No amount of lamp light will cure the car lover’s seasonal affective disorder, suffered when the weather is too cold or the roads too salty for driving a classic. Luckily, spring is upon us, which means many of us are champing at the bit to get our cars out of storage and onto our favorite roads. If you haven’t already, you’re likely planning to go out to the garage soon in order to peel the car cover off and greet an old friend for a fresh season of cruising. Tempting as it might be to just turn the key and go, it’s often wise to make sure everything is in order, so as to avoid any mechanical diversions from the next blissful day of weekend sunshine. These five steps should do the trick:

Clean and inspect

Even if your beloved ride has been living under a cover for the last few months, it could use a good cleaning before hitting the town. The best part about a good deep clean-up is that it gets you up close and in personal with your car. A basic walk-around tends to overlook a handful of areas, but going over the whole body with a microfiber or a clay bar will get you noticing a lot more than a passing glance would turn up. Keep a pad of paper handy while you do this and document your observations while you go over the car front to back, or snap some photos on your phone. This written status report or photo documentation can be a useful reference in future to better understand how components are wearing or aging.

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