Do you recognise these carwash tokens? Have you ever used one like it?
This old carwash token turned up at a building site in Phillip earlier this month, buried in the dirt underneath a concrete footpath on Paramatta Street. In a twist of fate, the site is soon to be home to a new Waves Carwash location.
Waves Carwash managing director Robert Sacco said the unusual discovery is a “sign”, given that, to his knowledge, there has never been a carwash on the site previously. He said Waves has owned the site since 2004 and started construction in January last year.
“We’ve been building and pushing through bushfires, hailstorms and COVID, and we are now in the final stages of the building and we were doing the external pathways surrounding the property,” he said.
“As the [team] were digging up, this bronze car wash token was shining.”
He said he has “no idea” where the token could have come from, labelling the find as “just so coincidental” and “an omen”.
“We’ve had that land for 16 years and that footpath hasn’t changed in our time. I would assume that that’s been sitting there for at least 20 years plus, or more.
“That’s a very old token, so it could be as old as 50 years old,” he said, adding that he’s never seen a token like this one before: “not at this age, not in this condition”.
“But it’s just so ironic, you’re building a carwash and you find this token. It’s an omen, it could be a good thing for us.”
Mr Sacco said once the carwash is ready to open, the Waves team will try and charge up the old token to use to kickstart their operations in Phillip.
“We’ll take some photos and put it in a plaque and put it on our wall at the carwash and brag. I think that’s probably the best thing for it,” he said.
If you know anything about these old carwash tokens, please email [email protected] or call the office on 6175 8800.
