Projects Body stored outside - cover or not?

Perusing the HAMB the other day I ran across a post that I can't find anymore but it seems that someone was referring to covering a car that is kept outside just hastens the deterioration. I have an old parts vehicle ('36 Chevy) that someday (?) I hope to use/rod and it's covered with clear heavy plastic. It's not air tight or anything but the entire body and part of the frame are covered. I'm in upstate NY (you know the deal - two seasons - warm/wet and cold/wet ). Should I keep it covered? Does it matter?

 

Covered....but that is only if it's outside and covered buy an enclosed climate controlled garage.

 

I use a high quality NOAH porous (breathable) fabric cover, then put a tarp over that. Seems to work well, my car is still in primer. I was nervous about the tarp, I have seen the damage they do, but the car cover under it seems to make it all work well. I didnt want snow and ice just sitting on the fabric cover, hence the tarp...

Parking the car on dirt or grass is worse than not covering it IMO. The humidty just seeps up and into the car.

 

Leaving moisture trapped under a tarp is not good. Keep it up off the ground and tarp it, but take the tarp off in early spring.

 

Id keep it covered to keep people like me from knocking on your door and asking if its for sale.

 

try to keep the plastic off the metal, maybe make a cheap 2x4 frame. Keep it well up off the ground, and put plastic under it too.

 

'zactly right! You need air circulating between the non-porus cover and any sheetmetal it's protecting. If not, the moisture that collects under the tarp will actually promote rust.

 

Rust is right, I thought I was being SMART by covering the roof of my 36 truck with a heavy moving blanket before i
I tarped it . All that did was hold the moisture that eventually made its way thru the tarp.Needless to say it really jacked up my good lacquer paint job and now there are little rust blisters all over the roof and cowl top. So much for trying to protect it from hail and neighborhood hooligans!Building a frame to keep the tarp off the body sounds like an excellent idea. Mike

 

Make sure that its not stored over dirt (or grass). If it has to be, lay down some plastic or one of those blue tarps under the car. I stored a car outside one winter on an asphalt driveway with a blue tarp over it with out any problems. Had good drainage slope on the asphalt so moisture would not collect under the car.

 

I put a plastic tarp over a 39 Ford, the wind flailed the tarp and it removed the paint from the car and rusted underneath. I will not tarp again.

 

I would try to make some type of support for the tarp, even if it's cheap pvc pipes bowed over it to keep the tarp off the car. Then try not to let the tarp go the whole way to the ground. Moisture comes up from the ground and condenses on the tarp, if the tarp is supported off the car air can circulate and the car stays dryer. I think it might also help to park the car on plastic to keep the moisture from coming up, but it should be supported in the center, like maybe a 2x4 laying on edge length wise, so the water doesn't get on it and puddle under the car.

 

Wind can be a killer with a cover as well. It helped sand all the paint of the corners on a friends 68 road runner. When soaked. It will keep the car wet longer. My fury survived 35 years un covered in a barn with no rust. A year with a cover on it and when the cover was removed. You could see lines of surface rust on parts of the body. Most washed off but not all. I won't use a cover long term any more un less the car will be in a garage

 

The blue tarps don't really last very long in the sun, and the silver ones don't last all that much longer -- maybe a year if you're lucky. Then they shred apart and let rain water go right through. A breathable type car cover would probably do a better job -- because they repel water, but let moisture that gets through dry back out again.

Jack up the car up high to get it up off the weeds and mud. Maybe park it up on some big wooden blocks. Old cars mostly just rust where muddy water sits against them for long periods. Clean crap like piles of decomposing leaves out of the nooks and crannies and down inside the door bottoms and under the edges of the trunk lid or up on the inside lip of the fender wells or rocker panels or in the gutters. Piles of wet decomposing leaves really rust the hell out of old cars. If it has wet soggy carpets, tear them out and drill some drain holes at the lowest points so water won't just sit in puddles on the floor.

 

Thats why i lay an old tire between the tarp and the car roof. Then i lay an old curved windscreen on the tire.Gets lots of extra air inbetween and the snow slides of the tarp much easier. Also use green tarp to please the neighbours. No bright orange or bright blue tarp. Tie the tarp down well but not to tight.