Hi, thanks for the advice

I took out of the trunk every bit of cloth/carpet/anything that can absorb, then:

-- Everything ws covered with baking soda, left in the sun then on the porch overnight.

-- Sites of heavy contamination were doused with laundrey detergent and stain remover.

-- If it fit and wouldn't be damaged, it went into a large capacity front-load washing machine.

-- If it didn't fit but could take a soak and hard scrub, it was hand washed, scrubbed with concentrated liquid laundrey detergent, and risned. Repeatedly. Left in hot bright sun all day to dry.

-- If the piece looked like it might lose integrity with hard scrubbing, it was either soaked and squished several times or covered with fairly wet baking soda and gently scrubbed with soft brush. Then carefully scrubbed with diluted detergent (diluted to keep rinsing to a minimum.) Towel dried, left in sun.

Every piece has come out smelling clean, without a hint of odor when held up to my nose. And the soap was non-scented, so I know it's clean.

Next:

-- Spread baking soda around empty trunk, let sit for a couple of days.

-- Washed soda out, very wet sponge.

-- Washed all surfaces, knooks, crannies, etc. with very, very diluted pine-cleaner, careful not to slop water everywhere. A section at a time, used very damp sponge and/or scrub brush (toothbrush a few places) followed with towelling. Repeated with plain water to rinse. Let dry in hot sun with lid open.

-- Went ahead and washed my trunk-junk, spare, etc. just for good measure.

Result: Not a trace of odor in the trunk. Fresher than sunny springtime sheets just off the clothes line.


***However....***

The odor lingers in the cabin, at least to my sensitive olfactories. I detect it after the car's been closed all day or night. No one else would notice -- it's more of a reminder than a real problem.

Since the source of the smell is completely remediated, the oder obviously eminates from the absorbant materials in the cabin itself.

I am left with seven choices:

-- Sell the car. Not gonna happen
-- Get rid of my nose (to paraphrase Woody Allen's "Sleeper": Odor isn't the problem. Smelling odor is the problem). Don't be silly.
-- Deaden my smeller with so-called "air fresheners." Yuck.
-- Wash or replace everything. Uh, no.
-- Try odor-absorbers. Won't work. Odor is too faint.
-- Live with it. Doubt it.
-- Cover the stink with a less-offensive smell. Bingo!

Febreeze. Plenty of it. The chemical odor (new car smell!) is a lot better than rotten milk and will mostly dissipate. Extra added bonus - stain removal. I'm sure it'll work.

Oh, and one other important step: Never tell anyone. Y'all can keep a secret, can't you?