Re: [CR]State of the Art restorations

(Example: Framebuilding:Technology)

To: Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 11:31:55 -0400
Subject: Re: [CR]State of the Art restorations
From: "Richard M Sachs" <richardsachs@juno.com>
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

snipped: "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..."

grant-issimo, my goals for the restorations are mentioned here: http://www.richardsachs.com/articles/rsachsperiod.html and pics live here: http://tinyurl.com/2sdvo i often take some heat from folks with an academic bent that my restoration was "not" a restoration in the literal sense for reasons that include not using 35 year old italian paint, or for creating the reproduction decals from scratch rather than using old varnish ones (which don't exist...), or for using one washer in the headset rather than two. blah, blah. yes - jb did an xlnt job on the paint. there is some clear on the decals but they're not buried like on his modern paintjobs. i was insistant that the decals were in line rather than try to affect a exact duplicate of what was on them; the originals were hap- hazardly placed. the refinish is austere but it is not exact. it pleases me nonetheless. i invested 4 years in the first restoration and 2 in the second. the project began in the early 90s - long before i had a computer or knew about the cr list and ebay, etcetera. i did it as a folly; these bicycles inspired me when i was coming up. i'm glad i did these 2 bicycles when i did - i do not think i could undertake projects like this now. e-RICHIE aka Richard M Sachs Chester, CT *******************

On Fri, 14 May 2004 17:27:58 -0400 Grant McLean <Grant.McLean@SportingLife.ca> writes: 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