Be it snow, salt or pandemic, this Montreal car wash endures

Billows of steam puff out and icy air rushes in from under Lave-Auto 2000 Iberville's rising garage door. The next car in the queue pushes through the cloud, ready for its close-up.

Fares Al-Kountar, the owner, tugs at a chain to lower the garage door back down.

Outside, it 'feels like' –30 this morning. Inside, it's a steady Friday at the car wash. 

The noises are earsplitting. Vacuums squeal, hoses hiss and the industrial heater hanging from the ceiling moans as it keeps the work zone above zero degrees Celsius. This past week, Montreal temperatures dipped to record-breaking lows.

Typically, two workers scrub the front of each vehicle and one worker is assigned to the rear.

A taxi driver calls out from his cab "He's the best!" he says, giving a thumbs-up to Al-Kountar.

Al-Kountar calmly handles the hose as he douses the cab.

"I like working with cars, talking with clients, making people smile," he says.

Winter is normally the peak season for car washes in Montreal. It's busy because of the salt build-up on car exteriors, explains Al-Kountar. But this winter's bizarre, less busy. "People are afraid to go out because of the pandemic," he reckons.

On the coldest days of the year, like today, the cars are so cold that water can freeze doors shut and glue the mats to the car floor with ice.

Last week was particularly slow, which Al-Kountar anticipated. He's noticed when a storm rolls in and snow removal operations are underway, the number of customers drops dramatically. Wednesday and Thursday he had no customers.

Regardless, Al-Kountar clocked in after sunrise. Clad in gumboots, a mask and a hand-knit toque, he shoveled the entry and exit clean. Then he waited.

Since immigrating to Canada from Syria 20 years ago, Al-Kountar's remained in the car washing industry. "Always lave-auto," he says. In 2009, he decided to open a place of his own, renting a garage on the eastern edge of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.

He takes pride in his work, particularly the care he uses to wash cars by hand which he says is best. "No scratches."

Mark Toussaint, cranks a soaking wet cloth through a old-timey laundry wringer. "I've been here four years," he says as he climbs into the next car ready for an interior polish.

Because of the economic struggles of the pandemic, Al-Kountar says many car washes raised their prices.

But he's going for volume. "For seven dollars they come back twice a week," he smiles.

And today, it's working. Despite the record-breaking frigid temperatures, there's a queue.