Historic Marine Drive car wash back in service with new owner and new business model
After a three-year silence, the water is flowing again at a familiar spot on Marine Drive. The Oasis Car Wash — an icon in North Vancouver since 1967 — has reopened under the ownership of Cam Clark Ford, which bought the property about a year ago and has started to revive the long‑loved local business.
The previous owners closed the car wash in 2023, citing rising labour, insurance and municipal tax costs together with a shrinking customer base. Before the shutdown, the Daniels family also donated two original Oasis signs to MONOVA: Museum of North Vancouver, an acknowledgment of the site’s place in local memory.
Cam Clark Ford general manager Kingsley Fung said the dealership initially viewed the property as an investment. But after learning more about Oasis’s history and community role, he decided to restore operations.
“I heard about the place, I learned about the history, a lot of the community involvement. So I was like, hey, why don’t we just bring it back?”
A different operation: more hands-on, more specialised
Visitors should not expect a return of the old automatic tunnel. Much of the original automatic equipment left when the Oasis closed, and the reopened site will provide hand-wash and detailing services instead. To keep the business viable, Fung said the new operation will emphasise higher‑margin, specialised offerings such as graphene paint protection and tire changes.
“We just recently opened 30 days ago but there’s still a lot of work to do,” Fung said, signalling that the reborn Oasis will evolve rather than immediately resume its old form. The business has been rebranded as Oasis Car Wash and Detail by Cam Clark Ford.
- Original Oasis opened: 1967
- Closed by previous owners: 2023
- Purchased by Cam Clark Ford: about a year ago
- Reopened under new ownership: 30 days prior to the report
| Feature | Old Oasis | New Oasis |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | Automatic car wash | Hand-wash and detailing |
| Branding | Traditional Oasis imagery | Oasis Car Wash and Detail by Cam Clark Ford (with palm-tree logo) |
| Services | Standard automatic washes | Graphene paint protection, tire changes, detailing |
Heritage look, community focus
Fung emphasised a desire to preserve the Oasis’s visual identity. The new owners plan to maintain the site’s tropical desert imagery — “There are still a couple of palm trees there,” he said — and incorporate that theme into updated branding. The new logo will retain a palm motif as a nod to the decades of local recognition.
Longtime customers and passersby will watch closely as Cam Clark Ford works through a staged renovation. Fung said the next phases will target customer‑facing areas, with an eventual goal of adding a cafe on site. Those changes are aimed at making the business financially sustainable while keeping its role as a neighbourhood landmark.
Community ties also factored into the decision to revive Oasis. Fung said he has heard many positive comments from people in the neighbourhood and plans to run charitable initiatives from the car wash to help re‑establish the brand’s local goodwill.
What reopening means for North Vancouver
For residents, the Oasis’s return is both practical and symbolic. Practically, it adds a local option for vehicle care in a part of the city where convenience and quick access matter. Symbolically, the reopening restores a familiar visual and commercial element on Marine Drive at a time when many small, long‑running businesses face narrow margins.
How the new model performs will depend on customer acceptance of hand‑washing and specialised detail services over the old automatic routine, and on whether the planned renovations and community programming can sustain regular use. For now, the Oasis’s revival offers an example of how local heritage and contemporary business pressures can be balanced when a commercial property is repurposed with sensitivity to neighbourhood history.
Cam Clark Ford’s move shows how local firms can play a role in preserving civic memory while pursuing new revenue streams. As the work continues, neighbours and drivers will judge whether the Oasis’s next chapter respects the past while meeting present demands.
