RE: [CR]State of the Art restorations

(Example: Framebuilders)

Content-return: allowed
Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 17:27:58 -0400
From: "Grant McLean" <Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca>
Subject: RE: [CR]State of the Art restorations
To: "Classic Rendezvous Mail List (E-mail)" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
cc: "Richard M Sachs \(E-mail\)" <richardsachs@juno.com>

E-Richie,

Nice article.

When you had your Masi bikes redone, were you tempted to not do a clear coat over the decals, and have some over spray, or orange peel, basically, reproduce the finish like the originals? (seriously..)

Personally, I think it's the real beater bikes are perfect candidates for a full redo. Leave the nice original ones alone, and clean up the semi original ones... and go wild with the toasted ones, which have been used up anyway.

Those who have watched the Barrett-Jackson car auctions have seen the mega-over-restored-barely-recognizable-better-than-new "classics" fetch big money....but lots of collectors are now shunning these, and the really big money goes for original ones that haven't been messed with. Those restorations often don't sell for enough to cover their costs, because it's so expensive to do the 'body-off' restoration.

Grant McLean Toronto.Ca

i found this old cr list post on my blogsite. url is: http://richardsachs.blogspot.com/ bikes and cars are different, but emotion is emotion. e-RICHIE chester, ct ----------------------------------------

here:

the following is an excerpt from Town and Country magazine. the story is called 'Auto Hypnotic'. it's about the pebble beach classic car weekend. i think it is pertinent subject matter. do you?? e-RICHIE

"The subject of restoration is hotly debated in the world of vintage automobiles as it is in the world of fine art. Repaint a famous track car, or lengthen a tailpipe to prevent carbon from smudging a boat tail, and you may find yourself the target of the same disapproval aimed at the

well-meaning cleaners of Michaelangelo's Sistine ceiling. For some-- let's call them true believers--the patina of age and the original trappings of tradition should never be tampered with. For others---the protestant aposty, perhaps--a car ought to look as it did the day it rolled out of the showroom. This division, written about in this magazine by Stephan Wilkinson (June 1999), is ever more hotly debated. The competition for top prizes is keen and costly; restorations can end up running to half a million dollars or more. Those who spend this kind of money want a new-like car, however old the original, and aren't pleased to hear grousings about the results. But antirestoration forces are passionate in their orthodoxy. When I strolled from one resplendent classic to another in the company of Chris Renwick, a well known international expert with Symbolic Motor Car Company in La Jolla, California, we stopped in front of a particularly dazzling machine, an immaculately refurbished 1938 2.9-liter Alfa Romeo roadstewr. To anyone with an eye for kinetic sculpure, there couldn't be a more satisfying sight. But Renwick was unmoved. Or moved only to mutter, " It might as well be plastic. Imagine taking a piece of Louis Quartorze furniture, sandblasting it and slapping on a coat of varnish!"