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Porsche
Club of America
By Frank
Bruns, Bruns911@PorscheNet.com
|
 |
 OK,
I admit it. I have a car in the basement. Not all of the car, just the
frame, main body “tub” and suspension. Some of the rest of the car is in
the garage, and some in the attic. Some of it doesn’t even exist. There
are boxes marked “New Rubber”, “Dashboard Instruments” and “Chrome”. There
is a very large box marked “Not Useable - Replaced”. There are more sandwich
bags filled with nuts, bolts and screws than I care to count. When I walk
down the street and see rust on a lamppost, I have an urge to stop and
sand it off. This is what happens when you decide to take on a major car
restoration.
Before I get into my personal restoration, I should give you a few general guidelines. First, if you ever have the urge to get into a restoration (I’m talking about doing the majority of the work yourself. Having a restoration shop do all the work is a discussion you should have with your banker.), sit down for a while and see if it will go away. If the urge is incurable (or your just stubborn), be sure and select a car that you really, really (really) want to restore. It is going to become a major part of your life. It is also a good idea to pick a car that is popular enough to be supported by restoration salvagers and new old stock (NOS) or reproduction parts houses. For example, there are probably enough parts available for a Porsche 356 to build the entire car from the ground up. On the other hand, it might sound like fun to restore your uncle’s old Bugatti or Cord, but you will be talking about a lot of craftsmanship and hand-made parts. Better to leave this sort of restoration to the pros. The next consideration is cost. Remember that you are doing this for your enjoyment. You are not going to make any money visiting Disneyland and you are not going to make any money restoring a car. The best way to estimate the cost of the project is to check the car ads for your make and model. Search out the ads that say things like “just completed frame-up restoration” or “concours quality”. Then take the asking price and add 50%. That is a pretty good guess at what your project is going to cost. And, although it sounds counter-intuitive, the condition of your car at the start of the project has little to do with the end cost. No matter the condition of the paint job, you are going to strip it down to the metal anyway. Are you really going to put that “reasonably” good leather upholstery or convertible top back into your new restoration? Are you really going to put the engine, transmission and rear-end back in without a full overhaul? Some of the old chrome looks pretty good now, but how will it look up against the pieces you have to replace or re-plate? My suggestion would be to not even try to keep tabs on the cost of the project. The money spent will have no impact on the value of the car, and certainly won’t make you feel any better. One last bit of advice – what ever you do, don’t speculate on a completion date. Whatever you estimate, it will take longer. This is supposed to be enjoyable. You don’t want to open yourself up to friends and neighbors who just can’t resist asking, “How’s the car coming?” (They don’t really think the car will ever be completed, anyway). For my restoration, I chose an MG TD. The car was built in 1953, but still had the classic lines of sports cars built in the ‘30s and ‘40s -- low cut “suicide” doors, wide wing fenders and running boards, large chrome radiator and fold-down windscreen. For those of you that can remember, it is like the car Ryan O’Neal drove in the movie “Love Story”. I had wanted one since I was a teenager but it wasn’t until about seven years ago that car availability, discretionary cash and free time all came together. The car was out in western Mass. in considerable disrepair. It was literally a “basket case”. The previous owner had started a restoration, but had lost interest at some point. (This is not an uncommon occurrence.) The engine and drive train had been removed and stored in the garage. The fenders and running boards were in his attic. The frame, with the suspension, wheels, tires and main body “tub” still attached, was left out in the weather for five or six years. Since the body of a TD is built with steel panels formed over an English ash wood frame, you can imagine the condition of this part of the car. All (well, not really all) of the rest of the miscellaneous parts were scattered among dilapidated, unmarked cardboard boxes. I found out later that there were a few Jaguar parts mixed in with the TD parts, just to confuse me. When I got the “car” home, the first thing I did was to lay all of the parts out on the garage floor and try to identify each one. As I identified one, I would make a decision as to what action was necessary - repair, strip and paint, polish, replace, etc. This resulted in a long list of parts that needed to be purchased. I began ordering the parts that I needed early on, and watched for “sales” on parts I knew I would eventually need. Soon after that, I took another job that consumed almost all of my waking hours. The project basically went on hold. I continued to work on small pieces of the car like rebuilding the fuel pump, carburetors (remember those?), and repainting small parts like brackets and fixtures, but the major pieces were postponed. I recently retired from the eight to five world, so now I don’t have any excuse not to finish the car. I will keep you posted on my progress. Another bit of wisdom (attributed to Steven Wright) “If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before”. |
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