Collector - Driving Interval or Annual Mileage?

I think you'll shortly hear from others here but general consensus seems to be three weeks good five miles bad - the run should be long enough to get all systems up to temperature so maybe 50 miles about every month - preferably more miles & more often even if this goes against collector ethos.......

 

I try to start cars up every 2-3 weeks and let them run for 15 minutes whether I drive them or not. I'm not even sure I could restrict myself only driving 5 miles, that sounds like torture LOL. As far as yearly limits, I drive my lower mile car 500-750 miles per year, the newer one ('05 Ford GT) I just drive whenever I want because it has 30k miles.

 

oh boy......
i pity the cars you 'true collectors' are keeping caged up.

 

Agree with your opinion, you manage your enjoyment as you see fit. I have the opposite problem in Houston, and being an older Italian car with practically no AC makes for miserable driving, so I either park it or send it for service in the Summer.

And I am of the same opinion that when you don't have a fleet of cars, minimizing driving some does help keep the special-ness factor up.

 

you guys need more cars.
the best way to keep the miles low on your 'feel special' car, is to have a lot of 'feel special' cars.
if you cannot afford more than one, but the one you have sits under cover and hardly gets used, then your motives for owning it are confused.
you are denying yourself the pleasures of owning the car, unless that pleasure is just to be able to tell others that you own it.
but then you are a poseur.

basically, most of you are kidding yourselves that you are collectors, if you dont drive the cars.
the reason you dont want to put miles on the cars is that you intend to resell them.
if you do not drive them and intend to resell them, then you are simply a speculator.

 

but maybe i am being too hard on you guys.
maybe you live in awkward places or just dont have enough time.
so, since i cannot drive more than one car at a time, as i am rotating my way through the stack, the temporarily unused cars are started at least 2/month, idled till they come up to temp, rolled around a bit, and then turned off. takes all of about 15 minutes apparently they tell me.

the cars that are available to me to drive at any one time, get driven to work, club, meets, etc for about a week-10 days, and then i hand those back, and substitute for another.
the result is that i dont drive or even see some of the cars for months, so that when i do hop back in it does feel special and different.

i encourage all of you to drive the cars.
i am pretty sure that given the political environment and direction, that within my lifetime i will not be allowed to drive some of them, so only then will i be admiring them statically.

 

+365...drive 'em or they turn back to red oxide!

I'd like to know what sort of car the collector has.....I'll go first with my insignificant shed full:
Only the red one now
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.....and in company with a bunch more 'collector cars' doing a 3000 mile round trip March this year:
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....and the hotrod:

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....and in company on a 2500 mile trip this year:

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I do between 1500 and 2000 kilometers per year with each of my 7 cars. I want to enjoy driving, not just collecting. Once a month 50-100 kilometers, more during summer and less during winter. If there is snow, I‘ll at least let the engine run for 5 minutes once a month. What else can be done with cup tires in snowy Swiss winters.

 

No hard/fast rule on driving interval. Going months between drives not good. Going weeks better. Every week better still. Of course, if you live in a colder climate (like I do) you probably store your car during the winter months and don’t (or can’t) drive it. My 550 sits in a heated garage from late Nov through mid to late March. Not ideal, but is what it is. Otherwise, I try to drive it every week if I can, or at least couple times per month during warmer months.

When you do drive it, time more important than miles. Need to get it fully warmed up to normal operating temps, exercise all the different systems….brakes, a/c, lights, electrics and such (e.g., windows, locks, sunroof or convert top, etc). At least 30 min drive is probably required for this. Bad idea to start it up and leave it stationary, especially in winter. Car will not fully warm up and you won’t boil off accumulated moisture or raw fuel inside crankcase, while potentially adding more raw fuel past rings during startup that won’t have time or temp to fully evaporate. Plus you won't use brakes, etc.

If you store the car over winter months, do it properly…fresh oil/filter change before storing away, Stabil (or similar) added to FULL tank of gas, tires aired up to higher psi (prevents flat spots), battery maintainer hooked up, mice sticky traps placed around car/garage, windows cracked open to prevent interior mildew (or desiccant placed inside w/ windows closed), then leave it sit until spring. Car cover optional, depending on your garage situation. When it's time to drive it again in spring, air down tires to normal psi, pull fuel pump relay (EFI car) or coil wire (old car), crank motor over for about 10 sec for 2-3 times to get oil circulated through engine, replace relay or coil wire, fire it up & go for a drive.