Agreed!!
Originality-does it matter?
- Thread starter Captainkirk
- Start date
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Captainkirk
Old School Mopar Warrior
I guess it depends on your POV. When my car is finished it gets driven until I can't drive it anymore. Then it gets passed down to one my sons who have jumped in on the project and they've promised to hang on to it as well. I could care less what somebody thinks 50 years down the line about me coloring outside the lines a little bit. That being said, I don't intend in straying too far from the corral.
I'm with Nutz, I like correct. I'm lightly restoring a super rare 1971 AMC SC360 (784 made in '71, 130 exist today). It's 99% complete and original, right out of the original owner's barn. Normal maintenance over the past 50 years took away some of the correctness (radial tires, oil filter, replaced hoses, new battery, etc.), but all those things are going back to stock. I got four correct bias ply tires from four different parts of the country, and also commissioned a factory to re-create the correct AMC battery. The correct clamps and hoses can usually be found on the internet, and the oil filter is a new repro, but correct, and with the correct labeling as from the factory.
That's a cool car and deserves to be kept original. You should start a thread to show it off.
Yea and since Mopar bought amc is kind of an A body
I have a ton of 68/69/70 amx stuff with a built 390
Was thinking of finding a rambler that vintage for a toy
Was thinking of finding a rambler that vintage for a toy
Yep in 87' They bought AMC basically to acquire the Jeep line which was good for Chrysler.
like_A_pike
that's not factory
Restoration is what needs done in those rare cases. But a base model that sat for decades after a couple accidents and stripped of all its bling (so someone else can claim theirs is all original) can either go to Asia and come back as 3 KIAs or get put back on the road as “right” as practical and become a diplomat for a time when durable goods meant something. Anybody risking their correct restorations out here with the cell phone zombies and hot heads?
like_A_pike
that's not factory
That makes me mad actually.
I entered my hometown show last month but I’ve no expectations for awards. The moment that stuck out this year was when a young lady, with her fancy camera, spent a fair amount of time taking photos of just the hood emblem. ?? We never spoke, she just smiled as she left…
Then Mercedes bought Mopar for the jeep after...
I've seen some people come late to a show and win a trophy AFTER the deadline has passed for votes to be tallied... FIXED!! The main reason why I like cruises better. No judging
To continue with the originality subject, I have a rare 1970's Indian motorcycle (about 100 made, maybe 75 in existence now). The original owner bought it for his son in 1976 and the son drove it to the end of his dirt driveway and slid in the gravel and fell down. After that, he never touched the bike again and it sat in his barn for almost 50 years. It has 18 miles on it. I bought it and very lightly restored it. It is almost as original as a motorcycle can get (original tires, cables, grips, etc.). The seat was ripped, so I commissioned a factory to make the correct cover, and gave them permission to sell the cover to other people restoring their bikes (the seat cover is correct for a few different models). The Indian label is not painted but embossed onto the back of the seat. The factory had to make some kind of special machinery to emboss the emblem onto the back, and it came out beautiful. Then I paid Bitchin' Stitchin' out in Colorado to install the cover using most of the original seat foam. The bike came out really nice, is a hit at shows, and is the standard which similar bikes can look at for reference.
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Whenever I see a rare and original vehicle come up for sale, I feel compelled to snatch it up to save it from certain doom by modifiers.
A few years ago, a clown on the AACA Forums had a super-rare factory supercharged Graham Sharknose car that he was parting out to make into a hotrod. Fast forward seven years, and the clown got his jollies by chopping it up and hotrodding it, and now it sits in a junkyard.
A few years ago, a clown on the AACA Forums had a super-rare factory supercharged Graham Sharknose car that he was parting out to make into a hotrod. Fast forward seven years, and the clown got his jollies by chopping it up and hotrodding it, and now it sits in a junkyard.
WymanV
..you said "member"...
The original motor was long gone when I got my '72 Duster and even the replacement motor was sold before I got the shell so building a numbers matching original wasn't an issue. But I first met the car in 1980 when I was 16 and the project became my 'retromod', restoring the car to be the car I wanted when I was a kid using predominantly the same upgrades and modifications available back in the day. Essentially, the car I wanted when I was in high school. But it was the original look of the car that got my attention and other than tires and wheels (14" and slots) I'm keeping that intact.
Captainkirk
Old School Mopar Warrior
So...we've pretty much established that rare/desirable cars should be left as close to stock or restored to original as possible. But how about the typical restos posted here every day...specifically WRT replacement parts?
I mean, is it fine to use aftermarket brakes, suspension, misc parts and such to save a few bucks on your, say...'74 Dart, or do the purists in the crowd shudder at the thought? Back in the day, my first '72 Duster was only 3 years old when I got it. I put the cheapest parts I could afford (belts, brake pads...you name it) and thought nothing of it at the time. No different than putting Auto Zone brake pads on my Toyota today. Who knew that 50 years later our Mopars would be considered 'classics', even if only minor classics? Looking at my brake drums and discs, I'm speculating to blast, turn and paint these things would cost as much or more than buying brand-new replacements...if anyone even turns brake drums any more! Is that heresy, to chuck original parts on the scrap heap rather than recondition the originals?
I mean, is it fine to use aftermarket brakes, suspension, misc parts and such to save a few bucks on your, say...'74 Dart, or do the purists in the crowd shudder at the thought? Back in the day, my first '72 Duster was only 3 years old when I got it. I put the cheapest parts I could afford (belts, brake pads...you name it) and thought nothing of it at the time. No different than putting Auto Zone brake pads on my Toyota today. Who knew that 50 years later our Mopars would be considered 'classics', even if only minor classics? Looking at my brake drums and discs, I'm speculating to blast, turn and paint these things would cost as much or more than buying brand-new replacements...if anyone even turns brake drums any more! Is that heresy, to chuck original parts on the scrap heap rather than recondition the originals?
Now that's a cool ride
matthon
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No.
Fwiw, I kept all the original parts I removed, and located the few I was missing, at the time just in case I wanted to return it to stock. The chances of that happening are becoming less over time as the drivability and fun factor increases.
Captainkirk
Old School Mopar Warrior
I like your approach!
My 86 corvette I bought new i saved the original shocks I took off at 20k to upgrade and still have the original tires and wheels I took off at 6k
Not that means anything on a 86 vette they made too many.....
But it dose to me...
Not that means anything on a 86 vette they made too many.....
But it dose to me...
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
A story...my H code Swinger was ridden hard and put away wet. When I pulled it out of a field in 1993 there was a 318 2 barrel in it and the a 833 was out of it and in a garage under a bench, driveshaft in the back seat. There was a 340 in parts waiting to go together a Lakewood bell housing etc. and a driveshaft loop... someone made this into a street strip ripper the car was rough repainted silver and with missing Parts. Mainly the stock exhaust manifolds, stock exhaust and bell housing etc. and that's not counting the two layers of paint. By all accounts at the time, the car should have been junked but I was foolish enough to take it and try and restore it. I went "stock looking" but the car isn't stock I have the exhaust manifolds and exhaust system, stock style with tips (it was expensive IMO) and a bell housing and I put it back to FC7 Plum crazy. But there is an Edelbrock intake and Carb on it and M/T aluminum valve covers etc. Factory stock just wasn't going to happen stock looking ? yes the other un stock thing I've added is a repro tuff wheel and E body pistol grip ... truth is no one knows or cares at a car show they'll just look at the interior and think "cool" I think I can get away with it cause nobody really remembers that A bodies were the throw aways like a dodge Neon, now they are just "Mopars" and the Tuff wheel and Pistol grip just kind of go along with that...
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ESP47
Well-Known Member
We all have wildly different opinions on what we like and don't like. I think it's always a good idea to spend some time thinking about about the resale effect that the customization you're about to get into might have.
I don’t care if it’s original but I want it to look like it could have been original. My Scamp was originally Tahitian gold with honey gold interior. It’s getting painted spinnaker white with either green or black interior. Everything will appear original except the engine. It has aluminum heads, single plane intake, headers, sander compressor, etc. but the engine bay will look more factoryish. I install stuff such as vintage air, Dakota digital gauges, and Holley sniper units at work. In my opinion they are kind of gimmicky. I would rather have original gauges and a carburetor any day
Speaking of gimmicky, K&N air filters made me alot of money.... Back in the day, for fun I'd look in the online car classifieds and buy the broken cars that had K&N filters shown in the engine pictures. Then I'd limp them home, spitting and sputtering, and rip out the K&N intake garbage and replace it with the correct airbox from the junkyard. Then after the car did the system-self check and started running great and the check engine light went off, I'd sell the car for double what I paid.... Thanks K&N, for being one of the best gimmicks around!!!
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
we are in a throwaway society I bought plenty of cheap cars that "needs an alternator" and the owner was "sick of taking it to the shop and getting robbed..."
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