Over the past few weeks, I have started to pay a lot more attention to the appearance of my car.

This heightened awareness started, coincidentally, just after I saw the Baywash Bikini Car Wash on South Semoran and University Boulevards. Baywash is similar to other car washes in that it offers car washing, waxing, detailing, and so on. However, the place has one small difference: the women who work there are young, attractive, and dressed in skimpy red swimsuits.

Of course, it’s only my newfound concern for the appearance of my car that takes me to Baywash on a sunny Monday afternoon, where I oversee (not peeping at, mind you) two bikini-clad women as they wash, rinse, and vacuum my car. The cost was $10. Trucks and SUVs cost $15.

Bikini car wash service illustration

Diligently scrubbing the front of my Toyota Corolla is Shelby Hasselbach, an 18-year-old Apopka brunette who has been working for over a month. Priscilla Smith, 19, a Geneva blonde who has only been at Baywash for five days, works on the rear bumper. (She’s wearing a pink-and-white patterned bikini because her official red is yet to come.)

Baywash was founded in May by Steve McMahon, 42, a commercial bricklayer from Winter Park who was ready for something new when the construction company collapsed. Thirteen years earlier, he’d gotten the idea for Baywash while watching the then-popular Baywatch show, starring David Hasselhoff and busty beach bunnies in red one-piece swimsuits. So naturally, McMahon got the idea that drivers would want to have their cars washed by women in red bikinis.

Sounds good.

So far, it has all been good, at least for male customers.

“We get women,” says McMahon, “but not as many as we’d like.”

No surprise, as some women may find the whole concept unappealing or even offensive. Still, there must be a market for such a service: In late August, McMahon and a partner opened a second Baywash on East Colonial Drive, near Fashion Square. And he plans to add even more locations.

“It takes us a little longer than other car washes,” says McMahon, “but customers don’t mind.” I certainly don’t mind, because of course, the women clean my car so damn clean.

Also at work this afternoon is Jennifer Wojtas, 21, a confident 21-year-old blonde from Deltona with an easygoing smile; she’s pimping up a BMW parked right behind my car. Wojtas, Smith, and Hasselbach (not Hasselhoff) all say they enjoy working outside, and tips generally cost $5 and up.

Still, they allow the work to have its drawbacks. Occasionally, customers make rude comments, and so do people driving by. As if it were a sign, a man in a passing car suddenly lets out a deafening wolf whistle.

The women roll their eyes and smile knowingly.

With those teenie-weenie bikinis and all the bending and stretching these women have to do, I have to ask if wardrobe malfunctions are a concern. But all three have nothing serious to report.

“Perhaps a little wedgie here and there,” Wojtas admits.”Not so bad, actually.”