Well, Another rod season is about over in Mn

I know to you guys in Cali, Texas, Fla, etc
car season is year round mostly. Lucky sods, count your blessings
But here in the snow/rust belt it's a very sad time.
Late fall & winter. The last cars events are done. No cruise nights to Hastings, Anoka or North St Paul. No weekend shows. It's all over for now.
Time to put the cars away, resume working on the projects and maintaining the toys for next season. In spite of the shorter season and harsh winter the cool cars are everywhere. The rods n customs come out of the woodwork in the Spring. Halleluyah!!! hail the hot rod Gods
Life goes on.

 

ditto in WI

 

I feel for yew. Go to Mexico and come across the border, No problem gittin' in.

 

winter ****s. last night I had to close my windows. it was down in the 50's. BRRRRR!

 

I still drive my cars until the serious snow arrives. Usually until Thanksgiving or early Dec. The season here is too short to throw the towel in when the temps get to freezing.

Doug

 

same here. probably first week or two of november the car will be taking a nap.

 

same thing here in Maine. At least we get 6 months to get all the wrenching done for the other 6... gotta look on the bright side

 

Ditto here in Detroit.......although I did manage to clock 200 miles over this week when the temps were above 50 degrees.

 

I just dropped my F100 off in storage a few hours ago. I'd probably have kept it out for a while longer except that it was convenient to do today and I've mostly been driving the '39 anyway.

Last year I had the '39 out until mid- November. I agree with FalconMan the season here IS too short to throw in the towel this early.
Last Sunday the guys and I went on a 150 mile cruise down to Redwing and back. There's still (hopefully) plenty of good rodding weather left.

If it isn't raining or snowing I'll probably be driving the '39 tomorrow.

Jay

 

Same here Mark. We have our last cruise night this week but it gets dark do early it's not even worth doing.

 

Yep, same here in western M***. I went to the Nostalgia Drags / swap / show at Lebanon valley ,NY today.(Postponed due to rain four times !!!!! ) and that's about the end for shows around here.

I filled the roadster up with gas just in case I can drive it some more,but the temps haven't hit the 50's since early this month and it was a crummy summer around here anyway,so I guess THIS IS IT !!!

 

I still drive mine in the winter some, as long as it's not snowing. It's just not the same.
I got the car Oct 20 2004. Almost forgot to celebrate.

 

We slow down here,When it gets to 50 everything pretty well stops for a couple
of weeks...

 

I recall a few trips to Sanibel when it was in the 50's. Break out the gloves and heavy coats...What's scary is a lot of those folks are from Minnesota. .

 

It is nice right now down here in Texas but holy ****, this summer was exceptionally brutal. Many, many nights where it was still 95 degrees at 10pm. And definitely not a dry heat!

 

I remember nights like that growing up in Wichita. No escape.
Austin is a great town.

 

Just got laid off for the winter, tons of time to work on em, but not much cash flow! Tryin too talk a few buddies into heading to Viva in April, hopefully that'll come through!

 

That means it's building season - trouble with being in the sunbelt is that it's almost always too tempting to keep on driving and not work on them.

 

I got a lot of work to do over the winter. 30 years ago when I drove an endless string of $200 cars that constantly needed starters, alternators, shocks, tires, and the like, I spent a lot of time laying on my back in the snow trying to get threads started dreaming of the day when I would have a garage. Now I dream of the day when I insulate that garage and run some heat out there. But, dammit, at least I'm not laying the the snow at 10 below anymore!

 

Yep, gotta put her up on blocks this weekend. Depressing. But the deer are running now and the chances of hitting them go way up so my drive time is limited anyway. But on the positive side I will be beginning the upgrade planning and work to be done by next Spring.

 

Actually the season just started this weekend in Fla. From April to October it is just too hot to drive. But we do it anyways...

 

So that begs the infamous question...what does anyone in the Snowbelt plan to do during the Winter?

I've got an engine swap, some minor cosmetics, a dash to paint, a wheel bearing to replace...I think that about does it for me....

 

I Love this time of year, still can drive my car, and can work on the projects without sweating my *** off! I hate hot humid days and trying to work on a car, I am not built for it. Give me a 50 deg sunny or cloudy day to work on the cars.
I'm actually REALLY looking forward to this winter, I plan on getting a lot done on the Model A. Just have to make it through all the damn leaves falling then hope we don't get a TON of snow. The good thing about winter is less yard work!

 

Complete driveline swap, rewiring, bodywork. Pretty much the whole thing.

 

Motor Swap, Exhaust, rear suspension....is on my plate....I hope I get enough money to finish it all

 

I got a few tweaks to do to my Merc. Nothing major like years past.

Probably start building a home for the Nailhead I've been storing in the wings.
I have the unemployed flu too but should be able to do some ground work for the RPU I have in mind.

 

Pussies, Kerry drove his coupe from Kansas last Feb to Tucks deal. A real Jayhawk wouldn't be such a quitter

 

We do drag it out as long as we can. Not too many people to go crusin' with though.
Aaaahhhh winter in Maine!

 

working on another new car time to go through a few things and spend$$
had the woodstove going and injecting the used oil and was toasty warm will still be warm tomorrow too

I actually love winter as a time to get things done, can work late if it pleases a person, no one comes around to bother you , and getting parts is good, no need for rush delivery

time to rebuild cut machine grind and weld every fall I am going through another car getting it ready for the next season

 

I drove the 57 Chevy to work today and it was fun. Just a 20 minute drive, no big deal but pleasant. Nice day.