The Cleanest Car in New England Is a 2005 Camry, and It Racks Up Trophies

Richard Oliver and Cammy pose with the trophies they have won together. Courtesy of Richard Oliver

By Kelly O'Brien

April 21, 2015

4 minutes to read

When I met Richard Oliver, we were in a parking lot full of amazing cars he was thoroughly ignoring.

Mustangs, Corvettes, and Porsches dotted the lot of the Herb Chambers BMW dealership in Sudbury for the season’s first “Cars & Coffee,’’ a gathering of local car owners. At one end sat a pair of shiny, neon-colored Lamborghinis.

At the other end stood Oliver, alone next to an equally shiny dark-blue 2005 Toyota Camry. “Cammy the Clean Car’’ had its hood open, displaying a spotless engine. Picture frames arrayed on the bumper showcased a list of awards, all won because the “daily driver’’ is in such pristine condition.

Cammy has won 38 awards at shows all across New England in the past 10 years, including five first place prizes and a “Wow Factor’’ award, according to Oliver.

Oliver stands with the former owners of Speedy’s Drive-In at a 2011 show in Worcester, where he won the “Wow Factor’’ award.

Why does one of the most common cars in America deserve to enter auto shows, let alone win them? Because Oliver has turned Cammy’s mundanity into an art form. With little money but lots of focused love and attention, Oliver made a utilitarian vehicle into a showpiece that even die-hard car buffs can’t scoff at.

“They see how much detail I put into the car,’’ Oliver said of other car show entrants with flashier rides. “Even though they have classics, you gain their respect because the car is beautiful.’’

Oliver, who has lived in Hudson since he bought Cammy 10 years ago, says he entered the car into its first show at the Cruzzin’ Dreams cruise night in Shrewsbury four days after he got it.

Since then, he estimates Cammy has entered between 30 and 50 shows every summer, including a weekly appearance at Cruzzin’ Dreams.

“He gets a lot of flak,’’ said Dominic Masiello, the organizer of Cruzzin’ Dreams who first encouraged Oliver to enter Cammy in his show. “A lot of people say, ‘It’s a brand new car. What’s he doing?’ I say, ‘Go look at it.’’’

Masiello, who has since become friends with Oliver, says Cammy is the object of the same compulsive love all true “car people’’ feel for their vehicles.

“It’s my drug of choice, and that’s what it is with Rich. It’s his drug of choice,’’ Masiello said. “It’s his car. It’s his passion.’’

Oliver keeps track of more than just the trophies he has won. He also likes to show off a binder full of receipts from every oil change and alignment check Cammy has ever had. (It gets one of each every six months.)

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As for car wash receipts, there aren’t many. Oliver does almost all the cleaning by hand, and says it doesn’t take as much time as you might think – only 15-30 minutes a day. He takes on one small section at a time and scrubs it till it shines.

“If you stay out there three or four hours cleaning your whole car, pretty soon you say ‘Oh, that’s good enough,’’’ Oliver said about why he takes a piecemeal approach to cleaning. “As you see, my car is slightly beyond good enough.’’

But consistency is the key.

“I’m always cleaning something,’’ Oliver said. “My engine’s so clean because it never really got dirty. I haven’t really let it.’’

It’s not always easy to keep Cammy from getting dirty or banged up, especially because Oliver uses it regularly, either to run errands or to get to his job at the Stop & Shop in Hudson. Oliver says the car has about 33,000 miles on it.

“I’ll take the car anywhere pretty much,’’ Oliver said. “If I go to a store or I go to a mall or whatever, you got to keep it away from wagons and all the door handles and everything else.’’

Oh yeah, and Oliver doesn’t have a garage. Here’s how he keeps Cammy from getting dented during hailstorms.

Oliver uses pool floats and towels to protect Cammy from hail.

“A lot of these classic cars… they drive them to the show, and they go back in their garage, and they stay there until the next show,’’ Oliver said. “Mine’s out year-round. I mean, it went through this last winter.’’

Although Oliver is proud of his wins, he says he doesn’t travel the car show circuit for the trophies.

Cammy gets covered up during winter snow storms.

“It’s fun. You meet a lot of great people,’’ Oliver said. “You all have something in common with the cars.’’

“I found out over the years that 99 percent of the car people, they’re all good people,’’ Masiello said. “‘We spend more time with the guys at the car shows than our family members.’’

Except maybe for Rich Oliver. His wife Ginny now enters her own car into shows with him. She drives a 1980 Buick Regal.

You can find them both at Cruzzin’ Dreams at the Herbert Candy Mansion in Shrewsbury on Thursday nights.