So what about car covers?
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles needed to
know, and Covercraft and Kimberly-Clark had the answers.
By Matt Stone
Photography by Evan Klein
Petersen Automotive Museum Collection Manager Tom Kenney
has an enviable job. He spends his days
surrounded by hundreds of fabulous classic cars. He gets to fettle and fiddle with them. He drives them, and takes them to the world’s
most significant car shows and concours, representing the Museum. But with all the car geek joy comes a bucket
full of challenges. How to store and
protect them? The constant battle with
dead batteries, spoiled fuel, leaking transmissions, and flat tires. Managing vehicle storage is a never-ending
job. While the museum does have some enclosed
basement space, some vehicles are stored outdoors in covered parking areas, and
Kenney and the museum’s curatorial staff are constantly moving cars about the
property, in and out of exhibits, and to and from shows, photo shoots, and to
suit all sorts of other needs.
You might
think that cars stored in an enclosed environment, or beneath a covered parking
structure, wouldn’t require much more than a dust sheet, big piece of flannel, or
maybe just a huge piece of clear plastic to keep them nice and shiny, right?
So wrong.
According
to Kenney: “In
our outer perimeter storage areas, where the environment is less than pristine,
we use covers to keep dust, greasy air, and particulate matter (from exhausts
and general environmental fallout) from settling on the finishes. In the past,
we’ve relied on the softness of a typical flannel cover, but found that flannel
covers allow very fine dust particles to pass through the cover and on to the car.
After several weeks, the car gets dirty under the cover, so when you remove it,
you’re actually pulling a very fine, abrasive layer of dust across the car. Some
of our cars sit for months, so the accumulated dirt becomes a serious
issue. Also, it’s not just the paint that gets soiled, but the chrome and
other plated parts begin to “bloom” because of the contaminants in the
environment.
We also use car covers at car shows/concours,
as more show organizers are requesting that participating vehicles be placed on
the show field the day before the show. Again, contaminants from the air,
trees, birds, etc., can affect our car, and overnight moisture from the ground causes
other issues with the car’s cosmetics. A good cover minimizes the risk of
damage.”
Some of the museum’s cars already had
covers, of varying age, quality, condition, and protective effectiveness. Not good enough, so the Petersen hooked up
with Covercraft, reputedly the world’s largest purveyor of custom fit car
covers. Given Kenney’s summary of the
museum’s needs outlined above, the museum and Covercraft chose a Kimberly-Clark
synthetic fabric named DUSTOP. DUSTOP’s
4-layer non-woven construction is specifically designed to assure any car it
covers will be as clean when it is uncovered as it was when rotated into
storage; it was developed to afford at least double the dust and dirt protection
of single layer flannel or cotton covers.
DUSTOP’s outer layer is tough,
yet still relatively soft, and underneath it are breathable layers of material designed
to keep out dust, dirt, and airborne chemical fallout. Underneath all this is a super soft fabric,
that is like the softest flannel pillowcase you’ve ever rested your head on, to
nuzzle and protect the car’s paint and plated surfaces. DUSTOP’s four layers combine to create a bit
of a cush, helping resist minor dings and dents as museum staff and equipment circulates
around the covered cars.
You might think this multi-layer
protection is a dose of overkill, but not so. Take, for example, the Petersen’s
one-off Jonckheere-bodied 1925 Rolls-Royce Phantom I
Aerodynamic Coupe. The car is positively
huge, and painted all black, far and away the most difficult color to care for
and keep pristine. And this massive
Roller just drips with chrome and other plated metals, also a challenge to keep
perfect under the conditions Kenney mentions above. This famous “round door Rolls” is a
legitimate player for best of show in any show in which it’s entered, and
bloomed or spidered chrome or plated surfaces would kill its chances, instantly.
The Petersen’s new covers
are spiffy too, silkscreened with a variety of sponsor logos, and the year,
make and model of each car so the underlying machine can easily be identified
by museum staff down in the warehouse, and so the covers don’t get mixed up
from car to car. Covercraft has tens of
thousands of cover patterns already in house, but given that so many of the
Petersen’s cars are specialized one offs or customs, it took a crew of
Covercraft technicians several days to measure and template the museum’s
inventory.
The project has
so far involved the custom construction of 135 covers, and in as much as
Covercraft and Kimberly-Clark wanted to take a sponsorship role with the
Museum, the companies donated the entire deal at no cost. Are they working? According to Kenney, yes: “We’ve been using the
new Covercraft covers for a few months now and have noticed that the covered
cars are remaining much cleaner and our plating is maintaining its finish.” “Working with the Petersen Automotive Museum
has been a great experience,” says Jay Baxter, Business Development Manager for
Kimberly-Clark Professional Protective Fabrics. “We’re proud that our DUSTOP
fabric was chosen to protect these classic cars and the automotive passion they
represent. We want visitors to the museum to know they too can get the same
level of protection for their vehicles, new or old.”
Keeping a car covered when its outside is
just as important, and sometimes even more critical. An equal goal in keeping a car clean when its
parked outside is keeping it safe from the sun and corrosive fallout, from
birds, acid rain, surplus fuel dumped from aircraft, tree sap and the
like. The answer is relatively simple:
When your car’s outside and going to be parked for more than a few minutes,
cover it up (as long as its clean). Especially
if it sits outside all day while you’re at work. The sun’s UV rays begin eating your car’s
paint, and are drying out and aging rubber trim, tires, and upholstery the
minute the car isn’t in your garage or under a cover, no matter how much wax or
trim/leather/vinyl protectant you apply.
DUSTOP is designed primarily for indoor cover usage, but Kimberly-Clark
has developed its EVOLUTION fabric for overall use, and water resistant NOAH is
calibrated for outdoor protection and particularly long term storage.
Whatever you do, don’t use tightly
wrapped clear plastic sheeting or a tarp.
These materials don’t breathe, but will trap moisture underneath and can
ruin your paint in a heartbeat. You
can’t drive your car around under a cover, but keeping it waxed, detailed, and
under a quality cover when parked will go a long way toward it looking fresh for
years to come.
Covercraft:
www.covercraft.com
Kimberly-Clark
vehicle cover fabric information: www.block-it.com
