Dr. George wrote, followed by Kurt Sperry:
> You carefully sidestep the question regarding what "information" would
be lost by a proper repair. I submit that no "information" would be lost
and the integrity of what remains would be preserved. If necessary,
various photographic, chemical, and even X-Ray techniques could be used
to document the bike before commencing repairs.
What would be lost is the bike's originality- it's very essence as a historical object. Repainting a 60 or so year old bike with hand pinstriping using the paints and techniques available today can at the very best only reproduce a hollow facsimile of the original surface. Even if the painter gets the color exactly right, catalyzed epoxy will never look convincingly right and the modern pinstriping however artistic will never be more than a pale replication. Is it really a "proper repair" if the object's originality is irreversibly lost?
***************
And the BINGO! goes to Kurt Sperry, who has it exactly right. Repaint and rechrome that Herse, even in the most careful, expensive way, and it will not ever be as sheerly interesting as it is right now. not ever again. Now. If I could send it back to 1955, and have Herse himself supervise a full restoration, I'd consider that.
But, since that's a fantasy, we're left with the possible.
George, I guarantee you that if you were to have Peter Weigle himself restore that bike (and this is no slam to Peter), or Baylis, the result would be very, very nice, as good as you can get, but, it would not be what it is now. And if, as I do, one happens to LIKE the way it is now, in preference to anything else, then restoring it would just degrade it.
There is no way to find an "objective" method of discussing this. Either you like it the way it is, or you like it some other way. Period. Totally subjective. I like it the way it is, and since originality is, in my mind, always to be preferred, preserving what's left of that originality is a no-brainer.
These problems exist on a continuum though. A friend of mine who shall remain nameless, likes his original bikes, and rides them, even though they look like they spent the last 10 years at the bottom of the Marianas trench, and then were lightly scraped off. I'm exaggerating, but only a little. He likes them that way. I can't argue with it, but I can say I'd repaint the bikes he'd never touch. And, of course, there are people who would restore that Herse, but I'd never touch it.
It is interesting to consider the possibility of a carefully aged repaint. CyclArt does this really well at their best. Their Velotique job. I've had a couple done, and was very satisfied with the results... likely I wouldn't do it again though, because, no matter how close you get to original, even to the point of fooling the emotional brain...you still know it's not real. Not original. And, anymore, that's all it takes for me.
As a side-note, I will point out the auction I have on ebay for that Condor Pathracer. Note the pin-striping on that bike. You simply cannot get that kind of work anymore. Even if you could find someone to do it, and you were willing to pay for it (I'm sure some specialty automotive painters have stripers who could do that job and a lot more), the style would still not be the same. It just wouldn't. Those stripes were applied very quickly, by people who were doing it over and over every day. Those people, and that style, just don't exist anymore. So, such things are worth preserving even when they're very, very faded..
As for whether it's somehow "wrong" not to repaint bikes with a lot of wear--as in, "the maker would never have approved of leaving the bike that way" all I can say is that the maker doesn't own the bike. I do.
Charles Andrews Los Angeles
"Somebody has to be tireless... or the fast buck operators would asphalt the entire coast, fill every bay and slay every living thing incapable of carrying a wallet."
--John D. MacDonald