Am I the only one or do most of you guts stranded by this dam weather start and warm up your cars throughout the winter? Snow is deep around here for Nebraska so today I had my monthly startup and bringing the cars to operating temp. Good for the motor and helps keep the battery charged. Also moved them back and forth? I've done this for many years with no problems. DAM SNOW!
No snow here in Oklahoma, right now but I try to start and run at least every 2 weeks during the winter.
over 3 feet of snow were I live in Minnesota expecting anywhere from 6 to 15 inches this weekend.Not really sure why I live here anymore. I do start my stuff from time to time to make sure they still run.Got to make sure they run for the 3 good months we do get.
Kinda cracks me up when some people here buy (mortgage) a $50k car or $70k truck and drive daily in winter slop, but won't "grab the moment" and drive the vintage car when roads are bare & dry? What's the point of not taking it out? Please tell me. I can't afford a winter car right now, AND I have no idea how many sunsets are left for me, so I drive mine as a primary car, but I try to not run in salt slush by planning errands ahead. I am heading out right now for errands like a couple of days ago pictured below: ^^I cut your sentence short.... "food for thought". ...perhaps. .
No snow here in the sunny south, but has rained just about every day since november. Hard to do anything outside. If that counts.
your definitely a role model for the rest of us I do enjoy living in Minnesota just wish it stayed warmer more months out of the year.So much for global warming.
My route to the shop looks about like Rick's above. I haven't started my car this winter, let alone driven it any. I know I should be I just haven't.
I never start mine all winter long, just unhook battery and wait for spring. I have never had a problem yet. Maybe I'm just lucky too.
I try to start mine at least once every two to three weeks. If the weather is decent I'll drive it. If not I will move it back and forth. Either been too cold or mostly rainy to drive lately.
I drove mine last fall just before it snowed, does that count? Really, it’s not the snow that gets you here, it’s the cold! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I always post this photo when winter & Hot Rods are mentioned. The Don Noyes ARDUN powered 1932 Ford. Bob
It was 35 degrees here today. I was doing some painting on the 42 Chevy, so started the convertible and backed her out of the garage. Streets are still to bad to drive the convertible though.
Are you retired? There is no way I would rely on a vintage car for winter transportation. They use heinous chemicals on the roads around here. And there is no way to plan ahead of the salt when you have to follow a work schedule. I wish I could drive a cool car all the time, but it just doesn’t fit my reality, I’d bet most here are in a similar situation.
I started all 3 of mine today but too much snow and ice to get them out. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
No, I don't have a defined schedule, and if I did, I'd have to get another sacrificial winter car like I once had. I did work for Conn DOT as a mechanic years ago, and I sure do know what happened to our "salt shakers". Today, Conn DOT uses no sand, and switched to some very nasty brine stuff....far worse than the plain old road salt. Matter of fact, the truck drivers have to wear full EPA suits when refilling. I should have written my first post a lot better... What I mean is that if a person can run a very, very expensive new car/truck in the slop all the time, then why can't they wait for a cold "dry-road day" and take the vintage car out for fun, rather than wait till summer? A huge percentage of hambers are deep in their 60s-70s+,and for some reason, they simply don't take a car out on a good dry day. I see this here locally, even in spring/summer/autumn....I am the only one out there in my area, unless there is a show that day? Weird...or what?
krylon, I moved from Omaha to Denver in Sept, my 40 is still in Omaha, will pick it up in April...proud to say that the previous year I drove it at least once a month all 12 months...pics of people ice fishing in January, February 70 degree day cruise in at the local watering hole, other pics of Feb driving, last pics are hot rod run from Omaha to Speedway in October, starting temp of 21 degrees
My uncle had a classic response when he was asked why he drove his car in the rain when he didn't necessarily need to. He simply said "It rained at least once in 1937".
Kentucky has probably had a total of 5 inches of snow this winter and at least 15 inches of KY DOT road salt and an untold amount of liquid brine. I would never consider driving an old car until all the salt residue is washed away by a good rain.
I guess I subscribe to the theory that it isn't good for the motor (and exhaust system) for a car to idle once a month during the winter without being driven. The battery can be put on a charger. The problem is that even on a "dry" day, the salt and brine residue still gets kicked up into places on the body and chassis that you don't want it to sit. There is no such thing as a "good" day during the winter. The roads don't become "good" until a half dozen March/April rain showers have washed away the sand and salt. A new car is a new car. Often nothing special beyond reliable transportation. An old car? They aren't being made anymore. Why subject it to unnecessary rust inducing chemical compounds? FWIW, I did drive a '62 Chevy daily in Iowa winters during the mid-2000s. Would I do it again? No. The heater sucked, it didn't like to start on negative degree days, and it got rusty. Yeah, I'm a pessimist.
I think one of the best threads about hot rods in snow,ice, rain, sleate,tornados,ect.ect. Is b-bops thread about getting laid off and going on a hotrods adventure. I don't know how to post the thread but if someone can throw it up here it is a great read!!
I do regular battery charges and start-ups as needed. I lived in Denver in the mid '80's and one of my neighbors had a shop with two running hot rods and two projects in various stages of completion. He put the runners up on jack-stands when the first snow fell. He would go out and fire them up weekly and run them through the gears; work the brakes, throttle up and down- basically "drive" them in the air. He said it made more sense to him than just exercising the engine by itself. I used to joke with him about driving through the wall and into my living room if they ever fell off the stands..... yeah, I know, odds were tiny but we got a laugh out of it.
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