Hank, that was the hot ticket!
I wasn't sure I could believe a damp microfiber cloth was all I would need, so I started washing in the normal way, with soap and water and a chamois. That started to take too long with the sun starting to get hot and my frantically rinsing and drying with the chamois as soon as I soaped a panel. So I started working with the damp microfiber cloth, no soap. That worked great. After rubbing down a panel like that I would go over it with the chamois.
Simple Green for the tires was good advice, too. It brought back the white lettering, almost as bright and bold as new (I believe I bought the tires sometime in 1997 or so).
My car is a daily driver, though I keep it in the garage. Next week the body guy will do a final color sand on the paint, and after that I'll have it polished and waxed. I hate washing cars, and have been using the mobile car wash guys we have around here, but they don't do a good job and I don't want them to work on my El Camino. But now I think I'll just use the damp microfiber cloth trick to keep the car clean. It's a lot easier than a normal wash, rinse, chamois.
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