Stay Toasty – Five Winter Workshop Warmers

Classic cars don’t have the MET Office app. If they did, they might show a bit of restraint when it comes to breaking down. If they knew it was minus three and blowing a gale outside, they might decide to break down when it’s warmer instead. Sadly though, cars have no concept of weather and temperature. As such, working on your classic in cold conditions is often par for the course. But that doesn’t mean you have to chill yourself to the bone in order to carry out said work. 

We live in an age of seemingly infinite technology, and a great deal of that technology has bled through to the workshop. There are all manner of things available to keep us warm. So don’t give yourself hypothermia. Just buy some of this kit and be toasty warm as you work on your beloved classic car. 

1) Heated Gloves

Heated gloves are nothing new. Motorcyclists have been capitalising on their warming goodness for years. But why should they have all the fun? A pair of heated gloves is the perfect accessory for winter car working. Okay, so you might need to slip your pinkies out of them for the more finite, fiddly stuff, but just think how nice it will be slip on these heated lovelies straight after. For a little over thirty quid, they’re well worth having on hand (see what we did there) and unlike so many other pairs, the ones selected here just take normal, household batteries for maximum simplicity. 

2) Bosch Heated Jacket

It’s. A. Heated. Jacket. Seriously, we live in the future! This jacket from Bosch will keep your upper body toasty warm as you tinker in the garage, or out on the windswept driveway, or in a snowstorm. Wherever you are, this bad boy will ensure you don’t get a chill. Yes, you have to wear a battery pack on your belt, but that’s about the only sacrifice you have to make. And to avoid that horrible ‘chilled to the kidneys’ feeling that comes from working in the cold, we’ll take it. Made from hard-wearing material, this is the perfect home workshop winter uniform. 

3) Benross Workshop Heater 

One option would be to simply get the whole of the garage or workshop up to a nice, toasty temperature. And as long as your workshop isn’t the size of an aircraft hanger, this could well be the way to do. This heater from Benross is the perfect size for the home garage, it’s ready to go right out of the box and it packs an impressive amount of heat thanks to the 3000W stainless steel heating element, though if that’s too much, you have the option of a 1500W setting, too. And don’t think it will be in the way come summer. The 40W setting basically makes it a fan, so it’ll keep you in a cool breeze during the warmer months. And all for less than fifty quid. Bargain. 

4) Heated Trousers

Trousers that pack a load of heat. What a time to be alive. Slide these bad boys on under your work gear and you’ll be set. With heating elements around the waist, and more importantly, the knees, these trousers will take the pain out of kneeling as well as any work that requires you to be on the floor. They work via any USB power bank (not included, but this one should do the trick) and provide three levels of heat depending on how chilly your garage is. The notion of heated trousers may seem a bit ‘Wallace and Gromit’ but trust us, these are not The Wrong Trousers, these are all kinds of right. Your joints will thank you. 

5) Heated Mug

There is nothing, and we do mean NOTHING worse than going to take a sip of your brew, only to find it’s gone stone cold. Nobody wants that. We go to our hot beverage for a satisfactory post tinkering sip, not for an unexpected ice tea. That’s why you need this heated mug from Sumex. It keeps your favourite beverage at a maximum temperature of 60 degrees celsius, meaning it’ll never go chilly while you’re shouting at that stubborn bolt for an hour. This little mug is your saviour in a cold garage, because as we all know, it’s tea that gives us the motivation to get things done. Or oxtail soup. Yum.