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Spinning My Tires is one man's view of the world of cars. Random thoughts, ideas and comments pop up here, all of them related to owning, driving and restoring cars. I've been doing this car thing as long as I can remember, and have enjoyed a great many car-related experiences, some of which I hope to share with you here. And I always have an opinion one way or another. Enjoy. E-mails are welcomed--if you have thoughts of your own to share, please send them. Additional Spinning My Tires editorials can be found on the Archives page. Quality Amateur Restoration—An Oxymoron? 9/1/02 I think people who restore their own cars are great. Not because I’m one of them, but because it’s such a monumental job, and completing it can be compared to any other major life challenge you’re likely to face. It’s expensive, takes a long time, and requires a wide variety of skills and talents. I guess this explains why there are so many poor quality restorations out there that not only look shabby, but also ruin the basic value of a car. Worst of all, most folks don’t seem to notice or care. I went to a cruise night a few weeks ago, one reported to be the largest in the state (the Solon Commons show on Tuesday night for those of you in northeast Ohio). There were some relentlessly average and below average “restored” cars there, as well as some very nice original specimens, and even a few high-quality restorations/rods. I attended the show with a friend who has a passing interest in cars, but no real knowledge or experience; perfect for gauging what is “acceptable” to the general public. He was looking for a sports car, maybe an MG or a Triumph or even a little 912 or 914 Porsche. So we looked some over. Almost without exception, the “restored” cars we saw were embarrassingly amateur: wavy panels, paint overspray everywhere, non-original and questionable engine modifications, dashboards cut up for every different button, gauge and radio installed over the past decades. One little red MGB, one of the early ones with chrome bumpers and grille, caught his eye, and it had a big “For Sale” sign on the windshield. It was exactly what he was looking for. We struck up a conversation with the owner, who was incredibly proud of his “baby.” Eventually, he revealed that he’d spent 5 years and “more than $25,000” restoring the car, for which he was asking "only" $18,000. As my friend and the owner talked, I examined the car carefully, using my best "expert" eye. Even before I started the examination, I knew I didn’t want to talk to the owner; as my father once said, “A wise man smiles at the fool.” There was no point in telling the guy that his price was outlandish, even for a perfect original MGB, and even more so for his, um, "restored" baby. So instead, I crawled under and around the car and made a mental list of things that I would tell my friend once we were out of earshot. Twenty minutes later, as we walked away, my friend was obviously very excited about the car. The owner was quite friendly and was willing to negotiate, he said. The price was within his budget, and it had received a lot of “upgrades” when it was restored. And wow, isn’t it in great condition? He was already imagining himself behind the wheel, motoring down a country road on a bright summer day. It crushed me to offer my opinion, which rained pretty heavily on his parade. “Well,” I began, “the body’s full of bondo.” I had reached under the fender and could feel the fiberglass tape that had been used as a substrate. The rust had been significant enough that simple filler hadn’t been enough. And who knew how the rust had been removed, if at all. Scary. “And nobody took any time block sanding the rest of the car. It’s really wavy. Who knows what's hiding under there?" My friend immediately piped in that the owner had told him the body had been "professionally restored." This is, of course, the moment that the idea for this editorial hit me—what if the owner didn’t know a good job from a bad one, just as my friend didn’t? Professional doesn't always mean quality. In fact, bodyshops seem to attract more than their fair share of hacks. After all, anyone can spray paint, right? So we walked over to a chopped and channeled ’50 Mercury with black paint and ghost flames and frenched details. The body, even in black, was so smooth, so flawless, so deep, that it looked like an oil slick that you could swim in. “That,” I said, “is what a proper paint job should look like.” Immediately my friend could see the difference, and as we wandered back over to the MG, he saw what I was talking about. Then I pointed out the overspray on the windshield frame and even the side mirror mounting pad, a clear sign that the car hadn’t been disassembled prior to painting. Then I showed him the sagging floorboards above the muffler which had been hastily covered (but not patched) with a piece of galvanized sheetmetal ductwork roughly cut and bent to fit, then pop-riveted into place. Even my friend could tell this was very wrong. Surprisingly, he said, "If they cut corners like that, I wonder what else is wrong with the car?" Exactly. Apparently, not everyone knows right from wrong on these old cars. I’m not singling out the owner of the MG as incompetent. He probably wasn’t incompetent; perhaps he was just satisfied with less or didn't know that it could have been done better. Maybe he did the best he could, and perhaps had nothing against which he could compare the finished result. Maybe he spent the money he claimed, and didn’t know what he was paying for. And if that’s true, it’s a shame. He’s certainly not alone. Restoration is tough, no question about it, but the difference between amazing and average is usually nothing more than time. Sure, show chrome costs more than production chrome, and NOS parts cost more than used or reproduction parts, but the thing that made that Mercury so straight was nothing more than somebody spending A LOT of time sanding and checking the sheetmetal before spraying a drop of paint. I bet the cost of a replacement fender on the MG would have cost less than the labor to patch that fender with bondo. Removing the windshield and mirrors would probably have involved a few screws and about fifteen minutes. But somebody didn’t know any better or, much more likely, was just lazy. Unfortunately, laziness shows in a restoration, no matter what your budget. And part of being lazy is not doing your homework when it comes time to pick up a tool or write that check. Once you know what to look for, it’s easy, but you still have to make sure you look. You can get a decent paint job at Maaco if you do the disassembly and prep work yourself. Block sand that body until it’s perfect. Sandpaper is cheap, and this is your hobby, so the time should be quality time. Good prep work can make bad paint look good. It’s that simple. If you’re not interested in doing it yourself, but just want to write a check, make sure you get references. Look at some of the cars in their shop, and ask if you can see a car they’ve painted recently. Look for the waves, the cracks, misaligned panels and overspray that indicate they didn’t take their time. I don’t care how shiny the paint is, if the prep work is lousy, the paint job will be lousy and you’ll be able to see it clearly once you know what to look for. Any paint can be made to shine with enough buffing and polishing—just ask the guy who polishes cars in the junkyard for those commercials you see on TV. This applies to every aspect of your restoration, whether you’re doing it yourself or having someone else do it for you. Get educated so you know what to ask, what to examine, what to demand and what to expect. If you are uneducated, you’re a sucker waiting to be taken, just like the guy with the MG who thought he had a $25,000 masterpiece but ended up with a $3500 beater that needs another $10,000 to be right. So the next time you’re at a show, take the time to sight down the body panels and under the hood. Promise yourself that when it’s your car, you’ll do it right. Then find out exactly what “right” means. But just remember that there are a lot of guys like me out there who can spot your laziness a mile away, and we won’t be fooled. See you next month! E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net This page accessed Thanks, Fidget! |