the owner if they are close by and see me snap a photo;
“hey bud, that’ll be five bucks.”
On this specific instance, I was trying to be quick as I didn’t want to get my camera wet, so I didn’t pick my head up as the person approached. He stumbled close to me and said bluntly…
“fucking right, you should be taking photos of this beaut…”
Thinking it was his car (and hoping he wasn’t about to drive it away considering his drunken stumble) I replied:
“oh, is it yours? what year is it?”
“Nah, I wish” he continued; “but man they don’t make them like this anymore”.
The classic line.
He then proceeded to say the line that has stuck with me and the basis of this entire piece.
“Every new car today, they all look like fuckin’ used bars of soap”.
As he finished his sentence, which at the time, seemed just like a simple and funny observation, he pointed out to the street where a white Tesla and Honda Civic were waiting at the stop sign to make left turns. And then it hit me.
Holy shit, this guy is onto something.
“Appreciate this one, cause it’s the peak.” And he stammered off to find his next beer I am sure.
Since that day, it’s been impossible for me to not to see these bars of soap everywhere.
With the dominance of the “mid size SUVs” in North America, the rise of the Tesla and the copycats that have come after and for some reason the popularity of the colour white for a new car, you’re going to have a tough time not seeing this every time you’re on the street now.
Now, of course, before we go any further, I understand the need for these cars to be smooth as a used bar of soap. The aerodynamic design of vehicles over the last 20 years has been developed to increase efficiency by decreasing drag and long with the general nature of corporate America adopting “winning formulas” it makes sense why we see this ubiquitous shape. Especially when it comes to electric cars which are heavier (from the battery), there is a need to decrease the amount of wind resistance the vehicle experiences on the road.
That statement really brought forward what I appreciate about these classic cars and added a certain…highlight to the details. The more I find them, the more I appreciate the uniqueness in their designs, the risks that those engineers at the time have made, and some of the bold choices that came with it.
Ever since that day, I’ve continued to think about it. It was such a direct observation that illustrated the change in culture both in the statement made and in our mutual contrasting observation on the street.
From that point forward it has always been a goal of mine; to create a car bar of soap.
So, with a chemistry lab and 3D printer at my disposal, I came up with this project to push my own abilities in both making soap, 3D modeling, and 3D printing.
Here is a bit of the journey to get the final product…
The Model 3…
I started working on this project over two years ago. It has been something I keep meaning to get to, but always got distracted or hit some sort of roadblock that made me lose interest and say to myself “I’ll do it later”. Something I personally avoid doing, but in this case, as it was such a pet project I felt no need to rush through it.
I originally picked the Model 3 as the model for the soap. For me, it is the soapiest looking car right now. I also would love to take any opportunity to “clown” Elon, and it is wild to think how far he has fallen in my personal opinion, but we’ll save that for another article…
My original procedure for making this bar of soap was:
Find a free 3D model online
Make an inverse “shell” of the model
Print that shell
Make soap using olive oil and NaOH
Fill shell with soap mixture
Cure
I had looked for models online instead of 3D printing a model, but they were either the wrong size, or over $100…so I went the 3D printing route.
The first few steps were pretty straight forward. I don’t have the most “advanced” modelling and 3D printing skills, but I was able to get the shell model using TinkerCAD (a very entry level online program).
It was then time to 3D print the shell/mold model, which is where my first few hiccups came up. Because of the cavity I had made, I knew I wouldn’t be able to print it as one solid piece since our Dremel 3D printers can’t make gaps in a layer without supports, so I decided to slice it in half and make two forms that I could eventually fit together. After a few attempts, my 3D model did not have the resolution required to make a nice smooth bar of soap. Every time I printed the negative, I also ran into problems with both my model and the printer…back to the drawing board.
I then decided to simplify the process a bit. I would use a silicone pour kit to make the mold to then pour the soap in, and I would just 3D print the actual Model 3 form rather than trying to make the mold itself.
Again, I ran into similar problems with the resolution of the car not being smooth enough to ensure I’d have a smooth bar of soap, which was kind of the key to this entire story… I decided to shift to just looking for a model kit or toy online. Turns out, the exact size I wanted was a bit harder to find than I had anticipated and I left this project for almost a year.
As time passed, I found myself still taking photos of cars, and still always thinking about that interaction, so I was re-inspired to try again, with a new plan in mind.
One night, as I was browsing eBay, I decided to see if I could find a die-cast model of a Model 3, and to my surprise I found the exact palm size I was hoping for, and it was very cheap, I guess some fan-boys of Musk have started to fall off the bandwagon in time for me to get my hands on one for this project.
When it finally came in, I ordered a silicone form making kit and proceeded to get the materials ready to make a mold. As I was looking online for tips and tricks in making this type of project, I also discovered you could buy soap that was specifically made to be melted into forms, again, simplifying the process. Sure I could have taken the time to make my own soap, something I’ve done in the chemistry lab in years past, but this would allow me to focus more on making the smoothest and soapiest Model 3 possible.
I made a box from some scrap plastic and a hot glue gun, and glued the model with a spacer at the bottom so I would have an entry point to eventually pour the melted soap. From there, I filled the box and car model with silicone, let it cure, cut it in half to remove the model, and then reassembled simply with some tape.
All these steps went pretty flawlessly considering how poor the first half of my attempts were. Finally it was time to melt and pour the soap. After a couple hours it was done and I finally had my Model 3 bar of soap.
The last step, of course, was to use this bar of soap, to really soften the edges and epitomize the line that has stuck with me for so long.
Some Final Notes
Finally, a few years later, this whole process has come into a full circle hypocritical climax.
When I first started putting some thoughts down about this project, I owned one car, my old reliable, 2011 VW Golf. I had been driving and cherishing that thing for years at this point, driving it across the country and back and forth through the mountains dozens of times. It was our daily commuter when we lived in the city and had served us very well up until this point. Economical, low maintenance, and roomy enough for two.
Then came the baby, a move to the suburbs, and a need for a second car. It would help simplify things and also help to extend the life of our one car which was now ticking close to 300,000 kilometers. We didn’t feel like we NEEDED a second car, but we’d like to try to see if it helped simplify our life, both having coaching and other duties at work after hours, as well as wanting some independence on the weekends. So we set a small budget to get an idea of how this would work.
During that time of looking, I felt that there was nothing on the market that appealed to me, and prices of “newer” used cars seemed so distant from what I wanted to spend and I could not shake this idea of the bar of soap now being even more evident in the SUVs and most cars that were bring produced. I loved the idea of buying an electric car, but at this point we weren’t even sure if we needed second car. So I scoured Craigslist and Auto Trader for a couple months, trying to find a “classic” car, that would still be reliable, but would have a bit of character.
Luckily, I came across a 1998 Jetta. Definitely not the attitude and beauty of a mid-60’s Cadillac, but to me, it had some of that boxy “of a different era” look I was seeking. The price was very affordable and it had less kilometers on it than my Golf and for what we needed it for. It worked for a year or so.
Fast forward a dozen months, and I found myself now looking for a more reliable…maybe even electric…car. My (very wise) wife started to point out that at this point, we had two beaters. One that we couldn’t put my daughter in (the Jetta) and one that, at any point, could end up breaking down to the point of no return (the Golf). So we started weighing out our options. Long story short, a few visits back to the VW dealership put us in a deal for a new electric car that we couldn’t pass up given our budget and what we needed.
For some reason, I actually really liked the white version of the car we got…even if it may be a bit…soapy…
