Winter driven
- Thread starter Ohtobbad
- Start date
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
Exposure to road salt is the big consideration for me.
Not calendar periods.
Was it exposed?
When?
How often, how much?
Was mitigation done after?
Rinsed, washed?
Was undercarriage washed?
On a lift? Ramps? How?
And I still reserve the right to walk away if I don’t get good feeling.
My 2015 is an example.
I knew the previous owner.
Knew he had two garages, one with lift and he’s a fanatic like a lot of us.
Also saw car at dealership on occasion for service.
Knew it did not see salt, and if it ever did, it got washed top and bottom same day.
Was not nervous at all about that car.
It made devision to get it very easy.
Not calendar periods.
Was it exposed?
When?
How often, how much?
Was mitigation done after?
Rinsed, washed?
Was undercarriage washed?
On a lift? Ramps? How?
And I still reserve the right to walk away if I don’t get good feeling.
My 2015 is an example.
I knew the previous owner.
Knew he had two garages, one with lift and he’s a fanatic like a lot of us.
Also saw car at dealership on occasion for service.
Knew it did not see salt, and if it ever did, it got washed top and bottom same day.
Was not nervous at all about that car.
It made devision to get it very easy.
Yes I agree with Marc on the questions. If it has seen salt I am more likely to not even go look at it if it is a summer toy. The brine they use now gets in everywhere when it splashes underneath.
This topic came to mind, when we had very
early snow in HRM, main roads brined, almost eveerything seen salt.
In fairness most has likely washed away by now, 3 weeks later.
But the weekend following snow it was plus 15
the amount of cars on roads after this were incredible.
VIntage, muscle and hot rods. Many saying getting my last run in.
At this point they seen salt, maybe not alot but no question
were driven in salt.
So back to main question, most of these people would tell you
never winter driven, always stored in winter etc.
How would you know, how much would you question?
early snow in HRM, main roads brined, almost eveerything seen salt.
In fairness most has likely washed away by now, 3 weeks later.
But the weekend following snow it was plus 15
the amount of cars on roads after this were incredible.
VIntage, muscle and hot rods. Many saying getting my last run in.
At this point they seen salt, maybe not alot but no question
were driven in salt.
So back to main question, most of these people would tell you
never winter driven, always stored in winter etc.
How would you know, how much would you question?
Yeah I guess you have a point Trevor. You need to trust the person you are buying from to a certain degree. My opinion is a good look underneath may show you what you want to confirm or not. But I am sure it would be hard to tell if it was only once or so...
05 gt 5spd
On the road again
I had the daily driver Jetta down east on Saturday - car is white with leftover brine - glad it had its crown visit earlier in the month !
With older vehicles it’s hard to get the story - some survived well - Dad’s 72 was out in every storm but was well protected others didn’t make it past 2 years
Mineral Grey
Well-known member
It's a tough question.. but i think of it as driving in snow, or wet roads covers in salt and brine. I drove mine last Saturday , but we didn't get any snow here yet and pretty sure there was no salting done around here..if a car was driving on a salted road from a week or 2 ago and was nice and dry ,that wouldn't bother me , but I would check out the underneath of any car thoroughly and if i see salt stains or any site if rust , it speaks for it self ..
doing this stuff for a living has taught me a few things.
Driving over fresh salt is less of a problem than old.
old turns to a powder or dust like residue.
so new salt is like small gravel, hits and bounces off.
Old salt is like gyproc dust that goes everywhere .
This is much harder to clean off, it goes in to crevices
and places you can't see, why spring is so bad, layers on the road.
takes multiple rains to remove. In spring you can see white residue in the cracks.
Brine is far worse, liquid salt, not sure you could get all of that off.
Driving over fresh salt is less of a problem than old.
old turns to a powder or dust like residue.
so new salt is like small gravel, hits and bounces off.
Old salt is like gyproc dust that goes everywhere .
This is much harder to clean off, it goes in to crevices
and places you can't see, why spring is so bad, layers on the road.
takes multiple rains to remove. In spring you can see white residue in the cracks.
Brine is far worse, liquid salt, not sure you could get all of that off.
SVT4MT
Well-known member
Not always practical when talking toy budgets, but there's one advantage to buying new..... you 100% know where and how its been driven, and how its been maintained. Peace of mind in that regard.
Otherwise, when buying toys, asking questions is all well and good if you're dealing with a straight up seller, less scrupulous people will tell you what you want to hear. No substitute for taking the time to look for yourself and judge to see what kind of driving habits they had, as stated, there are the tell tale signs of exposure to salt.
Otherwise, when buying toys, asking questions is all well and good if you're dealing with a straight up seller, less scrupulous people will tell you what you want to hear. No substitute for taking the time to look for yourself and judge to see what kind of driving habits they had, as stated, there are the tell tale signs of exposure to salt.
Not always true!!
I remember before Mcphee ford was known as Chebucto Ford.
They used to put the Mustangs and Shelbys along the street front.
Until one day I told them.
Spray from cars going by and salting of lots, gives you cars covered in salt
and driven in Salt. After this they moved them to back lot, where they did not salt.
Now at Mcphee Fords new location, they put regular Mustangs out back,
Shelbys if in stock are stored indoors. So not all dealers do the right thing.
Fortunately most cleaning bays do mediocre job, so if you look hard
you can see white residue under hood in certain spots,
this will be your tell tale sign and don't be afrid to ask when they got car
and date it was built, this will tell you when its moved.
I remember before Mcphee ford was known as Chebucto Ford.
They used to put the Mustangs and Shelbys along the street front.
Until one day I told them.
Spray from cars going by and salting of lots, gives you cars covered in salt
and driven in Salt. After this they moved them to back lot, where they did not salt.
Now at Mcphee Fords new location, they put regular Mustangs out back,
Shelbys if in stock are stored indoors. So not all dealers do the right thing.
Fortunately most cleaning bays do mediocre job, so if you look hard
you can see white residue under hood in certain spots,
this will be your tell tale sign and don't be afrid to ask when they got car
and date it was built, this will tell you when its moved.
05 gt 5spd
On the road again
If I bought a new toy it would be scheduled for build in May - delivery in July- my luck it would build in December and ship in January to another dealer and be driven here in March! I’ll try buy the cleanest i can - protect what won’t be seen and try to drive when I cause the least damage . I did buy it to drive it - sometimes you just have to make the best preparations and go , our 2014 trip was an example. April is not pretty weather here but I only had one way to get to California for April 8 - Drive!
Rich06
Navigator
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
Of course nefarious people will lie to you.
I think Fred and I have seen this once or twice. ?
You can ask the same question in different ways to gage consistency of answer.
Most times if its truth, the answer comes easily and fluidly.
Sometimes if lying, they need to think of the answer. Too much reflecting on the answers is a flag.
Body language is another tell.
Are they open, facing you on and good eye contact? Likely truthful.
Or arms crossed, standing sideways to you and poor eye contact can be flags.
It’s not always a sure thing.
Totality of behaviour must be factored.
Habitual deceivers, hard to tell.
Establish if you know same people.
Perhaps a reference is possible.
There’s no rule as to how the conversation should go.
As the buyer, you decide and control.
Take the time you need.
Of course you insist on having a look.
All the stuff Trevor said.
Underside of hood and trunk lid.
Bottoms of doors and hinges.
Shock towers.
Do everything you can to look underneath.
Pay for a lift at a shop if you must.
If you have any doubt, walk away.
There will other opportunities.
I think Fred and I have seen this once or twice. ?
You can ask the same question in different ways to gage consistency of answer.
Most times if its truth, the answer comes easily and fluidly.
Sometimes if lying, they need to think of the answer. Too much reflecting on the answers is a flag.
Body language is another tell.
Are they open, facing you on and good eye contact? Likely truthful.
Or arms crossed, standing sideways to you and poor eye contact can be flags.
It’s not always a sure thing.
Totality of behaviour must be factored.
Habitual deceivers, hard to tell.
Establish if you know same people.
Perhaps a reference is possible.
There’s no rule as to how the conversation should go.
As the buyer, you decide and control.
Take the time you need.
Of course you insist on having a look.
All the stuff Trevor said.
Underside of hood and trunk lid.
Bottoms of doors and hinges.
Shock towers.
Do everything you can to look underneath.
Pay for a lift at a shop if you must.
If you have any doubt, walk away.
There will other opportunities.
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
The part about dealership lots again brought up by Trevor also true.
I was thinking it as I was reading Mike’s post.
That buying from a dealer is not necessarily guarantee that it has not seen salt or been well cared for.
The example given by Trevor is a classic and real one.
Dealers are people too.
Some are car people
To others it’s a way of making a living.
The guy just making a living is oblivious to the Mustang being parked by the main road.
To him, it’s just a car.
The car guy who happens to also be a dealer, that’s a different story.
He treats the dealership’s Mustangs as if he was their temporary caretaker until they go to a nice home where they will be cared for by another car guy.
He takes pride in being able to tell you exactly how the car was stored and kept until you take it over.
That’s how we do it.
All our Mustangs are stored indoor for winter.
And no test drives either.
Some in showrooms.
Some off site.
But all indoors.
My cousin is a real car guy with his own collection.
His three sons are car guys too.
I’m not far behind.
I was thinking it as I was reading Mike’s post.
That buying from a dealer is not necessarily guarantee that it has not seen salt or been well cared for.
The example given by Trevor is a classic and real one.
Dealers are people too.
Some are car people
To others it’s a way of making a living.
The guy just making a living is oblivious to the Mustang being parked by the main road.
To him, it’s just a car.
The car guy who happens to also be a dealer, that’s a different story.
He treats the dealership’s Mustangs as if he was their temporary caretaker until they go to a nice home where they will be cared for by another car guy.
He takes pride in being able to tell you exactly how the car was stored and kept until you take it over.
That’s how we do it.
All our Mustangs are stored indoor for winter.
And no test drives either.
Some in showrooms.
Some off site.
But all indoors.
My cousin is a real car guy with his own collection.
His three sons are car guys too.
I’m not far behind.
SVT4MT
Well-known member
Meh, exceptions to every rule, statistically there will always be extremes at either end of the curve.
My comment was based on buying a new vehicle with 10 km on it versus a used vehicle with say 10000 km.
Still, Marc brings up a good point, not everyone is an enthusiast, including dealers, so if you are lucky enough to get someone who loves these cars looking after them before they're in your possession, all the better.
The old adage of "Buyer Beware" still rings true.
My comment was based on buying a new vehicle with 10 km on it versus a used vehicle with say 10000 km.
Still, Marc brings up a good point, not everyone is an enthusiast, including dealers, so if you are lucky enough to get someone who loves these cars looking after them before they're in your possession, all the better.
The old adage of "Buyer Beware" still rings true.
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
One can ask similar questions of a dealer that you would an individual.
What fo you do with Mustangs in winter?
How or where are they stored?
And so on.
You can judge the answers for yourself.
Hint: the build date is on the window sticker for f all cars.
By the build date, you can add a few weeks to a month for travel to destination.
This will give you idea of how long they have had the car.
May even pick out deception.
If they say they just got car in but build date is 6 months prior, something wrong with story.
Also , name of ordering dealer on window sticker.
If you are at dealer A and it’s a different dealer name on sticker, almost 100% they dealer traded for it.
So it got driven from point to point or got put on another hauler for the journey.
Something else you can question.
What fo you do with Mustangs in winter?
How or where are they stored?
And so on.
You can judge the answers for yourself.
Hint: the build date is on the window sticker for f all cars.
By the build date, you can add a few weeks to a month for travel to destination.
This will give you idea of how long they have had the car.
May even pick out deception.
If they say they just got car in but build date is 6 months prior, something wrong with story.
Also , name of ordering dealer on window sticker.
If you are at dealer A and it’s a different dealer name on sticker, almost 100% they dealer traded for it.
So it got driven from point to point or got put on another hauler for the journey.
Something else you can question.
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
This is a window sticker of an F150 we received Monday on the hauler.
Lower left corner shows we ordered it and it was shipped to us.
If this truck was at a dealer in Halifax, for example, it means it was dealer traded.
At the request of one or the other of the two dealers.
Just to the right of that shows it was built in Kansas City, one of two F150 plants.
The other in Detroit.
And bellow that a long number with letters.
At the end of that sequence of numbers you see 07 17 20.
That means that truck was scheduled to be built on July 17, 2020.
If it were still on our lot next summer, it means we had custody of ot all winter.
Was it stored inside or out?
Did it get test driven in that time?
Those are the little mysteries.
Lower left corner shows we ordered it and it was shipped to us.
If this truck was at a dealer in Halifax, for example, it means it was dealer traded.
At the request of one or the other of the two dealers.
Just to the right of that shows it was built in Kansas City, one of two F150 plants.
The other in Detroit.
And bellow that a long number with letters.
At the end of that sequence of numbers you see 07 17 20.
That means that truck was scheduled to be built on July 17, 2020.
If it were still on our lot next summer, it means we had custody of ot all winter.
Was it stored inside or out?
Did it get test driven in that time?
Those are the little mysteries.
Last edited:
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
This year COVID-19 is interfering with schedules and shipping.
Lack of parts.
Reduced shifts at plants and rail services.
Quarantine periods between receiving from US to transfer to Canadian haulers, etc.
Normally a vehicle scheduled to be built in July would show up much earlier than late November.
But that information is there on the window sticker.
Lack of parts.
Reduced shifts at plants and rail services.
Quarantine periods between receiving from US to transfer to Canadian haulers, etc.
Normally a vehicle scheduled to be built in July would show up much earlier than late November.
But that information is there on the window sticker.
67 AGAIN
Enthusiast
It’s snowing up here today and since we’re talking about how Mustangs are kept or cared for during our long winters, it reminds me of something I witnessed last winter.
It surprised me when I saw it so I will share.
It is not something we ever do at our dealership because our Mustangs are all indoors.
No names mentioned to maintain professional courtesy.
While at a dealer in the province of Quebec, I witnessed employees of said dealer hooking onto Mustangs with tow straps and accoutrements to haul them out of the snow banks and drifts with the snow plowing equipment.
One Mustang in particular was not running.
Rear wheels dragging while being towed.
I think some of us would stay clear of those Mustangs if we knew which ones they were, even if they had low mileage.
Not withstanding the dragging wheels, where under the front end did they hook or latch on to is also a question for me?
Some dealers are better custodians than others.
The consumer can consider this too at time of purchase.
It surprised me when I saw it so I will share.
It is not something we ever do at our dealership because our Mustangs are all indoors.
No names mentioned to maintain professional courtesy.
While at a dealer in the province of Quebec, I witnessed employees of said dealer hooking onto Mustangs with tow straps and accoutrements to haul them out of the snow banks and drifts with the snow plowing equipment.
One Mustang in particular was not running.
Rear wheels dragging while being towed.
I think some of us would stay clear of those Mustangs if we knew which ones they were, even if they had low mileage.
Not withstanding the dragging wheels, where under the front end did they hook or latch on to is also a question for me?
Some dealers are better custodians than others.
The consumer can consider this too at time of purchase.