Wednesday, March 1, 2017

What mean collector car restoration ?

You've bought a collector muscle car and you're goin to "restore" it. Let's discuss for a few minutes what we're talking about. Besides cars,
people also restore houses and furniture. What, exactly, does"restoring" something mean? When we talk about restoring something, we usually think of bringing it back to its earlier presumably original condition. Yet there's some latitude in interpretation as to what this earlier condition is. For example, no one would literally restore a 300 year old house to its original condition without electric lights, plumbing, and central heating (and likely air conditioning). With cars, original condition is generally interpreted as "factory new" how the car looked as it sat on the dealer showroom, maybe even nicer, since mass-produced cars didn't get the attention as they moved down the assembly line that they receive at the caring hands of a restorer. But factory new isn't the only option. Some collectors would rather have a car that's been comfortably broken in. It's still new looking, but not so factory fresh that it can't be driven on the highway for fear of getting a stone chip in the paint or dust on the suspension pieces. The goal in this case is to combine "like new" with the can be lived in feeling of a restored house. Then there's the example of the furniture restorers who take great care to preserve the patina that's come to the object through age. Some collector cars fit this category. They've been so lovingly preserved that it doesn't seem right to sand off that dull original finish or replace an interior whose only flaw is some sun fading or age cracks in the leather. (The finish can be polished and the leather softened, even recolored if need be.) Restoration can have several destinations.

Somewhat less challenging, but still satisfying especially if you desire to drive the vehicle---is restoring the car to a condition it may have been in when it was one or two years old. The factory smell is probably gone, and the finish may not be mirror perfect, but the car looks sharp and drives as new. With "nearly new" in mind, the dissassembly process can be selective. If components prove sound, they can be cleaned and used as is. There's no need to fix what's not broken. Likewise, the chrome may be selectively replated. The result will never be a prize winner on the national show circuit, but the restoration may be good enough to take prizes at local or regional shows. While the effort and cost of restoration to this level should be less than that of "factory new," the car's value can be expected to be somewhat lower as well. The strongest incentive for restoration to "nearly new," is a car that can be driven and enjoyed.


Restoring a collector car to its original condition can be a time consuming and challenging process. It typically requires that the car be completely dissassembled down to the last nut and bolt. All mechanical assemblies are rebuilt, the chrome is replated, the body is stripped of its finish, all damage to the metal repaired, and every piece---chassis parts as well as body---brilliantly repainted. Also, the interior is stripped out and replaced with original matching material. Literally, everything about the car is made new using authentic parts and materials whenever possible. It's not a process for the faint-hearted. The search for an intake manifold, for example, with the correct casting stamping number to replace an incorrect part on the car can be maddening and expensive. Every detail requires minute inspection. In some arenas, such as Bloomington Gold,where competition for authenticity among Corvettes has been finely honed, car restorers are even expected to duplicate assemblers' marks, which must appear in the correct locations on chassis members. For many collector car owners, car restoration to this level goes a step, or more likely several steps, too far.

They're far from common, but every now and then someone finds a car that's truly been treated like "one of the family." When I see a car that's been preserved with loving care, I usually do a double take, thinking I've taken a 30 or 40 year step back in time. A publisher of one of our collector car magazines owns just such a car. It's been in his family since new and that was nearly 50 years ago. Despite its having served as family transportation for a half dozen years and then as a college car for the family's two sons, and having sat stuffed away in a variety of garages for another 30 years or so, the car today looks likw it's come out of a time vault. It has an aged patina (that distinctly mellow look), but at the same time an aura of originality that no freshly restored car can match. Cars like this should be tampered with as little as possible. An engine rebuild may be in order and a fender may need repair and repainting (taking care to match the adjacent finish), but basically it's a jewel to be polished and reverently enjoyed. Loving care is a condition that can't be re-created though some have tried, only to discover that graceful aging is more difficult to duplicate than the look of factory new.

Some collectors and enthusiasts prefer to restore their car to a condition that it might  have been in the day after it was originally brought home from the dealership, once it's had a few performance or appearance upgrades installed.
   For 1950s cars,this might mean a set of "lake pipes" or dual exhaust, or possibly a chrome engine dress-up kit or even a "Continental kit." Muscle cars were likely to receive a set of headers and maybe a set of aftermarket wheels, among other changes.
   While some may think that such restorations are "the easy way out," in most respects, much of the car is factory correct. Only the handful of aftermarket parts would be different. A strict period correct resto would use date correct parts, which may be every bit as difficult to track down as factory parts--or more so.
   One reason that some collectors prefer a "period correct" restoration is that it gives them the flexibility to make improvements to the car that might make it more enjoyable to drive. In essence, a period correct resto is the precursor to today's "resto-mod" approach. And many owners of period-correct cars point out, "We didn't like them stock when they were new, why would we want them that way now?

No comments:

Post a Comment