Art & Inspiration Getting ready for winter?

Every year I put off winterizing our cars and camper until the weather is miserable, thinking, "We'll go out one more time". Almost always I end up in freezing rain or snow flurries trying to get everything inside and ready for the cold Michigan winter after not using the toys as much as I thought we would. There's added pressure now because we winter in Florida, and there is one more car to find parking space for, so I'm trying to get a jump on it.
The Spartan trailer is cleaned, anti-freeze in the plumbing system, and a tender on the battery. The tractor is tucked in beside it, and our son's '65 Ranch Wagon is ahead of it. There's a 5 gallon mouse trap bucket baited with peanut ****er beside them, so those are ready for a long winters nap, and won't come out until spring.
The roadster is coming to Florida with us, I've got the trailer all ready to go with new brakes, wheels and tires, up-to-date LED lights and Reese load-level hitch and anti-sway control. It'll go in the trailer just a few days before we leave, so it's ready for what we hope will be some sunny fall days.
The Diamond T and the DeSoto wagon are tucked in, ready for one last cruise or fall adventure. I don't do much winter storage prep beyond putting battery tender on, so it's not a big chore.
We spent a day giving the garage a long overdue deep clean, and I need to do the same in the shop before we go. It's nice not to come home to a wild mess, with tools I left out on the bench and clutter on the floor the fall before. That'll take up a couple of the rainy days that are sure to come, so I'm not lacking for things to do.
So, here's a look at what I've been doing this past week...

 

Hard to believe it was 80 degrees less than 10 days ago….

 

Brian don't forget to put that little scooter on a tender as well! Man that is some fleet of vehicles! Staying on top of all those must keep you busy. I have a 5th wheel, F350, Jeep, BMW, and the 31 Model A roadster and keeping up with those is a full time job.

 

I go thru the same thing, keep thinking one more nice weekend. Hell we haven't even had Indian summer yet! Indian summer... is that racist

 

Well, probably... It's like, should we do an "Irish wash", and include "Irish twins" before we take an "Indian Summer", cruise?

 

Right?

 

Only have two to do, and did them both in late Sept. when it turned cold and rainy here. Then last week we got a few great low 80's temps, so I took my old Austin g***er out for a spin on two separate days. More decent weather yesterday and today, so going to go for another drive.
I'll have to winterize the Austin again, but it's worth it to do over and get more driving in!

 

That's not the "good" scooter, it doesn't even have a battery. The "good" one does, I think I'm gonna load it up in the trailer and take it with us. It'll be fun to zip around the neighborhood with.

 

I'm in denial that winter is coming here in Alberta, so I haven't done anything to prepare the vehicles or the property yet this year. That's this weekend's job.

 

If it was me, I'd probably just take all the batteries off and store them away from the cars. Heard too many tales about those tenders shorting out and burning down the storage area.

Glad all we have to do is make sure the rides have antifreeze in them. Just put a water pump on my pickup yesterday and changed the coolant, got to do the same to the Lincoln next week. But, unless it's raining or that once a year snow we get usually get, my stuff gets driven year round. All of them have good heat and defrost and wipers if I get caught in a bit of rain.

Older I get, the more I hate cold weather! Thankful it doesn't get as cold here as it does where a lot of ya'll are at.

 

All I think I need to do is safely mothball my FED in a few weeks, after racing is over. Moving it to it's Winter storage will make room in my shop for projects, including the '31 Ford Tudor I bought recently.

Cleaning....that's a constant process, not an event.

Lynn

 

Personally I can't wait for winter, it's the best time for driving and working on my cars.........summer ****s .

 

Same here. Being outside in the summer here is miserable. Roadster weather is just staring!

 

My cars are inside and always have antifreeze in them. They have battery disconnects on them so I just turn them off for the winter, and charge the batteries every few months. But I have been cutting firewood for the house furnace and my old 6 hole farm stove.

 

Thank god it’s not just me then…

 

I haven't even emptied my rain barrels...

 

I need to winterize my fifth wheel still and clean up the summer stuff in the yard, put away stuff in front of my shop so I can plow…fix my tractor so I can move bales to feed animals….yikes!!

 

I disconnect my batteries and leave them in place. The only time that's an issue is if they're old anyways. I don't want to bring 4 unhooked batteries into my heated garage.

 

Your list sounds like mine.

 

Here in Michigan is bad enough, but...
You guys in Alberta better NOT be in denial. LOL

 

Heck, I’m not ready for summer yet…

 

I’m still driving my convertible with the top down.

 

What are you doing so the carbs don't get ruined from stale gas?

 

I was born not ready.

 

When I stored my cars at home and left the battery hooked up, the battery would be dead by spring. Now I store them away from home and they make you unhook the battery, every spring just hook up the battery and have plenty of juice to start the car. Also change the oil and do a deep clean of the car so in spring I am ready to go.

 

Stabil….

 

I do absolutely nothing other than turn the key off as far as winterizing my old cars, I may unhook the batteries or I may not. In the spring I start them and drive them.

 

I removed and rinsed out my ice chest in the dune buggy. Does that count? There was a Guiness in there and some odd colored cheese.

 

Brian, always enjoy your posts and this one is very apropos. Hope you all have a great Florida Winter !
Winter preparation is always a ritual around here also...
clear gas only when parked all winter, check the anti freeze whether it needs it or not anyway, drain the garden hoses and put 'em all up, plenty of extra clear gas for the generator in case...and hope that the Alberta Clipper doesn't get this far South ...lol

 

These days it doesn’t seem to matter, leave battery connected,disconnect or store indoors on charge it will still **** its pants. Automotive batteries are **** from the start, 3 years max. Cycle batteries 5-6 years if you are lucky, quad batteries seem to last, I’ve a Honda that’s still on its original battery 12 years on, sits outside, connected all year, so far so good. When I winterized my truck, I check the coolant and that’s it, sits outside and if the battery takes a **** I replace it in the spring