ClassicCar

Browniepetersen

I brought the custom wood dash home today for my 1936 Hudson English Coach. When Coachcraft built this car they used a lot of wood inside around the windows and everything is wood around the dash. The wood is a vener and even with the wear, spliting and seperation it can take your breath away. We have a furnature restoration shop here in town that works wonders with wood. They are reasonable to work with and you get a lot for your buck. I have taken wood to them before and often it does not come out perfect and I have never been disapointed. When I ask if a part is "savable" or should we make a new part the answer always comes back that the older wood will always look better. I have always agreed with them but I wondered if the dash was worth the work. It came out great!!! I did notice around the headlight button that there was a small spot where the vener had chipped away. It is finished and feathered, but if you look at the right place you can see it is recessed.

When is good enough--good enough??:confused:

RL Chilton

For some folks, when it's "as good as it gets". We're all different, and everyone's tastes and "level of excellence" varies widely. I went to Pebble Beach last year and most of the real high quality restorations were just over the top, as usual. Nicer than the factory ever put out. In the last couple of years, the judges are finally starting to frown on "Over-Restoring", which has been a sore spot with me for some time.

"Preservation" is a word that has recently been added to the mix, and it means simply that rather than "restoring", preserving is where repairs can be done, but it's to enhance the car's originality, not make it better than the factory ever did. I like this notion much better than what we've seen the last 2 decades or so, where the pendulum just swung too far, IMO.

I should talk, though, I usually end up going more over the top than I intended and my current restoration is no different, but in my defense, I didn't have much to start with, either.

In the end, it's what makes YOU happy and proud enough to show your peers, and be glad that it was you that can say, "I did that", and know that whatever level of restoration you accomplished, it was "just right".

37 Terraplane#2 · 37 Terraplane#2 June 2009 Posts: 1,659Platinum Member

Brownie, I work with wood myself makeing violins , refinishing old furniture , some new, and after many years of it I still thrill to see the beauty of a nice peice of figured wood . No it is not allways perfect,that's wood, but it still has a beauty and character to each peice all it's own , and I often am faced with do the best you can rather than trash a nice peice of old wood . Got some pics so the rest of us can cast our eyes of envy on it ?--BUD

MikeWA

IMHO, if you can get the old wood to a point that it doesn't just embarrass you to look at it, do it. Observers will know it is restored old, rather than new, and will like it better. Shouldn't we be trying to keep as much of the original car as possible?

Browniepetersen

If one of you kind gentlemen will send me an email address I'll send a few photos of the dash that you can post on the thread...

Brownie

RL Chilton

Brownie-

My e-mail is listed at the bottom of every post.

Aaron D. IL

I guess it would vary from the viewpoint of "Am I trying to save this car as a historic artifact and preserve it" Or if you look at it as "shooting for automotive perfection" as if it's a rolling piece of art. I've been dealing mostly with just post-war cars lately and due to shortages of materials, fasterners, workers strikes and the like in that time period....even IF the factory workers were following blueprints, those factors caused them to deviate from the design specs. Hudson used other fasternes when the assembly line ran out for example, just to keep it moving. Translation: Even the original wasn't totally original. LOL

Personally though I draw the line when guys get so anal that they MUST have the original "Dodge Brothers" bolt and it must have the "DB" engraved in it and then it must be replated and installed the exact way the factory did it. Do you want to spend your whole life putting the car together or do you want to drive it ? I'm not enough of a perfectionist to lay my re-finished parts out on a silk cloth before installlation.....just not my approach.

I also tend to like to see a machine in nice condition, not perfect, just nice, so I tend to shy away from agreeing with the guys who leave the car in whatever patina they found it in and only fixing enough of it to keep it running. I know there has been a movement towards leaving original machines totally alone in the last few years without any touchup. I see the logic in it and lord knows it's probably cheaper. But I consider that the other end of the spectrum.

RL Chilton

Aaron-

I'm pretty much with you. While I appreciate the work that goes into the "over-restored", it's not exactly to my taste. Nor is just the "preserve what I've got attitude. I suppose I'm somewhere in-between there. Cars to me are like pretty ladies: you can dress 'em up, dress 'em down, or dress them according to what they have to offer. Sometimes, when you get it just right . . . they knock your socks off. I think each car will tell you what she deserves, you just have to listen to her.

Browniepetersen

I agree with you 100 percent. This car will be in much better shape when I get it back on the road than it was before we started the restoration. perhaps, it will even be in better shape than when it was new? Who knows, I was not around in 1936. Since I do intend to drive the car--and since I am leaving most of the professionals out of the work, my goal is high end driver with a few original things just to make it fun. It will look all Hudson when done. You might have noticed my photo in the upper corner of my 39 custom "Martz" roadster. When done it will look very little like an original Hudson. And the 60 ElCamino that I am driving right now on tours ect. Has never been restored. Looks good, drives good, has some fun patina and it is a blast to drive. All sounds good to me.....

Geoff C., N.Z.

The greatest compliment I consider being given, was after five years work rebuilding my first 1929 Hudson 7 passenger sedan from two unbelievably worn out and rotted out wrecks was "Aren't you lucky to have found such an original car" from a "non-car" person at a show. Whereas the average "Vintage car" person here grossly over-restores a car to a point of perfection that was never achieved by the manufacturer, as has been said.

Having said that, my 1928 Essex has chrome plating instead of the original nickle, due to i'ts superior qualities, plus a taller rear end ratio, shock absorbers all round, and a two-brush generatror and q-h headlight bulbs. However, this car has never been "restored" as such, but maintained and improved upon over the 53 years I have owned it, and have endeavoured to keep it as original looking as possible. . Again, many older folk have remarked to me that this is just how they remembered them. Sadly, there are not so many folk around now who are in that age bracket! However, it's very much what you want to achieve with your car. Is it a status symbol, a refelction of your own personality, a workhorse, or just an example of one of the great cars built by Hudson?

Geoff.

I agree Geoff...I want my cars to be good looking but drivers without every nut and bolt polished.

46HudsonPU

I am not into a whole lot of chrome either. A very nice kept original, or a well done restoration is always of interest.

If going the 'show' route, I would rather see detail than 'bling' any day.

at car shows I walk past the overdone cars and look more at the real driver types, they have more character IMHO

essexcoupe3131

As this is a point of interest to me (being a cabinetmaker) when you get a chip out of some of the old veneers especially burrs etc what you can do is put some of the old fashion yellow polish or also called shellac in the sun in a small tin lid and let it dry out to it goes rock hard, this sometimes can take weeks once it goes hard take it out and you can use a lighter and light it to it

starts on fire in a corner of the shellac chip, this then starts to form liquid drips that you let drip into any cracks or chips, this will then reset hard exremely quickly and you can sand within minutes, this should then not shrink and looks as it was part of the original veneer

You can color this up to all sorts of colors by adding dry color powders or stains (NGR spirit stains) to suit what color you want or the color of the veneers this is done in the initial time of putting into tin lid before hardening

Just a thought

Mike

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