How many owners have put their cars away?

I live in Southern Ohio. We have had salt on the roads for about the past 2 weeks. I always store my sports car at home. So, this weekend, I finally got around to prepping my 360 for storage, and also covering it up and putting it away for the winter. Sad - the end of my FIRST driving season as a Ferrari man.

I was hoping to make it later into December, but there is enough salt and de-icing spray on roads in my area now that it will be a long time before they are clean enough again.

So, how many other folks here have put their cars away for the winter?

My daughter was in the corner of the picture, but we don't put pics of our kids on the internet, so that's why there is a pink sleeve in the corner!
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Nope, no salt here in NW OH yet. She's still on the road.

....but I'm starting to worry. My time is running out.

 

mine is hibernating

 

I drive mine year round. When we have salt on the road it is only a couple of weeks and rain usually washes it away.

Matt

 

Hmm, sorry my pic got posted sideways. At least that's how it shows up on my laptop. I posted it with my iPad, so who knows.

Kudos to those of you who still have the cars out on the roads. And even bigger applause to those who drive them year-round in our region!

I'm having minor symptoms of withdrawal, but they're not bad yet. I suspect they will peak in January / February.

Hibernation sucks....

EDIT: To give you a feeling for how crazy I am, I placed a beige "Dust Stop" cover on top of the red Ferrari cover. So, now, the car looks pretty plain just sitting there. Oh well, less attention to any "prying eyes."

 

Yep, 3 cars down for the count until Spring!

Brian

 

Pretty much the same for me: Supra,F430, Cobra Roadster, and 356 Speedster all sleeping in MI. I think this is going to be a long winter.

 

No salt yet, so I might drive mine tomorrow to an event at the Dallard Indycar factory.

 

I drive my Aston all year round. If there's salt/de-icer on the road I avoid taking it out but once it rains it hits the road again!

 

My Murcie, DB9, Carrera GTS and 650i convertible all have only the comprehensive coverage on until the spring……man, I hate Ohio !!!

 

My 360 has an "occasional / seasonal" policy which provides year-round full coverage, with the caveat of no more than 8,500 miles per year. NOT A PROBLEM for me, since I only drive my sports car about 3,000 miles per year, if I'm lucky. They know I store for winters.

So, a lot of folks have put their toy cars away already. That's somewhat of a relief since I don't feel stupid anymore. Then again, it's 61 degrees today. And FWIW, it's going to snow on Thursday. Go figure... Ohio... All of those "Spotter Threads" are going to get pretty quiet here soon. I have been reading how some of the mechanics in Columbus (who rent storage space over the winter) are running out of parking spots.

I'm getting a lot of time/mileage in my DD, my M5. And I have to confess - SNOW TIRES SUCK!!!!! This is, of course, relative to summer rubber. Man, my DSC warning light is going to burn out before the end of this winter!

EDIT: BTW, you have some awesome cars. I used to go to Akron/Canton a lot when I was younger, courting my wife while she was finishing Med School at NEOMED.

 

my toys in past winters. will not this year. left out all day a 02 Maserati at zero degrees. engine failed at the first turn. $25,000 loss

 

I try to never let my Ferraris just set in the garage. I "exercise" them year round with at least a 30 to 45 minute Local drive every 4 weeks in warm weather months and about every 6 weeks in the cold winter months. I have always been able to find a clear dry day to do this regularly. This has been great for the both the cars and myself. My garage (more like a play room) is heated and air conditioned year round. The cars are kept on battery tenders and are always ready to go.
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Hi Mitchell. I see you got your Maranello back from the redo at NJB. It looks great. I remember meeting you and seeing the "before" at a FCA event in Cincinnati. Would love to see more pics on here,

George

 

Mine are put away too.

 

No winter storage for me. It's always ready to go, and it goes at least every two weeks as long as pavement is clean and dry.

 

With the coming ice/snow they have begun laying down the salt/ice-melt which means time to keep them locked up until heavy rain cleans the roads. Bummer. I don't do anything special to the cars, just Stabil and over-inflate the tires. A few times over the winter I will fire them up and run them for a bit just to get them up to temp and keep the juices flowing (even though some may say this might not be the best thing to do).

Time to hunker down for winter. . . . .

 

Snow has fallen in Indy, so time for the car/snowblower shuffle until Spring.

Stabil, Battery Tender and Cover.

 

my baby is in a heated garage.
i turn off the collision insurance in the winter.

 

Wimps!

Good timing on that service eh Bill?

Snow stopped a couple of Diablos making the trip in unfortunately

 

Freezing precip and snow here in Southern Ohio today! The Ferrari is pushed to the back of my garage, and the tractor with the snow plow blade has been brought in front of it - so they switched positions. As far as storage goes, I don't use fuel stabilizer, but I fill the tank up all the way. I park it on Race Ramps FlatStoppers, I cover the steering wheel, seats, and car with OEM Red covers. Then I put a brown Dust Stop cover on top of the red Ferrari cover. Other things like cutting the battery switch, connecting the battery tender, leaving the windows slightly lowered, and removing all electronics (like iPod) and turning off the HVAC system are also done. Edit: I do not start my Ferrari (or any car I am storing) until I am ready to hit the road in the Spring.

Winter sucks...

Haha, I had a real "Oh Sh*t" moment the other night after putting the car into storage. Before I fell asleep, I nearly sat straight up in my bed horrified. If I cut the battery switch, located in the luggage compartment, and I fully closed the luggage compartment, HOW THE HELL WOULD I GET THE BATTERY SWITCH TURNED BACK ON??? That night, I jumped out of bed and onto FChat. Luckily for me, I located the manual pull lever for the luggage compartment - whew! So, this should not be a problem in the spring! I've never used the manual lever for the luggage compartment on my 360 before.

 

Stupid snow. We finally got some....and salt to go with it. Cars are now officially buttoned up in the garage for the winter. Hopefully there will be a warm up and salt clearing rain before spring, but I'm not holding my breathe. Might be a long winter.

 

Up in Chicago... my old garage downtown was heated and had a car wash inside. I kept it there but would drive 3 or 4 times a month, and wash it immediately after. Not sure what I'm going to do this year. Any recommendations for a battery tender? I'm not even sure if my current garage has an outlet, I'll have to check. If not, what are my options? take the battery out and plug it in inside?

 

take it out and put it on a piece of wood. concrete will drain a battery. if the battery is years old u may b wasting time

 

Schumacher battery maintainer, any O Reilly type store, or I keep 3-4 in stock