Red under car

[Doug41]

Went to get the 560SL out today, as its been in storage since November, and found lots of red fluid under the car. I had a slight leak near the tranny last year, and mechanic said it wasn't a serious problem at that time. What's strange is that I had a 3' by 2' peice of cardboard under the car, and it was soaked. When I check the tranny fluid, it was fine. Power steering was down about an inch, and oil level was fine. Can the tranny fluid indication be fooled somehow?

After warming it up, I had some smoke coming from under car further back near the catalytic converter, but I could not pinpoint the location of leak.

Car drives, fine, shifts fine, is quite, etc. How could it leak this much just sitting three?

If the seal was bad between tranny and the engine, would it leak more in cold weather than in warm? (this is Buffalo NY, but it's been a fairly warm winter, despite the downtown buffalo snowfall).

Ideas?