How to Get a Vomit Smell Out of Your Car

My baby sister upchucked her curly fries all over the backseat of Dad's Volkswagen on the way home from Canada's Wonderland. The car smelled terrible from that moment forward and for six weeks my parents tried every shampoo and air freshener money could buy, including lemon juice - they even ordered special Volkswagon upholstery cleaners from a nearby dealership. Nothing would extinguish that horrible lingering stench.

The faint smell of vomit in a hot car tormented us all, but it was especially traumatic for my sister who felt great shame every time the odor was explained away to curious passengers.

And then my Grandpa smelled it. He knew just what to do. He succeeded in removing the powerful odor on his first try. Grandpa used untreated charcoal BBQ briquettes. I watched as the old man dumped half a dozen coal cakes into two aluminum pie pans which he placed under the two front seats - by the next weekend the smell was gone.

No need to sell the car!