Rain or Snow: Drive It or Garage It?

I realize driving a vintage car as your only daily driver is different than having vintage cars as hobby/fun/extra cars. My older cars are hobby cars, but I still say “drive ’em year ’round” as much as possible. Here in Colorado we get our fair share of snow and gravel on the roads, but there are still plenty of clear and dry winter days to get out and keep the cars warmed up and exercised. It’s better for these cars to not “hibernate” for long periods of time, and better for the owner/driver’s, too. 🙂

Same idea in the summer – think of the rally events (Colorado Grande, etc.) where some very rare, very valuable cars are driven 1,000 miles in a week, ending up covered in mud and dirt and who knows what they run into. I bet those driver’s are smiling.

Jim

You got to drive it, I get the Volvo Amazon out in the snow. It’s what they were made for.

Drive it! My DD is a ’68 Dodge Dart 270, and it sees all manner of bad weather. I put a pair of 27×8.5×14 General Grabber AT2s on the back for winter use, and I couldn’t be happier. Handles snow better than the FWD econoboxes I used to drive, to boot. Road salt? Yeah, it’s a pain. But I wash the car once a week no matter how warm or cold it is, so I’m not too worried about it rusting out in the near future.

After all, isn’t the greatest honor you can bestow on a car to drive it like its meant to be driven? I contend that I respect my car more by using it and putting it through its paces in snow and sleet and whatnot than the guy who parks his classic driver all winter long.