How important to you is the condition of your car?

Haha, I never drive my 599 in the rain and forbid my 3 years old to touch it even though it is fully wrapped with SunTek PPF. Inside it is shoes off and of course no food or drinks ... I guess that means I prefer perfect!

 

Depends on the car and the age of it I suppose. I try to keep my F355 as perfect as possible and continually try to make it nicer.

For sure cuts down on how much I use it. Don't drive it to work (unless I'm going to dyno it) because it gets baked in the sun all day and gets dusty.

The times I do drive it, I love it being in super clean condition.

I get the other side of it though. I have a 59 Cadillac convertible that's all beat up and patina'd. I drive the car all the time with no worries. But, it's old and I didn't make it that way.

Basically I try to maintain everything I have as nicely as possible but I don't have a problem driving a car as-is if it's old and already beat up a bit

 

Very important. I like having a beater or two, but I want the nice cars to be as nice as they can be.

 

I like making them nice.

I want a pic of the caddy, James!

sjd

 

I think there has to be a balance. Certainly I want to keep it pristine but at the end of the day it a car. I want to drive it and have fun, not a garage quiet, so I have full front suntek PPF. I certainly have some rules, no food, careful getting in to the seats to keep the bolsters nice. And forsure not let a 3 year old drag the chain in the hood.

 

I like to keep her clean. I have friends that will just chuck burger wraps to the back seat while driving, etc... ewww... I keep the red lady quite clean (not obsessively so). As my wife drives the Lotus and Audi, sometimes to go horse riding, I'll just clean them when I feel like it. But the Ferrari gets a shower and vacuuming on a regular basis. She deserves it.

 

Use mine to check fence and move the cattle to summer grazing. Only had to chain up twice the spring.

 

I'll admit it, and make no bones about it. My cars must always be 10+, driven only on the nicest days, on roads and to places pre-determined to be reasonably safe. I get plenty of reward with the car just sitting in my garage looking beautiful. I'm sure I'm not alone in this regard.

 

I have garage queens, and cars that are really used and have scrapes/etc. The latter get driven and enjoyed. The former sit under covers for fear of use.

When I was a kid my dad bough a nice 1977 buick lesabre special edition in jade green.... He loved that car.

During a snow storm, I decided to be a good kid and help him scrape ice off his car before he drove me to grammar school. I went and got this big metal spatula thingy I found in the garage, and proceeded to **SCRAPE** the ice and snow off his car. The entire car... On the difficult to clean areas I put my 80 pound weight into it and used the edge to scrape off the ice. I was sooo proud on myself when I told him....

He loved me, I know he did. But it took and act of god and my mother throwing herself between us to prevent something really bad from happening...

Ah, fond memories...

 

I used oven cleaner on my parents Land Rover when I was a kid. I think they were more worried that they hadn't put the cleaner out of my reach, I couldn't have been more than 5 years old!! I guess it said "Cleaner" on it so off I went !!!

Back on topic...My cars have to be 100% mechanical and about 80-90% cosmetic. If they were 100% cosmetic I wouldn't be able to deal with the stone chips, mud (living in the country side) etc etc.

 

I like the inside to be clean. Cuz I can see that while driving. The outside, meh, I can't see it from the driver's seat!
T

 

I have been a lurker for a while but just joined recently. I don’t have a dog in this fight as I don’t own a Ferrari but hope to buy one in a couple years. I just wanted to support the OP. I absolutely love to drive and work on cars. I hope to put significant miles on the Ferrari I purchase and enjoy it. If it gets scratched, I will repair it. I would make a terrible collector.

At least that is how I feel about my first one and it definitely won’t be new. OP, I have the exact same intentions. Maybe that will change when I get one.

 

I used to care a lot, but now, I couldn't give a rat's ass, at least with regards to a daily driver. I live on a dirt road, and very regularly transport my 4 dogs around with me, so trying to keep it clean would be a full time job, and quite frankly, I can think of so many other things that are more worth my time. As long as my car gets me from point A to point B, that is all I care about.

 

I can get rather obsessed with perfection. I must admit to liking them nice nice nice! I have to share this photo of the 'la dolce vita' Mangusta I once owned for a 3 year period. Just crazy perfect and stupid bling bling, but dang it was the most eye candy car I've ever seen, kind of miss it. Here is an example;
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Info on this car; there was no attempt to be original. This car was one of the very first high dollar resto-mod's done...back in 1993-'94. Won people's choice at Concorso Monterey in 1995.

 

I have a 'driver' car. The body's in solid shape but the nose has rash and a few rock chips. I drive and park it almost anywhere. I haven't put the top up in over 6 months.

 

I was at a cars and coffee several years ago and was standing about ten feet from my car. A guy was pointing at the nose and told his friend, "That's horrible." Another person said, No, that's actually Image Unavailable, Please Login driven."

 

Mechanically I keep all my cars in top-notch condition, doing whatever work or repair is needed, or preventative maintenance within reason. Regular fluid changes, belt changes, "major" service etc. per OEM specs and all that. I keep a spreadsheet to help me keep track of everything. I also use only 91 octane brand name "Top Tier" fuel (and no ethanol!). Stabil goes in the tank for long term storage. Other than my DD, I keep my cars on battery tenders as well, all the time.

Cosmetically, I clean my "fun" cars with waterless wash or detail spray right after every drive, or soon thereafter (my DD F150 I just run through the car wash regularly). Clay bar and wax once or twice a year depending on need. Ceramic coated my 550 last year and so far I'm pleased with results. I have clear bra on two of my cars, but accept the occasional stone chip as the price of driving and enjoying them as they're meant to be enjoyed. Of course, I'll touch up any stone chips as they occur. I do like to keep clean cars but don't obsess about it, don't seek perfection, and don't worry about cars getting dirty, just clean them when needed.

Interior wise, I keep them all clean as can be and take care to not rub against the seat bolsters when entering or exiting the car (my habit is to simply place my left hand over the outside bolster as I slide in or out). For leather seats and other interior surfaces, once a year I'll clean and condition everything.

Other than that, it's drive and enjoy, don't worry be happy.

 

You have a '59 62 Caddy drop top? That's like the ultimate convertible to me. That's like the ONE car I would restore and keep it spotless and cruise around in on weekends. Every other car I wouldn't mind driving hard and collecting rock chips, not washing for months, etc.

 

I am super diligent about minimizing any damage to my Ferrari as I pay to keep it in great shape. I drive it 300 - 500 miles a year and show it often. Some one asked me how I enjoy the Ferrari if it is sitting in the garage...my reply, you don’t have to take a Picasso off the wall to enjoy it...


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I keep my 'fun' cars clean. It also annoys me when I find a stone chip on my 360.
Not that bothered about my regular car, it's almost 15 years old. I am considering a brand new car this year and knowing how I feel about the Ferrari stone chips I'm not actually sure I can cope with damaging the new paint of a new car.

All that said I have not yet had a professional detail on any car. I do own a dual action polishing machine that has never come out of the box

 

All my cars are modified, all get driven and get dirty, and then I clean them. They are cars, not paintings, though I have changed over the years. I was once like some of you but these days I just want to enjoy the things I have and I while it is nice to look at my cars, it is 100 times nicer to drive them. So given the choice I drive, and if I waited for the roads around here to be perfect (I have an advanced degree in pothole dodging), I would never drive my cars. I do though have certain cars (my dogs Jeep Grand Cherokee which only the dogs and I can ride in) like my Mini Cooper S (it is 2010 I bought wholesale for 6k) that I take to the grocery store or to the KOP mall. I always keep the back seats down it has some decent room in it when you do that.

 

Haha, opposite approach to the same car I guess.

My 59 sat in the original owners garage since 1978, the year he died. I bought it from his son. Rebuilt the drivetrain and brakes, just cleaned up the rest. Do I want to take it off the road for several years and put another 50k into it for a complete resto? Not at the moment. I'm enjoying it way to much, even as dented scraped up and crusty as it is.

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Man that's awesome. I love those old Caddys and would love a project car like that that mechanically is good and needs cosmetics.

 

Very important.