It will be worth something one day. Car preservation daft ideas.

[Bobthebeard]

My ex father in law had an Austin 1300 back in the late 80's. He reckoned it would be worth something one day, so stored it in his garage. To protect* it from rust, he poured liquid cement over the floor pan, having removed all the carpets. He reckoned that cement would stave off any corrosion. WTF?

[Squire_Dawson]

Pictuores?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Did he have to go into a home fairly soon after having this idea by any chance?

[Bobthebeard]

Did he have to go into a home fairly soon after having this idea by any chance?

Possibly... His daughter and I parted company soon after. Not heard from either of them since!

[Wilko220]

I had a similar idea myself

 

[laser wheels]

I while back I read about a guy who won one of the very last Spitfires - or similar -  and coated the whole thing in waxoil or something and left it in a lock-up for 30 years. I think it came up for auction a while back.

[mat_the_cat]

There is some method to the madness - steel reinforcement in concrete for example (even though it may be already rusted) has a very slow rate of corrosion due to the alkali environment. But it wouldn't have any effect on slowing the floorpan rusting from the outside...

[jakebullet]

Cars are for driving not investing.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3005938.stm

[Lord Sterling]

Surely your father-in-law would have had to chip the cement off later on? Kinda defeats the object tbh.

 

Unsurprisingly I did hear of an unregistered MK1 Rover Sterling that sold for £14k or thereabouts recently, bearing in mind it had about 56 miles (not 56k) only. There was also that "famous" SD3 213 that sold for about £5k (which I've seen in the metal) which was later sold to a collector in America.

 

Not a clue how they were stored but I have heard they weren't stored anywhere special. The SD3 was stored in a lock-up garage from new with just some covers for protection.

[Micrashed]

Mr The Beard, what you need is a second generation Maverick 4x4.

 

They will be worth top dollar one day due to the OMG Blue Oval tax.

[Richard]

There is some method to the madness - steel reinforcement in concrete for example (even though it may be already rusted) has a very slow rate of corrosion due to the alkali environment.

Isn't that more to do with the concrete keeping the air out? I go to a lot of concrete batching plants for work and everything in them is always rusted to buggery.

 

Mothballing new cars is always going to be a mug's game. Even an OSF wouldn't give you much profit if you factored in the cost of storage for 30 or 40 years and the initial purchase price. A load of unused MGBs appeared on the market a few years ago, I can't remember what they fetched but it wasn't that much.

[cort16]

I covered my car in dutch cheese curds as I heard it was a good method of preservation. It didn't work though after a couple of years it wasn't worth edam.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sorry

[mat_the_cat]

Isn't that more to do with the concrete keeping the air out?

 

It is linked to that too - initially a passivating film is formed on the surface of the steel due to a reaction with the concrete, but with exposure to air, moisture and CO2 lower the pH of the concrete and the film breaks down. So I would guess that in a situation where the steel isn't completely enclosed, corrosion would take place at the normal rate.

[Parky]

The Yanks tried burying a Plymouth Belvedere once - it didn't end well......

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19249855/ns/us_news-life/t/auto-time-capsule-unearthed-after-years/#.U7Znhsu9KSN

 

Personally I think the only guaranteed way to preserve a car is to put it on the International Space Station where the lack of air will prevent rust. Not sure if the average Cosmonaut will fancy having to clamber over a mark 2 Cavalier to get to the air locks and such but it would work. Maybe they could ratchet strap it to the outside?

 

Otherwise mummifying a car in waxoil soaked bandages before submerging it in a galvanised bath full of WD40 in the middle of a desert might be a slightly simpler.

 

But for those of us with limited funds and a less bizarre imagination a dry garage and several litres of cavity wax is probably the best answer. That guy who waxed up the last Spitfire had the right idea as that came up like new once the dirty brown wax was jetwashed off.

[trigger]

To protect* it from rust, he poured liquid cement over the floor pan, having removed all the carpets. He reckoned that cement would stave off any corrosion. WTF?

 

He seems a wise man, I did this myself once as you can see in this photo, I've even bought myself a kango drill to unearth for when it's worth millions. I'm not mental at all, yes i am, not i'm not. happy christmas.

 

[Parky]

Wouldn't the chemical reaction/heat generated by the concrete setting damage the paint?

 

Another alternative might be to cover the car in latex or plaster of Paris. At least that way when it does corrode to buggery underneath the protective layer, you'll have a mould to cast a new one

[andy18s]

I know of a Sunbeam Ti buried under a primary school playground. ......

[steve_earwig]

The Yanks tried burying a Plymouth Belvedere once - it didn't end well......

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19249855/ns/us_news-life/t/auto-time-capsule-unearthed-after-years/#.U7Znhsu9KSN

 

 

Hillhairyarse After 50 years of waiting I can't imagine how disappointed they must have been when they unveiled it - "Here it is, a pile of rusted junk! And all those mementos you left inside it have turned to mush!" Jeez, it doesn't look much better than that Dornier they just recovered after sitting for 70 years on the seabed...

 

Rust never sleeps!

[AlabamaShrimp]

He seems a wise man, I did this myself once as you can see in this photo, I've even bought myself a kango drill to unearth for when it's worth millions. I'm not mental at all, yes i am, not i'm not. happy christmas.

 

 

Wtf have you done to my car!!!

[steve_earwig]

I know of a Sunbeam Ti buried under a primary school playground. ......

Seriously? I know where there's a Morris Minor A series buried in a garden, I can give you a map reference and everyfink. Don't rush, it's been there for 40 years.

[DSdriver]

Concrete has to be at least 1/4inch thick covering reinforcing to stop the rust. This is why you sometimes see rusty lines on stuff where the shuttering was too close to the rods.

*I learned this at school and until today it has been of absolutely no use to me, ever.

[oman5]

There's a 2 litre pinto engine buried, coincidentally, at a house where I might have lived once.

[Junkman]

You're doing it RONG!

 

[rml2345]

^ To be fair, it's not like it's going to rust any quicker buried in the ground.

What about a massive version of those vacuum storage bags? Could you wrap the car in thick plastic and then suck all the air out to preserve it? Probably a better bet than concrete.

[Micrashed]

I wonder if I could be buried in the MicraShed?

Suitabley preseved/pickled by the undertaker and then with the car "depolouted" buried in a 6 foot hole.

 

That'd give the archeologists something to worry over in a few hundred years....

[Asimo]

All old cars should be shipped to the moon, plenty of space, no corrosive atmosphere.

Could be parked so as to spell Autoshite when viewed from Earth.

Sunlight's a bit bright up there so covers would be needed.

[rml2345]

That'd give the archeologists something to worry over in a few hundred years....

I've got this superb image of a fossilised Micra being unearthed and a mad theory being cooked up to explain it.

[Bren]

All old cars should be shipped to the moon, plenty of space, no corrosive atmosphere.

Could be parked so as to spell Autoshite when viewed from Earth.

Sunlight's a bit bright up there so covers would be needed.

Even in a vacuum, a ford ka would still rot like fuck.

[twosmoke300]

The force of a vacuum bag being pulled in around it would crush most ka's I have seen

[AlabamaShrimp]

I seem to remember watching something ages ago where a bloke does sort of vacuum pack poncy cars when they were in long term store.

 

Can think if they were in actual bags but they all had loads of covers and stuff on them