Detail in Progress isn’t your usual auto detailer. Among other things, the Point Loma firm’s extraordinary technicians have detailed everything from auto museum vehicles to an early version of Air Force One used by U.S. presidents.
And Prentice St. Clair, CD-SV, RIT, the company’s founder-president, is an industry insider who travels extensively educating others on proper auto detailing methods and standards.
“I’ve trained hundreds of detailers from around the country and the world, many of them at automotive dealerships,” said St. Clair noting he has 450-plus published articles. “The other specialty I have is what I call total reconditioning: I paint bumpers, fix windshields, clarify headlights, replace parts.”
A typical customer, said St. Clair, “is someone with a 10- to 15-year-old rundown vehicle who wants to clean it up. I might have their car for a week. It gets redone from bumper to bumper. And it looks spectacular when it gets done.”
Detail In Progress offers a plethora of auto-detailing services including windshield chip/crack repair, leather/vinyl repair, wheel repair, and headlight restoration. Patrons can choose from mobile service, free pick-up/delivery, or airport shuttle/parking.
St. Clair and his technicians, certified by the International Detailing Association, work on all makes, including “daily drivers,” “mom-taxis,” luxury vehicles, and exotic/antique cars. Specialized detailing services offer ceramic coating application, guaranteed deodorization, scratch and paint defect removal, polymer paint sealant and new vehicle protection packages, convertible top sealant, and exterior plastic panel restoration.
Auto body service entails the repair and repainting of scrapes/dings/dents on bumpers, door panels, fenders, and wheels.
“We use high-quality body shop supplies and offer a lifetime paint warranty,” said the company on its website, detailinprogress.com. “Most repairs can be completed, in less than a day, for much less than a traditional body shop. Cloudy/yellowed headlights can also be made crystal clear with a two-year warranty. We bring years of knowledge having trained thousands of people and have tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment We bring all of that to attack the vehicle and try to make it look like new again.”
A Point Loman since 1989, St. Clair had taken a job with the Department of the Navy, while pointing out he had already been doing auto detailing as an avocation for years. “I was doing my own cars, and others, and enjoying the results,” he said adding, “And then the first time I got paid I thought, ‘You can make money at this.’ That’s how I got started. I had a book of 80 customers when the Navy job disappeared. It was a pretty easy transition.”
A big Peninsula fan, St. Clair said it has “been a good community for me and my family.” Adding he’s been a contributor to the Point Loma Summer Concert Series, he added he has also been involved in supporting the local YMCA and school music programs.
The entrepreneur is also the director of training for the internationally-renowned detailing chemical manufacturer P&S Sales. He added, “I was honored to be inducted by my peers into the International Detailing Association Hall of Fame in 2021.”
St. Clair is also a member of the prestigious and exclusive Detail Mafia, a group of a few hundred specially trained detailers from around the world that work together to raise the standards of automotive detailing. “Being a member of that group allows me access to special detailing projects and events,” St. Clair added.
“For example, once a year a hand-selected group of us descend upon the Museum of Flight in Seattle to detail historic aircraft from around the world. Up to 60 of us donate our time for six, 12-hour days. Included in the project are Kennedy’s Air Force One (U.S. Air Force Boeing VC-137C aircraft built in 1962, which was the first jet made specifically for use by U.S. presidents carrying eight of them). As part of the Official Detail Team for the Los Angeles County Fire Museum, we also shined up the original Squad 51 of the 1970s hit TV show “Emergency!”
St. Clair said the days when “you could just grab a bucket and a bottle of wax and call yourself a detailer” are done. “I have chosen to seek out independent certification and proper training so that I can provide a craft for my customers, not just a slap-dash job,” he concluded, adding he’s been able, as a founding board of directors of the International Detailing Association, “to help establish standards and raise the level of those standards in the detailing industry across-the-board.”
