KEEPING IT REAL

KEEPING A CAR TOTALLY ORIGINAL CAN PAY BIG DIVIDENDS

- CLIFF CHAMBERS

Some weeks ago, while chatting with one of the country’s leading car restorers, I innocently asked the best point from which to begin a restoration. And the response came as a shock.

“The best car to find is one that doesn’t need restoration at all,” he said. “If you can bring a car back to usable condition, even if it isn’t perfect, without needing to replace any significant body parts or use reproduction trim, you are way ahead of someone whose car looks perfect, but contains very few parts that were there originally.”

That arises the age-old conflict of authenticity versus originality, where one owner replaces a worn item with a near indistinguishable replica, while another will spend hours, perhaps days, reconditioning the original part.

“Engines and transmission need to be the ones supplied with the car, or at worst age-related replacements,” our contact insisted. “Suspension, brakes, the exhaust and electricals are all wearing parts that are replaced during the lifetime of a car, but use 'new old stock' items if you can get them, rather than replicas.”