Hello Clark, saw your post :
>I have a Triumph 3A that has been in the family for over 35 years. It was
>driven until it was about four years old, then stored in warm dry garages in
>California ever since. I'm planning to move the car to Massachusetts this
>spring and start restoring/fixing it.
>
>I have a philosophical question for the group. This car is unusually
>unaltered from its state as it came from the factory. What approach should
>I take? Should I (a) try to preserve as much as possible of the original
>parts and paint, (b) restore it to the condition it was in when it left the
>factory, or (c) use the car as a base and add nifty modern parts to make it
>a fun, racy, driveable car?
>
My own 2-cent suggestion would be to Preserve it as much as possible
in its `stock' condition, I think that would definitely help it retain
its highest $ value, and make it useful to other restorers as a good
point of reference. `Factory new' would be good, too, if it's worth
it to you to spend the time and money that way...but then it may be
too nice to risk driving ! From what I've seen in Hemmings Motor
News, nothing is more exciting to a potential buyer than an original,
unrestored, dry-stored low mileage `cream puff' of a car, and it
sounds like yours may qualify as such.
By the way, are you related to the Wiedemann family of Newport, Kentucky,
brewers of fine beer ? (brewery has lately moved to Evansville, Indiana
after being bought by G. Heilman's of Wisconsin)
Best regards,
Tom Tweed
SW Ohio
'72 TRident 750cc basket case
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