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To What Level of Restoration insanity

Forget bill barilko, the dynasties coming back. No? No one remembers that one?
:lol: :lol:
 
Beauty is in the eye of the builder.
To what level to restore really depends
on the end result use of the car, the
availability of parts (to the point of
building custom if need be), and a
personal overall vision of where you
want to go with the build.
I like keeping them close to original,
but am not afraid of trying something
a little different, or "out of the box",
but its' got to fit the overall build.
photo.JPG
The latest, as seen previously here, is
way off the beaten path, and has
turned into a totally custom build.
Even the sheetmetal (which is
extremely rare), has been modified to
fit the overall taste of the build.
20230411_192922.jpg
I say, build 'em and drive 'em. I didn't
spend mega bucks just to hide it away.
 
Detective D said:
The most amusing part is the factories just did their thing back then and the car's factory paint job might not match factory paint code because someone was sloppy mixing the paint, tons of errors and misalignments and such were present. But the investment crowd seeking a paper tag for a part will make it "correct". No, "correct" would mean your A pillar trim needs to be off a bit and there is some minor overspray on the rockers on a paint job slightly off the color code with no clear coat, no wet sanding, no body filler or hours spent aligning the body panels. No radial tires, no ported heads or modern cam, no modern mandrel bent exhaust, etc etc.
Click to expand...

Ironic you say that... a friend was invited to have his car "evaluated" one year at Carlisle as part of a thing of what to look for on a car to determine if it was authentic or not. While being looked over, he who shall not be mentioned declared it VIN swapped in front of the group. When asked why, he said the factory would never weld the torque boxes in that fashion. To which my friend said, "I'll tell my father that, he bought it brand new in 1968".
 
jt4406 said:
It all boils down to each individual owner and what they like the best. I have friends who like NOTHING better than someone else drooling over/bragging on their car. Personally I'm old enough to remember when they were just used cars that hardly anyone wanted (mid 70's). We bought them cheap and used them (up) for what they were intended. I've said it lots before "they were a lot more fun when they weren't worth nothing", I still think that. (Granted, I'm old now and don't treat my cars like I used to, but I do DRIVE them). I do respect those who pursue perfectly original thought.
Click to expand...
I don’t treat my car no different than I did 20 years ago. I may have just sunk $60k in it but I don’t give 2 shits. I’m going to drive it. It’ll never be in a car show ever, though its car show presentable. Even though some people drool over my car that’s not my fault they do it. I don’t care if you hate it,
love it, jealous over it, either way I built it for myself, not to get a thumbs up. I’ve got thick skin, petty **** doesn’t bother me.
 
I'm in the mostly stock/Day 2 camp. Mine was mostly original when I started so I chose to keep it close to that, but the local cars I lusted after growing up where all Day 2 types. Most of the visible changes on mine are factory-type parts, they just didn't come on my car. I like it and that's all that matters to me.

Build it and drive the snot out if it. I drive mine as hard today as I did the day I bought it as 20 yr old, 90k mile used car with a bad paint job. Gas pedal hits the floor every time I take it out.
20221124_140510.jpg
 
BearDodge67 said:
Ironic you say that... a friend was invited to have his car "evaluated" one year at Carlisle as part of a thing of what to look for on a car to determine if it was authentic or not. While being looked over, he who shall not be mentioned declared it VIN swapped in front of the group. When asked why, he said the factory would never weld the torque boxes in that fashion. To which my friend said, "I'll tell my father that, he bought it brand new in 1968".
Click to expand...
I am awaiting a bunch of crap this summer when I take the Demonstrator to Carlisle. It has a fair amount of incorrect stuff for the broadcast sheet crowd (and I do have the sheet, plus a trove of other documentation). But it is faithful to what it looked like when I drove it for the first time 52 years ago, and that's what I find important. I already got a negative response when I mentioned putting the Imperial hood ornament back in place, jury still out on that one.

The car came from the factory with dog dish caps, and Goodyear Speedway white lines. Bill Clark swapped the steel wheels for 1968 magnums as soon as the car came off the carrier. His older son, who was a high school classmate of mine, quickly burned the original tires to a crisp, and they were replaced with G70 red lines at the time I drove it. My former brother in law installed the hood ornament while the car was still on the dealership floor plan. The car went back to white lines in 1971. Chrome valve covers got installed when it was sold. So what is correct? I decided on my version, and I'm sticking to it.

Documentation I generated back in the day includes a sales brochure from Julie Clark, with dealership stamp, photo transparencies dated 1971, and an essay I wrote for freshman English in 1971, supporting my history with the car as it was at the time. The fact that it isn't factory original makes the story all the better in my mind. I'll be curious to see what the audience thinks this summer.
IMG_0101 (2).JPG
Demonstrator Red Lines.jpeg
 
Building most of these cars to original, is a car with panels that are not perfect, paint hanging from underneath or shot shy, wind noise from a window, and a constant view of imperfection. I saw people come back from lunch drunk or stoned and throw build sheets in doors along with a beer can. That was done because they were to lazy to throw the built sheets in the trash at the end of the section, not as a nice gift to the new owner, they were in different places because everyone was a little bit different in their laziness. There was no quality control on a car when most of them were built, if you want to argue, don't bother. When doing a restoration, it should look clean and painted the same on the bottom as it is on the top. Things should be as they should have been, not necessary as they came. The rear end should be black, not half black with a little bit of rust showing through, with yellow grease pencil marks on them. It shouldn't be about deblicating half *** work. One of many, but nevertheless the number one warranty problem for many years was headlight adjustment. I'm not building a car with one headlight aiming higher than the other. Clean and new with all the right parts doing the right thing.

Original is one time, the rest after that is a personal thing. I like a car that fits me and the feeling I get when I think about how I think the car should be. I've had a few die hards look at some of my cars and shake their heads, just because I put in a bigger, heavier duty rear end or what I always did, bigger engines and transmissions. My quality of work and expense was never missing. Different seats that match the period, but didn't come with the car. I could go on forever. The takeaway to me is, if the car is not original and needs to be redone, have fun and make it yours and most of all, a driver not a trailer queen to be saved for the next guy. I run cars, not a museum, that's Jay Leno's job, not mine, I'm just a poor foreigner. This is not the gospel of our lord, just an opinion.
 
BearDodge67 said:
Ironic you say that... a friend was invited to have his car "evaluated" one year at Carlisle as part of a thing of what to look for on a car to determine if it was authentic or not. While being looked over, he who shall not be mentioned declared it VIN swapped in front of the group. When asked why, he said the factory would never weld the torque boxes in that fashion. To which my friend said, "I'll tell my father that, he bought it brand new in 1968".
Click to expand...
GG?
 
If a person were to build their car as at came off the assembly line, it could be a mess. That's what dealership PDI was for; to correct assembly line lapses.
 
Dave6T4 said:
If a person were to build their car as at came off the assembly line, it could be a mess. That's what dealership PDI was for; to correct assembly line lapses.
Click to expand...
My car got an original factory floor pan back in the day because of the original factory windshield leak.
 
Here's a paradox..

Do you restore a Mr. Norms car to Mr. Norms specs, or how it came out of the factory?
 
threewood said:
He sold his dad's car?! Unbelievable.

Different strokes for different folks. I built mine to drive. Justin built his to show so it was meticulously brought back to factory down to every nut and bolt.
Click to expand...
I would have to be down to my last cent and about to live in a card board box before I would sell my dads car! Too many memories!
 
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