Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[xtriple]

and washed it!

Promised myself when I bought this car I'd keep it in its rust free condition and that meant (and still means) no water shall hit its pretty little body!

However, went out to Cobberton Combat Collection on Sunday ( a very worthy place to visit if you're in the vicinity) and the car got really dusty with a sort of black crud all over its lower body. So I washed it.....

It leaks like a sieve!

Was investigating the slightly dodgy clutch action (carpet and inderlay in the way) and water dripped pretty persistantly onto my hands - no idea where it's coming from, and no intention to fix it, just another reason to not let it get wet!

Actually, I think it's leaking from the fresh air inlet and is one of those winter jobs - I'm really not that idle......

Other than getting mucky, the little blue peril ran really well with none of the overheating that plagued it when I first got it, got the fuel consumption up to ( down to?) a reasonable 28mpg (on supergreen) from a fairly dismal high 'teens when bought and cured most of the irritating little clanks and rattles from various loose components. The joys of a car owned by an old boy that had no interest in fettling and just threw it at a local garage for servicing etc.

However, never gonna wash it again (I've had it since May and polished it about a hundred times) as it took forever to dry it off and then polish it again and dry out the inside.

What do you guys do?

[Riley Blue]

I take my Riley to the local Shiny car wash for a £5 shampoo every few months to get the crud off and give it a good wax and polish once a year using Mequiars' 3 Step stuff. Anything further would be wasted effort as its paintwork is several shades of faded Bermuda Blue that frequent diddling about with dusters and polishing clothes won't improve. It'll never win a concours prize but frankly, I don't give a damned....

[Rick]

Washing cars? Hmm the Devon I've washed quite frequently, but due to very little in the way of weathersealing I don't play much water onto the side windows, as it just runs inside the doors which won't do any good (regardless of how unblocked the drain holes are). Once washed I leave it parked outside with the doors etc open until it's properly dried off. It always seems to be windy here, which helps the drying out.

The 34 Minor I only tend to take it out when the weather's good, so it's had a few quick washes, several proper waxings, and the occasional leathering over if it does get damp.

Compo the Companion gets washed fairly often, as it gets used in all weathers, but I've yet to take polish to it yet.

RJ
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[xtriple]

Never owned a soft top before (unless you include a kitcar jobby with a V8 - like a Caterham on steroids) nor have I ever had the garages clear enough to get the bikes in one and a car in the other, so I'm lucky and happy to be able to keep the little blue peril dry.

All our other classics we've had over the years have had to sit outside in all weathers and I hated seeing them get wet and mucked up. The modern cars on the other hand, do well if they get washed every other month and the truck thinks it's lucky when it sees rain!

Gonna see how long I can keep the 'B' out of the rain and for the first time ever, I'm gonna SORN it over winter so it can't be used until the decent weather returns.

Hopefully, there are a few decent days left of this year yet!

When I did wash it though, it was rewarding to see that I could barely keep water on the car long enough to give it a sudsing it's so heavily polished. Got a load of AUtoglym stuff free when I subscribed to a classic car mag (think it was Practical classics), probably about £45 worth and I've been well impressed with the various goodies.

Classic and sportscar gave me a lovely little Teng Tools socket set - bloody good news this subscribing lark!

[peter scott]

I'm not too bothered about getting it wet although I normally chamois it off before puting in the garage. What I avoid is salt. It doesn't go out after the first winter salt is put down and it stays in the garage until those April showers have well and truely washed away all the salt.

I'm just back from a tour of Northern Ireland with a group of like minded nutters and it would have been impossible to avoid the rain there.

Peter


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[P3steve]

Was on a classic run two weeks ago with the P3 Rover and it chucked it down, as soon as I got home I leather'ed it off but heaven knows what was in the rain but I cant get the blotchy marks out the bonnet, they wont polish out so I guess I will have to T cut it back.