Looking for name of a comedy/sci-fi series I saw on TV that aired in
the Los Angeles market sometime in the mid-80's.  I believe I saw it
on one of the non-network stations (KCOP 13 or KHJ-9) at the time.

The only thing I remember is a recurring scene in each episode where a
guy drives his car into a car wash, a series of wet rags are thrown
onto his vehicle (they fly in from off-screen in every direction and
completely cover the car including the windshield), there are several
bright flashes of light, then his car comes out of the other end of
the car wash transformed into a spaceship that then flies off into
space.  I believe the protagonist had an alter-ego as a car-wash
attendant while on Earth but doubled as some kind of interstellar
superhero.

Also, I think the protagonist had some sort of white dog while on
Earth, but after riding through the car wash with his owner the dog
became super-intelligent and bipedal (requiring the use of an actor in
a large white dog costume).  In one specific episode I remember the
protagonist was missing (captured by aliens possibly?), and they
showed the dog behind the wheel and driving itself through the car
wash (same setup--rags being thrown on car, bright flashes of light,
etc.) and then flying the spacecraft into space to rescue his owner.

The closest thing I can find doing my own research on the internet is
a TV show called "Quark" but that definitely is not the same show (no
car wash, no dog...)

Am I completely imagining this show?  I seem to remember way too many
details for this to be some figment of my imagination.  Any help would
be great!