Living down here on the Texas Gulf Coast we very seldom see temps drop below freezing more than few times during the winter season and when it does it also seldom holds below more than a couple days not allowing much damage from the cold to get our cars This allows us to pretty much drive our rods more often than not.I was sorta wondering how much the winter season affects you folks up north and do you often sustain damage from the cold setting in for long periods of time to your cars......Just curious
Winter sucks around here, the snow is the biggest pain. We often gather at some ones garage once a week or at the bar. This keeps us from going insane. The weather hurts everything when it is cold, we learn to adapt. My cars are all garaged, some people have to rent storage. The biggest problem I have had was when I parked my street rod in a unheated garage, the billet (I know a dirty word) became oxidized. Other that that we pull the battery and place in the heated end of the garage. I keep my driver ready at all times, when it is clear we drive it. Also the Polar Bear run each Superbowl Sunday we have to be ready to drive. 2 years we have been in that run it is a blast, great bunch of guys those Bare Bones club members.
This is a little o/t to my post,but i have a buddie than moved here from Canada a couple years ago.The first thing he bought was a brand new Harley bagger and spent 6,000.00 dressing her up.He left the bike in his garage for three months where all his pool chemicals where.When he got back from visiting home it looked like the bike had been sand blasted......The brother cried like a baby
have you ever opened a bottle of bleach and it makes you cough or takes away your breath?that stuff is lighter than air and will land on stuff and eat it up.that's why pool furniture made from metal has to be painted often.
Speaking for myself, and probably some other Northeastern guys, when the final show is over in November, the car gets put in the garage for the winter basically.......time for repairs, improvements, and servicing........with no shows or rod runs to go to, there's not a whole lot of motivation on my part to keep my coo-pay on the road all winter........I don't have a heater either........ The winters here at the Jersey Shore aren't usually too severe....the salt air off the ocean helps to keep the temps halfway moderate......it rarely gets down into the *teens*........some, but not too often...... I also tend to get a little lazy when it is so cold, and it's dark at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.......just my $0.02 CB
No,that why i said a little o/t to my post.I was commenting on the oxidation comment that pistnbroke made.I guess it just came to mind.Still on my first cup of coffee...lol
I am originally from Canadia and when I eventually move back in the next couple years I have no idea what I will be driving in the winter. I mean I don't want the salt to eat away a traditional rod/kustom. What do my fellow Kanadese do in the winter for a daily driver?
things crack & break when its real cold here in Minnesota. a hard old seat will split wide open when you sit in it at 10 below. the biggest issue is 'salt' on the roads, it gets in everywhere & never sleeps it keeps eating. it will get in the pinch welds & go to work & youll be lookin for a door bottom. later model pickups driven all winter need cab corners & rockers after a few winters. i have seen late 90s early 2000s cars you cant raise on a hoist because they are rotten. most caravan strut towers are rotted away. early iron sitting outside is ok getting rained & snowed on if the sun & wind can eventually get at it but they eventually get a leak around a window or wherever & pretty soon the floor is gone. id drive my truck this winter if there wasnt so much salt on the roads & the fact i cant resnap my tonneau cover at 20 degrees.
up here in NY ive come to terms with the fact that half of the year i will drive a $200 piece of shit car and keep my cruizer in storage. this is the first winter ive had a garage to call my own, and nothing to cruize, i had hopes of using the "off season" to get some much needed work done on building another car to drive in the summer, but i totally underestimated heating costs. its like, i can have the money to build the car and work in the freezing cold, or heat the garage and be broke....
my bel air and motorcycle stay indoors and i drive my banged up 95 toyota pickup. pretty much from mid nov til april. after the last snowfall i wait for it to rain good a couple times to wash the salt off the roads.
-45 C with windchill up here today, around -42 F. not much you can do in this kind of weather but sit inside and drink hot chocolate. nothing wants to do anything, cars included. to tackle all the snow, and finding a pastime i got a snowmobile, tons of fun.
the neighbors were plowing with their little early ford bronco. he stopped & got out & was talking with some guys & 'BANG' the truck was just sitting there all alone. something broke from being rotted & the whole truck leaned over. he didnt give a f---. he just jumped back in & kept plowing. another friend of mine came home in his older chev pickup & its fukkin rotted!! the same thing happened BANG the cab fell down on the drivers side. he grabbed a jack, jacked the cab back up to see what broke & it stayed up so he let the jack down & continues to drive it today & that was last winter. whats holding it up nobody knows!?! the carpet & pad are his only floor. in the summer he drives a 40 ford pickp daily. we had a jeep cherokee plow truck that we never washed & the back seat shook the whole time we'd plow cause there was no floor left the frame kept the seat from falling on the ground. i remember looking back while backing up when plowing & spot something moving it was the driveshaft turning.
My 49 is in the garage with both the motor and interior torn apart right now. But, yesterday I saw a Model A sedan and a really nice 41 Studebaker coupe out on the road. It has been in the single digits at night and up to 20 or so during the day here, but dry and the roads are perfectly clear. Most guys have their cars put away, though.
The cold really doesn't affect my car as I keep my garage heated above freezing all winter. You can't drive them from Nov.-Apr. with October being so-so and the streets aren't really cleaned up until the end of April. Makes for a long build season.
Here in Vegas we have two driving seasons.....too damn hot and too damn cold.....If you have ever been to the desert you'll know what I mean. Anyways, I have to have the top on the roadster in the summer to keep the sun from causing cancer, and in the winter the top and side curtains to keep the piercing cold wind off. I try and have the car out once a week other than that. Can't wait to get the coupe done! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=409232
The thing most affected by cold is motivation. The plus side is other than shoveling, outdoor work screeches to a halt. No more pesky mowing, wood chipping, leaf raking, too cold to paint or shingle or anything that's not an emergency repair. Most of us try to get our beaters in ship-shape to run the snow season without work, so in some ways garage time becomes plentiful. And that's GREAT for project cars. The downside is if you don't have a heated workspace. The real real real downside is with winter, "normal" people don't drive performance cars as their primary mode of transport. Which in turn affects the local inventory of used cars, project cars, and parts.
It's the salt that sucks!! And the law that forces to change winter tyres in December and back to summer tyres in March. So when you have 4 cars it's bit cheaper to use only one in the winter.. It's snowing now and -17C/ 0F
winter and snow doesn't slow me down at all , i just slap these on my `36 and i'm ready for any weather
Well, we just lock everything up indoors and wait it out - trouble is, that wait can be up to six months up here - remind me again why the hell I'm still living here?! On a side note, my wife just told me that last night (December 12, 2009) Edmonton recorded the coldest temperature - not just locally, but for the entire planet!!! Steve
i know what sucks about cold damp weather. when you have a 160 t.stat, shitty crank case ventilation & its less than a 15 minute drive to work. your engine dosent even get warm & then gets lots of cottage cheese inside it & then pretty soon you can kinda maybe hear bearing noise between gears.
Salt sucks! But now Ct is following Mass, There no longer using salt some kind of liquid solution instead! You can hear a car rust on a quiet day now! Ive seen 5 year old cars rusted to hell! ..... Well what ever is not plastic!
winter sucks! salt on the roads kill any car, that's why you guys out west have better bodies laying in your junk yards than we start with for our projects. if you don't like doing rust repair you better buy a finished car. i have a garage that's not heated all the time so if i want to work in it i spend half my time getting it warm enough. tools and sheetmetal at 20 degrees are no fun to work with. today it's 28 degrees with freezing rain and the roads are shit so i'm sitting here reading 5 different threads on the hamb about guys crying it rained at the mooneyes show. boo hoo!
Sound about like Ohio. The bad thing for me is, my shops about 45min. away. After working all day, having dinner and spending some time with the family, the day is almost shot. 45 min drive and another 30 to 45 min. to let the shop warm up, and its 9:00 or 10:00 before I even get started. With a 4:30 A.M. wake up, just don't get much done. (Man am I getting old. Was a time when I could stay up all night, and go to work the next day with no problem.)
Yes, always put Hakkapeliita snows on the DD and keep the toy cars in the garage. I just bought a copy of "cool cars and square roll bars" by Bernard Shuman (2006). Also check out the new Rodders Journal. In addition to great content, both have pictures and narrative about great Northeast (US) hot rods shown in the snow. Vintageride
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