Do you tuck yours away??
Discussion
I try to avoid frost and salt, but feel that life's too short not to enjoy the car in the wet. Its already got a few under paint bubbles showing, so attention isn't too far away.
I garage my 105 Alfa in a well ventilated garage at my folks house when its not in use - it always starts whatever time of year - well once the engine has pumped fuel from the tank again!
I garage my 105 Alfa in a well ventilated garage at my folks house when its not in use - it always starts whatever time of year - well once the engine has pumped fuel from the tank again!
In favour of tucking away, it's the time of year to get the big jobs done, and these days I have to do them in dribs and drabs. It's not unknown for it to take all winter for me to do the 'annual detail'!
Dare I admit it, there's something rather relaxing about knowing I can't use the car even if I want to. Instead of trying to 'create' opportunities, I seem to spend more time with the family in the winter...
Having said that, this year I have taxed it for 12 months because I agree - an early run on a cold, clear morning is hard to beat (while the family are still in bed).
Dare I admit it, there's something rather relaxing about knowing I can't use the car even if I want to. Instead of trying to 'create' opportunities, I seem to spend more time with the family in the winter...
Having said that, this year I have taxed it for 12 months because I agree - an early run on a cold, clear morning is hard to beat (while the family are still in bed).
Not a chance that I'll use a classic in the salt....too much damage.
I used a car last year in the dry but salt dust covered roads only to discover that the ally nose cone had erupted under the paint.
I love to see classics covered in road dirt etc but I just couldn't bring myself to do it
Sad I know and when I'm on my death bed I know I'd have wished I had enjoyed them more
I used a car last year in the dry but salt dust covered roads only to discover that the ally nose cone had erupted under the paint.
I love to see classics covered in road dirt etc but I just couldn't bring myself to do it
Sad I know and when I'm on my death bed I know I'd have wished I had enjoyed them more
My own E28 BMW in the pic has been mostly in storage since 2004, apart from doing the Pomeroy Trophy in 2009. I stored it in a lock-up expecing to leave it there for a little while... Three years later it emerged, and despite it going in there quite healthy, I had a monumental amount of welding to the floor and inner sills to do thanks to leaving it much longer than i'd ever wished to in a concrete garage with an asbestos roof. Now the car is in a brick garage with wooden doors with a much more airy construction, so now its not in a rust incubator! Mercedes and no doubt BMW too do an engine bay wax that coats everything to protect from road salt on German roads, for my clients cars and my own I use a particular product in the workshop for this purpose, and a superb black wax for the underside. good preparation enables use all year round, but the owner has to accept that a car that is prepped for winter will have to have the wax cleaned off for Summer.
I`m a "tuck away".Every winter its stored all wrapped up in a secure dry barn from October to April.Its a 1964 Pininfarina cabriolet and only comes out to play in the summer,the warmer and dryer the better.Driving in the sunshine with the hood down to country shows,steam rallies,w/end rallies etc.I can not see the point in driving in cold wet muddy country lanes as I`m paranoid about getting it wet or dirty.It also leaks all over the place in the rain.My main objective in buying it was to work on it and get it into the condition it is now and I intend to keep it that way.
I also have a SL320 which is a regular driver and is used all year.The Hard top is stored during the summer in the same place the 404 is stored in the winter.So its park the 404 and fit the hard top October and vice verse April.
I also have a SL320 which is a regular driver and is used all year.The Hard top is stored during the summer in the same place the 404 is stored in the winter.So its park the 404 and fit the hard top October and vice verse April.
Edited by Old Merc on Sunday 14th October 18:23
Edited by Old Merc on Sunday 14th October 18:29
I think it depends what you have got to some degree. I am in to old Italian stuff and we all know how they can disolve at the slightest hint of salt.
I run an Alfetta GTV6 as my daily driver, she lives outside all year round and does about 8k a year. However she was and is never going to be a mint condition car, hence I can live with the fact that the odd spot of rust comes up and every couple of years I have to have a bit of paintwork or maybe do a bit of welding.
However, I also have a mint GTV6 that I have converted to a 3.5 engine and prepared to a standard far better than new including all the suspension being shot blasted and powder coated and the nuts, bolts etc being new or replated in the original finish. You only have to take this out once in the salt to ruin it, I speak from experience here, so while I leave this car taxed all year in case of the odd perfect day, once the gritter is out she won't leave her heated garage until we have had a good 2 or 3 days heavy rain to wash it away even if that means I don't get to drive her for 3 or 4 months. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy her, indeed I have just got back from a 5 day trip to the Nurburgring and Spa which included some torrential rain, but I did 1400 miles driving of which 280 were being caned around the 'Ring with another 240 odd at Spa. I then enjoy the several days wheels of clean that follows just as much as the driving itself, and it doesn't bother me if I spend a few weekends doing this while she sits in the garage as I have been getting some proper use out of her too.
Consequently I don't think it is fair to say either way whether it is right or wrong to lay up a car for the winter as it is simply a matter of what you have and your ability and financial well being to maintain it in the condition you want.
I run an Alfetta GTV6 as my daily driver, she lives outside all year round and does about 8k a year. However she was and is never going to be a mint condition car, hence I can live with the fact that the odd spot of rust comes up and every couple of years I have to have a bit of paintwork or maybe do a bit of welding.
However, I also have a mint GTV6 that I have converted to a 3.5 engine and prepared to a standard far better than new including all the suspension being shot blasted and powder coated and the nuts, bolts etc being new or replated in the original finish. You only have to take this out once in the salt to ruin it, I speak from experience here, so while I leave this car taxed all year in case of the odd perfect day, once the gritter is out she won't leave her heated garage until we have had a good 2 or 3 days heavy rain to wash it away even if that means I don't get to drive her for 3 or 4 months. This doesn't mean I don't enjoy her, indeed I have just got back from a 5 day trip to the Nurburgring and Spa which included some torrential rain, but I did 1400 miles driving of which 280 were being caned around the 'Ring with another 240 odd at Spa. I then enjoy the several days wheels of clean that follows just as much as the driving itself, and it doesn't bother me if I spend a few weekends doing this while she sits in the garage as I have been getting some proper use out of her too.
Consequently I don't think it is fair to say either way whether it is right or wrong to lay up a car for the winter as it is simply a matter of what you have and your ability and financial well being to maintain it in the condition you want.
Alfa Al said:
Consequently I don't think it is fair to say either way whether it is right or wrong to lay up a car for the winter as it is simply a matter of what you have and your ability and financial well being to maintain it in the condition you want.
I agree and each to his own. Apologies, I wasn't meaning to be judgmental into what is right or wrong, just an interest in other PHers decisions into whether to "tuck away" or not Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff