I think what you are talking about is what is done at the factory. They connect wires to the body to create a negative charge (ground) and then submerge or spray the car with a zinc coating that is positively charged. This is all done to a bare body before the primer coat is applied. I have never heard of it being done after the fact.

 

the car will rust - I would not recommend driving the car in salt - unless you consider the car disposable - move to B.C. if you want to drive year round!

 

They do use salt, but not like Ontario and Quebec. A Fiat would rust away in one winter there; here in Alberta it'd take three or four winters.

The electrical charge devices are probably not that effective on a car. Efficient Market Theory …if it worked everyone would have one. On pipelines they do use impressed current and/or sacrificial anodes, but I think here the electrical potential between the earth and the pipe can be better controlled.

 

This is really the point. Older, generic Porsches aren’t worth that much anymore. You can restore them but you will find that you get back 2/3 of what you spend and all your labour is a give away. With the Cayman hysteria, higher fuel prices, widows selling pristine cars at bargain prices and the “rice-burner” generation, it may be time for owners of older Porsches to simply “drive them into the ground”. If anyone disagrees I’d be happy to consider an outrageous offer on my car!

 

"Older, generic Porsches aren’t worth that much anymore."
This was also true of 356 Coupes & LWB, LN 911s in past years. Now, they have become fairly pricey.

911s are much more plentiful now, but the secondary market is larger too. Their bodies will last longer than those of decades past, but we fear their engines & electronics won't. So, when 996s come off lease & out of warranty, will they be so cheap as to be fit to be beat? They will make a fine beater (944s can't last & satisfy forever can they?)... meanwhile, excellent examples of plain cars & low volume variants (4wd Cabs) will become the new rarities. As specialists figure out how to make a $ managing their flaws (has happened before), values of primo examples may just rebound.

Someone noted that "all really nice used Porsches bottom out at about $20K..." That may be predictive as well.
"plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose"

 

Peter, My personal thoughts on your question.

Although we don't suffer severe weather in the UK we do have wet conditions for many months and they do dump salt at the hint of zero degrees. My '76 is no longer a daily driver but was for the first 12 years of its life (travelled over 74,000 miles in that time). I had the body restored in 2002 and all the original panels were OK apart from the bottom lip of both front wings with no rust in the chassis. The car had been kept very clean underneath but had not been treated with Waxoil or Dynitrol. When I bought it the underseal was beginning to flake off the rear wheel arches but that was fixed. Once mine it was Waxoiled every year on the exposed surfaces, but not the box sections. The restorer was surprised how good the car was after > 100,00 miles. Part of the restoration was to Dynitrol the car, including the box sections but now she is a garage queen.

A sympathetic restoration will not necessarily take off everything to bare metal - there is no need to go beyond taking off the body colour coats except if the signs are there to indicate further investigation. My restorer used a small, palm size, electric sander to take off the paint a little at a time.

If the cars is sound (and that is extremely difficult to determine to be honest - what looks good may hide horror stories) then a thorough steam clean and oil treatment will set you up for the winter but, the car should be washed down to remove standing salt at least once a week; this may be difficult with an extremely cold climate. In my opinion the oil treatment should be repeated every year - the car need not look terrible underneath, the wax or oil treatment produces a flexible skin so does not pick up dirt and crud.

I think the more important question is what you mean by a daily driver. A car doing maybe 250 miles a week is one thing but one doing say 500 is quite another - these cars are now 20 to 30 years old and things will go wrong.

Pletty of advice on Rennlist as usual - its your choice to pick between the bones.

Peter

 

Thanks for all the advice thus far. I will "pick between the bones", as pjc stated.

BTW, what I mean by daily driver is a distance of 25 km/day, (or 16 miles/day). So that's 125kms (80 miles) per week.

Hmmm... I'll really have to think about this.

-Peter.