I was at a show a couple of weeks ago and there was a beautify 75 t/a. Was an AACA winner and it showed. Excellent restoration of a family owned car. The current owners late sister bought the car new. I talked with the guy for a while and he was really decent and great to talk to. As he was showing me the engine compartment that one could eat off of, he was telling me he had the best builder re-do the engine and how great it ran. I then asked him about driving it to the show. His reply was 'oh no I dont drive it, I trailer. I dont want to mess it up'. Doesnt make sense to me but to each their own.
That kind of logic never made sense to me. A concourse level restoration on, say, a typically-rusted, project-condition late 2nd gen will cost $70-$100k now. You spend all that dough, and you don't even drive it? What I don't get is, you can meet yourself halfway and have your cake while eating it, too. Just don't drive the darn thing in inclement weather and keep it in a garage! Done! Most of us ALREADY do that! Most classic car owners that actually do drive and enjoy their cars still don't drive them NEARLY enough to add tons of wear in a short period of time. Realistically, how much wear can you possibly add to a car you drive 2-3000 miles a year? Most of us, even less.
Stone chips are your biggest threat when driving the car (sans accidents, but that risk is always there whether or not you drive it), so just repaint your front bumper every few years. Otherwise, just keep it wiped down rather than conventional washes, including the undercarriage once a year and it should theoretically stay in amazing, show-ready shape, AND you get to drive it and enjoy it. Before shows, just spend a weekend really hitting hard into it with the chemicals and rags, and you're good to go. These cars need to run to stay reliable - that 35 mile T/A not only will never be started up again, it shouldn't be started up again. Every gasket, seal, and fluid on that car is probably shot. Water and sun are what age cars from an aesthetic standpoint, which is realistically all these people with these trailer queens are worried about. Keep it garaged and drive it only in nice weather, you eliminate both of those elemental insults and thus allllllll the signs of wear that they cause: water spots, stains, rust, etc. The thing about dirt is that if you STAY ON TOP OF IT, it can always be wiped off. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is why there are 100,000 mile survivor Trans Ams out there in amazing condition, while there are 5,000 mile originals rotting in yards. I just don't get it, man.
