Every once an awhile you come across a really cool story that you just have to share. John Scott Leotta of Johnny Caretaker Detailing is a DI Wholesale Account member and performs high-end detailing in New Jersey, but what makes his story so interesting is the cool idea he came up with. John is picking up everything and traveling across the US, stopping along the way to detail! John started his journey back in August at the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. The response was great and he has since started traveling, only stopping to detail! Well, okay, maybe to sleep and grab a bite to eat as well! Take a look at more information about the journey directly from John below and do not hesitate to follow John along his journey at johnnycaretaker.com, Instagram @johnnycaretakerdetailing and Youtube @johnnycaretaker.
I started 35 years ago in the detailing industry as the “cleanup kid” for a Volvo dealership in Bergen County, New Jersey. I would spend hours after work with the old junk cars in the back lot working with the buffer and different products. I actually owe quite a bit to the detailers that worked at a place on 11th Avenue in New York City called Steve’s Detailing. I would buy everyone lunch if they let me hang out and watch everything they did. It paid off as my little hobby turned into a full-time job and I took over my parents two car garage in Oakland, New Jersey and as they say the rest is history. I’ve had both stand-alone detail shops and a mobile setup.
I’m now excited about the latest adventure which combines detailing, traveling and getting to sit and chat with other people about anything that drives, fly’s or floats. I’ve always been an explorer and love to travel. That’s been hard with working but I came up with the idea of traveling and detailing and figured with social media today it’s made it easier to interact with other like-minded people. I researched ways of traveling around and being able to take the show on the road. I’ve been the caretaker at a local animal shelter and over the years have fostered many animals. I have four cats of my own that originally fostered and they all got along so well I decided to make them part of the family. In researching ways to travel I had to consider the four cats so I found a toy hauler motorhome with a garage in the back that gives all of us some room. I purchased a new Polaris Ranger and have turned that into a mobile detailing unit which works great. I’ve started with the maiden voyage going out to Sturgis for bike week and that was great. The plan is to travel and detail for at least the next year. I’ve been in the past month to a few large car shows to showing off the setup and chatting with people. I will be visiting Dennis Gage of My Classic Car in Indiana and then off to visit Gene Winfield in California. We visited the SEMA show the end of October where the Polaris was on display as a feature vehicle. I would love the opportunity to work with other detailers along the way, and seeing if I can add something to their portfolio and hopefully also learn something new as we go. I’m hoping to explore the country taking my time as I go and see things and learn things that I may have never known.
