OK, I will bite, as I am sure you all know, "professional restoration" is
generally used in the collector car trade to denote a restoration done
properly and to a high standard, amateur restoration is generally used to
denote a car that may have been lavished with much loving care, but due to
lack of skill, knowledge or $$, is perhaps not up to the same high standard.
I, and I am sure the rest of you listers have seen "professional" bodywork
with sanding marks in the paint in semi-unnoticeable spot or bad panel gaps,
and "amateur" jobs to exceptionally high standards, and I am not knocking
the professional shops, the reverse situation of course occurs as well.
A dedicated and skilled amateur could certainly do as good a job as a
professional. Couple of differences though, particularly if you are buying
a car with maybe not as much chance to inspect as you want, such as over the
internet or through an auction, if the professional has done cars in the
past and you or others are familiar with their work you have a little more
to go by than "joe blow did it, doesn't the paint look shiny"
Lastly I guess if you are bragging to your other rich friends about your MGB
$140,000 Healey, the story sounds better if you can say "and it was restored
to the highest standards by the best Healey restorer out there" instead of
"joe blow did a might fine job on that dash didn't he"
Bottom line though, the car is what it is, no matter who did it.
Greg Lemon
54 BN1
(amateur refurbishment)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Reid Trummel" <editor_reid@hotmail.com>
To: <healeys@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 12:49 AM
Subject: Amateur vs. Professional Restoration
> My recent visit to the auctions in Arizona got me to thinking about the
> differences between an "amateur" and a "professional" restoration. I'm
> really not sure that those are meaningful distinctions.
>
> Why couldn't an amateur do every bit as good of a job as a professional?
The
> "fully restored to concours gold standards" (a truly overused phrase at
the
> auctions) Healeys in these auctions looked pretty good, but had a few
little
> things to criticize. Polished dash pots for one.
>
> Anyway, it got me to thinking, what do people think of as the difference
> between a professional and an amateur restoration? No one certifies
> "professional" Healey restorers, so I lean towards saying that it is a
> distinction without a difference. Restored is restored. Whether you've
done
> it once or a hundred times, what you have at the end is a collection of
Moss
> Motors parts, new paint and new chrome, and almost nothing remaining of
that
> which left the factory.
>
> If I screw on a bunch of Moss Motors parts, it's an amateur restoration.
If
> someone who has done it a hundred times screws them on, it's a
professional
> restoration. No diff in my book.
>
> What say you?
>
> Reid Trummel
> Portland, Oregon
> 100, 100M, Ski-Master
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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