How to Prepare Classic, Custom, or Sports Cars for Winter Storage

Sep 14, 2011
Laure Justice

Classic Car Winter Storage Tips - Bull-Doser

Winter weather can be hard on stored vintage cars, but some extra caution and preparation will have your car ready to hit the road when spring rolls around.

You know summer fun is coming to an end and it's time to think about winter storage for your car when you hear about the last rod run or car show of the season, not to mention the leaves turning colors and the chill in the air. Even if you love winter, it can be really sad to think of shutting your summer ride away in a storage garage. At least you have the opportunity to make sure your car will be ready to go in the spring by taking care of winter preparations.

Winter storage is better for classic cars than being left out to face the elements, but stored cars still face some challenges. Those challenges have the potential to damage your classic iron as much as sitting out in a few ice storms. Some of the steps for preparing your car for storage are the same as the steps for preparing to drive in winter weather while others are unique to a parked, isolated storage location.

Winterizing a Classic Car for Storage

The steps for winterizing a stored car are similar to the steps for winterizing a car that will be on the road in the worst types of weather. These measures should be employed to reduce the risk of a cracked block if the temperature drops too far below freezing. These should even be performed for cars parked in heated garages, because if the power goes out in an ice storm, the power goes out in the garage, too.

Anti-freeze - test the anti-freeze, and be aware of your zone's lowest average temperature, to make sure your anti-freeze tests to stay liquid to at least ten degrees lower than your zone's normal low. For example, if your area normally averages 2 degrees below zero at least a few times each winter, make sure your anti-freeze tests for at least 12 below zero.
Go for one last drive to use up most of the gas. Gas gets stale when it stays in the tank for a few months, so enjoy one last cruise for the year, and use most of it, leaving the tank about 1/4 full.
Air up the tires if they are low, and if possible, check on the car a few times during the cold months to make sure the tires have not gone flat.
Remove the battery - while not a frequent occurrence, batteries that are completely unused during bitterly cold winters have been known to crack. Removing the battery completely ensures you won't have battery acid leaking into your engine compartment.

Classic Car Storage Tips

Beyond winterizing your car to protect the engine, there are two other important things you should do to protect your car in storage.

Cleaning - Make sure the car is pristine inside and out before you say goodbye to it for the year. Wash and apply a good coat of wax to the car's exterior to protect your paint job. Vacuum the seats and carpet to remove any bits of dirt or food that might attract rodents or burrowing insects.
Protect it from rodents - While cleaning the interior is the first step in keeping rodents away, most older cars have a certain amount of gaps that rodents can pass through with ease. You probably won't be able to block the all of the passages used by rodents, but you can leave traps or mouse poison under the seats. It's a lot easier to remove a mouse carcass than it is to replace shredded seats, carpet, sun visors, or headliners. Just make sure the car is locked and no young children will have access to the mouse poison or traps.

These few simple measures help to ensure your car will be in waiting and in good shape when the warm weather gets here next year, now you just have to get yourself safely through the season.