Discussion
I’m always going over this in my mind. I buy cars with good intentions to drive them all through the year, I go through one winter then end up putting them away for high days and dry days.
Depends where your pleasure is. Personally I cannot handle watching cars deteriorate through our long harsh winters
Depends where your pleasure is. Personally I cannot handle watching cars deteriorate through our long harsh winters
For years the daily (keep them a minimum of 10 years and buy second hand) was taken every spring to a car wash with underside jets. It doesn't have the underside wash now so I take it to a friends who has a lift and do it myself with the Karcher. My classic I've had nigh on forty years and it has been up and down the Alps so many times you might think it's a yoyo. As a result it was rebuilt in 1987 and once again in 2013. It's in very good condition now but like the OP anno domini frankly means I use it less and less. But just the same........
Just use them, unless it’s my daily driver I’ll happily use any car come rain or shine. That being said though, if there’s salt on the road, I’d not be driving the 7 or 355. For your cars, I’d not worry about using the Porsche at any point in the year, with the Gilbern, I’d just stop using it if there is salt on the road(pre-90’s cars driven on salted roads never ends well).
Edited by Marc p on Sunday 8th October 05:57
Just use the Boxster and run it into the ground.
The Gilbern is more special. How would you feel seeing the car deteriorate? I used my classic all year round but only dry salt free days during the winter.
Keep the Gilbern for occasional use when conditions allow and use the Boxster the rest of the time.
The Gilbern is more special. How would you feel seeing the car deteriorate? I used my classic all year round but only dry salt free days during the winter.
Keep the Gilbern for occasional use when conditions allow and use the Boxster the rest of the time.
Marc p said:
Just use them, unless it’s my daily driver I’ll happily use any car come rain or shine. That being said though, if there’s salt on the road, I’d not be driving the 7 or 355. For your cars, I’d not worry about using the Porsche at any point in the year, with the Gilbern, I’d just stop using it if there is salt on the road(pre-90’s cars driven on salted roads never ends well).
My 7, I built in 1991, sold and bought back (and sold again a year ago), never saw salt and I ued to hate seeing the powder coat peeling off, the aluminium corroding etc. So it used to sit for months unused. Last few years after buying it back in 2014 it used to be around 200 miles/ year. Total waste. Edited by Marc p on Sunday 8th October 05:57
SFTWend said:
Just use the Boxster and run it into the ground.
The Gilbern is more special. How would you feel seeing the car deteriorate? I used my classic all year round but only dry salt free days during the winter.
Keep the Gilbern for occasional use when conditions allow and use the Boxster the rest of the time.
This. And I rather suspect that the "use it regardless" people are either rolling in money they didn't earn or have little to know actual experience of cutting into old cars to discover how extensive the rot is. Snow and ice is no worry - there are tyres for that and driver techniques, although other people on the wrong tyres are a residual concern. It's the salt which will rapidly destroy a classic, even on dry days. It must be remembered just how fast old cars used to rot. The only reasons a car from the 1970s still exists are either because someone has spared the car that abuse or because someone has spent an absolute fortune rebuilding the car to a high standard - bodged repairs do not last for than a few years in corrosive environments.The Gilbern is more special. How would you feel seeing the car deteriorate? I used my classic all year round but only dry salt free days during the winter.
Keep the Gilbern for occasional use when conditions allow and use the Boxster the rest of the time.
I personally couldn't care less about a Booster - it's a mass produced German car. Just use it. There are hundreds of thousands of them and one less won't make any difference. Get it Lanoguarded before winter and repeat after a few months if you're attached to the car. It needs done inside body cavities as well as all over the underside and it's good stuff while it's there but it will wash off from wet roads. It'll help keep that sandy-coloured coating of salt we get when driving in winter on dry days off the car's metalwork though.
It's that Gilbern that you'd be kissing goodbye to and not just for you but for the world. You'd be consigning it to scrap as within 3-5 years of salty Scottish winter roads it'll have well established corrosion and will - no ifs about it - need a full body off nut and bolt restoration and a 5 figure sum spent by your successor if it ever drives again.
It's currently your car and nobody can tell you how to enjoy it, but if you've cared for your cars long enough I suspect you probably won't enjoy watching this car rapidly deteriorate.
I'd go with the idea of using cars as much as possible. I'm nearly 70 now and don't drive as much as I used to, but my 1989 190e is still in regular use as is our 2004 MX5. The latter is a terrible rust box and I'm not sure how long I can go on welding and repairing, but while I can, I will. A few years back, I took my XK120 ots out for "drive it day" in freezing conditions which turned to sticky snow. It was great fun on the way home as the tiny wipers were useless but I could reach round the screen to help a bit. It also slipped quite entertainingly. I was well wrapped up in Arran jumper, boilersuit (clean) and a woolly hat and gloves - the car has no heater. I put it in the garage and left the doors open to let the wet evaporate and no harm done. The other two cars have to sit outside as the garage only takes one car. I usually try to get the Jaguar out at the start of March as I can at least pretend that spring is just around the corner!
If nothing else, the above comments show that there is no "one size fits all" answer...
Firmly in the "use when you can" camp... If my old stuff were to rot away completely, I'd still have lost less financially than my mate who always buys new and sells after a couple of years. Deterioration is just a cost of enjoyment for me, unlike depreciation which I have never been able to accept. But, in truth, most of my cars are in better nick and worth more when they leave me, than when I bought them (and I very much doubt that, in real terms, classic car and bike ownership has actually cost me anything over the years).
Besides... there's nothing quite like driving an open top car in winter.
A few years back, and, to many, not a proper classic... but I quite like this pic' - winter holiday in Wales.
Firmly in the "use when you can" camp... If my old stuff were to rot away completely, I'd still have lost less financially than my mate who always buys new and sells after a couple of years. Deterioration is just a cost of enjoyment for me, unlike depreciation which I have never been able to accept. But, in truth, most of my cars are in better nick and worth more when they leave me, than when I bought them (and I very much doubt that, in real terms, classic car and bike ownership has actually cost me anything over the years).
Besides... there's nothing quite like driving an open top car in winter.
A few years back, and, to many, not a proper classic... but I quite like this pic' - winter holiday in Wales.
uk66fastback said:
I use this 944 as my daily and have done for the 10 years I’ve owned it. It lives outside in all weathers as well. Whereas the Datsun I’ve had since 2015 has done all of about 15 miles in that time, but that’s another story! Your Boxster should be used, not stored.
Mr Tidy said:
I don't think leaving cars sitting for months on end does them any favours anyway.
I have 3 cars that have all sat for periods of up to 3 years, and are never out in winter. Two Japanese and one German. I've done this over a very long period of time without issue. As long as they're left in a garage and have decent fuel in and you are sensible about recommissioning them, it doesn't seem to matter if they get left to stand. I haven't had a single issue that could be attributed to them being off road. I have two that live outside and are used all year, one a twenty year old Lexus. It passes the MOT every year, but it's not pretty to look at underneath.Hippea said:
uk66fastback said:
I use this 944 as my daily and have done for the 10 years I’ve owned it. It lives outside in all weathers as well. Whereas the Datsun I’ve had since 2015 has done all of about 15 miles in that time, but that’s another story! Your Boxster should be used, not stored.
Just brought it inside for a few days to do the handbrake and an oil change etc.
Edited by uk66fastback on Monday 23 October 21:46
Use it, use it again and keep it jet washed underneath without being perfectionist. I’ve collected a car today which has been dry stored in a garage, but it threw up a lot of problems, now sorted. Cars love to be used and if the roads are a bit salty, wash it off. They love to get warm and not sleep in a garage.
Use it!
Had my Amazon parked up in a supermarket car-park last Winter with snow all over it and the bloke parked next to me said he thought it would be cold without modern heating.
I laughed and said it's a Volvo from Scandinavia, it's lovely and warm in Winter.
Had my Amazon parked up in a supermarket car-park last Winter with snow all over it and the bloke parked next to me said he thought it would be cold without modern heating.
I laughed and said it's a Volvo from Scandinavia, it's lovely and warm in Winter.
Edited by vixen1700 on Tuesday 24th October 21:39
Mazinbrum said:
Some winters are worse than others, if the roads didn’t get salted I carried on using my TVR all year. If the roads got salted I’d wait till we had a load of rain to wash it away and carry on. Just do this and get it treated with Lanoguard.
This is how I see it. My classic Mini spends much of the winter in the garage, but it's not "off the road".Last Saturday I went to check on my folks as they are getting on and have various health problems. While the winds had died down a bit, there was still some very heavy showers and there was a lot of water on the roads between my house and theirs (both in Aberdeenshire). Driving through a town on the way I was very surprised to see a mid 60's Sunbeam Rapier out on the road!
Mr Tidy said:
I'm a bit younger than you but my philosophy is definitely to use what I have while I still can!
I'm even doing a trip to the Scottish Lowlands in a couple of weeks in my 2006 BMW Z4 - I just hope it doesn't dissolve.
I don't think leaving cars sitting for months on end does them any favours anyway.
Absolutely. Obviously avoid horrid weather, otherwise, always use a car. I have just had to re-commission a low mileage modern car which had been in a dry domestic garage for a year without turning a wheel. The owner has finally been persuaded to give up driving. The battery was utterly, totally dead, the tyres were beginning to crack, the family cat had scratched the roof ( it did polish up) .The whole episode was hard work and would have been avoided if the owner or his family had driven it round the block a few times, as a petrol, it would not have d.p.f problems.I'm even doing a trip to the Scottish Lowlands in a couple of weeks in my 2006 BMW Z4 - I just hope it doesn't dissolve.
I don't think leaving cars sitting for months on end does them any favours anyway.
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