Automobile Detailing

Two of the nation's largest unions formally announced a campaign to organize Southern California's 18,000 carwash workers and offered consumers recommendations on how to avoid carwashes that violate minimum wage laws. "We will do whatever it takes to clean up the carwash industry," said Jon Hiatt, general counsel for the AFL-CIO, which launched the campaign with the United Steelworkers.

"Companero, how do they treat you here?" The stranger addressed Manuel Varela, a worker at Nary's Hand Car Wash on Beverly Boulevard, in Spanish. "Badly," Varela answered, continuing to pass tickets to motorists as they pulled in. Curious, Gabriel Chavez crawled out of the car he was vacuuming. Keeping his gaze on the small window that the owner used to peer at his workers, he stepped toward the visitor, out of his boss' sightline. "Do you know you have rights?" the stranger asked Chavez.

It's THE world's fastest handbag. Meet the Bugatti Veyron Fbg par Hermes, a $2.4-million, 253-mph, 1,001-horsepower hypercar, a collaboration between Bugatti and Hermes' elves on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore.

When 7-foot-1, 325-pound Shaquille O'Neal couldn't fit into his new ground-hugging, $200,000 Lamborghini Gallardo, the former Laker center turned to an Orange County family to do a little magic. The Gaffoglios of Fountain Valley meticulously extended the doors, roof and side windows so the towering O'Neal could drive in comfort in what is now one of the longest Lamborghinis in the world. Bending and twisting cars into all kinds of shapes is nothing new to the Gaffoglio family.

SITTING in a cluttered auto shop in a sleepy southern Pennsylvania farm town, 45-year-old artist Robert Schroeder confessed that he's worried about groupies finding him. They want to give the mild-mannered automotive detailing artist their demo CDs. They want autographs. They want concert tickets. Don't ask him, he says -- he's just the pinstriper for the famed New Jersey band Bon Jovi. "The chicks flip out," Schroeder said.

David Lin's shop has been closed for hours when a father and his teenage son peer through the glass and knock. Lin unlocks the door and tells them, apologetically, that he isn't open for business. But after a moment's hesitation, he can't help himself: "What were you looking for?" The dad explains that his son has just bought his first car, a '94 Civic, "and wants to get a little more performance out of it." They've come to the right place--and then some.

Like they have most every Saturday morning for the last 40 years and more, the Ruelas brothers are just getting down to work, bent over one primer-gray ghost of a car or another. The cluttered, grease-stained yard is filled with them--relics that are sensuous arrangements of curves, spheres and dovetailing angles; a scatter of grilles from Buicks and Bentleys and late-'30s and -'40s Chevys; carriages and front ends all rusted out in tones of aging sepia photographs.

Henrik Fisker's business plan revolves around peeling off the exterior of a new Mercedes-Benz or BMW and ripping out most of the interior, then creating a head-turning exotic car from what remains. The limited-edition luxury-performance models from Fisker Coachbuild will ride much like the originals but will cost $128,000 over the sticker price. That's right: A Fisker will run you a cool $200,000 to $300,000 -- with a $50,000 down payment required.

Ryan Friedlinghaus had a love for transforming ordinary cars into flamboyant metal sculptures with supercharged engines, $8,000 tire rims and intricate, airbrushed paint jobs. So, six years ago, Friedlinghaus opened his car-customizing garage, hoping to find customers desiring souped-up cars in a city popularized by famous rappers and movies featuring tricked-out rides.

Coco Shinomiya is an art director at a major record company in Studio City. She's also a hot rodder, owner of a 1932 Ford nostalgia rod that looks stock but hides a Corvette engine under the hood. Peter Gallup, a school psychologist from the Inland Empire, is a drag racer, a muscle car owner who bought his 1965 Chevy Chevelle 30 years ago. He rips down the drag strip at 115 mph on Friday nights, then tows the car home, strips off the racing equipment and turns it back into a street machine.