FREE (but good) ADVICE: Don't buy a classic if you don't have storage!!!!!

[TexasJohn55]

A picture is worth a thousand words! The sun and weather are killers! If you want a classic, get a place to store it first, otherwise you will be losing ground against old man time. I bought this car 10 or 11 yrs ago. It had an older re-paint with a "patina" and the interior was almost perfect with good headliner and upholstery. My garage was full of other "stuff" and car parts, put up another storage shed to clear it but that wasn't enough. Need to put up another storage shed but I'm running out of room in the back yard! I did do mechanicals on the car to get it driveable and inspected in 2003 and the car was a nice looking original driver. Since then, sitting in the driveway, the sun has ruined it. The paint has popped off down to bare metal from improper prepping at repaint I suppose, the upholstery has popped all the stitching from the vinyl shrinking, the front floor board is rusting from leak somewhere at cowl or winshield, etc, etc, etc. LOOK AT THIS MESS, IT MAKES ME SICK! I cannot keep up with the deterioration on my budget! Waah, waah, waah!.................NOW I FEEL BETTER..........PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR CLASSIC!!! ( I did get it inspected again yesterday and drove around for awhile, best thing I could do for it, runs great for a 264, that really felt good!) TexasJohn Edited June 6, 2013 by TexasJohn55 (see edit history)

[Barney Eaton]

A good outdoor car cover can help but is not recommended for long storage. If your neighborhood does not object, a PVC pipe frame with a tarp over it is better than nothing. The frame keeps the tarp from touching the car and causing additional problems. Cheap tarps will fail inabout a year.

Maybe they will pass a law that says you must have a 6 car garage if you collect cars and you can write it off your taxes.

[TexasJohn55]

Yeah Barney, City code and ordinances require a 30 ft setback to structure and they banned carports altogether I think, grandfathered some existing structures. If I could get a variance or waiver I would have put up a double wide a long time ago. I may look into that again but chances of approval in my neighborhood are slim to none. Finances no longer allow moving as an option either so I'm kinda stuck now. John

[MrEarl]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]196540[/ATTACH]A picture is worth a thousand words! The sun and weather are killers! If you want a classic, get a place to store it first, otherwise you will be losing ground against old man time. I bought this car 10 or 11 yrs ago. It had an older re-paint with a "patina" and the interior was almost perfect with good headliner and upholstery. My garage was full of other "stuff" and car parts, put up another storage shed to clear it but that wasn't enough. Need to put up another storage shed but I'm running out of room in the back yard! I did do mechanicals on the car to get it driveable and inspected in 2003 and the car was a nice looking original driver. Since then, sitting in the driveway, the sun has ruined it. The paint has popped off down to bare metal from improper prepping at repaint I suppose, the upholstery has popped all the stitching from the vinyl shrinking, the front floor board is rusting from leak somewhere at cowl or winshield, etc, etc, etc. LOOK AT THIS MESS, IT MAKES ME SICK! I cannot keep up with the deterioration on my budget! Waah, waah, waah!.................NOW I FEEL BETTER..........PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO YOUR CLASSIC!!! ( I did get it inspected again yesterday and drove around for awhile, best thing I could do for it, runs great for a 264, that really felt good!) TexasJohn

I can empathize with you brother John. I've spent the last month demolishing chicken houses for lumber and tin, plus selling surplus for funds to get started on my Burage. Folks can turn up their nose if they like, that 50 year old yellow pine is better than anything Lowes sells for building new houses out of today. And Barney is right, the cheap tarps last less than a year. I had a guy I was buying breathable and water proof ones from for like $22 but he ran out. Caught the county tax assessors walking around taking pictures last month, had my fingers crossed ever since. BADD is a terrible sickness.

Edited June 7, 2013 by MrEarl (see edit history)

[Guest shadetree77]

John you are absolutely correct on that. My first car was a mint condition '77 Thunderbird Town Landau. My Uncle gave it to me when I got my license. It had been kept in a garage covered in blankets almost since new. It had 20,000 miles on it and was absolutely MINT. I drove it home to Georgia where I had no garage to keep it in. I bought an expensive cover thinking that would help but after 2 years of sitting in the sun and weather, it was thoroughly BAKED. The sun faded the upholstery and the paint. Despite my applying vinyl top dressing several times a month, the top dried out and cracked. The anodized chrome lost its luster and fogged. Even the hand painted pinstriping on the hood began to disappear. The weather completely destroyed that car. Of course, later on a kid pulled out in front of me and literally destroyed it but that's another story.

[Guest wildcat465]

I guess that's the price you Southerners pay for not having the state throw salt all over your roads all winter like they do up here. Interiors may be nice up here, but the floors, rockers and lower fenders have been returned to the earth.

[MrEarl]

Received a PM asking what is BADD, I assumed it was a more common condition but in case not and to help those that may not know they are afflicted with it....

BADD== Buick Attention Deficit Disorder - A condition where a person buys an old Buick and begins working on it, often dismantling major parts thereby making it inoperable. At this point the individual finds and purchases another must have Buick and seeing that it needs less done to it than the one already torn apart and sitting in the garage, begins repairs on the second one. This process often continues until a number of things happen, often times involving total consumption of storage space and funds with which to procure more vehicles or eventually necessary parts. There are several different strains of this disorder, with strain # 54 being the strongest with the worse symptoms and hardest to cure. A loving and understanding wife and good friends can often mean the difference between this person ending up divorced and in the poor house or continuing the antique Buick hobby. The first step to a cure is recognizing the symptoms. However at this time there is no known cure.

I have this horrid but wonderful disorder and will be trying an experimental cure very soon. It involves Craigs List, eBay, BCA Forum Buy/Sell and Bugle Classifieds. Pray for me.

TexasJohn, sounds like you have a very mild case of it, but beware it comes on quick.

[TexasJohn55]

MrEarl, Spot on! I have it worse than would appear, it seems to come in waves-these irresistable urges sweep over me to fix something. I have a loving and (somewhat) understanding wife but have been getting some negative feedback lately, she says things like "the washer needs fixing, you need to put in a lockable keyed deadbolt to keep the 2 yr old grandson from running off, the roof still leaks, my dishwasher needs cleaning, my car needs PS fluid its noisy again, I'm gonna get a ticket for no inspection, etc,etc........" Starting to look like I'm spending more time on the forum instead of working! I think I have the '55 strain and hope it's not as bad as yours. And yes, I WILL pray for you AND the Misses. TJ55

Edited June 7, 2013 by TexasJohn55 (see edit history)

[Thriller]

BADD== Buick Attention Deficit Disorder - A condition where a person buys an old Buick and begins working on it, often dismantling major parts thereby making it inoperable. At this point the individual finds and purchases another must have Buick and seeing that it needs less done to it than the one already torn apart and sitting in the garage, begins repairs on the second one. This process often continues until a number of things happen, often times involving total consumption of storage space and funds with which to procure more vehicles or eventually necessary parts. There are several different strains of this disorder, with strain # 54 being the strongest with the worse symptoms and hardest to cure. A loving and understanding wife and good friends can often mean the difference between this person ending up divorced and in the poor house or continuing the antique Buick hobby. The first step to a cure is recognizing the symptoms. However at this time there is no known cure.

Even though I'm Canadian, I'm going to plead the 5th....

[MrEarl]

Even though I'm Canadian, I'm going to plead the 5th....

Oh God, you've got every strain known to man. I'd be more than willing to relieve you of one of them though.

[NC-car-guy]

Received a PM asking what is BADD, I assumed it was a more common condition but in case not and to help those that may not know they are afflicted with it....

BADD== Buick Attention Deficit Disorder - A condition where a person buys an old Buick and begins working on it, often dismantling major parts thereby making it inoperable. At this point the individual finds and purchases another must have Buick and seeing that it needs less done to it than the one already torn apart and sitting in the garage, begins repairs on the second one. This process often continues until a number of things happen, often times involving total consumption of storage space and funds with which to procure more vehicles or eventually necessary parts. There are several different strains of this disorder, with strain # 54 being the strongest with the worse symptoms and hardest to cure. A loving and understanding wife and good friends can often mean the difference between this person ending up divorced and in the poor house or continuing the antique Buick hobby. The first step to a cure is recognizing the symptoms. However at this time there is no known cure.

I have this horrid but wonderful disorder and will be trying an experimental cure very soon. It involves Craigs List, eBay, BCA Forum Buy/Sell and Bugle Classifieds. Pray for me.

TexasJohn, sounds like you have a very mild case of it, but beware it comes on quick.

I definitely have this! I am glad I am not the only one....

Edited June 8, 2013 by wndsofchng06 (see edit history)

[Guest wildcat465]

Guilty.

BADD.

[jackofalltrades70]

Holy Hello,

What the hell do I have then?

1947 Roadmaster convertible.

1956 Buick 4 door Special

1977 Chevy Corvette.

?????????????????

[Thriller]

Paul - is that Riviera the one I think it is that was in the attached garage at one point? Perhaps that was the last time I was down...not certain.

[Thriller]

MrEarl,

a) You know who to talk to about that.

I don't know that you can afford it...I have not yet sold a complete Buick, for what it is worth.

[Guest wildcat465]

Paul - is that Riviera the one I think it is that was in the attached garage at one point? Perhaps that was the last time I was down...not certain.

Actually. No. THAT car is stashed in the back barn awaiting wiring harness from parts car, and the interior is still apart. I just did not have any handy pictures to post THAT incomplete project!

[JohnD1956]

It's hard to kick this disease, but one way is to not fix any thing and just drive this old metal till it can't go anymore. Then repeat several times out loud, every day: I will not buy another till I have this one fixed. This has worked for me till next summer.

[jackofalltrades70]

It's hard to kick this disease, but one way is to not fix any thing and just drive this old metal till it can't go anymore. Then repeat several times out loud, every day: I will not buy another till I have this one fixed. This has worked for me till next summer.

John,

I tried, really hard, PROMISE! Just didn't work. Matt

[Guest gunjeep444]

I don't see how you guys handle more than one old car. My 56 sits in the garage here at home in the summer. My F150 sits out under the garage overhang(covers the cab and some of the bed). In the winter, I rent a place in town for the Buick, so I can keep the F150 in the garage for my sensitive tush in the cold Nebraska winters.

[JohnD1956]

Matt, you had good intentions...

Jerry, My 56 and 69 own the garage. The 78 and 06 are outdoor cars and I make sure I use them daily.

[dkbuick75]

@ Derek--

There's part of the problem-- 1) you is a Canuckistani. 2) and this is your biggest problem-- you don't plead the 5th-- YOU DRINK IT !!!

I see we have more teaching to do in So Bend--Paul & I have our work cut out for us. A week just isn't enough time. You'll learn eventually--- LOL !!!

[Thriller]

I don't see how you guys handle more than one old car. My 56 sits in the garage here at home in the summer. My F150 sits out under the garage overhang(covers the cab and some of the bed). In the winter, I rent a place in town for the Buick, so I can keep the F150 in the garage for my sensitive tush in the cold Nebraska winters.

Nebraska? Cold winter? Please. That's down south....

For moderns, that is what heated seats are for.

Don - I'll have impressionable teenagers with me, so I'll be steering clear of you.... Then again, I will have a DD so long as we are using the pace car...which is a bit more car than I think she ought to drive just yet.