Hot Rods Do you avoid the rain?

Great photo! HRP

 

My Ol' Furd has a touch of rust here and there. But I don't worry about rain, or in the case of the photo below, a bit of sleet and snow. This was at Yellowstone, halfway through a 3500 mile road trip. We encountered torrential rain after leaving Yellowstone in Northeast Idaho. We just kept on truckin'.
It may rust some more. But at my age (70) it'll last at least as long as I do. I'll just fix it if it needs it... or even if it just bugs me a little.
There a lot of folks that have cl***ics that won't even wash 'em, and for certain won't take 'em out of the garage is there is even a chance of rain. I get that they don't want their pride and joys to get damaged. We all have different ways to enjoy our cars. If your enjoyment is preservation and polish, that's OK.
Getting out and driving Ol' Furd is what I built 'er for. She ain't no garage princess or trailer queen, and a long ways from being anywheres near perfect. And yep, the carpets got some damp spots after this road trip. They dried out, and it gave me a chance to see where the leaks were and get 'em fixed up.

 

I drive mine as my daily, so sometimes it rains and I still have to go to work...

And, looking at the forecast for this weekend...looks like I may be driving to Springfield, MO in rain so should apply a fresh coat of Rain-X.

 

If I know it's going to rain heavily, I won't take my stuff out. I'm not afraid of a shower, but both my cars are pretty squirrely on wet roads and people lose all sense around here in the rain.

 

Speaking of squirrely in the rain...I let my oldest son talk me into driving my off-topic Chevelle to a company event a couple years ago when there was way too much chance of rain. I knew better than to drive a car on slicks on a 30 mile drive on the highway, but it was like he double-dog dared me. So, I took off and it poured so hard I could barely see at times much less trying to keep the car between the ditches. But, I made it and had good stories to tell I suppose... That was one time I should have avoided driving in the rain.

 

I drove the Dream Truck on a run to Estes Park, Colorado in the rain, and to Copper Mountain, Colorado in the snow. Both were before I had installed the side windows.....
I drove the El Caballo on a rally that went into Northern California and up to Nortth Shore Tahoe. Naturally it snowed and rained. That's what makes this lifestyle fun......

 

You forgot one thing that seems to be pretty much a " Pure Michigan Thing"....Living on a dirt road! I learned many years ago that if I am delivering to a customer in Michigan to NEVER armor-all the tires on the truck or trailer! Seems every time I deliver in Michigan, the customer lives a mile down a dirt/gravel road!

I will add a story even though the car was OT, the story fits.... 1981 back when I drove to the track (Norwalk) unbolted the mufflers, bolted on the slicks & raced. Attended the Halloween Cl***ic with my girlfriend, we qualified for our cl*** Friday night & then slept where the backseat used to be, woke up the next morning to more than an inch of snow covering the car!!!

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

Yum, a trucksicle!

 

Reminds me of the time we got a surprise snowstorm and I was working second shift and had to drive home on drag radials on a 5 speed Mustang that was fairly hopped up. Spun pretty much the whole way but made it. I definitely don’t miss the days of your fast car also being your daily driver!

 

At present I do, seems like as soon as I get ready to test drive the Dart it rains. After the windshield is installed neither rain nor sleet nor snow shall stop me!
Dan

 

I was at the Nats flood of '92 in my '34. Just happen to park on the higher side that day. If it's a one day small event I wont go. Unless it's a monsoon I'll go to a big event. Just break out the Rain X.

 

Neighbor & wife went to a show 1 1/2 hours away in his T-Bucket, beautiful day! About the time they got there the bottom fell out. His wife wasn't happy. He started looking for something with a roof the next day.

 

1993. Between Kansas City and Joplin, Missouri. On our way to the first R&C Americruise. That dot in front of me is the late Steve Osborn ("weeds" on here) in his 28/29 roadster pickup. No top. No fenders. Steve told me via CB that the faster he goes the dryer he stays. I'm in Clarence right behind him. We're doing probably 80ish. I had sort of finished the chop on Clarence a week or so before this. I had a windshield but no other gl***. What a wet weekend.



Let me tell you about going to the SK-500 in 2024. Sherry and I were somewhere between Kansas City and Dewey on a divided 4-lane road. It was raining so hard that we were only doing about 30-35 mph. There was a string of cars behind us but NO ONE was p***ing us. We were going as fast as the rain allowed.

So yeah, in the 53 years that I've owned Clarence it's been out in the rain hundreds of times. Ain't no biggie. It's got a motor and steering wheel so let's go.

 

We (my buddy and me) were there in Clarence that day and also parked on the high side. That was a real gully washer or toad strangler. FWIW; I met my now wife Sherry and her then husband that day.

 

Yes, In SoCal it’s pretty easy especially in Orange County but if it happens it happens. It one of the reasons I’ve replaced the vacuum wipers with electrics.

 

I had to start using Rain X because when caught in a rain storm I had those stock vacuum wipers. The faster you drive the faster the wipers would work until you drove too fast and the wipers would get blown to both sides of the windshield and stay there.

 

And the sun too.
I can't be in the sun for very long.
And bright lights.
And loud noises.

 

Long as I remember the rain's been comin' down
Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground
Goodness through the ages tryin' to find the sun
And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain

 

It’s SW Washington ! ….. What do you expect?

 

Fogerty and CCR said it all.

 

I've been RainX'n it for years. I'll try to drive around them when its possible but it will not keep me home. Never worried about the cir***stances, If something goes wrong I'll fix it. It didn't slow down Dr Dave and I rolling back from Indy...

 

Funny that you say that. Two weeks ago I was driving around the back roads in Westphalia, Michigan. In a rental car, thank god. Those dirt roads were so bumpy, a corn field might have been an improvement.

 

Lunch in Madrid (mad-rid) New Mexico today...rained there and back....but the best burger ever with the chums that have hot rods that melt in the rain rain

 

Here are a couple of roadster in the rain adventures.

Before I ever put a top on my old roadster I was headed back to Memphis from the HRR in Bowling Green. I went through three huge thunderstorms on I-65 and I-40. It was the last one on I-40 that almost got me. No top, no hood. Just the big trucks and me, with no place to exit or get under an overp***. Hunkered down close to the windshield and freezing cold. Car and driver soaked.
I could just see the truck in front of me and in its spray almost missed the barely visible overp***. Desperate I pulled off quickly and almost rear ended a small pickup that was already under it, but with no lights on!
All I had time to do was crank the wheel to the left and then just missed getting nailed by a semi roaring past in the inside lane. Finally came up on an exit, running on five (?) cylinders and got under a gas station awning. Dried all the ignition out, dried myself out with the bathroom hand drier and finally made it home. God was with me that day!

Another time me and a buddy were in the same roadster going to Bowling Green (again).
But this time it had its new top! No problem, right?
We got in a terrible storm on I-65 just north of Nashville.
The rain was actually blowing sideways across the road, and even though the top was on, the water was blowing through the sides in one direction. After about a mile we came up on an exit and pulled off quickly, taking refuge under a convenience store awning.
We went inside and the girl at the register asked “Did y’all see the tornado? It went right across the highway!” Uh, yeah!

 

I had a friend ask me if I was worried about driving my car with the remnants of winter salt treatments on our roads, and I reminded him, I DROVE MY CAR ON A SALT LAKE BED



I fixed the rust once, I can do it again.

I've left my house in the rain before, and I've gotten caught in the rain before, but its never made the decision for me.

I always try to carry a tarp for when i'm parked, this was the monsoon that hit the roc this year.

 

We were Snowbirds 6 Winters in Apache Junction Az. Their Winter better than our Summers, very little rain there but never a rain shower, 5-10-15 minute storms did happen, 1" of rain caused flooding, 2" rain major flooding, in Wisconsin, 1-2" of rain is a shower.

 

I worry about hail more than anything and how sloppy the 1/2 mile gravel road to my house gets. Bill its not just Michigan. The coupe does not have side windows and it's surprising how dry you stay. I carry a roll of shrink wrap for when I'm parked overnite.

 

I live in the wettest city in the USA, so that would be a YES, but it's damn-near impossible ...

 

No,,it’s just water.
Im the one in my family who wont own a motorcycle, …i prefer not to be exposed to the elements.