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To drive or not to drive you classic during the winter months?
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1972 Cadillac Eldorado in City Park in September
That is the question. Depending on where you live you may get different answers, but for the Denver climate it is one that some car enthusiasts struggle with. The Denver Metro area is one of those places where the weather sometimes just doesn't cooperate. You can plan an event and the day before it can be sunny and 72 degrees and the next day snowing with a foot of snow overnight. Starting in late September you have to keep up on your weather reports AND be ready to change your plans at a moments notice.
So this brings up the question: Do you store your classic or collector car over the winter and if you do, when do you put it away? If you don't, what are the pros and cons?
I personally am one of those people that don't put my car away for the winter; by that I mean that I don't winterize it and wait for spring to come before I fire the old gal up again. This is generally because of the somewhat unpredictable weather we can have here in Colorado. So I keep my 1972 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible in a garage with a couple other cars. I try to get out there and give her some love every couple of weeks and for the last 6 years this has worked out fine. The trouble is when we have 2 feet of snow...a la, in October with the somewhat unexpected amount of white stuff.
There are a couple of reasons why I don't winterize my vehicle and a couple of things I do to make it easier on the old gal. Since my Birthday is in November, I tend to like to drive my car on my Birthday. It is just a nice topper to getting another year older. I also like to try and drive my car in December around Christmas when our guests are in town from England. Before I had the Eldorado repainted I used to drive her in rain, snow and anything in between. In fact, she was the preferred transportation to Loveland for Skiing. Today is a different story. With a newer top and newer paint, I prefer she not have to set out in the muckity muck that is our winter weather here. So I have found a nice balance by having quick disconnects on the battery so I can disconnect her while not in use and keeping a lesser amount of gas in the tank and putting in a required amount of gas when I am going to use her in the winter months. No one wants bad gas in the tank and depending on how much you use the car in the winter you can always put in a stabilizer additive.
In the end, I just love driving my classic car to much to not have access to her at all for the winter months. For those of you who do want to winterize you car, keep a look out for an up coming article sent in to us by David Leger, editor of The Dagmar for the Rocky Mountain Cadillac Lasalle Club. He details his process for putting his 1947 Cadillac away for the winter. Until then happy motoring!
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