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"Cyrano de Bergerac", based on the 1897 play of the same name, beautifully translated by Anthony Burgess and staring Gerard Depardieu, is one of my favourite films. The above quote is from Cyrano's final soliloquy, after being mortally wounded. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that when I hear these lines, I think of the classic car business.
Cyrano fought against falsehood, prejudice, compromise and treachery: the same as when you are shopping for a car. The enthusiast who starts the restoration on their classic is, most of the time, fighting a battle they know they are going to lose. I just finished another Land Rover restoration, and I feel exactly like, "I fought for lost cause, and for fruitless quest!"
There is a certain nobility that accompanies reviving a historical artifact. At its most high-minded, you are bringing back a bit of our social history by making the car look like it just rolled off the factory floor. Showing the finished article opens up a dialogue about the way we lived decades ago. There is also the opportunity to make a profit, but the two objectives are mostly mutually exclusive.
With most collector cars, the cost of a proper restoration will exceed the car's value. Taking a car apart and putting it back together is pretty much the same amount of work, no matter what car you start with. This is why the cost of restoring a collector car is generally in the $100,000 - $200,000 range. As a rule of thumb, you can expect to retrieve only about 50% of your restoration expenses for a car that has a value under $200,000.
With virtually every one of the thousands decisions that need to be made during a restoration, there is a correct way and then a multiple of easier and cheaper options. Sometimes, the incremental effort and expense to get to 'perfect' is substantial, while the increase in the vehicle's worth is negligible. Conversely, there is always a bodge - the term for an ugly repair that only adds to the work when it inevitably has to be redone.
We have our heroes and villains. The hero is the enthusiast who picks an obscure car and pours all his waking hours and bank balance into it - and is only satisfied when things are done right.
The villain - only motivated by profit - aims to deceive with shiny paint over rusted metal and a polished valve cover over a tired engine.
If you don't have the bottomless bank account necessary to enlist the services of a Paul Russell, Kevin Kay or Bruce Canepa, it will be necessary to do some serious due diligence. This can be challenging if you can only see the vehicle at 72dpi.
It isn't surprising that many restorations start out well-intentioned, but when faced with the inevitable escalation of costs, corners are often cut. Sometimes they are visible, sometimes not.
Bodywork is the easiest to fake and the most expensive to put right. Painted bondo looks just the same as painted metal. But if the filler is thicker than one or two milimetres, then eventually the solvents in it will dry out and the paint will crack. If it is really thick, chunks of the car will break off. If there is corrosion behind the metal, or if it wasn't prepared properly, this can happen in less than one year.
Even if the metal work is OK, and there is only a thin layer of filler, you can still have problems. If the job is rushed and the filler doesn't have time to dry properly before sanding, then the solvents evaporate after the paint is applied and you see sanding and other prep marks in the paint. They can't be polished out.
If you want to paint a car, removing the windows isn't very convenient, but taping around the window seal always looks nasty. Often there is corrosion under the seals caused by the seals drying out. Dry seals also let moisture into the interior which stains the headliner. You really want to see photos of the vehicle stripped to bare metal, with the glass and interior removed: that is the way to do it properly.
Putting the vehicle on a hoist will tell you a lot about it. This isn't always convenient, and most shops don't really want customers in the service area. I'm using the shop Lugnutz, which just opened near Glenmore and Barlow Trail SE in Calgary. They rent out fully equipped service bays by the hour. You bring your car in, a tech puts it on the hoist for you, and you can work on it, or just inspect it. I'm bringing all my cars through there now. It's a very impressive facility with the best of everything. There are nice bathrooms, a boardroom, coffee etc., so I will probably be spending a lot of time there. The owner is a guy that I raced with 20 years ago, and is a first class car guy.
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