The question of whether to restore a historic vehicle or
leave it alone can spark a thought-proving debate. Here, two long time veterans
and experts offer some of their insights.
The decisions surrounding restoring a vehicle or keeping it
just as your grandfather left it in the barn are as personal as they are
complex. This is a question and discussion that seems to be coming up more
often these days.
Blame it on the economy or simply a new appreciation for
vehicles preserved in a “roughly original” state. Either way, says Scott
George, President and curator of The
Collier Collection in Naples, Florida, determining whether a vehicle
should be fully restored or basically left alone has classic car lovers asking
new questions about how restoration work (or the lack thereof) might impact the
value and enjoyment of their favorite vehicle.
No Going Back
“You should really think hard about any restoration work
before you just go in and do it,” says George, “because once you restore you
can never go back.”
George has seen the trend for “originality” grow in the last
decade, a movement he traces to Europe where car enthusiasts have always
believed that a car’s condition helps tell its story.
“In America, we are just catching up to this notion that
cars can be beautiful without being perfectly clean,” he says. “There are even
some cars in the Collier collection that we now regret restoring.”
George points out that it is unlikely that an un-restored
car will ever win best of show at a major American car show. But to most
classic vehicle owners, winning an award at a major show doesn’t factor into their
decision making. However, if you would one day decide to have your car judged,
most major shows now have a “preservation class.” George believes it is a great
step in the right direction, not to mention the fact that it opens the door to
many car enthusiasts who would otherwise never think to give car show
competition a try.
Finding the Right Balance
George is one in the growing crowd of “original or survivor”
proponents. But his new guiding philosophy is balanced with the reality that a
car is not like other collectible items such as coins, furniture or fine art.
“Cars are mechanical,” he says. “Unless you just have a car
to sit and look at, there comes a point where originality needs to be
overridden in the interest of preserving the vehicle.”
On the subject of whether to restore or preserve, it’s not a
“one-way-or-the-other” mentality. This change in attitude means that a historic
vehicle owner can now enjoy the best of both worlds. George says the best way
to do that is by carefully balancing a vehicle’s functionality and design
features with a watchful eye for preserving original authenticity.
Giving a Car a Second Life
In the last decade, Jim Stranberg, owner of High Mountain
Classics in Berthoud, Colorado, has also watched as a new trend toward
“preservation and originality” emerged. But that doesn’t mean he likes
it.
“A lot of people now seem to think that if you have a
valuable car that looks like you just pulled it out of a barn that this is
really the way to go,” he says. “I don’t generally agree with that.”
Stranberg says every car has “a half-life”. When a vehicle
reaches a point of becoming worn out, that’s when it’s time to consider an
inside and out restoration job that brings the car back to life.
But first, according to Stranberg, a person should ask
themselves a few important questions:
What do you plan on doing with the car?
Stranberg and his partner Victor Holtorf are restorers who
generally believe in doing everything necessary to make a car look new again.
High Mountain Classics restoration jobs typically require at least 5,000 shop
hours—a major commitment of time, resources, and money. It’s the sort of work
demanded by people with an eye for car show competition. But even if a customer
isn’t interested in having a car judged, to Stranberg’s way of thinking there’s
always some degree of restoration work that needs to be
done.
“When it comes to old cars, nothing is truly original,” he
says. Strictly speaking, anything done to a vehicle inside and out over the
course of its life—from changing an engine’s spark plugs to replacing a front
fender—takes away from the originality of the car. Do you want the car to be
able to compete in the show realm, or simply have a vehicle that presents and
runs reliably at rallies and cruise-ins? Stranberg believes people must ask
themselves how far are they willing to go—and for what purpose—in an effort to
give the vehicle a second life.
How valuable is the car?
High Mountain Classics has never had a customer spend more
on a restoration job than their vehicle was worth. But, admittedly, Stranberg
and partner Holtorf work on coveted and exceedingly rare types of historic cars
that only increase in book value when treated to topnotch restoration
work.
A vehicle’s value, however, can’t always be measured in
dollars and cents.
Take the hypothetical example of a dearly departed
relative’s 1950 Ford F-100 half ton found under a tarp in the garage. Maybe it
was used in a family business: a once reliable working truck that now sports a
few dings, a crumpled fender, and an engine that spits and sputters but still
runs. Such a truck would not pull much at an auction, but it may have deep
sentimental value.
“If a person only wanted to occasionally drive the vehicle
at a rally or a cruise-in—and the body, upholstery, and engine were in good
shape—then, yes, I probably would not advise restoring it, except
mechanically,” Stranberg says.
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