You are overthinking this. My 2004 Toyota Corolla sat for a year and a half, due to needing suspension repairs, new front brakes, a new drive shaft, new thermostat and water pump, etc. It started right up with the fuel in the tank, although obviously I replaced the battery, which was very old and swollen. I’m sure that this kind of car could be stored for over a year without even needing a new battery if you disconnect one terminal before leaving. My advice is to buy a used 2003-2004 Toyota Corolla for your vacation home. It’s quite possibly one of the best vehicles ever made.
I know someone that spends about 5 months in Florida. His family is mostly in Central Maryland. The son that isn’t there lives a lot closer to MD than FL. He keeps an old minivan in Florida and drives a Suburban in Maryland.
First thing they replace on all the '60s and '70s cars on Fantomworks is the rotted/cracked/missing rubber in the suspension, front and rear. Modern plastics/elastomers are much longer lived than that old stuff. I never had to replace any ‘rubber’ hoses in my last few cars, each 15 years or more old.
No they don’t. Look at all the sub 10 year old vehicles needing control arms because the bushings are cooked.
My Caprice had original rubber bushings and they were still serviceable unlike a 2018 a coworker has that needed new control arms because it was basically undrivable due to bad control arm bushings.
Say that in 10 years the instrument cluster stops working due to bad capacitors, the engine control isn’t far behind, the CV axle boots need to be replaced, the plastic portion of the radiator has cracked, the engine mounts need to be replaced, it needs an oxygen sensor, the power steering pump and rack are leaking, and various parts of the window regulators, door handles, or power locks need to be serviced? Not saying the Corolla is a bad choice, but maybe an older car would need even less age related maintenance.
Are you going to buy a drum of oil for the old car and store it at the cabin as well? Maybe you can use it to barter with the fur trappers at the trading post?
I owned two RWD Datsun 510s (a '71 and '72)… A manual (that I broke) and an automatic. Strut front suspension, semi-trailing arm independent rear. No CV joints, just U-joints (that needed to be replaced). A 1.6 L OHC 4 cylinder with the most complicated 2 barrel Hitachi carb I have ever rebuilt.
A 71 Saab 99E. FWD with double A-arm suspension front and beam axle rear. The engine was an 1.7 L OHC-4 Saab bought from Triumph installed fore-aft and backwards! It had an Bosch D-Jetronic electronic fuel injection system. Totally analog electronics. Ignition key in the floor that could not be removed until the car was in reverse. It broke (darn plastic part!) so I had to disable the locking part.
I had a 1975 Oldsmobile Starfire V6 4-speed. Double A-arm front, control arm coil sprung solid rear axle. I rebuilt the transmission with V8 spec bearings after I broke it for the 2nd time. Then I rebuilt the V6 with performance parts - bigger cam, ported heads, 4 barrel carb and headers.
All 4 cars had tons of plastic and vinyl in the interiors. I went through gallons of Armor-All trying to keep them looking good.
And considering the Corolla is the best selling car model EVER with 54 Million sold (pub quiz question last night!) clearly they are tough, reliable cars.
Say that in 30 years the instrument cluster stops working due to bad capacitors, the engine control isn’t far behind
There, I fixed that for you.
Caps don’t die that early. It is a late 90s problem, not a 2016 problem.
Very true. The electrolytic cap materials and construction is not your father’s cap anymore. Solid conductive polymers have replaced the older liquid electrolytes that would dry out over time, causing the cap to fail. Electrolytics are still being used as bulk capacitance but they are of the newer designs and last virtually the life of the vehicle in most all cases. In extreme environments like electronics under the hood, they have been replaced by other type of capacitors that are not susceptible to heat and vibration. People tend to latch onto legacy issues and aren’t keeping up with technology advancements that solve older problems…
You beat me to it. It’s the 'I heard that x x x was a problem on this car 20 years ago, so x x x must be problem on all cars, forever" mindset.