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See Homepage. This page: For years, bright yellow tins of Simoniz car wax could be found on the shelves of British garages.

Simoniz car polish.

In the 1950s, there was a good chance that your average domestic garage had products from the likes of Champion (spark plugs), Castrol (lubricants), King Dick (spanners) and Lucas (electrical parts) on its shelves. It was also highly likely that there'd be a bright yellow tin of Simoniz car wax lurking in the vicinity too, poised for use whenever a fair Sunday morning presented itself. The following leaflet, from 1953, is for a related product, namely Simoniz Bodyglaze, a liquid car polish created by the boffins at Simoniz. Sold alongside the yellow tins of wax and "Kleener" preparation, Bodyglaze was designed as a quick-to-use, wipe-on wipe-off, alternative to the more usual wax product.
This leaflet dates to about 1953. A chap is shown, sleeves rolled up, enjoying the job of protecting his car from the elements using a tin of Bodyglaze. The car has a generic 1950s look about it, although there's more than a hint of Mk1 Consul in its lines.
Other products from the manufacturer get a mention on the rear cover, including their own chrome cleaner, and "Liquid Kleener" which, like the tub of "Kleener", was a product similar to the famous T-Cut, designed to dispose of a dull top layer of paint, exposing the bright original colour beneath, in readiness for wax protection.
Leaflet about Simoniz car polish
Evidently the company was responding to consumers who said that traditional polishing products required too much effort to apply and buff up:

Wipe it on, Wipe it off - and your car shines like new.

Simoniz Bodyglaze is a product developed in the Simoniz Laboratories making use of the newest materials known to science. It contains new types of waxes compounded in such a way that they can be applied to car finishes with a minimum of effort. With Simoniz Bodyglaze you can give your car a radiant showroom shine - easily and without rubbing - in less than thirty minutes.
Before applying Simoniz Bodyglaze it is absolutely essential to see that the surface of your car is scrupulously clean. For this purpose use the new Simoniz Liquid Kleener or, if your car is in a really bad condition, the well-known Simoniz Paste Kleener in the green tin will enable you to restore your car's finish to its original condition. Once the finish of your car has been thoroughly cleaned Simoniz Bodyglaze will keep it in showroom condition for months on end without further effort.
All you do is apply the product liberally with a piece of stockingette cloth going over the whole car in one operation. Start at the front of the vehicle and work towards the back. By the time the operation is finished the front of the car will be dry and will be observed to be covered with a thin white film. Simply wipe this off gently with a dry stockingette cloth and there is your car gleaming proudly in all its original glory. Simoniz Bodyglaze is on sale at all garages and motor accessory stores. A large 14-oz tin, sufficient to treat three or four cars, costs 7/- (seven shillings).
Although the company produced other, non-automotive, cleaning products, motorists will likely associate the name Simoniz with their range of car cleaning potions before anything else. Unusually for a motor-related product featured on OCC, goods still bearing this famous name can be found on sale in accessory shops and garages in many countries. I'm not sure that the same can be said for a similar polish to appear in this section of the site, namely Lifeguard.
Return to the Motoring Collectables section for more items relating to pre-war cars and garages.

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