4 Things Silently Killing Your Vintage Car
You click the ignition key one detent to the right. A quick twitch of the right foot to tickle the accelerator pump and set the choke. Another touch on the key and . . .
Nothing.
What should be a crescendo of eight trumpets playing the V-8 version of taps and stirring the car person’s soul awake is instead the painful silence punctuated by the soft click of the ignition cylinder returning to the off position. Wake up, it’s just a nightmare.
At least, for now it is. It could happen to you, though. Nature is a cruel mistress who is conspiring against us and our cars and doing so both vigorously and silently. Here are four main offenders to keep your eye on, since your ears aren’t going to help.
The Garage Fridge
Current moving around inside an electric motor—like the compressor of a refrigerator—produces ozone, and that combined with sunlight can age tires and other rubber parts very rapidly. Replacing dry-rotted but otherwise fine parts gets expensive and annoying very quickly. If you are like me and aren’t ready to give up the fridge or freezer, focus on keeping sunlight away from your vintage ride.
Corrosion
Deep inside your car, there is a war being waged between materials and nature. Hate to break it to you, but nature always wins. That means rust and other types of corrosion are leeching into the metals and connections that not only shape your car but also make it functional and easily serviceable. For every joke about “hearing a car rust” there are five cars that rusted away before the owner even noticed.
Being Parked
Sitting is the last thing cars were designed to do. All of the silent killers, and a few of the noisy ones, attack when the car is laying dormant. These things gain ground while the car is waiting, only for us to claw back some ground with our occasional drives. Oil coatings slip off and leave dry-start conditions inside an engine that could drive an owner to doing the extra work of priming an engine just to go driving. That’s only for those who are both aware and care enough to take that action. For many, ignorance is bliss when turning the ignition key and hearing the rumble through the exhaust pipes.
Friction
Fine, I’ll concede this one is not always silent, but with or without noise, excess friction is making your vintage car smaller with every drive. I’m not even talking about the intentional friction from brake or clutch lining, but instead about the metal-to-metal contact that was never designed to be that way. Grease and oil are subject to gravity just like us, so keeping oil and grease in the right spot is a never-ending task as they silently slide and ooze past seals and gaskets. One small drop on the garage floor might not seem like a big deal but over time can mean lots of very worn-out parts that seemingly happened out of nowhere.
Always leave your hood up when in a closed garage, mice and rats don’t like a open area and this might prevent your plug wires and other wiring from getting chewed. Another thing I do, if the car is going to sit over winter, just start it up for about 15-30 seconds, the oil will cling to the cylinder walls longer than it will with a warm engine.
Mice are the WORST! Had a few of them chewing on a piece of foam in my daily driven Kia Stinger gt. For whatever reason, they didn’t touch the Lightning that sits for half the year due to terrible MN winters and all the other days that it’s raining. When I store the Lightning for the winter, spray this stuff I got from Menards, mice don’t like the smell of it. I also place steel wool in some of the obvious places, in the massive exhaust tips, the opening in the fender. I also spray peppermint oil in and around the hood, underneath and inside.
Around my garage I seal up any obvious openings with caulk, place those sticky traps all over and place steel wool in any other gaps. It’s a constant battle every fall into winter when the temps start to drop but the alternative is much worse imo.
One thing that is a real killer is E85 gasoline, or any gas that contains ethanol. Ethanol gas causes corrosion within a car’s fuel system due to alcohol content. Ethanol gas has a smaller service life of about three months, while non-ethanol gas has about six months.
Good news. Refrigerators built after 2005 have better referigant and insulation foam, designed to be ozone friendly. I just bought a new one a few days ago that is “garage ready” meaning it can work fine in a non-controlled climate, even outdoors. So, no worries if you have a later model.
What seems to be missed is parking the car with half a tank of fuel, or less. Condensation will kill your fuel sending units, your fuel injection and make the car run poorly. Often, the cars are parked because they run poorly, and nothing seems to make them work properly. This makes the problem worse as the water and fuel get pumped into the injection system, or carburetors. They get parked until there is time to properly diagnose, with in some cases, can be years… More than any other problem that I run into with collector cars that have been parked is water logged fuel, a result of condensation. The fix is easy. Top off the fuel tanks after every drive. This will keep the condensation out, and allow a clean start when you want to drive.
WOW, and I thought that I was the only old guy left out here standing in front of a blast cabinet cleaning parts.
I’m 80 and still at it. As recently as yesterday. But as I was told years ago, you will certainly grow older, but whatever you do, NEVER EVER Grow UP!!
Over the years of having the passion of restoring old MOPAR’s I am told that it is getting time to start culling the herd. Perhaps they are right, but today I have more parts that need to make a trip thru the cabinet to be cleaned up and ready to get put back in their rightful place.
………..Just keepin’ on keepin on. MOPAR’s Rules!!!
You forgot one: LEGISLATION.
III
I’d like to tip my hat to all the older gentlemen giving their perspective. I appreciate them not wanting to get rid of their cherished babies. I’m sure each one has a sentimental story on how they obtained the car.
Giving my thought I think an owner may feel a little better if they truly knew a true affectionado was going to keep and enjoy the vehicle rather than flip it for profit. There’s so many of those out there and to me that’s the ugly side of this. I hope when my day comes to give up my cherished possessions(if ever) my kids will carry the torch than sadly sell them to some slippery person with a compelling story just to find the vehicle has been sold a year later.
Re: Ozone damage in garages – little to no ozone is produced by refrigerators, but what is produced would not be released because refrigeration systems in appliances are hermetically sealed. Otherwise, refrigerant gas would escape. Induction motors produce much less ozone than motors with brushes if they are in open air.
Keep your garage refrigerator and keep tires out of the sunlight.
Too bad automotive A/C systems are not hermetically sealed, it would eliminate a lot of issues. Now I’m curious about how EV A/C works. I expect those vehicle’s systems could be sealed but would be difficult to service. Does anyone know?
“Driving With Steve Car Rentals” advertisement above is a reminder to everyone when on the hunt for a relatively new vehicle. By all means go ahead and buy one that was previously leased…….it was likely well looked after so as to not get dinged when turning it in.
A one or two year old vehicle that was a rental should never be purchased. The ‘break in period’ would have been ignored for starters and who knows how many corners were on two wheels at high speed. Rentals are not serviced to factory specs – oil changes occur when the dip stick indicates ‘black’!
Truly enjoy reading most of your comments. I’m 58, but can see the lighs getting broghter and it’s not a train. lol
66 year old chick here, still have my high school car, 1970 Plymouth Duster 340. Also have a 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera.
I drive them early every Sunday, rotating. I maintain the cars myself. You HAVE to drive them to keep them in shape and stay on top of maintenance. Love the waves and meeting new people. Car people are the best people!!
I’m not giving up my garage frig.
I hate warm 🍺🍺🍺
I can relate, and decided it was best to sell after 42 years of ownership. Why watch the car fall apart, that is not showing the car any love?
I’m 73 and just sold my 2013 ShelbyGT 500. I agree cars need to be driven and enjoyed. After putting only 250 miles on the Shelby in 6 years, I felt someone else should have it. Every time I took the Shelby out, I risked my license. Fastest and most responsive car I’ll ever own. It has been replaced by a 1980 TR7 and a 1980 TR8. Much more practical and as much fun to drive. (I can also work on these myself, part of the fun).