A couple of weeks ago someone posted a video on the Internet showing a guy cleaning the rusty rear bumper of his car with Coca Cola and elbow grease.
I have a perfectly good bicycle that I was going to get rid of because it has been left outside these past two winters and the chrome wheels were covered in rust. They were so bad, in fact, that there was no indication that the wheels had ever had any chrome on them at all. So out I went with a can of Coke and got to work with, first a cloth and then some fine grit sandpaper. I have since graduated to steel wool. I work at it for 15 minutes every day, rinse everything off, then quit.
The results are astonishing. The rust is melting away. When everything is perfect, I am going to treat the wheels with car wax to keep the rust at bay.
I was telling a friend about this on Friday night as I sat with a bottle of Coke in one hand.
“And yet, you’re still drinking Coke,” she observed, and I realized I had forgotten the point the person who posted the video was trying to make.
“I am,” I answered. “But as far as I know, my stomach is completely rust free.” To be certain, I guess I should dine on some sandpaper and steel wool. Maybe swallow some car wax.
©2014 Jim Hagarty
