Leo Rousseau was the owner and operator of a steel foundry in Detroit, headquarters of the American automobile industry. By the 1940s, Detroit was also home to many so-called production line car washes whose principle equipment consisted of buckets, sponges and manpower. Some of these washes would use as many as 30 or 40 men wearing black rubber boots, gloves and aprons to wash the cars as they rolled by, or were pushed from station to station.

Rousseau, who was familiar with process management principles from his foundry work, began contemplating a truly automated car wash production process. He had hardly gotten started when Pearl Harbor came along, which resulted in the conversion of his foundry to war production. But, by the end of the war, Rousseau had worked out most of the details of his system:

• A building of up to 120 feet in length with a power-driven chain in a floor level channel for towing cars from entrance to exit.

• A vacuum section with a man at the entrance who used a heavy-duty vacuum on casters and also hooked the cars to the chain.

• A “scrub unit” that consisted of a rack with spinning brushes and overhead sprays.

• A “spotter station” where a team of men with hoses and mitts addressed spots missed by the power-driven brushes.

• An octopus-like set of ducts that directed jets of hot air over the washed cars to blow off water and start the drying action.

• A hand drying section where a team of four “finishers” used towels for final wiping.

Rousseau gave his creation the name “Minit-Man Carwashes.” At the time that the Minit-Man appeared, it has been estimated that there were only about 50 car washes in operation in the United States. Exclusive of building and land, the complete system cost only $16,000 — together with a limited area franchise. As a result, many buyers started to spring up throughout the country, fueled in part by the dramatic growth in car ownership that occurred after World War II. By 1955, there were at least 2,000 car washes in operation, with an estimated 25 to 50 opening each month.

Rosseau’s first customer was Paul Maranian, who opened Paul’s Automatic Auto Wash in Detroit in 1946. This car wash, which survived until 1998, was recognized as the world’s first automatic car wash. Within a year of opening, Paul’s was washing nearly 400,000 cars a year, which inspired a Sept. 22, 1947, profile in LIFE magazine. That magazine profile added further fuel to the fire that Rousseau started, and thus the modern car wash industry was born.

Accepting the award posthumously, on Leo Rousseau’s birthday, was his granddaughter, Cynthia Watson.

Cynthia Watson, Leo Rousseau’s granddaughter, accepts
the award posthumously.

Leo Rousseau began contemplating a truly automated car wash production process before World War II. By the time the war ended, he had figured out the concept and gave his creation the name “Minit-Man Carwashes.”