I bought this car for my daughter, but it has been wet inside for an extended period of time. I was thinking bleach. Is there something better?

Wow Nice car, Probably going to have to pull the carpet and see how bad it really is.

It has rubber floormats (no carpet). Will be pulling the interior apart and I think that bleach will work OK on the jute backing of the mats. But the underside of the seats and up under the dash the bleach may cause too much damage.

Simple Green to clean it, then lots of Fabreez

you will need to get the seat covers off too...you can use dryer sheets in there too...good luck.

Hi Dennis,

Been a long time since I talked to you... Hope all is well.

I've also had success with vinegar. Put a pie pan or two of it under the seat, roll up the windows and let it sit in the sun for a couple of days to kill the mold spores. The interior will stink like vinegar, but that's easy to dissipate compared to the mold. I have done that for what I consider mild mildew in this dry climate, so YMMV.

Nice looking Valiant, BTW!

The question I have is: How did it get wet in the first place?

When you pull the interior out you can wash all the metal and some of the hard plastic with the bleach, but I would be very care full on plastic and vinyl and bleach.
Look around at the big box building stores, they have lots of safer methods then bleach for fabrics.
There is a product at the Home depot we use in my biz and it is called mold control.
It kills and seals mold, it has worked for us and has been passed by building inspectors.
Try it, it can't hurt like bleach will.
I used Mr clean on the hard fabrics like seat belts and stuff with lots and lots of vacuuming, then the mold control on the carpet both sides.
It worked pretty good for the time I owned the car. Head liner is the toughest part, easy to stretch or tear if your not careful.

Thanks for the suggestions. It got wet either by leaks around the windshield or through the wiper pivots. I will be doing the hose test to see what's what. I can hardly stand to be in there after being exposed for 10-15 minutes.

Hey Dave- hope you are OK too.