all I know is the guy had the car for about a year before I got it. Prior to that it was in storage for about 15 years. One of the things he did when he got it running again was to get a new battery. Maybe the battery was on the shelf for a year or even two, I don’t know but is that unusual?

re: the clamp..you may be right. I haven’t tried to remove the battery, it looks like it weighs about 70 pounds and would be awkward to lift out.

btw, today was 11 F when I left, and the car started instantly. However, I used the technique (described in the owners manual) of flooring the accelerator while cranking.