VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1933-1936 Stinks

I have a 36 with an older mohair restored interior. The interior has a very musty and obnoxios mildue type of smell. I have cleaned out the mice nests and left the windows open while in the garage for several weeks. The smell is better but still there. The interior is too good to replace yet but may have to if I can not make it tolerable. I would appreciate any ideas.

Try spraying with OdoBan. Sporting goods stores, big box stores carry it. We have used it on fishy smells, dead stuff, cat pee and lotsa other stuff. Works better than anything else we have tried.

I would get it outside and let it air out. Also you can try putting in some dryer sheets when indoors. I'm not familiar with the product Chipper recommended , but perhaps a pet supply store would have something useful. The mice probably did more than just nest in there. An auto reconditioning shop may have something to recommend and also could shampoo the upholstery. Check out a product called Shoo-Mold at www.lynwoodlabsshoofly.com

If mice peed in the car you will never get the smell out. Will get better or worse depending on the weather.
You could smoke a cigar or pipe in the car and leave the windows closed for the winter...or let an open container dish of amonia set in the car over winter.

Try 'Nature's Miricle'. It works well neutralizing cat urine smell (two cats, one with bladder problems). We get it at our local pet supply store.

Dean

Check OdoBan out at website http://www.odoban.com/

What about on the wood framing? My car was a barn resident for a few years providing a home for many cats and then mice. Interior is totally stripped out and all else vacuumed up. But wood bottoms inside doors and wooden parts on floors were clearly soaked by these animals. Every time the humidity goes up the stink comes out. Its a 33 Phaeton and ive not yet washed or sprayed or hosed it out worrying about the wood.

what about that product called febreeze odor eliminator. the stuff they advertise on tv.

mike

You might eventually have to replace the wood to get rid of the ordor.

I am more wondering about any issues if i hise down the car including all the wood as i scrub it with these odor removers. Ive uses these on other applications before and they do remove the smells amazingly. Just wondering if i simply "have at it" soray the chems, scrub it all down, hose it ALL off with lots of water including the insides of the doors and wood framing then blow it all out with compressed air and put back into a very nixe and toasty heated garage.

Sounds like a good plan to me. The amount of water that might soak into the wood is not an issue if it does not linger for weeks. A little water is good as it helps the OdoBan penetrate to the smell producing chemicals. In fact I probably would not rinse after application(s). Just let it dry.

Yes, the Odoban will do a good job and like Chipper said...let it dry and don't rinse it for the best effect. We used a combination of that plus dryer sheets and a lot of open-air motoring and storage...before our '47 stopped smelling like a mouse cage at the pet store. It still does if its humid out, but without tearing into the seats and headliner (at this time) I'm calling it good enough.

Careful though, if it still doesn't come out with that, you don't want a health hazard. It may be time to tear into it. I hate to say that for $$ and time reasons...but its better than getting a bronchial infection if it is indeed mold.

If the odor will not go away, I would mask the odor with another odor, like a leather smell or anyone of a number of nice smells , should be available at auto parts stores. They are here.

mike

An ozone generator will remove the "smoked in" smell from a car pretty well. I wonder if it works on other odors also.

Mike

In agree that the odor will not go away. It is in the padding and even the metal. The wood can be painted to seal in the odor. Masking it with another odor will help the most.

I forgot about that. My friend frank who runs GM vintage vehicle services here in Canada purchased a 1931 oldsmobile 5 window coupe in penn. Mice, rats, raccoons, chickens and anything else inhabiting that barn used the coupes interior as a toilet. It was awful !!!!!!!!! I called it OLD STINKY .

It stunk to high heaven and he had to shovel a foot of crap out of it. A neighbor of mine was in the fire smell removal business and he recommended the ozone generator to get rid of the smell. You have to tent the car off.

Because the upholstery was completely eaten, rotted, destroyed , I know he power washed it more than a few times and let it air dry out. He is in florida until December so cannot ask him.

mike

I have used tomato juice in open pie plates for closed vehicles. Change the juice weekly for 3 weeks then use OZIUM Odor remover (sold at NAPA stores) Good Luck...JIM

The odoban worked wonders. I sprayed all surfaces lightly, pulled the back seat and soaked down the areas where the mice peed. I left it open for a couple of days in the garage then towed it 30 miles to the shop to pull the engine with all windows down. It made a huge difference. I was worried that the Odoban Oder would remain abut it did not. As advertised it does not mask the Oder. Otis not perfect but is 100% better.

People do not believe that OdoBan works as well as it does. That is until they use it. We have used it for many, many years on everything that stinks. Coolers used to keep fish with the porous plastic surface are a challenge to exorcise the smell. They deodorize well enough so you can use them for iced tea ice at the church picnic.

Thanks guys......last weekend I pulled it out of the garage and finished up templates for the interior and then loaded the car onto the trailer for the 200 mile trip to the Master Upholsterer who is making the interior kit for me. I figured this is the time to scrape down all the "stuff" left over in the car from it's time in solitary in the barn and then spray it down. I used some mild OJ cleaner on the inner steel panels, some mild bleach solution on the real "funky" areas to kill anything left behind, and then I soaked her down with two bottles of febreze industrial strength. Then I took the garden hose to the entire interior over and over. Then a 200 mile open trailer drive on the interstate and another 200 miles back, and then back into my heated garage......now one week later I can hardly smell anything. My next step will be to finish it off with the Odoban. What a difference though....

Here is a picture

Way to go! I bet you had some rubber necking going on pulling THAT behind you! Looks great!