Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

Three years ago someone I know completed the restoration of an early (1970) Mini Clubman 1275 GT which he had carefully restored over some years. He even had a local printer recreate the vinyl 1275GT stripes in silver to apply onto the new dark blue paint - Blue Royale or Trafalgar blue.
I did ask him then if I could post a photo of it on here but he he politely declined.

I was allowed a short drive in the car. The interior even smelled like new but I drove six new Mini Clubman Estates in the 1970's - my mother's - and I had an early 1969 Mini Clubman saloon of my own at one time and THERE WAS a difference.
The restored car was noisier inside and did not feel like a new Mini despite appearances. The new carpets were not the nylon needlecord originals and some small detail such as this stood out. Ambience I believe it is called.

I have never driven an original Jaguar Mark 2. Mine is restored and drove differently to one owned by another Mark 2 owner, again restored. I would not say mine was better than his, just different.

I have only ever driven one "timewarp" car and that was a 1984 Vauxhall Nova 1,2 GL. It was before Christmas in 2005 and I was to collect my aunt to spend Christmas with us when she asked to call on her closest friend before leaving.
I was requested by her friend if I would kindly take her car - the Nova - to the nearest filling station to top up the tank with petrol. The china blue Nova which she had bought new in May 1984 had 6500 miles on it's odometer at 20 years old.
It felt like brand new car, still a little stiff with a taut engine and unmarked.

I firmly believe that type of originality can not be recreated.
There was a 900 mile Austin Maestro 1.3 HLE on Ebay the other day which was being enthusiastically bid on.

Therefore, as per the post title - can a restored car ever be as good or feel as good as the original?

Over to you all.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[peter scott]

Surely the answer to your question relies totally on whether or not all the original construction materials are still available.

Peter
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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[baconsdozen]

Some restored cars look very nice,all shining paint and sparkling chrome but to me they've had the character polished out of them.
I had a time warp car,a Hillman Imp that I was given when its owner stopped driving. Not even 10,000 miles,plastic on the door cards and one owner with every receipt and service history. Like a twerp I sold it, to some clown who then decorated it with go faster stripes and wide wheels.
You can only have originality once,my own car has some new bumpers but just about everything else is original,I want to keep it that way. Having said that the standard of some restored cars means they look better and in some cases drive better than new. Each to is own, I prefer to see a car with its history on display,others might not.
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Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[Ashley]

Truth is that there are very few companies or individuals in this country capable of restoring any vehicle to as new or concours condition, but the ones that can do an incredible job. Standards are higher on the continent and in the USA.

[roverdriver]

I agree with Peter, but also suggest that the restored car, even if the restoration is absolutely faithful to original specifications, will be different.

The restored car has not only put some miles under its wheels, it has sat around for a number of years before restoration. IMHO slight 'bedding in' of a miriad of parts will occur as the vehicle is used. Restoration will rarely replace every part. In fact even if it did, it could not then be called a restoration. It will however have some new parts, and those new parts will take time to bed in with their respective neighbours. The fact that new, or newly made parts are incorporated into an older assembly will make for differences between it and a totally original one.

And that is to say nothing of the differences in consumables available now compared to when the vehicle was first built. Fuel, lubricants, tyres will all be at least a little different.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[MikeEdwards]

There's also a tendency to over-restore things - something that has come up during my own restoration of a seventies Vauxhall is that I'm trying to make things fit properly when the original manufacturer would have made it "good enough". Possibly that's what takes away from the feel of the restored vehicle.

I don't see that making the vehicle basically the same should be much of a problem - for example the Mini in the original post could probably be quietened down without too much trouble - but there's also the balance of cost and complexity and, really, the value of the completed vehicle. Even if you're never intending to sell the restored vehicle, it would be mad to spend DB4-restoration money making a car perfect that will only ever be worth, say, £25k.

[Ray White]

I worked for a while as a delivery driver for Europcar - a car hire company who had a policy of replacing their cars at 6000 miles. When the cars were retired they went to a refurbishment centre where they were returned to showroom condition. The attention to detail was amazing and dozens of cars were being worked on at a time. Cars were resprayed to a high standard. Considering the low mileage, many were in a quite shocking condition before being restored - which was an eye opener for me.

These are obviously fairly new cars so perhaps the comparison is difficult to make but so few old cars exist with that "new" feel, it must be difficult to say what they were like when new but I found it practically impossible to tell the difference between before and after cars although to be fair I didn't get to drive many of the restored cars to their destinations.

[Ashley]

Well my son had a delivery of some Whitworth spanners from Yarmouth today that he's pleased and they're now helping to assembly a concours Silver Wraith engine.

Mat is looking for the old ones he failed to put back in the draw.

[Ray White]

[Rootes75]

Most cars I see at shows these days I would say are 'over' restored, something that I'm not too keen on. But saying that, its up to the individual how they restore their vehicle.

A timewarp car or lorry would be my holy grail I suppose as I don't think you could ever restore 'originality'.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Ellis]

[Ashley]

[Minxy]

I think this is where preserve or restore comes in. We have all seen cars that are restored to within an inch of their lives - everything replaced regardless. Whether this is to try and emulate a new car or not I don't know but as someone who prefers to preserve rather than restore they very seldom float my boat. Give me an honest car warts and all any day.

[andycars]

Originality all the way for me, and I don't mind a little patina picked up along the way - it's part of the car's history. As has been said previously on this forum, it can only be original once, but can be restored any time.

[Ashley]

Here's a restored S1 Continental, seats were split and cracked and so was the dashboard lacquer and carpets were in a state too. Now all as new.