Cars kept near the south coast have a harder life than most. Salt in the air, damp through the winter, and a garage at home that was never built to keep moisture away from paint, chrome and brightwork. Our car storage service for Hampshire is built around that problem.
Every car we store sits in a dehumidified building rather than a cold garage, under a breathable cover, on a battery conditioner, with its brakes cycled before it is put away. Henry's Car Barn has looked after cars and collections since 1984.
This is worth explaining properly, because most people assume a locked garage is the same thing as storage. It is not, and the reason is physical rather than a matter of opinion.
A garage that is not heated or dehumidified tracks the outside temperature, but it lags behind it. When warmer, damper air arrives after a cold night, it meets metal that is still cold. Moisture condenses onto that metal, and it condenses on the parts you cannot see as readily as the parts you can. Brake discs, chrome, the underside, inside the exhaust. Repeat that cycle every few days through a Hampshire winter and the result is corrosion that was entirely avoidable.
A dehumidified building removes the moisture from the air, so there is nothing to condense in the first place. That single difference is most of what you are paying for.
Every car gets the same treatment, whatever it is worth.
Winter is the problem the south coast keeps running into. A car that is a pleasure from April to October becomes a liability from November onwards, sitting on a damp floor with a flat battery and tyres taking a set.
Cars come to us at the end of the season, get a maintenance wash if they need one, a full inspection, twenty four hours of controlled air drying, and then go away properly for the winter. They come back out checked, charged and cycled, ready to be driven rather than needing a fortnight of work first.
If you have several cars, storage becomes collection management. Which car is where, what each one needs, what was done to it last and when. We have done this since 1984 and we keep a documented record for every car, starting with the photographs taken on the day it arrives.
The car does not have to be driven to us. Our client dedicated transporter works across Hampshire and the neighbouring counties, and UK-wide where a car needs it. European movements can be arranged too.
Preparation for the season, for an event or for sale is handled by our own people in our own workshop, rather than being handed to a third party. If you are selling, we are a Collecting Cars managed partner.
Can I get the car out mid-winter if the weather is good?
Yes.
What sort of cars do you store?
Anything from pre-war machinery to a modern supercar. The care is the same, the specifics differ.
