[DML] that New Car smell

[Peter Lucas <lucas@xxxx>]

So, here's a topic that I don't believe we've covered yet:

All old cars, no matter how well maintained, seem to end up smelling, 
well, old. Smells have a huge effect on how one perceives an 
environment, and cars are no exception. When I got my D, it must have 
had 20 of those little pine-trees scattered about--I can still smell 
their residue. Cars at car shows tend to smell like Armor-All. I 
don't want my D smelling like like Armor-All, and I certainly don't 
want it smelling like the pine-oil they used in the latrines back at 
summer camp. I want it to smell like a new car! So what are the 
secrets?

I intend to eventually take out the seats and carpets and clean and 
shampoo everything thoroughly in an effort to get rid of the slightly 
musty smell that the pine trees were intended to cover up.

But, whenever I turn on my heater, I get that "hot dust" smell (like 
when a forced-air furnace comes on for the first time in the fall). 
Is there anything to be done about this short of disassembling the 
whole heating/AC duct system?

Even a perfect cleaning would at best get us back to "neutral", and 
as we all know, a new car smells far from neutral. I've tried various 
air freshener sprays labelled "new car" or "leather", but none of 
them were even close.

I guess the real answer is new leather, which I will probably do 
sooner or later. But, if anyone knows any less expensive tricks, I'd 
appreciate hearing about them.

--Pete Lucas
VIN #6703