Erika Sherk
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, November 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - It all began with a dirty taxi.

Richard Leblanc, a driver with Diamond Cabs Ltd., was tired of driving his taxicab to an expensive car wash four times a day in the muddy springtime. Sometimes he would even wash it using a bucket, a brush, and the creek by his house, 23 kilometres out of Yellowknife.

Richard Leblanc washes his taxi by Trapper's Lake. - Erika Sherk/NNSL photo

"I said, 'I've got to find something better,'" said Leblanc.

He started working with a sump pump, a garden hose, and a brush to invent a pressure washer that required only a lake to operate.

"It worked a bit better, but there wasn't quite enough water flow," he said.

With some more tinkering and thinking, soon Leblanc had achieved his goal: he had invented a portable car wash.

He hooks a 12-volt pump to his car battery, throws the pump in the lake to suck up the water, and then water flows through a hose, shoots through a brush attachment and ultimately, washes the car.

"I made a portable one that I could carry around like a simple little suitcase," he said.

"It does it all - just like a car wash in a building."

He said that it is very popular with other cab drivers who have used it.

"I use it," said Taib Zidoune, another driver at Diamond Cabs Ltd.

"I don't have to line up at the car wash. I can just go and wash my car. There is water everywhere, outside and free," he added with a smile.

Leblanc believes his portable car wash invention has great potential.

"My invention should go around the world," he said.

The 58-year-old Yellowknifer has lived in the city for 40 years. This could be his big break, he said.

"So far I have shown it to many people. They are quite amazed about it and they say, 'I want one,'" said Leblanc.

He said that for his invention to truly take off, he would need to partner with a company that would help him improve his product and work out the marketing and packaging.

"I think they would sell very well," he said.

"It's very handy, you can wash your car any time, any place you want. All you need is a body of water."

Will the invention make him a millionaire?

"At this time, I don't know," he said.

"It is possible, but at this time it is unknown to me."