Classic car mechanic’s weekly motoring – Restoring History..

‘In the corner of the workshop, Olli Ragbin ponders the motoring world’

An interesting subject arose recently within CCM towers on the subject of restoration and how far you should go. Back to original or tastefully upgrade whilst you're there?

Sounds simple enough but this is a huge question with many layers to many answers.

If you look at a vintage Ferrari restoration, then in the vast majority of cases it's the former. Diverting in any significant way from original is cost negative. The value of a Ferrari is part history, part pedigree, part model, part 'is it original'. Stick a big wing on it and a windscreen 'Barry & Sharon' sticker and you may impact price… just sayin'.

Restorations come in a number of flavours from mild refresh to full nut and bolt. The latter is horrifically expensive and can take several thousand hours of tech-effort. If you're spending this sort of money, then the car really needs to justify the outlay and you would want the journey to end valuation to justify the expense of getting there.

In this case, there aren't many cars in the cool quarter of a million category other than top-end vintage stuff from Modena/Gaydon etc.

Eric & I have embarked on our own restoration. A 1986 Jaguar XJ. To do a nut and bolt on this would be easily 1,000 hrs plus, but we might as well convert the central heating to run on burning tenners as the end result would be worth a fraction of the effort put in.

We've opted for a halfway house and have gone the 'bare metal' respray route. That statement hides where all the effort goes though. Stripping back your classic will results in one thing and one thing alone. The uncovering of problems. Nothing that can't be sorted, but also not anything that can be ignored.

I've lost count the number of times that our own fabrication supremo, Duncan the Wizard, wandered into the office and said 'Question, I'm just 'insert name of job currently on' and I've found 'insert problem unearthed that sounds world-ending'. What do you want me to do?'. At this point we'd have a chat, consider our options and we always ended up doing what needed to be done. We had plenty of opportunities to paper over cracks, but took none of them. The end result will be worth it, but will cost more than we expected.

If you're going to embark on getting your own classic properly sorted, then put on your brave pants and brace yourself.

In our case there has been several hundred hours worth of stripping back, welding and fixing before even more hours refining and getting ready for paint. This takes 95-98% of the time. The painting bit is the equivalent of coming off the bench deep into extra time to score the penalty. Yes, it's the thing everyone sees and remembers. Yes, of course it is the icing on the cake and outward statement of inner health. But, it also takes some attention away from the hard graft & work needed to make things you can't see fit for the purpose of the things you can. In summary, you can't short-cut your way to paint.

So, do we restore our cheap Jag to original? Well, Eric & I have decided to do some minor 'enhancements'. More of that in a later blog. What would the purists think? Well, I should imagine that cosmetic changes may well grate on their fastidious eyes. It's not original therefore it's not proper and correct. It won't win any Salon Privé awards. Our enhancements though are all to improve the car and when done, you can all be the judge of whether we've got it right or wrong.

If you're keen to do your own restoration to your beloved classic, then do get in touch. We can help you every step of the way and keep you fully briefed on progress as it goes. But be realistic. We can give you our view and an ideal range, but the reality only really hits when you get into a job. A little like our example with Duncan, we'll come back to you if things emerge which need your attention and fall outside of the scope you've given us, but the most important thing for us is that we deliver your end goal. And we are definitely up for tasteful mods…. If you're reading this Barry & Sharon, we may need to have a gentle word on the art of the possible though.

In the meantime, remember, the joy of saving a classic isn't really in the value equation (though it can't be ignored), it’s in the joy of doing it. When you drive your car on the road, you stand a mile out from 99% of the population who play safe and drive vanilla. Every classic has a personal story and preserves a little bit of history and whether to enhance a little or not is entirely in the gift of the commissioning restorer. Power to your elbow is what I say.

And so to this week's pics from the workshop;