How does that apply to you? Do you, as an individual, really have any responsibility for conserving or preserving the car in your garage? Should the car in your garage be preserved? Or, does it require a restoration?
Preservation: The essence of preservation is stabilization. Preservation is an effort to decrease the rate of deterioration. It involves maintaining the condition of the car.
You should also drive the car on a regular basis. The engine seals and brake components need to be used on a regular basis. Letting a car sit idle for long periods of time can result in significant damage to a variety of parts. Not driving a historic car is not the same as preserving a car. Indeed it may be just the opposite.
A properly preserved car will never deteriorate. At least any further than it already has. It may not get any better either but I’ll get to that later. A preserved car is one that resides in an environment with the best possible conditions to ensure that there will be no further deterioration of the car.
The car you found in a shed, or barn, is generally an example of poor preservation. Several decades of rain and snow, not to mention rodents, have not preserved this car. A barn find is normally not a well-loved car. If you happen to acquire a car that was stored in a barn you may face some rather serious decisions regarding whether you should even attempt to preserve what is left of the car.