WTF is it with winter driving, classic clubs and old cars?!?

[Telf 224 2 Cars]

About October every year my local club on facebook has posts appearing about hibernating their cars. Same on various 205 pages .. oh look my car is off to save it from winter!!

 

Why!? 

 

I just don't get it. What's the use of a car you look at and occasionally drive?

 

Salt on the road i see people cry! So what ? Wash it .

 

Seriously it puzzles me no end. Does anyone drive their cars all year round or am I just odd?

 

[calvinhorse 870]

My 309 hasn’t seen snow and very little rain since I bought it in 2008 It lives inside

 

my daily 205 has had an mot every year since it was new in 1990 and is my main winter hack, when I washed it for the last  MOT it was the first time it had been washed since the previous MOT 

 

my 309 is worth maybe £7500

my 205 is worth maybe £750

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

I’ve driven my car all year as a daily and seen it deteriorate, I’ve got loads of other cars so I now wouldn’t use my 205 and some of my other cars as a daily in winter. I would use them on the odd occasion and if it was salty give them a damn good clean. You wouldn’t catch me using the 205 every day though, that’s why there’s loads of rotten 205s! 

[Telf 224 2 Cars]

Thats kind of my point. I drove my 1.9 for 7 years in all weather's.  I skidded it around empty car parks full of snow.razzed it down country lanes regardless if the gritters where out. It got covered in s*it and slowly rusted. By that point it was 22 years old and managed another 7. Sure it was a bit rusty  but fixable.

 

Spent nearly £15k stripping it and rebuilding it to do what ? Look at it and drive for a few thousand miles every year. What's the point in that?!

 

Its probably worth 5?6?7?8?9?10k? But whoopee thats useful when your dead and buried.  My dad had that mentality. He used to buy beautiful cars and never drive them. 

 

 Maybe it is just me, lifes too short to not drive and enjoy a car you love . 

 

I just don't get it but each to his or her own I guess.

 

 

[calvinhorse 870]

You can slide around in the snow and have fun in a sh1t box and have just as much fun, why ruin a car that’s at its best in the summer!

 

but like someone once told me, keeping the miles off a car for the next owner is like having a girlfriend and not having sex with her so she’s better for the next guy  

[Ozymandis 97]

I drive my everyday shed in all weathers and enjoy a slide about in the snow as much as the next Idiot, yet we have a mint low mile car ,nominally my Mrs car, and the only time I ever drive it is for its mot and back 800Yds away.

 

She goes on holiday in it maybe twice a year, and everyone, looks smiles and waves because its so "my dad had one of those" etc, and our local airfield does a charity car thing and she takes it there and has an ace day with friendly chatty people.

 

Its under a cover in a garage until next years well advanced. Its in contrast to the filthy 205 thats her everydayer, I can understand people not wanting the tinworms eating the thing that gives them pleasure like her car does.

[Ruben 0]

On 12/19/2020 at 9:36 PM, Telf said:

Thats kind of my point. I drove my 1.9 for 7 years in all weather's.  I skidded it around empty car parks full of snow.razzed it down country lanes regardless if the gritters where out. It got covered in s*it and slowly rusted. By that point it was 22 years old and managed another 7. Sure it was a bit rusty  but fixable.

 

Spent nearly £15k stripping it and rebuilding it to do what ? Look at it and drive for a few thousand miles every year. What's the point in that?!

 

Its probably worth 5?6?7?8?9?10k? But whoopee thats useful when your dead and buried.  My dad had that mentality. He used to buy beautiful cars and never drive them. 

 

 Maybe it is just me, lifes too short to not drive and enjoy a car you love . 

 

I just don't get it but each to his or her own I guess.

 

 

I also drive mine in the winter! Here in Madeira Island we have some beautifull and curvy country roads with awsome views! 

[petert 586]

I drive in winter too. It's the best time to drive. You don't have to remove the molten tar spots from the paint work.

Edited December 21, 2020 by petert

[Atlaskrukvaxt 5]

At this point I drive my 405 during the winter too. I'm looking to get me a citroen c4 or c5 for winter driving next year though.

The amount of salt on the roads here is unbearable and unfortunately I currently don't have any way of washing my car where I live.

The main issue is when it is only between +1 and -5 degrees which is most of November ,  December and March to April.

Anything colder than that and they stop salting the roads. This typically happens in mid to late January and stays until early/mid March. 

[205007 12]

2 hours ago, Ruben said:

I also drive mine in the winter! Here in Madeira Island we have some beautifull and curvy country roads with awsome views! 

Yes, some mega roads in Madeira,  -even in a 1.2 Skoda yeti hire car :-)

[Andy 105 1 Cars]

For what it is worth, I have had numerous Alfasuds and two Integrales. All did day in day out driving in all weathers . I admit to spending quite a lot of time cleaning them , but as they all made me smile every time I got into any of them, it was worth it. Latterly, my 205 did fewer miles but I was not afraid to get it wet , cold and miserable, for the above reason . Now it’s a Golf R32. Same applies , but I no longer have to drive it every day.  Nevertheless.......

[DamirGTI 342]

Everywhere and anywhere , short distance , long distance , all kinds of weather thought the year  .. and that'll be now 18 full years of using 205 as an daily drive .

 

The unbearable part for me personally Is just the summer period of July and Aug. when i really crave for AC in my 205 , since getting a bit older last few years just can't stand the heat anymore it makes me sick .. in that summer period i tend to drive another car with the AC mainly in the hottest parts of the day when the sun is up , at night when the heat is off a bit i still drive the 205 .

 

D

[Leslie green 109]

The majority of classic cars left now are the one s were not driven in winter !  I know the 205 is a lot better than most rust wise so is perhaps a bit of an exception but salt is very bad for most old cars . Its always nice to get a car back out after its hibernation and back on the road each year feels like a new car again . I drove a couple of 205 diesels when they were current models many years ago as cheap transport if I had a tidy gti daily driving I think the car park dents etc soon mount up which would spoil the car if you have spent a lot of time and effort making it mint.

[Ruben 0]

On 12/21/2020 at 10:44 PM, 205007 said:

Yes, some mega roads in Madeira,  -even in a 1.2 Skoda yeti hire car :-)

No doubt! My 205 just loves the corners and the descent curvy roads! Its amazing how can an almost 30 year car provide so much pleasure , and with no power steering!! Old School driving

[lagonda 42]

Drove to the pub in Coldharbour, highest pub in Surrey I believe, in my 1939 LG6 special one winter's night, in the snow. We were the only customers ... because of the weather. The LG6 has no roof, just aeroscreens, and heating is by whatever heat might waft back from the engine. Did a day trip to France that winter ... the LG6 was not garaged, and when we went out to it, the ice on the screens was thicker than the glass. Still enjoyed the trip! More recently, drove to the "local" (90 mile round trip) old car pub meet near Ruffec one November, in the LG6. Car park usually packed; empty. Went inside, recognised just one person. Oh, they've all put their cars away for the winter. What a bunch of saddos.

 

 

[Nobbly 22 2 Cars]

I’m not over precious about my 205, with one exception - SALT! Salt is the enemy of all cars, it is the devil.

The car was restored by me to near a couple of years ago, but to be used not just stared at. It isn’t a trailer queen, it gets ‘driven’ but not ‘flogged’ and I use it as much as I can in the summer come rain or shine. It is there to be used and the pleasure I get is immense, well worth the odd stone chip.
Keeping it away from salt means a wheels off wipe over the suspension parts with an oily rag once or twice a year keeps it looking really nice with minimal effort.

The value of all these cars is rising (I have 2 x Escort RS1600i, they are getting ridiculous!) and as a result less and less people are using them which is their choice. I like to strike a happy medium, keeping the cars driven but good enough to pass on to the kids.

[calvinhorse 870]

I’ve just realised why we don’t drive our cars through winter, it so we have an excuse to buy another car 

[eddie bullit 37]

Mine current, and last, has never seen winter. Never really sees summer either!