Heated Winter Car Storage – Sorry, Car Snuggie* not provided

We do want your car to be cozy while it hibernates away the cold and salty Maine winter months in our climate-controlled, heated, secure facility; but, no, we do not provide Car Snuggies. We get asked that question again and again; and we know that you want the best for your car but 60+ degrees of radiant-heated polished concrete gently warming your car’s underbelly is perfect for our vehicular winter guests. Since we do offer trickle charging, you could think of the battery as a lead-lined plastic encased Snuggie for its electrons, if you squint? Of course, you can provide your own Car Snuggie if you wish. We have nothing against Snuggies in general but we do not provide that service.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, you should know that we are still accepting cars for the winter 2012-2013 storage season. If you have not visited here before, please take the less-than-five minutes to see our video on our homepage so you can get a feel for the place. But realize that the video is targeted to the potential member.

You do NOT have to be a member here at Portland Motor Club to be able to store your car for the winter or any other time (we have military contractors and service men and women as well as world travelers storing their cars with us for sometimes years at a time!). Members have access to their cars to be able to take them in and out as they wish and to use our facility including our lounge and onsite detailing center Portland Detailing (www.PortlandDetailing.com) but if you want to put your car up for the winter, you can just pay for straight winter storage. We have plans for the number of months that you want to store the car. The monthly rate goes down with length of stay.

We expect that we will be pretty darned full this winter so you might want to contact us sooner than later. As you can see from the accompanying photo, we were very busy in a very quiet kind of way last winter! Please call Kal Rogers at Portland Motor Club at 207-775-1770 or email info@portlandmotorclub.com to make a reservation or to get more information.

Professional heated winter car storage at the Portland Motor Club in Maine… Sorry, no Car Snuggies!

* As I thought about what there really is to say about properly storing your car worth storing properly, it occurred to me that there isn’t really all that much to say. There are websites out there with a laundry list of things to do to prepare your car for the winter which could take you all winter to accomplish. We find that it’s really pretty straightforward here at Portland Motor Club: we store cars in a dry 60+ degrees with a trickle charger on them and they come out several to many months later none the worse for wear. So, what else is there to talk about but Car Snuggies (even though we don’t provide them)!?!… Kal

Owls Head Transportation Museum 33rd New England Auto Auction on August 21, 2010

The 2010 edition of the New England Auto Auction will feature a new extended preview period running for three-plus days from August 18 through the morning of the sale. This means that anyone selling a vehicle through the auction will need to get their car up to Owls Head earlier than usual — not great for the last-minuters out there but great for those who want to spend some time selling themselves on buying someone else’s car!

As usual, there will be 200+ cars for sale on August 21 covering a lot of automotive ground. The museum will have some of its own stock on hand for sale, as it always does, to help to fund its expansive operation which spans the history of mechanical personal transportation. Many vehicles get donated to the Museum for this purpose which serves as a write-off for the donor and a boon for the organization. Plus there is the fantastic “Barn Fresh” program which assists individuals in selling vehicles directly to the museum’s visitors as well as the auction crowd. Of course, Owls Head gets a slice of the proceeds, but it’s a great way to move a worthy vehicle. You can see the vehicles in the Barn Fresh program which, I believe, go into the auction automatically if they haven’t sold directly through this program by Auction season. Here’s that link: <http://www.ohtm.org/gallery/album683>.

Once again, Portland Motor Club will serve as a major sponsor of the auction. It’s our kind of crowd — serious car enthusiasts who know that cars only maintain their value and their condition through proper storage and care. In fact, Motor Club owner Bill Waldron is on the board of the Owls Head Transportation Museum, so it’s a very good fit for both organizations. There is plenty of good information on the Owls Head Auction website including the results from the past ten years! And, of course, the catalog of vehicles going on the block this year is online as well… <http://www.ohtm.org/*NEauction10.html>.

The New England Auto Auction is pretty much the highpoint of the classic and vintage car calendar here in Maine. Why not plan to stop by and see what happens — you never know what vehicle might call out to you!?! Even if you just want to watch and see how it’s done, there is room for spectators, as well. By the way, that’s an especially good start to a story about how you bought your new special vehicle… “I only went there to watch, but…”

0 to 60 in Just a Few Months!

Cars, that is. And that’s a rough number but early interior shots of Portland Motor Club certainly showed lots of room to grow (well, fill, actually). It totally makes sense, of course — we had just opened and we needed customers. Well, customers we have now! We’ve filled up the “Ground Floor” and soon will need to start using the “Mezzanine Level” (via heavy-duty lifts).

Seems that those that stop by pretty much fall in love with the place — the handsome amenities (hi-tech lounge & conference room), polished radiant-heated concrete floors, classic car gallery, onsite expert car detailing shop, professional staff and of course, state-of-the-art security system.

From Ferraris to Things, Mopars to Minis, we have a great random assortment of Classic cars, Muscle Cars, Sports Cars and even some everyday drivers that don’t need to be driven right now.

Thought you’d like to see the place with some color and some metal and rubber in it — enjoy!

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