Getting my car going after long break

I'd also pull the plugs and squirt a little oil around each piston, and
turn it over a bit without the plugs in.
This is commonly done with power boats that sit over the winter, but
they should have oil added to the cylinders in the fall.

 

You've never been offered a test drive in a new car with a dead battery?

 

Irrelevant to the question of whether they get started every morning. There
are a lot of reasons why a battery might be flat on any particular day.

Leaving open doors, boots and gloveboxes, leaving interior lights on, yard
cleaners leaving the radio on when they are cleaning the car... all these
things are cumulative and running the car for 5 minutes every morning
doesn't recharge the battery sufficiently to compensate for the power
consumption over time.
Sooner or later, the battery is flat.

So many variables, and then ofcourse you can only charge so many batteries
in a day so the chances of finding a dead car on the lot is pretty high.

 

A 1980 Capri sat around for 2 years. Started up right away. Would have
expected a dead battery at least. All was good except for the oil
pouring out of the front of the engine. A seal must have gone south in
the meantime.

 

What about the cars in the holding yards?
there must be a shit load a new Magnas sitting around in em