Over here in Qatar I noticed a, for me, strange habit. When you drive around the city you will always see cars, new ones and old ones, that seem to be on a test drive. Why? Because all the plastic covers inside the car have not been removed from the sun shades, the seats and sometimes even the steering wheel. Also the delivery notes from the manufacturer are still sticking on the front screen, sometimes the little foam cubes protecting the doors are still there. It seems to me as if the owner wants to keep the car in showroom condition, although the bumpers are showing scratches and, for most of the old cars, the transparent head light covers are already blinded by the continuous exposure to sand and heavy washing. You don't believe this? Ok, check this out:

...a somewhat stupid idea to keep the piece in showroom condition, as you mentioned.
And as you know, men tend to love their cars more than family, wife or mistress.

The husband of my ex-wifes´ sister once bought a car and laid out the entire interior with plastic covers. Then he used to drive his wife´s car to spare his car.

loves a l l his children equally
- but the strange ones he loves a little more ...!

Considering the price of some of those cars I would think it to be obvious why some conservation makes sense - maybe they cover what is assumed to be the most valuable part of a car ...?

Und der Neuwagengeruch, wird der auch konserviert? Das wäre das einzig sinnvolle was ich tun würde...

In 1988, I bought a '67 Cadillac Fleetwood in the U.S. That model featured wood trimmed picknick tables in the rear (after all, realwoodofatree! which is rather uncommon for american cars anyway). The picknick tables were basically the only place where I thought the car would benefit from a cleanup, because they felt somewhat sticky. To my surprise, I then realized that this was just the original protective film from the factory, which had disintegrated over the years, because it was never designed to stay there for 20 years. I removed it, wiped off the traces of glue, and it was as shiny as new. That's when I knew I had chosen the right car.