RAIN!!

[bobs66440]

Okay, I just had to vent a little. Last week we went to the usual Saturday nite cruise and on the way home ran into torrential rain. I HATE rain! It took me over an hour to clean the car off and drain the water out of the quarter panels and dry them. 

Last night it rained just when I was leaving for the usual Friday night cruise. I waited for the road to dry before I left. Halfway there, you guessed it, soaked road, this time with MUD from road construction, car a mess again, clean again! 

Tonight, beautiful night. No rain. Had fun. On the way home...RAIN!!!! AAAGGGHHH!! Just spent the last hour and a half cleaning it AGAIN!! This is insane. I need to find another hobby...or a P.O.S. car that I don't give a crap about. The weather gods are not happy. 

[MoparManJim]

Join the club for the rain haters  , thats all we been having around my neck of the woods also is just dang rain. 

[Lennard]

I need to find another hobby...or a P.O.S. car that I don't give a crap about. 

Or you move to where I live... here it rains about 3 times a year.

[resq302]

Okay, I just had to vent a little. Last week we went to the usual Saturday nite cruise and on the way home ran into torrential rain. I HATE rain! It took me over an hour to clean the car off and drain the water out of the quarter panels and dry them. 

Last night it rained just when I was leaving for the usual Friday night cruise. I waited for the road to dry before I left. Halfway there, you guessed it, soaked road, this time with MUD from road construction, car a mess again, clean again! 

Tonight, beautiful night. No rain. Had fun. On the way home...RAIN!!!! AAAGGGHHH!! Just spent the last hour and a half cleaning it AGAIN!! This is insane. I need to find another hobby...or a P.O.S. car that I don't give a crap about. The weather gods are not happy. 

Just think, you are getting to know each and every inch of your car better.  Just kidding.  I feel your pain.

[jeryst]

Only thing I hate worse than rain, is snow.

[Tilar]

It ALWAYS rains during the week of the Memorial Tournament. At least in this neck of the woods.

[vancamp]

i feel your frustration i hate cleaning black after a rain or dust storm.

[1969chargerrtse]

I hear ya, my car dont do rain.  Keep the hobby.  Stay out of possible rainy days.

[jb666]

Ok, I'll join in.

We had 3 big shows planned for this weekend. One Friday night, one Saturday from 12-4 and one Saturday night from 4-8.

Friday around 4PM it looks decent out. I have about 14,351 hours getting every square inch on my car clean from top to bottom. The wife and I pull out into the nice blue skied weather... 1/2 mile down the road? BLACK SKIES and HUGE fat rain drops start to fall.. After saying every expletive I know, I booted back to my house, pulled it in and spent an hour getting it back to where it was before the 30 second downpour.

Fast forward to Saturday.. It's looking ok in the morning... Around 11:30 I went down stairs to get my supplies together for the show... 10 minutes later, it's raining 

So, I posted a message on FaceBook to the group that I wouldn't be able to make it due to rain.. What do I get? This clown coming on saying "What's it made of, Sugar??".

Oh ok, let me get this straight, it's spotless from bottom to top, inside out, but I should INTENTIONALLY take it to a show knowing it's going to rain? If I could have reached through the screen and smacked that guy I would have..  Friggin' boneheads..

That's my rant. My car hasn't been out in a week.... Because of rain.

[Cooter]

Typical response of a guy that either has more money than sense, or pays someone to load his pride and joy up into his enclosed trailer when begins to rain...

[jb666]

Typical response of a guy that either has more money than sense, or pays someone to load his pride and joy up into his enclosed trailer when begins to rain...

What surprises me is I knew this guy from my "previous life" in the Vette world, so it shocked me.. It just came across as a really stupid comment , borderline ignorant.

Here's his crack "dammit man, the car ain't made of sugar."

[69charger2002]

i can appreciate the time it takes to fully make a car spotless, and that you wouldn't want it to see rain after that.. really i can.. but with every year that passes, i fall more into the crowd of "you only live once, they are just cars" i love to drive them. i don't have the time nor the energy for that kind of meticulous maintenance.. although i must admit i was never a show crowd type of guy.. but all that aside, rain on a classic car SUCKS!

[TUFCAT]

My car doesn't go out in the rain either!!!    I've done way to much cleaning and preserving that its not worth it!  

However, having said that.... I never go out when it was SUPPOSED TO RAIN.....but sometimes it was unavoidable. 

So, its been driven through some light rain - probably two or three times but nothing major.

[Cooter]

Mine ain't been out the shed in about three weeks...Hell, the last time I took the General Lee out, I was left in a parking lot in Redneckville Va. with idiots hollaring "Yee Haaa!" About fifty times(Bad coil)..Wow, never heard that before while broke down in a parking lot...Morons...

See, it took about 30 plus years of "You only live once", and they are "Just cars" to put these things in the shape they are in now when your hunting E-Pay for all those patch panels, and someone you can trust to actually install them correctly....I don't buy that "Just cars and drive 'em" line anymore...If that were the case, we wouldn't have fifty threads dedicated to restoring these things, they'd "Just drive 'em"...I don't shine mine all the way to the tire tread, but I can damn sure understand why someone wouldn't bring their car out when there's a chance of rain after spending the better part of a decade putting rust free panels back on it...

[69charger2002]

Mine ain't been out the shed in about three weeks...Hell, the last time I took the General Lee out, I was left in a parking lot in Redneckville Va. with idiots hollaring "Yee Haaa!" About fifty times(Bad coil)..Wow, never heard that before while broke down in a parking lot...Morons...

See, it took about 30 plus years of "You only live once", and they are "Just cars" to put these things in the shape they are in now when your hunting E-Pay for all those patch panels, and someone you can trust to actually install them correctly....I don't buy that "Just cars and drive 'em" line anymore...If that were the case, we wouldn't have fifty threads dedicated to restoring these things, they'd "Just drive 'em"...I don't shine mine all the way to the tire tread, but I can damn sure understand why someone wouldn't bring their car out when there's a chance of rain after spending the better part of a decade putting rust free panels back on it...

there are plenty of these cars still around.. some people spend a decade restoring a car and want to watch it collect dust in the garage/collect trophies at shows.. others spend a decade restoring a car and drive the wheels off of it.. to each his own. neither philosophy is right or wrong. i just prefer to drive and not worry about it. what happens will happen(including rain).. they can always be fixed again. i don't think "just drive them, they're only cars" is a bad mentality, and surely doesn't mean today what it did 30 years ago back then they were ragged out, and driven rain shine or snow.. today an occasional shower will not hurt a car.

[jb666]

Mine ain't been out the shed in about three weeks...Hell, the last time I took the General Lee out, I was left in a parking lot in Redneckville Va. with idiots hollaring "Yee Haaa!" About fifty times(Bad coil)..Wow, never heard that before while broke down in a parking lot...Morons...

See, it took about 30 plus years of "You only live once", and they are "Just cars" to put these things in the shape they are in now when your hunting E-Pay for all those patch panels, and someone you can trust to actually install them correctly....I don't buy that "Just cars and drive 'em" line anymore...If that were the case, we wouldn't have fifty threads dedicated to restoring these things, they'd "Just drive 'em"...I don't shine mine all the way to the tire tread, but I can damn sure understand why someone wouldn't bring their car out when there's a chance of rain after spending the better part of a decade putting rust free panels back on it...

there are plenty of these cars still around.. some people spend a decade restoring a car and want to watch it collect dust in the garage/collect trophies at shows.. others spend a decade restoring a car and drive the wheels off of it.. to each his own. neither philosophy is right or wrong. i just prefer to drive and not worry about it. what happens will happen(including rain).. they can always be fixed again. i don't think "just drive them, they're only cars" is a bad mentality, and surely doesn't mean today what it did 30 years ago. back then they were ragged out, and driven rain shine or snow.. today an occasional shower will not hurt a car.

It's funny, back when I was 16, my first car was a 70 (1/2) Camaro Z28. Split bumper, VERY nice.. I saved for years for this car..  Well, I drove it year round for 2 years. I bragged about how good it was in the snow and how I never got stuck (true).  When I sold it, it was starting to show signs of rot in the typical areas, and the rear rails were taking a beating...

Would I do that again? No.. but I think seeing that happen on a car like that (because of my actions) made me paranoid in the future.. I have a daily driver for rainy days.. If the forecast even hints of rain, it stays in (and it doesn't matter which car I'm talking about, I don't just mean the Charger).

[ODZKing]

Yeah, same here.  Frankly, I have no problem with the car getting wet while it's at a show.  That's easy.  It where all the dirt get's into driving it in the rain.  And I don't want to have to clean it ... again.
The sugar comment I agree.  He either pays someone to take care of the car for him or doesn't at all.  I love looking at those folks daily drivers.  My ex is like that.  The passenger floor is a trash can.  Ugh!

[4cruzin]

Here is my solution . . . . I bought an I-pad that has internet anywhere and then went to a car show yesterday.  I set the I-pad to the weather radar for my area and as soon as I saw the storm coming, I timed it out to where I had just enough time to get home and put the car in the garage dry . . . went in the house and within 10 minutes, It stormed HARD!       

Without the advance notice of the storm, I would of definitely been cleaning for at least 2 hours.    

[jb666]

Is that an app?? I'll try that!!

Nvm, found it!!

[bobs66440]

Here is my solution . . . . I bought an I-pad that has internet anywhere and then went to a car show yesterday.  I set the I-pad to the weather radar for my area and as soon as I saw the storm coming, I timed it out to where I had just enough time to get home and put the car in the garage dry . . . went in the house and within 10 minutes, It stormed HARD!       

Without the advance notice of the storm, I would of definitely been cleaning for at least 2 hours.    

You know, that's a great idea. The real kicker about the first night was that we left the cruise because the dark clouds were looming...we gambled and left and drove right into it! I found out last night that it turned out it never rained at the cruise...just a few drops!!  If we had stayed it would have been a non-issue. If I had the radar to look at, I could've avoided it.

[bobs66440]

Yeah, same here.  Frankly, I have no problem with the car getting wet while it's at a show.  That's easy.  It where all the dirt get's into driving it in the rain.  And I don't want to have to clean it ... again.

I agree. Except in my case the seals are missing at the bottom of the windows and the water runs down into the doors and the quarter panels forward of the rear wheels...and as far as I know, there are no drain holes in the quarters, though I'm thinking of drilling some.

[chargerrt]

The Charger has been my daily driver for the past couple months, and needless to say, it rains everyday in Tallahassee during the summer.

[bobs66440]

The Charger has been my daily driver for the past couple months, and needless to say, it rains everyday in Tallahassee during the summer.

Oh man, is that your Charger in your signature line? Oh...that's gotta be painful.  That's a gorgeous car.

[mikesbbody]

I don't take my Charger out in the Rain if it is, its by accident it's been years since I turned the wipers on (not sure if they still work  )
BTW you guy's don't know Rain until you have been to New Zealand..

[4cruzin]

BTW you guy's don't know Rain until you have been to New Zealand..

Oh I don't know . . . here is Michigan, we are completely surrounded by huge bodies of fresh water.  The storms cross over them, pick up half the lake and dump it on us.  Can get pretty serious.