CTEK features in Harry Metcalfe’s top tips for keeping any car in top condition during a period of storage
Respected journalist, YouTuber and fanatical car collector Harry Metcalf has recently released a new video on YouTube. Unusually for Harry he wasn’t talking about a particular car, but instead decided that, in light of COVID-19, when lots of car collectors are parking up their vehicles, he would look at car storage and what you need to consider.
Harry felt the time was right to discuss how to keep your classic cars in top condition when you are not using them – he has also tried to include a few bits of pre-storage maintenance that you could consider doing, especially during this time when some of us have a little more time on our hands.
The video firstly looks at where you are going to keep the car, addressing the building itself and then other things to consider such as insulation, humidity and temperature.
Harry then moves on to look at the car itself and how you prepare it for storage. For Harry, a key priority is to keep the battery charged up. He recommends the use of a CTEK charger (in this video the CTEK MXS 3.8) – a brand that he has used for many years. Harry explains within the video the unique approach to charging and maintenance the CTEK charger takes, focusing particularly on the fact that even when connected for a long period of time, it won’t over-charge the battery.
Harry also talks about the CTEK Connect - Cig Plug, an easy to fit adapter to help you easily charge the battery when it’s located somewhere that is hard to reach. It enables you to charge the battery through the 12V cigarette lighter or accessory socket. He recommends the use of the Indicator eyelet accessory that provides a visual indication of battery charge – perfect when you have multiple vehicles and a smaller number of chargers.
In the video, Harry tells viewers that battery charging is more critical, when considering long term storage, for the more modern vehicles in his collection like his Land Rover and Jaguar P7 & P8 models – certainly much more so than his older Lancia or Rolls Royce cars that maybe need charging every couple of months. And that’s because more modern vehicles have lots more electronics that need power from the battery, even when parked up with the engine off. For Harry, it’s also important that the security features in his modern vehicles such as alarms and trackers are always powered and operational, so for these cars he always has a charger attached.
It’s not just battery charging that Harry covers in this section, he also looks at how to protect the fuel tank, radiator, tyres, brakes and bodywork. It’s a really useful video so why not click here to take a look?