Electronics, Electrical, and Body computers.

Reddy Kilowatt don't play. Putting the "kill" in kilowatt!.

Oh my!

It seems that '90's cars are smack dab in the middle of potential serious problem status. 

Today I dropped off the Riv's stereo at a repair shop. The stereo is a combo AM/FM, CD and cassette player, a pretty fancy unit. Not as fancy as the one that was in my '94 Seville. that was similar but it had a more complicated cassette player with a next song and repeat function, as well as auto reverse. I seem to remember the CD being a six disc stacker in the trunk. 

The Riv's stereo radio played and sounded pretty good, "Concert Sound" is emblazoned on the door speaker grilles. I thought that the fidelity was fine. The CD player would accept a disc but it wouldn't read and play, then it would eject it. I found an old cassette of mine, Danny Marona* in concert, tried it in the player, but it wouldn't play and got stuck. Luckily I was able to stir it around a bit until the radio would play again. 

I suppose that I could live with just AM/ FM, there are a couple of music stations I listen to, one is a Country station, another is an easy listening "Hits of the Eighties" pop station, there a couple of those.  I usually find them with the "seek" function, and of course, NPR, Nation Public Radio. 

I made the technological leap to CDs and that's where I stopped. I was right there in the middle of the eight track boom, and was relieved when the more reliable cassette format arrived. CDs seemed to have been the best of all. I don't currently have, or plan to get a Smart phone in the near future, so I guess that streaming music will be far off in my future. 

I dropped the stereo off at a shop named Short Circuit and met the owner, Mark. He seemed to be a nice guy and the shop was neat and organized, at least up in the front. He will examine my unit and give me an estimate to fix it. I figure that adding a new player will run me around 300-350 dollars. 

I wasn't planning to add a double DIN unit with a screen, that could accommodate a back up camera and navigation. I'm going to be the only one driving the car and I'm already getting used to it. But it is a bit hard to see over the tall package tray. 

The bigger problem is the HVAC control panel. The fan does not work, the air control registers seem to work, as I can hear them moving as I push the buttons. I can feel heat coming through the vent system but whether or not the a/c functions is unknown. I replaced the control panel with a nice looking one out of a wrecking yard. I've seen some rebuilt units offered on EBay. I replaced the blower motor relay with one from the same wrecked car, the system still doesn't work. I tried driving the car on a rainy evening and the windshield got really foggy. I wiped it down with a towel and I could always treat it Rain X anti fog. 

The HVAC system has quite a few automatic functions, that monitor the interior temperature and work to keep it constant, even when on the vent function. I had watched a video that showed how to fix a malfunctioning control panel. It was disassembled and the resistors were found to have loosened on the circuit board. They were re-soldered and it solved the problem. I took mine apart and found that the control buttons were a series of levers that pressed on what looked like a rubber sheet. Somehow this made contact and controlled the functions. I did my best to re-flow the solder on the resistors using a crude soldering iron. After re-installation it still didn't work, and neither did the wrecking yard unit. 

Instead of throwing money at the problem, I should find a shop that can properly diagnose and handle the repair. I want all the functions to work properly, as well as the a/c. I'm willing to spend a bit of money to insure this. As an old man I expect things to work. Everything else electrical is working fine. 

I sure hope that it can be squared away for a reasonable cost. I don't know if there are any work-arounds for the original system. I'm holding off on spending too much money, as I'm trying to pay my credit card balance down. I just paid 400 bucks for the registration on two cars! I still have two more cars to go. When the weather clears up I can still drive the car and I can look into solving the problem.

I went through a bit of a hassle with the body computer/ weak battery situation with my Daughter's '07 Mustang. Like the late model Jaguars that I had read about on the forum, it was quite sensitive to a weak battery. I posted about this a couple of years back. The battery read at close enough to 12 volts on my ammeter, but it must have been weak in amperage. I finally took the battery to an O'Reilly's and they tested it. They found that it was bad. Next time I'll do that earlier in the diagnosis process! It would save me a lot of grief and frustration. 

Another problem that I experienced with the Mustang was the breakdown of the power seat mechanism. The nylon gears strip out, even while the electric motor still functions okay. These gears aren't available as repair parts. I had found some repair parts for Fox bodied models, and I'm hoping that repair parts for the 2005-2010 models will become available...eventually. Replacement NOS power units sell for over 600.00. It's not like you can switch out the power units for a manual type easily. These manual units were pretty rare, but I was able to locate two of them. What about models that never had a manual unit available?

One of the issues that I had with my '89 Jaguar XJS concerned problems with the electronics of the ABS system. The circuit boards were known to degrade over time, components would loosen up and need to be re-soldered. Understandable since the car was over 30 years old! Posters on the Jaguar forum related how they found themselves without brakes, with brakes locking on one side, without boost etc. Not very reassuring, and unfortunately the needed components were no longer available new, or even easily found rebuilt. How can you drive a car with brakes that you can't depend on? 

The rest of the electrical systems seemed to be okay. It was as reliable as any old Jaguar, which isn't saying much. 

Add that to the problems with finding a shop that would rebuild the suspension, and the car just didn't seem to be worth the hassle.

I seemed to be having a lot of problems with the key less operation of the Flex. I found that the fob will not function properly if I carry it in my pocket along with my key ring, coins, or cell phone. I still need my keys to open the door to the house, I originally attached them to the key ring that I'd attached to the fob. That resulted in many problems. So I finally read the owners manual which instructs the driver to keep the fob clear of metal objects and electronics such as a cell phone, that can foul the function. A low battery in the fob can make starting the car problematic also.  I prefer the old time power door lock fobs that just unlock the door, and can handle a key ring. 

I know that my Wife likes the fob, which she doesn't have to fish out of her purse to enter and start the car. She just keeps the house keys in another part of her purse. She laughs at my frustrations. Maybe I need a purse.

You have to go back almost twenty years to find cars that aren't cluttered with electronic controls. It isn't going to change in the future. In fact it's only going to get worse with things like cell phone control of your car, or a retina scan or facial recognition used to unlock your car. Some of  us old guys will find a refuge with vintage models, but most of us will just have to adapt to driving our late model daily driver cars. 

So much for the future, I'm just going to concentrate on getting my Riviera squared away. 

It looks like Reddy is wishing me luck!

Images of Reddy were found on the web.
I don't know if they are legitimate or parodies.

Uhh, maybe not!

*Danny Marona was one of those entertainers that would work the Lake Tahoe, Reno and Vegas Casino circuit. He probably worked back East also. A singer, comedian, social commentator who put on a pretty good show. He was never going to be an A list star featured on TV, but he was a part of that great group of lounge entertainers that developed a loyal following. My Wife and I were up at Tahoe and caught his act at Caesar's, liked it, and we sought out his other two performances. A couple of years later we caught him at the Red Lion in San Jose, where we picked up his cassette. I'm looking forward to listening to it again.

 A couple of weeks ago I gave myself a real treat! Part One. 

It wasn't this nice, but it had a lot of cars.

I visited the Lincoln dealer in Livermore.

Was I actually in the market for a new Lincoln?

I wish that I was, or could be. The prices on these vehicles were eye popping, but I haven't kept up with the pricing of even "regular' cars. 

The most expensive models are the Navigators and the Black Label Aviator, I saw window stickers that were over 100,000 dollars! It wasn't really a surprise. But my first "House" had only set me back 108,000 or so, comparable to this price. But not really. That's 100K in Today's money. I bought my first townhouse back in 1985, almost forty years ago. Believe it or not, that place is now selling for over a million dollars! 

Cars are a depreciating asset, I think that everyone knows that. Sometimes there are unusual events, like the Pandemic that raised the prices of used cars, since the supply of new cars was so limited. Generally though, nobody expects to make any money on their late model car. Cars are about the utility they provide. 

I would suppose that buyers, or lessors of new Lincolns can afford to buy these vehicles. If not, there are less expensive options from the same manufacturer that can provide the same utility. Minus the frills, luxuries and perceived status. That's what luxury is all about: It's more than you need. either bigger or fancier, more impressive, or whatever. 

Whatever these vehicles offer, it's the satisfaction that the buyers derive from them is all that matters. 

I have had a long time love affair with American luxury vehicles. I have never been, or will probably never be, in the intended market for them. But I still like them.

Is that a Christmas sweater?

One aspect of luxury status items is that they must be new to convey status. Especially luxury vehicles. There aren't many bragging rights attached to owning a ten year old Cadillac. Do you recall that line in the Kurtis Blow song, The Breaks? 

He said his Cadillac was gold.

But he didn't say that it was ten years old!

That's the breaks, that's the breaks!

In other words: No Status Symbol there!

Well maybe so, but at least depreciation makes those old Cadillacs affordable to the regular guy that appreciates them. As I've often said, a Cadillac doesn't become a Hyundai, just because it's now ten years or more old. 

Did I feel a little awkward going to the car lot to look at cars that I probably couldn't afford? 

No, I'm an old man that could fit into their "retiree rewarding himself" profile. It wouldn't be a smart, or a good idea, but I could probably stretch myself to afford a lease. 

I told the friendly salesman that I might be thinking of buying a used model in a few years. I wanted to see the different color combinations that are available. Lincoln is putting some really nice interiors into their high end models, the colors, materials and veneers are really impressive. 

Lincoln offers four sizes of SUVs with multiple trim levels within each line. Not coincidentally, they parallel Fords mass market line. 

I was curious about Lincoln's smallest offering, the Corsair. 

While it is too small to really fulfill the role of a family SUV, it could adequately serve as an alternative to a coupe or family sedan. It is actually much more versatile than an equally sized car. The styling is very much described as a shrunken Navigator. The Lincoln styling cues are present inside and out. I recently read a very positive review in Motor Trend. My question is whether or not it can convey the Lincoln Experience.

These current models are turbo four or hybrid powered, FWD or AWD. Highway fuel economy is in the  high 20's.  Good, but not that great. Adequate when used as a daily runabout. Especially when compared to the two larger vehicles. 

At fueleconomy.gov the FWD model leads with 22/30 mpg. The AWD model is rated at 21/28 mpg.

The interior ambiance is good but it falls short of the Navigator and Aviator. These are expensive compared to regular compact SUVs, but it is much less expensive than it's bigger brothers. 

Next up is the Nautilus. A new, made in China model debuts for '24. These were not yet available, so my experience was with the '23. It has more space inside, though it also is limited to a two row configuration. The interior layout is more luxurious appearing. There is definitely a bit more room inside. If I was going to be carrying rear seat passengers regularly, I wouldn't choose the smaller model. These have turbo V6 or hybrid power. Fuel economy is only a couple of mpg. less, in the mid 20's.

The rating for the AWD model is 20/25 mpg. The FWD model is rated as 21/26.

The Aviator fills the runner's up spot, but it is probably the best vehicle of the bunch. It is big enough to have real presence, but it's size is not overpowering. I think that it looks fantastic, a bit athletic, and very prestigious. The quality of the interior is fantastic, the detailing in the Black Label makes it worth the money, in my eyes. You'll look rich driving this baby, that's for sure! Everything that I've read says that it drives at least as good as it looks. 

It has three rows, the third seat is a bit tight for adults, especially in headroom and leg room, but would be good for kids. The prices on these start at around mid 60K but they can easily climb to 100k with the appropriate options. 

Interestingly enough, there was a standard Aviator on the lot. The first thing you notice is that there is no sunroof. Instead there is a corrugated steel roof. The wheels are smaller and not as elaborate. The seats aren't those super adjustable units, but they are probably more than comfortable enough. The upholstery design, and the veneers used in the interior are quite a bit plainer. There are probably lots of electronic differences, from the sound system to self driving and parking. These Lincolns offer a panoramic glass sunroof, I wonder if a standard type moon roof is still offered. 

The AWD model is rated at 17/24 mpg. while the RWD model is rated at 18/26 mpg.

The Navigator displays a very, massive and blocky appearance. All three rows have spacious seating. The squared off appearance combined with the large 23 inch wheels give it an overpowering look. Nothing subtle here. The interior is a luxurious masterwork. If any American vehicle can be worth that kind of money, this is one that is worth it. If you need, or want all the space and capability, you can't go wrong. As a status symbol it surely makes an impression. That being said, in my eyes it is just "too much" for me. Fuel economy is almost identical to the Aviator give or take a mile or two, in the low 20's.

According to the website the AWD model is rated as 15/21 mpg. while the RWD model is rated at 17/23 mpg. Of course, your results may vary.

In almost all the road tests that I've seen on these Lincolns, the actual fuel economy is much lower than the listed numbers. The road testers are driving them in a manner to get the feeling for the overall performance, and they are not paying for the gas themselves! A careful owner with a feather foot might beat the EPA ratings, I frequently do that with my own vehicles, even topping 20 mpg. with my older V8 Navigator. 

There is actually only a narrow spread in fuel economy between all four vehicles. 21-30 mpg. is only a nine mile per gallon difference. AWD will cost you a mile or two with every model. The hybrid models will inflate the difference, but for long distance road travel it's the highway number that matters. 

Lincoln has a couple of colors that I found very attractive; a Diamond White pearl metallic and a Ceramic Pearl metallic. The Ceramic color has an ivory note. There was a used '22 Aviator Black Label in Diamond White with cordovan or Oxblood colored leather. The wood veneer was beautiful with laser etched detailing. If I could swing 69,000 bucks I would have driven that thing home! 

Would I really? 

 Responsibility shows it face,

and asks questions that need to be answered. Just look into the back up camera!

My Wife recently asked me a reasonable question. Why are we making payments on the Flex, when you have so many good hobby cars? And it seems that you would rather drive them instead of the Flex?" It's true that my recent stable of hobby cars are a great bunch. All have fairly low "hobby car" mileages and all are in pretty good shape. 

This is a much better situation than I was in at the end of my Jaguar affliction.

My most recent purchase, the '97 Riviera only has 82,000 miles on it and runs really well. There are some issues that need sorting out, but I had enough faith in it to put a new set of tires on it. 

My Navigator purchased a year ago, was bought with only 109,000 miles on it. We've driven it to Monterey, Pismo Beach, Windsor, and even all the way to Depoe Bay Oregon. I used it to tow my Riviera home from Fresno. It currently has 114,000 miles.

My '06 Mustang was bought almost two years ago, with 116,000 miles, and I've run that up to 120,000 miles. 

My beloved '96 Mustang was bought with 150,000 miles on it. It was used as my primary driver for years. I've done lots of maintenance on it, and kept it in good driving condition over the 14 years that I've owned it, and I've driven it everywhere. Now it has 218,000 miles showing, and once I get the CEL issue addressed, I'd still drive it anywhere.  

All of my hobby cars are also viable transportation cars. For me at least. I don't expect my Wife to drive them, I wanted her to have something newer and easier to drive. Although, we bought the Flex before I owned any of my current stable! 

My Wife doesn't care too much about cars, and only drives when she has to.  She was forced to drive my '96 Mustang over the years. She doesn't like to drive, but she has told me that she is comfortable driving the Flex, it has built in navigation and a back up camera, blue tooth hook up, and all that modern stuff. It also has adjustable pedals which make it easy to tailor to her driving position. 

I like to jokingly refer to my Wife as the "Family CFO." While she doesn't like driving cars, she does like saving money. She's the one that manages all of our accounts. She has a mind for numbers, and being the lazy guy that I am, I let her handle all those matters. She figured that maybe we don't need to be paying money for a vehicle that we don't use enough.

Eliminating the payment, the registration, and the insurance costs would save a tidy amount annually. But what would she drive?

She seems to like the Navigator, I think that it has good visibility and is easy to drive. In fact, I see lots of women piloting Navigators, Expeditions, and other similar large SUVs. I think that she likes the feeling of security and  "Sanctuary," maybe Lincoln is on to something! My Nav also has adjustable pedals. It does have proximity sensors that detect objects when backing up. But it is too old to have been built with a back up camera.

So I decided to fix that situation.

I visited my electronics "go to" guys at Guru Electronics to inquire about installing a camera. My Nav already has an after market Pioneer stereo that has a screen, and is compatible with a camera. I've seen lots of cars with a license plate mount camera set ups that look kind of cheesy. There was a nice system on display that replaces the inside rear view mirror with one that has the screen for the camera. It is pretty impressive looking, but pricey. The counterman showed me a nice looking black alloy license frame that incorporated the camera with "night vision" capabilities. 

I did not fancy tearing up the interior panels of my Navigator to route the wires up to the dash, then to disassemble the panels around the radio to complete the installation. I left it up to the professionals, and it took them two hours to make the installation. I saw the installer remove panels from the tailgate and the side of the luggage area. I didn't want to watch too closely! I'd judge them by the finished product. 

They did a good job on installation and reassembly. The camera works fine. I hate to admit it, but it's easy to get used to having a camera, and you come to depend on it. 

The biggest problem with selling a car that you are still making payments on, is that you are primarily paying the interest on the loan for the first few years. So even after paying for a couple of years, you find that the pay off price is higher than you expected. You are often just giving the car away to eliminate the monthly payment. Sometimes this has to be done, but our finances didn't really require that. My Wife just wanted to be able to save a little extra money every month. And... the Flex is a good car, with low mileage, only 58,000 miles, why give that up for nothing? 

So we came to an understanding. 

In my family there is the house budget that pays for all the necessities and it has to be carefully monitored. Years ago, I used to pay for things with a debit card that affected our balance in the checking account. I didn't go crazy with it, but on several occasions I spent more on gas and stuff for the house ( and maybe for myself...) without considering this. Usually just before the mortgage payment had to go through. We had a few experiences with being overdrawn, along with all the fees that go along with that situation. Not to mention that it looks bad on your credit report. My bad.

My Wife restructured our payment finance structure, eliminating debit card use. We began using a credit card for monthly purchases, isolating the checking account. I was given an official "allowance" that I didn't have to account for, and that I use primarily for my car hobby. I also make a bit of money from the occasional swap meet. So now there is "house money" and "my" and "her" personal money. That makes things easier and more manageable. This was all done years ago.

I buy and pay for all my hobby car stuff with my money. Mostly. All of my hobby cars are registered and insured, and until now, I have let the house pay for the insurance. My offer was to pay for the insurance myself, saving the house some money every month, approximately half of the Flex payment. That satisfied my Wife, she gets to save some extra money, we keep the Flex for her to drive, and she doesn't have to drive my hobby cars. The Flex is the most valuable car that we have, but it's a house car, and I don't have the emotional attachment to it that I have for my own cars. When the weather gets better, I'll let my Wife try out the Navigator. A lot of the time I have the Flex in the garage when I've been out driving my hobby cars. It can sit there if my Wife can use the Nav occasionally.  Mileage will accumulate more slowly, allowing us to hold onto the Flex for many years. 

Since I am going to pay for their insurance, I had thought about maybe putting one or more of them on non op. Of course I missed my chance. The '96 Mustang was due last November, so I paid the 129.00 for '24. The '06 Mustang is due by the end of January, and I also just paid that 249.00. That's money that I can't recover. So those aren't going to be non opted this year!

Currently I've been putting most of my efforts into the Riviera, which means that my other cars just sit. I don't have a valuable fleet, but the incidental costs, like insurance and registration do add up. 

Recently my Daughter told me that her car's battery had died. I had bought a new battery for the car less than two years ago. She didn't drive much before, and she isn't driving too much right now. I told her that I'd jump her car, with my jumper box, then charge up the battery. On the way to her place I bought a new battery charger at Harbor Freight. It has a special charge program to "revive" batteries that have been discharged and left in that state. It can reduce the sulfation that has occurred, extending their life.

After I charged up the battery, I installed a plug in connection for a trickle charger. I gave her the charger as well as an extension cord to hook it up. I told her that if she's not driving the car a minimum of 75-100 miles a week, then she should hook up the charger. That battery cost me 200.00, batteries have gotten to be quite expensive! I left her my jump box, just in case, though she has Triple A.

This got me to thinking about the batteries in my hobby cars. I had to jump the '96 Mustang the first time I started it after sitting for months. I took it out and added another fifty miles. The battery will be four years old soon. It's getting to the end of it's time. I need to keep on top of this.

So I went and charged the battery in the Riviera, then the '06 Mustang, and the Navigator. The batteries in the '06 Mustang and the Nav are also going on four years. At 200 bucks a pop, replacing batteries could get pretty expensive, especially if they all fail at the same time! I decided that I should give them a charge every two months and to drive them a minimum of fifty miles each, at this time. I took the '06 Mustang out and added 100 miles a couple of days ago. They all need to be driven regularly. 

The blue Mustang ('06) is the most difficult to remove from the garage. The Nav is parked behind it, and removing the car cover is a hassle before moving it out of the driveway. Currently the Riviera sits next to the blue Mustang, but I don't like getting them dirty by driving them in the rain. 

Since I'm currently paying for the registration fees and insurance, I can drive any of them at any time. 

More to follow on the subject of non operation status. 

 How do people hold onto a car for so long?

Sitting side by side in a graveled drive. 
Not the best path to longevity.

Notice: The photos that are displayed here are not intended as a judgement, criticism, or to ridicule the car or the owner. They are just for illustration purposes. The photos were taken from current for sale postings on CL and on the AACA forum. Some of these cars look, and are, a bit rough. But I saved the pictures because they are all cars that I wouldn't mind owning. 

                                                  ------------------------------------------------------------

Today I went to a local cruise in, and spoke with four guys that had held onto their cars for over thirty years! 

The owner of a '65 Cadillac Coupe de Ville had owned it for 37 years, he was the second owner.

The guy that had parked his '54 Corvette next to him, had owned the Vette for over 35 years. 

I saw a green '65 Riviera drive in, just as I was thinking of leaving, so I walked over to take a look at it. The owner had owned the car for over 37 years. There was a guy talking to him about the Riviera. He told me about the '62 Corvette that he had bought just out of high school! He topped that story by showing me a picture of the first car that he'd bought, a '56 Chevy Bel Air two door hardtop! He'd owned these cars for over fifty years! 

I'm sure that buying these cars was tough at the time, these guys were at an age when money is often still pretty tight, especially the guy that was in high school. But the prices were as low as they were ever going to get. The other guys told me that they were young single guys with pretty good jobs, working lot's of overtime. Hey, I remember being in that same position! Buying the car is one thing. The difficult thing is to hold onto a car as the transition from young guy to responsible, married, and family guy is taking place. 

Just as in real estate, when buying the right car, timing is everything! 

I was sitting in a wrecked '98 Riviera at Pick and Pull recently, trying to scavenge some needed parts for my '97, when a thought occurred to me. If I'd just held onto my '71 Riviera, today I'd have a beautiful car that would be completely sorted out. I'd paid cash for the car, maybe 3,000.00? So it was paid off. That '71 was beautiful, it had a new paint job in a dark black/brown color that the seller had told me was a special Mercedes color. It had a set of chrome road wheels, and a pearlescent white, bucket seat interior in excellent condition. The body and trim were straight and almost perfect, with just a small rusted area behind the right wheel opening. The motor and transmission ran really well. 

Whatever issues it had, could and would have been dealt with and repaired in the over thirty year span that I could have owned it. So why did I sell it?

Good question!

Sell the good one, and buy a piece of junk! Typical car guy logic.

I can only guess that I must have made a couple of bucks on the transaction, that I wanted something different than what I already had, and finally, that I thought that finding a similar car in similar condition, in the future was going to be easy. 

I was wrong on all counts. making 500 bucks on a sale really wasn't that big a deal, even back then. I had bought a '66 and thought that I could find a first gen in okay shape for a good price. Wrong, Wrong, and Wrong. 

The '66 that I bought was pretty rough, even the motor was in bad shape. Then I got sidetracked by another '67, which I bought and sold pretty quickly. Somehow, I forgot about the First Gen entirely. 

I let my nice car go, and ended up with a rough '66 in it's place. Progress? 

Not a very good strategy. Though I did follow up by spending quite a bit of money on the '66, but at least I drove the thing for several years! 

Could I have held onto this '66 and come out ahead? Maybe, eventually. It had a good motor and running gear. It was straight and complete, but it would need some serious rust repair around the window channels. Still, over the span of twenty five years or so!!!!!, it could have been gradually fixed up.

The vehicle that I had held onto the longest so far, was the '77 Harley Davidson XLCR, which I'd bought new. Over the years that I had it, I modified it several times until it was quite different from it's original set up. I owned the bike for around twenty something years.

My Buddy Rick, who after his time with a Sportster, started buying a new Road King every few years, said how he thought that it was cool that I had held onto the bike for so long. It didn't exactly feel cool to me, riding alongside him with his bigger and more comfortable late model Big Twin. It just felt like I was in the penalty box. 

Later, I'd hold onto my '94 Seville for almost ten years. It had developed quite a few problems that I knew that I was never going to fix. I never seriously considered keeping it. This was the most expensive car that I've ever bought even up until Today. I sold it to an annoying kid for 1,600 bucks. 

I've held onto my '96 Mustang for more than thirteen years, keeping it in dependable shape during that period.

Maybe these guys had bought something that they really liked, and they thought that they should just keep it. Even as they bought newer family type vehicles. That old car could just sit. That's a pretty common scenario, the old car is sidelined for a time, often decades. 

But it has to be protected from the elements or it will deteriorate.

You never know what's hiding in an old garage like this.

These two look to have been carefully stored.

Look at that, and it's offered for sale at a pretty reasonable price.

A big part of the equation is available space. Do you have somewhere to park/store the old car? Of course, the ideal would be inside storage in a garage or warehouse. Lot's of old cars are lucky enough to live in one half of a two car garage. Though they often end up covered with layers of stuff that accumulates over the years. That was what happened with my XJS.

A tight fit is better than no fit.

These two were hiding in plain sight.
They are worse for wear.

Some just sit where they were last parked, in the driveway. They usually start out being covered up by a tarp until the owner loses interest and the cars are exposed to the elements. Front side yards are often a final resting place. This exposes the undersides of the car to more moisture as opposed to being parked on concrete.

This Mach One sits alongside the driveway.
It was offered for sale a couple of years ago, and is still unsold.

This Olds has been stored in an open yard.
Lots of surface rust. Is it too far gone?

This '60 Olds four door hardtop is a cool looking Jet Age design. It has been sitting out in the open yard for quite a while. It's been offered for sale on CL for several years. The price has dropped 1,000 dollars from the 2,500 that was originally being asked back then. The seller claims that it runs and drives. Too bad it didn't get better storage. Leaving it exposed to the elements results in extensive surface rust.

Should you keep the car or sell it?  You could just have a Great Garage Massacre as I did with my three Jaguars! Finding a similar car, years later is the problem. The prices will definitely be higher, but an older guy might have more bucks to spend, and would likely buy a car in better shape.

If you have a sentimental attachment to a car, you will probably make efforts to hold onto it. That doesn't mean that the car will receive proper storage, just that it won't be sold. I'm sure most car guys have run into an owner who is letting his car deteriorate from improper storage. But he still doesn't want to sell it!

One of my problems is that I don't get emotionally attached to a car, it's only recently that I developed a bond with my '96 Mustang. It has nothing to do with family history, it's more about the miles that we've put down, together. 

This is a better situation.

Even being stored in a warehouse isn't the ideal situation. These cars often sit without being run for long periods. Deterioration of the brake system is a problem. Batteries will run down, fuel will go bad, but at least they are spared being exposed to excessive moisture. What would be ideal, is that in addition to proper storage, if the car could see steady use.

This Ford appears to be a nice survivor.

This Ford looks like it's been taken care of, in addition to being driven regularly.  That would be the ideal situation.

I know that it is a challenge to hold onto a car, especially if you're  not planning on driving it for a while. The car gets in the way of your other cars, which means that it has to be moved "somewhere" and forgotten about. Not the best scenario for preserving a cherished vehicle.