I'm a bit jealous of you as I wish I had another Viper that wasn't as perfect or a rare color combo like the one that I own now so I could drive it more often without feeling such guilt. However, taking care of my cars the way I do is personally very rewarding to me and makes it feel that much more special when I do get to take her out for a drive somewhere, as it feels like a special event of sorts. Maybe in a few years I will pick up another one with some more miles on the clock and in a more common color that I won't mind driving more often, or I'll just get another more "practical" toy that can be used more often without any guilt such as a Nissan GTR, Audi R8, Lotus Elise/Exige, or dare I say it, a C7 Vette.....??? Haha! Either way, my Viper is my life-long dream car and personal treasure (second only to my family), and to me it would be a small disaster if it got scratched up, damaged, or covered in salt.
It is a fact that cars that are exposed to salt tend to have problems with corrosion. Salt is a corrosive element when it comes to almost all metals and the paint as well, and any exposure to it at all is too much in my opinion IF you are looking to keep a car in pristine condition. Just look at cars that were in flood waters that came from the ocean with it's salt water vs. cars that just had fresh water flood them. Fresh water flooded cars are far more salvageable than cars that were flooded by salt water. I saw and learned about that first hand when Hurricane Sandy hit my area and anything that was flooded by the ocean's salt water was not salvageable at all and became very quickly completely corroded over and turned into junk. OR look at cars that are kept at homes in beach communities right next to the ocean and are exposed to the small bits of salt spray in the air. They tend to have terrible damage to the paint and undercarriage before long (much faster than cars kept inland or not exposed to salt as often). On the contrary, cars that are kept in the dessert areas around the country such as Arizona or New Mexico are often in the best condition as the dry air helps to preserve them even better as even too much humidity or moisture is also not good for your car in the long term (except the seals and gaskets tend to dry out and need to be replaced, but everything else stays mint). However, if you don't care about any of this, then drive the hell out of your car and have as much fun with it as you want as you only live once, and enjoy your car the way that suits you best. In my book, there is no right or wrong way to enjoy your car(s) as we all have them for different reasons and have different reasons for owning them (racing, daily fun driver, collection, etc.....).
or whenever it's sunny and most salt is gone. Then wash immediately after. It seems like this wouldn't be much worse than the minimal amount of salt you pick up from driving around the garage (that other cars left) right?
