Levels of restoration. what would you do?

[steve from staten island]

I could have made money on my car at one time. I bought it for 3 grand and it had many desirable parts especially being a sport sat convertible. When we were unloading it off the flatbed a guy who was a mechanic and into older cars offered me six grand cash on the spot! It cost me a good six hundred to get it home but still a nice days pay had I should of told him show me the money. I turned him down however.

 

[Bladecutter]

Technically there is only one type of 'restoration.' Absolute ****, concourse Original.....absolutely NOTHING different from the day it was born, even the overspray.....everything else is 'a done again mod'

 

[moparnation74]

Technically there is only one type of 'restoration.' Absolute ****, concourse Original.....absolutely NOTHING different from the day it was born, even the overspray.....everything else is 'a done again mod'

Did you really type this?

To each is own and everyone has a different tastes but couldn't agree more!

 

[Bladecutter]

Did you really type this?

To each is own and everyone has a different tastes but couldn't agree more!

Concourse is not my hype at all,,,so technically, in all the years I have mucked in straightening/refinishing/wrenching etc,, I've never 'restored' a car.....built some show stuff, but always mods in one respect or another

 

[Glenwood]

I just want the damn rust removed to the best of my ability, never to return. I would not class my work as a restoration per se, as I'm not prepared to replace every single bolt, rubber strip and wire that doesn't really need to be. But, i do want the car to earn a little respect when i pull up into our local mopar club get togethers or maybe a mopar event. So when guys look at this 'driver', they might say amongst themselves, that car is in pretty good shape and sounds awesome. I want to be happy with the way it looks, handles and performs as well as sounds, with all it's flaws.

If I was in the market for a properly restored car, I would expect it to look like new as it came from the factory, well documented and termed as such. Priced according to its 'rareness'. Once it's been modified, like my BB swap for example, it can't really be called restored can it?

Not sure there's any classification label that will ever work, as they become distorted and misused over time. It's all subjective isn't it? buyer beware I guess.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Another Rhode Island boy eh?

 

[Superb Bee]

I didn't say that you do it for profit



My response was in general not at any member here specifically don't take it the wrong way

I know that I was just replying from my general perspective lol...

I don't mind people doing it for money, if no one was making any money that we would not have any repopped parts and we would still be junking cars because they needed quarters, a fender, and floors, How many here remember that from the 80's, cant get metal so strip it put the vin tag In your tool box draw and move on to the next one..

 

[Superb Bee]

Another Rhode Island boy eh?

Mopar is strong in this little state, chet greenwood, charger pete (hes in Attleboro now but originally Pawtucket, so we claim him in RI), hemi al, 440 vette Don, big joe nat, harry hall, simmonsville repair, I can name about 100 different mopar guys that are pretty serious about it..

 

[Bruzilla]

There are three types of buyers: Investment, Emotional, and Need. Most of us fall into the first two categories of buyers and very few of us into the Need category as newer cars satisfy that market far better than our cars. It doesn't sound like your customer is primarily an Investment buyer, and value is a secondary concern, and he is primarily an Emotion buyer. As we all know... emotional people are a pain in the *** to deal with.

The biggest issue with emotional buyers is identifying their need. Are they trying to satisfy their own personal emotional need from the car, or is their emotion based on the thrill they get from an emotional response from others? For example, I remember someone on here talking about paying $300 or so dollars for an NOS turn signal switch because they wanted the car to be absolutely original. Nobody is going to see the switch, nobody but them is even going to know it's there, but their emotional high came from knowing it was there. On the other side, you have people who aren't as concerned about what they think of the car as much as they are with impressing everyone else with their car.

I would suggest sitting down with your customer and putting aside the parts and prices lists and just discussing what he really wants from the effort. I suspect since he's at least partly interested in values, he's not so much focused on his own needs as much as what others will think of the car. Is he building the car for him, or to impress others? The former effort can be valued out fairly well because he knows exactly what he wants. If it's the later, he's wasting his time and yours because everyone has a different opinion as to what's "right" and he could spend a million bucks and still not have a car that hundreds of people won't find something to bitch about. Until he gets a clear idea in his head of what will make him happy, you'll both never hit the mark.

 

[Superb Bee]

For example, I remember someone on here talking about paying $300 or so dollars for an NOS turn signal switch because they wanted the car to be absolutely original. Nobody is going to see the switch, nobody but them is even going to know it's there, but their emotional high came from knowing it was there. On the other side, you have people who aren't as concerned about what they think of the car as much as they are with impressing everyone else with their car..

depending on the switch, lol, a 70 b body switch has a different hazard button than the repopped units..

 

[moparnation74]

depending on the switch, lol, a 70 b body switch has a different hazard button than the repopped units..

I get the idea of not seeing it but the originals are a guaranteed fit and built with better materials that stand the test of time....

Furthermore, the repopped stuff SUCKS! Cheaply made junk.....

 

[dieseldazzle]

I know that I was just replying from my general perspective lol...

I don't mind people doing it for money, if no one was making any money that we would not have any repopped parts and we would still be junking cars because they needed quarters, a fender, and floors, How many here remember that from the 80's, cant get metal so strip it put the vin tag In your tool box draw and move on to the next one..

I remember it well and I was ok with that. It's part of what makes them even more special to me.

 

[flypaper]

I get the idea of not seeing it but the originals are a guaranteed fit and built with better materials that stand the test of time....

Furthermore, the repopped stuff SUCKS! Cheaply made junk.....

It appears that someone hasn't bought many repop parts..lol

 

[oldbee]

All the opinions are dead on the money. I'm kinda in between with the investment/emotional aspect. Original owner,2 generations of drivers and now the daughter-in-law says it has to be available for the 3rd generation(8&11 yrs.old)..Still original paint that is sad looking from kids with bikes driving in the garage in the winter in Ohio,LOL. Wife says she won't get in it unless repaint..Don't you just love it? (Oh, after racing,it now has a bone stock 440 in it; too many parts left over after a rod let loose)

 

[moparnation74]

It appears that someone has bought Way Too many repop parts..lol

I noticed your error, fixed it for ya, lol...

 

[Bruzilla]

If I was in the market for a properly restored car, I would expect it to look like new as it came from the factory, well documented and termed as such.

I always snicker a bit when I hear folks saying they want their car to be "like new" or "like it came from the factory." I ask if they really want a bad paint job, sloppy panel alignment, broken knobs, dings and dents, crooked decals, a bad window regulator, loose mirrors, carpet poorly installed, and all the other half-assed problems our cars often had when they were new.

I still have memories of spending hours in dealerships in the 60s and 70s when my parents would buy a new car and then we would sit around waiting and waiting for the dealership to fix all the crap that was messed up by the factory. Then after sitting there looking at gumball machines for hours we would get told we would have to come back in a couple of days because they had to order parts.

Folks today seem to have forgotten what life was like before the Japanese forced quality improvements in the 1980s.

 

[Superb Bee]

repopped parts is an entire different thread, lol.. I get a lot of stuff rechromed and Im not sure if its lucky or not but the cars I really put my heart and soul into (70 coronets) there isnt much repopped, no fenders, 1/4s, hoods, bumpers, grills (soon, but I heard they are scary yucky and it will be a long time before they hit market), etc.

I will say this carpet has come a long way, as did off the shelf headliners, seat covers, wiring, and vinyl tops, also pg's rallye dash parts are nice (bezels, wood grain, knobs), and I have been surprised here and there in the past couple years by the quality of the repopped stuff..
Granted, you need to watch where you buy it ppg seat covers suck while legendaries are awesome, goodmarks metal seems as shitty as it was when it was first released and amd's is much better (but theres nothing like nos)....

As far as documentation goes, I don't hang much faith in any of it, and it doesnt effect what I think a car is worth, if it passes my look through, its real enough, check the numbers, check the date codes, check whats under the paint, if its a solid car, and the numbers match, dates are OK, I say its as real as the car with a picture of the guy buying it in 1970 holding a newspaper from the day he bought it. I would MUCH rather see a bunch of pictures of the resto progress and starting points than documents stating the guy who bought it kept it 22 years and sold it to his nephew who owned it for 13 years, who.... gives a ****, lol...

I see that bull **** as people have too much time on their hands, show me the pics of the car after it got dipped, and the 1/4's are still intact and doesnt look like a shark bit a piece out and you built it up with tigers hair and panel adhesive. I would much rather hear hollow lower quarters than solid ones full of plastic and a ton of history and stories about the car, Ill make my own history, starting with the rubber I leave out of your driveway...

 

[mmissile]

It makes it really easy to do your restoration, when you don't care what others think.

 

[moparnation74]

It makes it really easy to do your restoration, when you don't care what others think.

Exactly! Perfectly stated!

 

[Dennis H]

Frame off not a Mopar term. No frame. Loke the term poisi, this can piss off a prospect. Buyers market as stated in the first response. So many nice cars available now for decent money. Not about the money for me. Time machine. Emotion. The wonderful feel of fear on throttle application.