Though a vintage car owner may wish to show off their prized car at any time of the year, the variable weather in Cincinnati unfortunately only allows us to take our most precious vehicles out during the more temperate months. When it’s time to batten down the hatches for another midwest winter, there are a few steps that you can take to make sure your beloved car is both looking and feeling its best when the sun comes back in the spring.
A Clean Car is a Happy Car
One of the first things to do to make sure your classic car is protected during its long winter’s nap is to make sure it is clean inside and out. Wash and wax it, making sure to get all of the details. A small amount of bird droppings left to fester for months is definitely not good for the paint job, and you don’t want any critters attracted by any misplaced fries lost underneath the seats.
Changing the oil and filter is another must on the winterizing checklist of any vintage car. Though it may be tempting to leave the old oil in your car if you’ve only driven it a few hundred miles in the warm months, any impurities or water in the oil will have plenty of time to work on the most delicate of your engine parts, so taking it to your mechanic to have that oil changed now may well save you time and money in the spring.
A car cover is another idea to help keep any additional dings and scratches off of your car’s shiny paint job. Once you pull the car into the garage for the winter, the cover can help protect from unintended door dings from the car the next bay over or careless handling of the inevitable leaf rakes and snow shovels.
No New Passengers, Please
Even if your car is lucky enough to live in a garage, it is likely not the only thing living in that garage. When winter comes, as inhospitable of a place as your unheated garage seems to you, it may look like a tropical paradise to the local rodent population. More than one person has started their car in the spring and discovered that someone had taken up residence under the hood or even in the tailpipe.
One suggestion to help keep the rodents away is to place rodent repellent or even peppermint oil around the perimeter of the car. Another is to cover up your tailpipe to make sure nothing crawls inside. If you do this, be sure to place a note on your dash so your future self will remove it before firing your classic car up in the spring.
Keep Your Baby Purring
One most important things you can do to prepare your car for the long months of inactivity is to fill up the gas tank and add a fuel stabilizer before you store it. A fuel stabilizer—especially one that is designed to be added to a car before winterizing it—will help to preserve the gas and prevent any oxidation deposits in the fuel line that will gum up the works. Be sure to run your car’s engine for a few minutes after adding the stabilizer (read your label for more info) so it can properly mix into the fuel and be transported to all parts of your engine.
No Rough Rides
The last tasks before you tuck your car in for the winter are to disconnect and store your battery and do something about those tires. Removing the battery and placing it in a climate controlled location will help to preserve the charge of the battery for the winter (if your are lucky enough to have a climate controlled garage, maybe don’t bother with this one).
Tires that are resting in the same spot over long periods of time—especially of they are under filled—can lead to flat sections being pressed into the tire. Before putting the car away for the winter, it is a good rule of thumb to overfill your tires a bit before leaving it to rest (again, be sure to leave a note on the dash as a reminder for the spring). Some may recommend jacking it up off of the tires entirely for the winter, but this may have detrimental effects on your suspension and is not necessarily the best choice.
Make Sure She Wakes Up Happy
When spring hits, all you should have to do is install the battery, uncover the tailpipe and adjust those tires and it should be ready to go. If you take the time to give your classic car some extra love before the unpredictable Cincinnati winter, taking it out on the first perfect days of spring will be all that much more streamlined and satisfying.
