Hi Rudi. When we "restore" a car we try to bring it back to an earlier state
in its life, in an attempt to bring it to a "true" condition before it was
"corrupted" by daily use, with factory showroom being usually the ultimate.
Restoration is an activity that necessarily takes place in the present, as we
simply cannot go back in time and recreate absolutely everything around the
actual creation of the car fifty years ago. Much as some of us try, we can't
put the original air back in the tires, or recreate the people that assembled
a component part in their own unique way.
So we're basically building replicas that resemble as closely as
possible the way the car looked at a certain point in the past. We decide
arbitrarily where that point will be. Its like a train going backwards and
each restorer jumps off at his own point- some are satisfied with their
five-speed under the tunnel, long as you can't see it, others are satisfied
with only nine stitches per inch instead of ten on the seat upholstery.
Originality, or factory showroom condition is presumably closest to the"
truth", even though the car had not had much use on the road at that point in
its life, nor did it have that transcontinental trip with its first owner
during which the car's real character truly emerged for the first time. It
would have only looked "original" for a relatively short time before it would
have been altered by contact with the real world. There is a one-owner BN 4 up
here in Canada that had extra deep rear seat pans fitted very early on to
accomodate the kids more comfortably. It has spent the last 45 years with
these seats, which are now part of that particular car's true character. Yet
some would impose an arbitrary set of rules on it declaring it is not a true
Healey somehow.
Originality is a standard understood throughout the world. A sort of
common currency. And a wonderful hobby. A restorer in Madagascar knows
exactly what a particular model of Healey should look like, and its great.
But only DD 300 can look the way it does because of the unique and
spectacular life it has led.
Whew, sounds like last call at the local.
Best regards,
Peter
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