Hot Rods leave it here, or take it back home?

When we came down to Sarasota last fall we brought the '29 with us, in our enclosed trailer. I don't like trailering a car, for lots of reasons, but we did and have had fun with the car down here. We're leaving the first of May, and I'm already stressed about trailering it back home. I told my wife I was thinking about just leaving it here for the summer. Climate controlled, secure storage isn't prohibitively expensive, and it's not like I don't have other cars to drive in Michigan.
Her response was, "Wouldn't you miss it this summer?", followed by, "We still have to get the trailer home."
True on both counts, but I'm still on the fence about what I want to do. I guess I should be glad my "problems" are on that level, not something more critical...

 

Sell the trailer is another option.

 

I could not answer that question for you Brian. Only you know all of details. But I'm thinking if it were me? I would want to see it, start it, or at least drive it weekly? Then one nice warm summer's night comes, and you want to go for a cruise. But NO! it's in a old storage building. Yuck

 

Drive it home. You don’t have to trailer it and you don’t have to leave it behind

 

Repeat after me…. Wives are usually right! ​

 

Is it 25...or 6 to 4? Only you can answer this question!

 

You could always turn the problem into an opportunity to have some fun with it. Wait until the weather gets warm enough for roadster touring fly down, and drive it home. A trip on side roads, staying away from expressways and big cities, would make this an adventure. There is a lot to see in small town USA if you are cruising the surface roads. We miss a lot boring down the expressway at 75-80 fixated on our destination. Some of the best experiences I have had on trips were totally unplanned and unexpected. That's what makes it fun. To paraphrase Robert Frost, take the road less traveled...it can make all the difference.

 

I spent years ferrying cars between Seattle WA and Palm Springs CA for my parents. There’s only so many side trips and so much time, and it gets old quickly. Now that I’ve got a place south for the winter I leave my 32 and an old but low mileage daily down there. Battery shut off switch, with a battery charger in the garage. If you’re tired of the trailer and a long trip, take it back north and either just drive down or fly. I don’t do 800 mile days like I used to.

 

I came to a similar decision. Used to schlep a motorcycle back and forth to SWFL. Finally decided to leave it down there. Took the battery home with me. I may do the same thing with my Attic Anglia build - just leave it in FL for the warm weather there during the winter.

 

Will you have more fun with it next winter than this summer? I expect you will. If you don’t relish trailering it home, you want want to bring it back to Florida in the fall. Leave it south, you have lots of others to drive back in Michigan.

 

Load it up and drive slower.

 

Drive it back. Anything happens load it on the trailer.

 

As long as you have another car to play with in Mi, leave this one in storage. That’s what we ended up doing, albeit in Az and Mi.

I can’t see dragging a car cross country if I don’t have to.

 

Take it back to mich.

 

I think I would be on pins and nails if I was at home in MI, and the roadster was home in FL and in the path of an approaching hurricane. With that in mind, I'd have to trailer it to the home I'm at.

I'm happy to report I don't have those kind of challenges. My home hasn't moved in 20+ years, and I don't intend on moving from it now.

 

What you need is a Diamond Reo rollback.

 

do you not trust driving it? sell it

 

Leave it in FL. Take the trailer back and get another one and bring it down. Repeat until they’re all in FL. Forget MI and enjoy sunny FL year round! Problem solved!

 

Best I remember, they don't have hurricanes in Mich.

 

Leave it in Florida. You have several cars in Michigan to drive. You were OK leaving those cars while you were in Florida.

It will be a good opportunity to finish the Thunderbird.

 

flynbryan48....so there's your answer(s). I'd bet all those opinions were helpful.

Just throwing out a bit of sarcasm....sorry. Best wishes on your "do-I-or-don't-I " decision!

FWIW, I vote for taking your time to trailer it home safely and enjoy it this Summer.

Lynn

 

I’ll drive it back for you… problem solved.

 

So if you leave the car there, how much worry will it cause? If a storm or hurricane is headed that way, will you be unduly stressed? No matter whether you take the car home with you or leave it there, there will be risks that are out of your control. It boils down to what will cause the least expense, stress, and the most piece of mind and happiness. You control how it is loaded and how the trailer is towed. The choice is all yours.

 

I think if I were to leave it down there for a season, no one says you can start taking it back north with you again if you don’t like leaving it , I think the only way I could leave it is with a friend in their garage.

I think in a storage locker or a garage in my empty winter home would give me fits of anxiety for sure.

 

You have an enclosed trailer, the best way to trailer it. Put it in the trailer and drag it back home. Come mid-summer I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

 

Make sure your insurance premiums are paid up and load it up for the trip! That big box of a trailer is just as hard to pull empty as it is with that roadster in it. You may need to do a little work on it between now and next winter. It will be better to have it where you have tools, etc.

 

reminds me of my grandfather's pontiac. the salty air in the st. pete area really did a number on that car...

 

That's what I'd like to do, but my friends here (the guys with the two coupes) are already questioning my manhood for even thinking of that.

 

There is that. I'm battling rust on the chrome front end, and polishing the aluminum w/s frame every week down here.