ClassicCar

Gawd, I could spend all day diatribing this subject. Overall, I would prefer to restore a car to correct specs and color. Of course there are the unavoidables such as paint and tires. I would use polyurethane--enamel chips too easily (I speak from experience) and lacquer is too expensive, nobody wants to handle it due to the environmental hazards, it hates gasoline, and will eventually spider-crack. As for tires, if it were some very rare classic, like a Rolls Silver Ghost/Wraith, Reo Royale/Flying Cloud, Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow, a Stutz, Duesenberg, or something along those lines, I would get correct repro bias-plys; on everything else I would put on one of the many fine brands of wide-white radials that are out there now that are very close to the original tires.

I do believe it is possible to over-restore a car. I have disdain for "trailer queens" and museum pieces. How are you supposed to enjoy something like that if you have to worry about every little tiny thing that could happen? There was a fella from Green Bay, Wis. that won the lottery some years ago and bought himself a Tucker from the A-C-D museum in Indiana. It got damaged in the trailer on the way over--he'd have been better off driving it here! Get in your car and drive it; enjoy it. Share it with people. An experience like having and driving a fine collector car should be shared. The best place to do that is on the road, not in some God-forsaken museum.

As for modifying a car, best IMHO to do it with a common car. I guess my philosophy is that if everyone street-rodded and customized cars, there'd be nothing left to show people what they really looked like (remember, I don't care for museums--the public highways should be your museum; many more people will see them). 55-6-7 Chevys and Ford Mustangs, fine--they're common as dirt. Orphans, generally no. If you know that there are many good stock examples of your car around and that they will continue to be around, fine; but I draw the line at Packard Light Eights (see the latest Hemmings) and Stutzes, classic Hupmobiles, A-C-D's, etc.

I disagree with rambos_ride on cost/effort. I know a guy in Fond du Lac who sunk tens of thousands making "resto-rods"--neo-classics, really--out of a '35 Cadillac and a basket-case 1931 Reo. When he got done, they had new V-8s and power everything, A/C, stereo CD, tilt/telescoping wheels, the whole works-- but all-new classic-style instruments and wide-white radials with real wire wheels. The Reo was originally a four-door and became, with the help of another basket-case Reo, a two-door roadster. But when it was done, it put the finest Excalibur you can find to shame. It would have been cheaper and faster to restore it stock. As for parts availability, that's what clubs are for. We just got a complete mechanical overhaul done on our '54 Kaiser Manhattan--engine, tranny, overdrive, rear axle, wiring, and exhaust in less than six weeks. That's why I say stick with your fellow clubbies and you'll be fine--you can get anything you need if you caal enough people and you have a network of people who really care.

I am with you on this, I once had a 48 hudson and the water pump failed, it took me 16 DAYS to get a pump, Had I been on the side of the road in this delimma, I would have had a very high motel bill while I WAITED for a water pump, had it been a small block chevy I could have replaced it in just a few hours.



my $.02 worth