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I like to give advice or opinion from my own experience rather than what I've heard over the last 56 years. We've owned hundreds of cars, some as long as 53 years and some good running cars stored without running or being turned over for 45 years.

In that time we've awakened perhaps 40 cars from long term unheated storage and have never "prepared" them for such. We in tend to use them "soon" but then another purchase comes along and soon can be 20/30/40 years.

No oil in the cylinders, no putting on blocks, no draining of cooling system and often the battery is left in. Of all the cars only a 56 Facel had a really stuck engine, we bought it in '66 and drove it occasionally until '70. Upon disassembly we found a leaking head gasket that caused a piston/rings to seize in a cylinder, with the amount of damage I don't think a few ounces in the cylinder would have prevented it.

We reawakend 2 cars recently, '55 Patrician and '55 Caribbean after about 40 years without being run. Carbs got new accel pumps and gaskets, new plugs, points either replaced or just filed, oil changed, anti-freeze changed. A few ounces of oil in each cylinder, wait a few days and turned them over from the vibration damper bolt.

They started and ran fine after carb adjustments.

Brake hydraulic systems rebuilt, now they run, drive and stop as good as new.

Given our experience we will not do anything differently in the future except drain the new ethanol mix gasoline which erodes the tanks. We consider all the other advice, tips and "must do's" to be myths

Some years ago, we had a major air carrier with a large fleet of vans, trucks, etc. that in years of airport operation, likely never got above 20 mph. Clean with low low miles, they had seen very little salt either. Nice equipment.
A suit the was "new to this" decided that it would be very cost effective to drive them down to their main hub in KC. We are talking Interstate here.
I'm not sure if even one made it, few made it to the state line.
I guess it all depends on the intended use. Were I gonna do the Henry Joy tour, a lengthy shake down would be in order.

And I do WISH I had your problem :)

I've experienced your problem with our '52 Packard factory show car. Previous owner had just used it town in Detroit area since he bought it in '56, I purchased it in 73/74, test drove it around the local streets and it ran fine.

Left to drive to NJ and boy was it an exciting trip, kept popping back through the carb, had little power when I could get it up to 45mph. Poured water down the carb with it running and lots of crap came out the tailpipe. It was all carboned up.

Got it home, did a valve job and carbon cleaning of the head and underside of the valves and did a solvent cleaning of the guides. Did a cleaning of the engine and compartment and found that the green on the block was original!!

Runs like a top ever since.

sometimes things like this worry me about my daily drivers. i drive 1.5 miles to work and 1.5 home. my truck is 1 year and 3 months old and has 6k miles on it.

during the winter months....i get to work before the heat starts to work, so i sit in the parking lot and rev the motor to get it good and warm. total trip time, with doing that comes to 15 min in the winter. summer i dont do that and its about 6 min on the trip computer timer.


my wife's car is 2 years and 3 months and has 10k miles.


we try to alternate them when we have to drive longer on the weekends so they get some highway time and we change the oil more frequently then the factory says to.

i had a used 2001 f150 before this truck and drove it for 8 years. had 99k on it when i bought it and 122 when i got rid of it. in those 23k miles i developed a lifter tick which i believe is from the short distance driving i did. i was regular with the oil changes on it as well. could have been age...but i think it was the short trips.

Heating the garage to 42F is a big help. Keeping jack stands under the frame to unload the springs and tires is a big help to preventing wheel bearing smudging and sagging springs which is endemic to Packards. Storing a car without oiling the cylinders is not good. I remember Paul Lamb's car seized up in a heated garage, and I could go on and on about motors being damaged in careless storage so why risk damage for the sake of a few dollars worth of prevention?

A damaged motor may sound fine, but careful evaluation may reveal it to be chronically ill the same way as a smoker who claims to be doing great after a million cigarettes.

Hank, maybe you could take a longer route to work to get the vehicle up to operating temperature. I don't go to work anymore, but when I know the trip will be the only one for the day, I take a longer route to get the car good and warmed up.

I also try and drive my collector cars at least once a month. I have a route that is about 15 miles in length. It is a combination of urban and country driving. This route allows me to enjoy the cars and keep them in running condition.

I have no advice on long-term storage, like many here need to do in the winter months. Our Austin weather allows for driving throughout the year.

(o[]o)

Paul Lamb's '34 that seized up in a heated garage surely did not seize BECAUSE the garage was heated, it seized for another reason. The one car we had in unheated storage for 40+ years we know did not seize BECAUSE it was unheated. Our car had a leaky headgasket that let coolant into a cylinder, Paul Lamb's car must have had some defect that caused the seizing.

We've had Packards, Lincolns, Caddys, Imperials, Rolls Bebtleys, Facels and many others in long term storage (over 30 years) , none were on jack stands and none suffered sagging springs.

Most that were re-awakened were subsequently driven, our '52 show car gained 7,000 miles to and from meets as far away as Detroit. None of these cars ever needed engine repair or developed an appetite for oil.

In short, other than gas tank crud and getting carb freshening after 10-40 year storage no preventable damage has been observed. Brake hydraulic are always renewed for safety and wheel cylinders are almost always deteriorated.

Hank, maybe invest in a bike (as in bicycle) to go to work

A Packard brand bicycle of course, they were made but not by PMMC

I actually thought about that to be honest. good way to exercise. expect the 100 degree summers and around dec to march cold.

I'm more worried about the traffic and the fact that nobody is used to a bike rider around here.

it may not be Packard, but I do have a Peugeot bike.