Luxury Wash, Smyrna

At Luxury Wash, the first thing cars will catch in their headlamps is a hand outstretched and ready as the detailer waits, prepared to lather cars up with gobs of soap. Proudly sporting a letter of commendation from President Obama, Bentley Brandon used to be one of those detailers when he started working at the wash at age 12, sudsing up cars himself until he climbed through the ranks of management to become the current owner. Today, most of the wash’s cleaning, waxing, and detailing services are still done by hand. With painstaking precision, the staff of detailers performs interior and exterior deep cleans—protecting paints with stage-one and stage-two protective waxes, flushing out upholstery stains with shampoo, and cleaning engines with painstaking meticulousness. The company also dispatches its technicians and cleaning products to clean cars on location, whether vehicles are resting in their driveway or marching in a picket line in protest of dwindling parking-space dimensions.