Restore or buy restored ?

[Kevin H]

This is a continuation of a thread about 6 cyl Bristol engine replacements that morphed into a general discussion about restoration.

Originally Posted by TLF799R

Kevin Howard said;

Every good restorer I have spoken to has horror stories about what they have found on what appear on the surface to be good cars.

Funny how these horror stories are usually about their rivals though - or am I just being cynical???

Philippa

To answer your question Philippa, yes I believe you are just being cynical.

I'm talking about instances where a car has come in for restoration, often just after being purchased and as the restorer starts to get into it he finds all sorts of bodges perpetrated by past owners, mechanics, body shops or whatever. Rarely are they pointing the finger at someone else, because they have no idea who has done the work.

I have seen some of this stuff with my own eyes. One of the most memorable was a Jensen interceptor with part of an inner wheel arch made of paper/cardboard mache, painted black and smothered with underseal.

On a DB6 I bought, beneath the new stainless battery tray which was riveted to the boot floor, there was a gaping hole where the floor had completely rotted away.

There are also mechanical bodges which are often impossible to spot without dismantling. Any reconditioned engine needs to be treated with suspicion unless there are some detailed records of what was done along with specifics about machining measurements and replacement parts used.

The problem is, many of us have never driven a really top notch example of the classic car we are looking at buying so it can be difficult to know what a good one feels like.

Kevin