Winterizing Classic Cars

Time to Focus on Winterizing Your Classic Car

It is late October in New York, a time that I am normally well into my winter storage planning. However, it is a wonderful fall day outside, which makes it difficult to consider the possibility that cold weather is right around the corner. But it is a good time to think about winterizing your classic car.

So once again, I am going to pass along to you my proven method for storage of your collector car. My definition of a proven method is, “it has worked for me for many years.”

I embrace the concept that it is better to do everything now, so that when spring rolls around you can simply get in the classic car, start the engine, and begin enjoying it for another season.

Before you begin winterizing your vintage car, perform any routine maintenance that you have deferred. This can range from replacing a burned out cigarette lighter or taillight bulb, to a tune-up, to replacing an exhaust system. This is also the ideal time to complete any major repairs such as a transmission rebuild or rear axle rebuild. Tending to these items before storing the car for the winter will prevent repeated nights of sleeplessness as you toss and turn knowing that you have neglected your classic car. Or maybe that is just me.

Once you have tended to maintenance and repairs, it is time to prepare the vintage car for hibernation. There are many different opinions on the best way to do this. But trust me. My way is right. Remember, it is proven method. But more importantly, there is a method to my madness, which I will explain as I go along.

Start by changing the oil and filter, unless it was just done. The old oil will contain contaminants, especially if you used the car infrequently, and on short trips. Drive the car to a gas station and add a fuel stabilizer such as Sta-Bil in the amount recommended on the bottle. Add a little extra. It will not hurt. I also add Marvel Mystery oil to the tank as well; as my farmer grandfather told me did with all his trucks and tractors which seems to drive forever. Then fill the fuel tank to the tippy-top. By adding the fuel after the stabilizer, it will mix thoroughly in the fuel tank.

Take the old car for a drive that is long enough for the engine to get up to operating temperature. By doing this you will accomplish several things. First, you will circulate fresh oil through the engine, much of which will (hopefully) remain there to prevent rust until spring. Second, you will burn off many of the contaminants in the oil, one of which is water. Third, you will get the exhaust system hot enough to burn off any moisture, thus preventing, or minimizing, rust in the exhaust system. Most exhaust systems rust from the inside out, not the outside in. Fourth, a trip that is long enough to get the car up to operating temperature is also long enough for the fuel that you have treated with the stabilizer to reach the carburetor and all of its small passages.

There are two additional things that you can accomplish on this trip. You’re going to have to the clean the inside and outside of the classic car before you put it away for storage, so unless you plan on doing it yourself, this would be a good time to take the vintage car to the car wash or detailer. This would also be a good time to check the air in the tires and inflate them to 5 PSI over the maximum pressure indicated on the sidewalls. Keep in mind that the tires are warm, and the inflation pressure will drop when they cool off. Do not put the classic car up on blocks. Suspensions were not designed to hang in mid-air for months at a time. Conversely, the tires were designed to sit on the ground for their entire lives. If they are properly inflated, “flat-spots” should not be an issue.

The final step is to “fog out” the engine. Do this once the classic car is parked where it is to be stored for the winter, and while it is still warm from its trip. Remove the air cleaner and spray “engine fogger” into the carburetor with the engine running at a high idle. Once you see smoke coming out of the exhaust, shut off the engine and replace the air-cleaner. “Fogging out” the engine coats many of the internal engine surfaces, as well as the inside of the exhaust with a coating designed to prevent rust formation. Disconnect the negative battery terminal and put the battery on a “maintainer” or trickle charger.

Some classic car enthusiasts add a quick disconnector to the battery for easier service on disconnecting the terminal.

That is it. You are done.

Perhaps the best advice I can give you is what not to do during the winter storage months. Do not start the engine periodically. It does no good, and in fact it probably does harm. Most engine wear takes place when an engine is started cold. This is made even worse when an engine that has been sitting for an extended period of time is started, because much of the protective coating of oil on vital surfaces is minimized, or even gone.

So let your car hibernate for the winter months. It will awaken clean and ready to go on that first spring day that you just cannot resist taking it out for a ride.