Thread: Long term storage

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I was asked yesterday if I was interested in a taking a job transfer to Japan as part of a 6 member engineering liaison team for a minimum of two years. The job description sounds like it was written for me, but its not mandatory that I go. It would however complicate my already stressful 50 something life. I'm still waiting to see the compensation package before I make a decision. One of the questions I have relates to what to do with the corvette. Long term storage comes to mind. Should I just go ahead and sell it or put it up on blocks in a U-Store somewhere? If I were to store it what is the procedure? When I was young I wouldn't think twice about going overseas, but in the last 20 yrs I've collected so much crap I just don't know what I'd do with all of it. Thoughts?

Two years is nothing.....some cars sit on dealer's lots longer than that.

Seriously, do a Google search for the long term storage. It is pretty simple if you have a location that is inside. The storage involves (1) putting the car in a position where the load is off of the tires, (2) washing the car and throughly drying it, (3) changing oil and a good grease job, (4) removing the battery, and (perhaps) (4) squirting some oil in the cylinders or otherwise lubricating the rings.

Some people swear by a cover and some swear by a layer of dust.

For me, the compensation package would have to be "an offer I couldn't refuse." When I was younger, if someone offered me a few thousand more a year, I would pack up the family and move cross country, and I did. Now that I am older, it would take a whole lot of money to make me consider that.

This is a decision only you can make. What is in it for you? How much better off will you be in two years if you do it? What about the housing situation, both here and there? Japan is an extremely expensive country to live in. Housing is almost impossible to afford, and even meals out are not cheap. If you own your home here, are you going to sell it? If so, will you be able to afford to buy a comparable home when you return? (From what I've seen, California is not a cheap place to buy a home, and in two years it could be worse)

The vette is the least of the issues, although us car guys don't see it that way. You can block it up and even put it in one of those plastic baggie things, two years is not horrible on a stored car if done right.

This move has to be something you REALLY want to do for you, and it has to make total economic sense, beyond the difference in yearly income. What is the company willing to do to compensate you for additional living costs, etc?

Also, what about family? I don't know your status there, but a single guy has it a lot easier than one in a relationship when it comes to doing something like this.

Lots of things to consider.

Don

Thanks guys for the info on storing the car.

Maintaining a house here while I’m overseas is not an option. so I would have to find some sort of long term storage facility. Denny, no basements here in this part of Texas so that is out as well.

Don, I couldn't agree more on the compensation package. It will have to be extraordinary for this old man to pick up again. Medical coverage is another concern. Texas has always been the home base for this company and I used to move around quite a bit too. The company moved me 9 times between 1983 and 1990 and wife and I had two kids in the process. It was a butt whippin! But it was very lucrative. All these years later and I still don’t make as much money as I did then. We finally moved back here from Los Angeles after a major defense program cancellation in 90' and lo and behold I had been forgotten about. Out of sight out of mind I guess. To make matters worse there had been lots of people let go after the program cancellation and I had no job here. They paid to move me back because it was written in my contract. Luckily the guy that had hired me remembered me and brought me back as a technician level, which was several grades below my previous position. It took me years to get back up to my former pay grade and had to do quite a few more flight tests in the process. Now both the kiddos are grown although one is still in college.

I don't know about the housing issues here and there either and that is a major gotcha as far as I'm concerned as well. I'm thinking right now that they will have to buy my house here and find me another over there before I accept. If they do that I just may go. I don't know maybe its just itchy feet. At any rate its risky business.

I'm sorry, I said California, thinking that's where you were living, but I imagine Dallas is not too far behind in housing costs.

I certainly am no expert of Japan, but from the programs I have watched about it, everything is very expensive. Housing is not the big, sprawling homes we are used to, and a meal out can cost outrageous money. Like everything else, I guess once you get the lay of the land, you can find ways to economize.

One company I worked for had a Japanese division, and my friend, who was VP of Marketing went there a lot. He would tell me stories about how cramped and expensive it was, particularly in the large cities, like Tokyo.

I hope someone on here or elsewhere is able to give you better pros and cons than I have though.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Don

You'd be better off, or at least the car would, if you found a friend to put it in his garage and take it for a spin every few months. Any cars I've fired up after sitting for a year or so are nothing but little problems for months. U-joints, wiring connections, A/C, everything acts up.

Also for long term storage plenty of moth balls . Mice hate the smell at won't go around . Knew someone that did this he placed them on engine inside floors ,trunk and all over the ground . He did have to air it out really good but mice never got into his interior. He stored it in a old barn with a concrete floor . Oh he also poured Marvel Mystery oil right into carb while it was running . It would burn out on retsart in the spring . I guess this stuff is great for coating cylinder walls.

Originally Posted by R Pope

You'd be better off, or at least the car would, if you found a friend to put it in his garage and take it for a spin every few months.

Funny you would say that. Back in 83' when we first moved to the left coast, My wife had a VW Rabbit diesel that we left here in a U-Store building here in Dallas and packed all our belongings around the car. We were only supposed to be gone for like 6-8 weeks initially. I gave a buddy the key to the storage building and asked him to go up there once a month and start the car to keep the battery charged. Boy did he ever! After ~6 months the company decided to move us out to California "semi-permanently", so I came back here to gather up our belongings and haul them out west. Got to the U-Store unlocked it and opened the door and - whats this? No car... Huh? Wonder what this is all about? Went ahead and loaded up the truck and drove down to my buddies house. I found out that he went up there a couple days after we left and gave his ole lady my car to drive! We had canceled the insurance, the tags had since expired, etc. She had put about 20,000 miles on the car!! They had been parking it on the street and some neighborhood kid had even egged it on halloween- the egg shell and egg was still stuck to the paint! The b!@#%* hadn't even washed the egg off. So what do you think the odds are of me leaving my vette with a "friend"?

Corvette64 I was gonna say I could be your friend LQQKs like that angle won't work twice though HUH?

Originally Posted by pro70z28

Corvette64 I was gonna say I could be your friend LQQKs like that angle won't work twice though HUH?

Uh welllllll probably not. Unless your plan involved puttin in a blown 502 and a pro street rear. If so we may need to talk.

64 bring it up here the 67 mustang is about to find a new home . Leave the keys but take the tire's and wheels because i spend enough here and will not be willing to buy them for the Vette. The garage is climate controled and i would keep the dust and mice out . I will however take some pics with me in the seat

Update:
I really appreciate the offers by everyone here at CHR to take that dirty old car off my hands and store it for me, but I told the hiring manager Monday that I was withdrawing my interest in the Japan trip. We just have too many entanglements here to run off to Japan. My son is still in college and is living in an apartment about 60 miles from here, getting rid of the house, finding storage for ALL our stuff! The list goes on and on, It was just too much. The real killer was that they never could tell me exactly what the compensation was going to be. It was like they wanted me to agree to go, get all trained up and then they would tell me how generous they were going to be. Sorry my present position just isn't that uncomfortable. Anyway looks like I'll just have to here in the good old USA for awhile longer.

And we have learned today that storing a car in a vault underground in Tulsa probably isnt the best idea!!!