Thoughts on exposing your Coupe to rain

bluecoupe30!

bluecoupe30!

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There was a time, decades ago, where I would drive my classic car in pretty much any weather. Where I live, rain is always "active". I love my Coupe and drive it when weather and time and events permit, but lately I have begun to venture out even in "wet conditions". I had been cautious for several years as these cars steadily increased in value, at the same time as restoration costs, but, as I age, I wonder who is this car for? In my view, it looks great, runs well, zero issues, and I absolutely love to show it off to those who have never seen one before.
So, my question is, has your feeling about driving your Coupe to an event, on a day where rain is in the forecast, changed at all? Or do you skip that event, and wait for the guaranteed fair weather day, and choose that event instead? I will admit to increasing the frequency of cavity wax application before "suspect" events, at least for some measure of "peace of mind". ;)
Let me know your thoughts on this. Mike
 
i tend to think that its one thing to drive your coupe in wet weather, if you take care of it afterwards. if you put it up 'wet', that's something completely different ... that falls under the heading of abuse. you know its wrong, and if you do it anyway, bad things will follow. i am planning to put on lokari fender liners on the front of my coupe and take care of it in every way possible ... if it gets caught out in the rain, i am not going to lose sleep, at least not after i have cared for it and done my best to dry it properly.
 
The difficult bit here is that you can't see it untill it's too late.

Praticaly what kills a coupe (financially and practically) is rust in the sills and the front fenders. And those aren't well accessible: the sills are with an endoscope, the front not so.

I drove it 4 years, year round, but I already had holes behind the fusebox.
When you replace a panel, it doesn't matter if it's 10% gone or 50%. So I drove it untill I feared it would fall apart going over a speed bump.

Now i just took it apart myself...
 

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I would think an annual check of all drainage sites like the rocker panels and sunroof is a place to start. Having done my own restoration with OEM parts, I can say that these cars are sponges no matter how meticulous you are at replacing every gasket etc. I avoid rain and certainly avoid washing with any hose pressure. Car is in the garage with a dehumidifier when not driven.

BTW: Should we be stating where are cars are stored? Classic insurance by Hagerty requires the car to be garaged I believe. Since my home owners policy was voided because they are flying drones over your house and terminating coverage for no reason (they mistook my architectural shingles for a deteriorating roof and just terminated me with no recourse) who knows. I know HO insurance companies took a big hit (so sad) and are looking for reasons to dump people, not sure about cars.
 
This is a great question and thread. Thanks for asking. For me, I avoid rain at all costs as much as possible. Our cars, no matter how well restored or preserved are susceptible to collecting and storing moisture. And as Erik states, you don't know until its too late. So for me, its all about risk mitigation. I love my Coupe and will do all I can to keep it dry. If rain is in the forecast for a car show, I will bail. If a spot shower comes up and you just cant avoid it, stuff happens. But I make a solid effort to dry it off accordingly. I never wash it with water, only use a topical cleaner. Like Bavbob, my car stays in the garage with a dehumidifier always on. Hope this helps! :) -Jim
 
since the car has been painted, its been only griots waterless car wash. right now there's no glass in the car and too many things open ... but, i really like the stuff and will continue to use it. i want to avoid water, but if i'm in the car and it rains, i'm not going to get nervous, i'm going to deal with it. i will dry it, then cover it in the garage.
 
If you have filled your sills with Cavity wax, and if the drains are all nicely open, then washing the car will allow water to enter the sills, but it'll be quite harmless there.
No risk for water creeping into seams (that's the worst of the worst). And it can dry up quite OK as the sills ventilate to the interior compartment via the rear QP, behind the door panel.

Now driving in the rain is a whole other story for me as the water gets thrown around violently inside the front wheel well, and combined with wind/airpressure, it gets pushed everywhere, including parts you can't practically access with Wax like the complex front strut tower. But forum members with wheel liners (such as Lokari's) have reported to have dry wheel wells after removal after a rainy drive. So that for me is enough (or I'd like to believe it...)

So, for that reason I'm going cavity wax + lokari's and drive the sh*t out of it.
 
Avoiding rain in Northern Europe is not an option unless you really want a garage queen, so shielding the worst of the rust traps and proper rustproofing are the way to go. Avoiding salt is a different issue though, that effectively catalyses the rusting process and makes a mess of any plating too. For this reason my own coupe tends to sit out the winter in the garage, though there are often a few salt free days to be found even in December and January which are good for a quick run out.

Realistically the cars have managed to survive for 50 years, often with little care/love for a number of those years, so a little water is unlikely to kill them now as long as there's some preventative maintenance and vigilance.
 
Heading for South Carolina tomorrow for a few days of driving and the forecast is rain all day Monday and a little during the day on Wednesday. I am hoping the forecast changes, but no choice now.

The rest of the time the car sits in climate controlled conditions and does not generally get driven in the rain or even wet roads.
 
boonies said:
Heading for South Carolina tomorrow for a few days of driving and the forecast is rain all day Monday and a little during the day on Wednesday. I am hoping the forecast changes, but no choice now.

The rest of the time the car sits in climate controlled conditions and does not generally get driven in the rain or even wet roads.
Click to expand...
Won’t be the first (or last) time driving in the rain for me but the BMWCCCA tour will be a great event rain or shine, see you there.
 
I drove my '74 euro coupe in the rain. I drove it on the track in the rain and on the skid pad. When the time came to sell it was full disclosure to the new owner. Priced accordingly. I did not have the money for the restoration and paint we both knew it needed. But the new owner was a half hour from The Werke Shop in Chicago where it spent its first winter.
 
I avoid driving in the rain - if I can... But, if I have something scheduled and it is raining... I'll likely go.

When I was having @sfdon work on the car - and it was 98% completed... I flew down to the Bay Area to borrow my car for a long weekend test drive. The car had a perfect paint job and was in about as great a shape as it would ever be. My plans were to pick up the car in Alameda and drive down to Monterey and stay at my brothers house (near Laguna Seca off HWY 68). My thoughts were to enjoy the car a bit after not having driven it for 6 years as well as see what might need some attention from Don in Alameda. A couple of days later I would then drop the car back off with him and fly home.
This was August in California. Not a problem, right? Weather is always perfect that time of year....

Famous last words - IT POURED... and was a total mess out.
I did not really get to enjoy the car as much as I had planned on - One unexpected thing I did get to test were the wipers (they work!)...
Actually - all the weather sealing worked fine.

Before that trip - I had planned on being pretty stiff about not wanting to take that car out in the rain (or even wash it with the hose).
After what happened - c'est la vie....

Oh well. The car was very much baptized that weekend and lived to sail another day. After that weekend - I shrugged my shoulders and didn't really worry about it (too much).
So... While I don't try to, I do take my car out in whatever the weather gods throw at it for events and such.
One thing though - I do keep the car in a dry heated garage and don't park it in a moist environment.
Also - I let the car dry out out for upwards of a week in the garage before I out the cover on it - to keep the cover from trapping anything under that otherwise could/would evaporate away.
 
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