Showing your true colours ( slightly longwinded )

[cdk84]

Hello All,

Elsewhere, in another thread, I put across a somewhat strong opinion about the appearance of the vehicles we love, their present appearance and my views about restoring and preservation.

I re-post them here because I believe they ought neither to be buried in another post but also that I don't want to hijack someone else's discussion, let alone detract in any way from their endeavours.

Here's what I wrote. I put it in a separate thread because I think the topic is worth discussing, and because I would like to learn what others think. I know well that I'm a bit daft, so if you can be kind in the way you reiterate that along the way to expressing your own opinion, I would appreciate it. I was complimenting Colin on the progress he is making on Big B, his current project that is progressing very nicely indeed, and at lightening speed.

Hi Colin,

As usual, your work, rate of progress, and number of tasks completed make me reel. Well done!

Might I offer what I hope to be a modest suggestion? As you've mentioned there are places where original paint remains on Big B, albeit in something of a slopped on character. Is there one place --or more-- where you might leave a little 'sampler swatch' of the original colours as applied at the factory?

Others may not take things to the absurd extent that I 'tilt at', but when I owned a significant historical property years ago, the previous owners did a wonderful service when renovating the house. In an obscure but visible place in each room, they had paint cleaned off to reveal the colour history of that particular surface, down to the base material, whether wood or plaster. This was presented in tidy, one inch square step-wise swatches. This information was invaluable to me, preserving the trajectory of each room's decorative history in high relief for anyone interested to see. That the subsequent keeper blithely painted over this evidence proves that this sensibility is just not for everyone.

What I like almost as much as the factual bit, is the respect this represents for the object and its past path to the present. It's widely thought ( and promoted by restorer / owner / stewards (perhaps self-servingly?)) that changing the colour(s) of a car is a completely acceptable endeavour while restoring. I don't disagree. I feel passionately that any effort made to document that originality is both respectful of the object's history and mindful that one is a keeper of these works of art, for a time, but not for all time.

Stepping down now, from my soap box, I will say that I've had a personal epiphany as a result of owning BMX 7. After taking this largely unrestored car ( one respray from original, as far as we can determine ) to 'British Invasion' at Stowe, Vermont last summer, my vision has been powerfully altered.

This became clear at the next sizeable car show I attended. Nancy and I watched the parade of cars leave the show field. The vehicle that shifted things for me was a 'woody wagon', a late 1940s Ford estate with external timber trim. Considerable effort and, one assumes, expense were invested to preserve the wood trim ( showing discoloration from corroded fasteners, for example ) while curiously no such sensibility was invested in the application of paint on the scuttle and forward body panels, which were painted in base/clear with a very modern colour and level of finish. My objection to this technique was that the front part of the car, its metal, in modern 'clothing', seemed to clash with the material and finish of the wood trimmed rear portion of the car.

In previous years this might not have stood out to me, but this year the car looked a fright --to my eyes. I can't now look at a car like that, despite the effort taken to preserve its history, without a strong reaction to choices made in execution.

What matters, more than anything, is that the car's condition has been stabilised and that it is being driven. We all know what happens when a car sits, let alone languishes. Beyond that, there are thousands of these vehicles remaining, so at some level a keeper is at liberty to 'do as they will' with the car. It just seems respectful to put aside for posterity some small testament to the original history of the vehicle's cosmetic history for keepers yet to come.

And yes, you could easily say I lied: I'm only now getting off the soap box. It's just that I believe these old wonders bear witness to the moment in time when they were designed and created. Though not everyone is interested in that moment, and its corresponding historical and cultural context, those are what gave rise to these wonderful works of art and the way they originally appeared.

I believe there is room for restoration, preservation and personalisation. When the object is rare or has a particularly important history, I would, however, lobby strongly for living with it for a considerable time before deciding what course of action to adopt with the way the object is conceived of, seen and (re-)presented. BMX 7, for example, will remain unrestored for the forseeable future. And this is something of a sacrifice, as the relentless, unremitting perfectionist part of me would like nothing better to return the car to its former colour scheme and cosmetic beauty, largely as a ( paradoxical? ) testament to its original time and elegant appearance.

Colin, to be clear, I am delighted with everything you have and are doing with your gorgeous project. Were I to become the next keeper, I would revel in being able to see, somewhere, a little snippet showing the original cosmetics, were that feasible. Hope you don't feel I'm dragging you out in public to take you over the coals, as that's not the case; just the opposite.

Think I'm truly done with the rant now...

Cheers,
David

[Peter McKercher]

As many schools of thought on this as there are cars, David. But I think it boils down to what you can afford to do, what you are prepared to live with and what personal statement you wish to make.

I think most of us would love to get our hands on an original and complete car that a large dose of polish and rubbing compound and a few refurbished parts would allow us to get on the road in relative style. These cars are few and far between and with the passage of time are really in large measure no longer available. Even with these however, there is a choice to be made by the purist. Do you take on the role of curator/preservationist and renovate it with a Q-tip or do you source all original materials (Rexine, for example) and restore the car to its original and pristine condition. The first approach is more economical than the second by orders of magnitude. Either approach may give you a car that you don't necessarily want to use for other than a museum display.

If the car is beyond the Q-tip/rub and buff approach to restoration and a more or less ground up approach to restoration is required, I feel you can take a few liberties (colour choices, modern mechanical upgrades, for example) without offending purists. I have taken this approach with both my Nine Sports and my Le Mans. From a parts perspective, everything is pretty much original, but colour choices are not identical to the factory finishes. That said, optional choices were available from the factory and subsequent owners back in the day often resprayed in non factory colours. This approach also leaves you the option of maintaining some parts more or less untouched. On both my cars. I have left the steering wheels in more or less original condition in the irrational belief that it gives me some connection to the past owners.

The third approach is to take a car which is really not restorable (not financially viable) and obviously leaves the field wide open. In its extreme, the gasser crowd comes to mind, where the essence of the car is maintained, but the guts are transformed. More sympathetically, I think of Bob Moreau's Nine Roadster. Bob took a more or less unrestorable car, added modern day running gear and his own personal touch in finishes and created an enviable classic car with modern day drivability.

In terms of valuations relative to the three approaches, there is a viable market for each. One may be offended by the other, but life is like that.

[ColinB]

I agree with you Peter - I think one has to make personal choices based on an assessment of what you have got your hands on and what you can afford to do. In the case of my Six she has been quite vandalised in her past and much of the exterior patina has disappeared due to youths throwing rocks and random blasting and priming as well as crude overpainting at some point. So I plan to strip and repaint the exterior in similar colours to the original and I have a myriad of photos recording what I originally bought should anyone be interested. The interior has fared a little better and I hope to re-use the original leather seats and door cards., The carpet has long gone as well as the headlining so they will be new items, but the wood will go back in with a fresh coat of varnish. I am thinking hard about re-chroming - I won't re-chrome anything that has a fair amount of original metal but the bumpers for example have been shot blasted by a previous owner and covered in yellow primer. So they will be re-cromed. I hope the result will be an elegant old girl showing some of her heritage where possible but also looking cared for.

In the longer term (I hope) I will be dead and Linda or the kids will have to dispose of my sheds full of stuff and I also want the results of my efforts to be easy to sell ....

[mikeC]

Twenty years ago I bought an 80 year old car with a fully documented history confirming its mileage of less than 12,000 miles from new; everything was original - paint, upholstery, carpets, even the spare tyre. I loved that car, and enjoyed six years happy ownership, but having added an additional 6,000 miles to its history, I sadly parted with it. There were definite signs of deterioration through my use, and I was aware that if I continued to use it I would be facing some hard decisions.

I love to see unrestored cars, and admire those owners who bring them out on show, but it is not a responsibility I would chose to take up again - I enjoy using my cars too much!

[telco.2]

Couldn't agree more Mike; if you want to use the car with any degree of reliability it's going to have to be fully rebuilt. That's why I buy basket cases which would probably end up in someone else's parts bin if I didn't "do them my way"!!!
but appreciate the oily rag idea -it's just not for me
Bill

[Peter McKercher]

That was exactly the case with mine. It was a parts car which likely wouldn't have seen the light of day. As it turns out, the only real alteration I made was to the colour of the wings. I just couldn't bring myself to painting them the original signal red.

[darcy]

The choice is never easy. As per earlier posts I have taken the remnants of two cars that might otherwise have gone to the tip and tried to make one. No one knows what either car originally looked like and I only have some colour remnants on one. It appears ivory and red not dissimilar to Peter’s car above, may be original, but I also have blue, black, yellow and green reflecting the lives and heritage of the cars. So at this stage I am staying with ivory and red.

Both cars, in theory, where delivered to Australia as rolling chassis, with local coach builders to complete to the owners, custom, requirements and colours. We do not know who these coacher builder/s were.

As I am now the owner of the remnants of two rolling chassis, and I am the coach builder and owner, my view is that it is up to me how I now restore one car out of two while preserving original UK heritage and a few touches of customisation. In this way I am continuing the original owner concept, sort of.

Who is to say this not what was done in the 30’s?