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It’s the first Classic Car Buyer of November and winter certainly seems to have arrived, doesn’t it? Christmas ‘tat’ has already started appearing in the shops (in October, for heaven’s sake) and auto accessory shops are already displaying pyramids of de-icer, anti-freeze and the like. And last weekend the clocks went back. While the extra hour in bed was appreciated, to my mind it’s a pretty poor swap for the dark evenings that will now be with us until March. Many people still think of winter as the ‘closed season’ for classic cars. While there are a few hardy souls who run their old cars all year round – and for whom I have enormous respect – the majority of pre-1980 cars will spent the next four months in storage of some kind or other. That, though, doesn’t mean they’re being neglected; far from it. The ‘Classics Off Road’ period is THE ideal time to sort out all those little niggles that have been bugging you, or the minor mechanical issues (that small oil leak for example) which you know SHOULD really be sorted out, but somehow never seem to find time when there are so many shows you can and want to attend. Winter’s also a pretty good time to think about rustproofing. Modern wax-based products are excellent and if the car’s off the road, you can actually spend a couple of weeks or weekends giving it a thorough going-over. It’s surely far better to do that than have to renew rusted-out metal in a few years time. Just don’t forget to scrape off any loose oldstyle rubber undersealant first. Just as Christmas seems to start earlier every year, it sometimes seems to me that the classic car ‘closed’ season gets shorter. In truth, I don’t think it has significantly, rather it’s a case of there’s always something going on.