Pages

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Smell

Around the middle of last week, I noticed a strange smell in my car - it smelled like vinegar. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from! I searched under the seats and in the hatch and couldn't find the source. Google searches were inconclusive as well.

So I asked my friend Vaughn, who knows a lot about cars, and he gave me some ideas of what it could be. One of his ideas was that I could have a lot of fermenting leaves under my hood, creating a leaf brewery. On Saturday, I took my car to the spray wash and saw that that was indeed the case. So I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed until they were all gone. Over the weekend the smell lingered, but decreased in power.

However. Yesterday (Monday) morning I bought a bag of cumin from a spice store and left it in my car all day when I was at work. Throughout the day the cumin and vinegar met, fell in love, and mated. The moment I sat down in my car after work, I was assaulted with the powerful odor of their offspring. Opening the windows wasn't working fast enough, so I did the only thing I could think to do: spray the car down with the vanilla and lavender scented Febreze I keep in the back of the car.

Little did I know that was a bad idea. The three smells turned into a force not to be reckoned with.


So, yeah. Smell wise, it's been a rough week. Keeping my sunroof cracked all day has helped but I don't know how long it will take for the smell to be gone completely. Should I just sell the car?

9 comments:

violet50 said...

Sell it. Sell it now.

SAC said...

LOLOLOL. I'm sorry for your plight. You could dust the inside of your car with baking soda I suppose.... But of course baking soda plus vigenar....:)

Elizabeth Downie said...

Haha! Don't worry, it's not real vinegar. :)

Jesse Davis said...

Just start smoking, and smoke in the car. That oughtta fix it!

Savd said...

Greatest story I've heard in a long time!! :) :) :) And my first solution was scented candles, but having an open flame in the car is probably not a great idea...

Anonymous said...

I agree that the smoking should help remove the other scents and it looks really sexy when a woman's voice gets lower lower and everything. Let's take a road trip and I'll make you forget all about those old smells.

Mark said...

This is like going to church with a bunch of ladies who wear too much perfume. All the scents mix together and the nice stuff gets cancelled out, leaving only a musky alcohol smell in the chapel.

Yesterday at work one of the labs was working on fish samples, and the entire end of the building smelled like the bottom of a boat.

Katherine said...

I think you should experiment with adding other smells. Maybe try washing the inside of your windows and add the Windex smell into the mix. Then you could try leaving a banana in your car for a day or two, and after that, some cinnamon and a partially opened can of sardines (or tuna, whichev). By the end, I think all of the smells will cancel each other out and you'll be left with new car smell! Or wait, maybe just get some new car smell air freshener?

Unknown said...

One of my friends put on f/b the other day that he kids unloaded her car after she went to costco and forgot to bring in the salmon and tilapia filets. She noticed it the next day after getting into her car after work. I would recommend doing anything but that to get rid of the smell. You could possibly try one of those baking powder like odor removal powders that you sprinkle in and then vacuum out?