"Blue Chip" Restoraitons: are we taking "originality" too far?

[mshaver51]

Friends, I would deeply appreciate a robust exchange of views on the concept of "Blue Chip" restorations. For those of you who might not be aware, there was an excellent story in Excellence Magazine about "Blue Chip" restorations (here's the link).

http://www.excellence-mag.com/issues...o#.UUZUXDf4LTo

At its most basic, a "Blue Chip" restoration attempts to exactly replicate the techniques of the factory in restoring a car. In the Corvette world, this concept has been around for decades, and was once referred to as "State of the Art" restoration. In a "state of the art" restoration, the disassembly is incredibly, painstakingly documented, down to the font and method for painting the frame # on the chassis, and if the factory messed it up, the "state of the art" restoration messed it up, too.

In the "Blue Chip" article (see the link), the shop did incredibly detailed research in order to replicate the factory assembly techniques, down to the masking of certain parts/areas prior to spraying the undercoating. The article did not, however, say much about whether the "Blue Chip" restoration was more or less expensive than traditional efforts.

I'll avoid offering my opinions for now, as an open invitation for your honest thoughts and views. Please read the article in the link, and share your thoughts freely about this iteration of our community interest.

Thank you, in advance, for sharing your intellectual capital. The exchange of information and ideas in this forum is a tremendous asset.

[sithot]

Years ago the NCRS (National Corvette Restorers Society) came down on cars that were "over-finished". The nature of things in the 50's, 60's and 70's were that the cars were not as nice they were being portrayed in restorations. Overspray on the engines was missing and paint work was entirely too good for the period being illustrated.
Corvette restorations have the original "hang tags", reproduction window stickers and crayon and paint markings which add to the bottom line when being judged for Top Flight and possible "Bloomington Gold".

The Simeon Book that I've touted recently is getting more and more traction as people are increasingly looking for originality in cars. The car that beat Wayne Carini's entry at Amelia was still wearing dirt and dust from a long nap. Most of you probably saw the show where the car was found. It belongs to Dale Walksler of Wheels Through Time. It is not my cup of tea but were seeking a 100% original piece it would be one for consideration.

So the next phase will be putting them back the way they were? It is still a restoration.


Tom

[718RSK]

"blue chip" restorations were fairly common in the 356 world when Tim Goodrich was still involved with 356 restorations. The cars he restored were miles ahead of any of the other cars competing at that time both in originality and fit and finish. I have not personally seen or heard of this level of originality in 911 restorations. That said, I am new to the 911 world so have a limited sample set.

Based on my own experience I will state that "blue chip" restorations are much, much more challenging and expensive compared to traditional efforts. Duplicating textures, factory oversights, platings etc. take much more time compared to doing a cosmetically perfect job on the same part. I am aware of one car on which 1000 hours of research on original cars through out the world was spend before the restoration was even started. What I am seeing in the 356 world is that these type of restorations are rarely seen nowadays and not gaining in popularity.

JK

[silverc4s]

I think most enthusiasts would rather own an original, well maintained car,, over a fully restored version that has had so much "plastic surgery" that the personality is masked, to some extent.
The trend to valuing a "fully restored" collector car has led over time to drastically over-restored examples. I seem to recall a recently restored 300sl coupe that was driven for about 100 miles, doing 5 figure damage to the resto. Ridiculous, right? Many opinions, but the trend toward originality seems to be gaining in recent years.

[72targa]

This link works better...

http://www.excellence-mag.com/issues...-chip-rs-resto

[steve shea]

Yup, it's still a restoration. I suppose if you are going to do it, do it correctly. Is that over the top? Up to the guy paying the bills to decide. In the end though it is still not original but more like original appearing. Take the guy doing the 550 spyder from laser scans of two other 550's. The only vestige of true originality will be the shape of the car although it will appear as it was built in the 50's. Perfection is an admirable goal but I don't know anyone who has achieved it. It's still a restoration.

[fryardds]

Hi Mike,

How interesting you would bring up this article. I read it last week with great interest, not only because it was written by a very close friend, but also because I was planning to meet the person who oversaw this remarkable restoration. Although I have yet to see this RS in person, I had the great plesaure of spending the weekend with Dirk and learning about how the Factory originally built our cars. There is a world of known details that I had no idea existed.

I am extremely excited to to see this type of attention to detail going into the restoration of the cars we care so much about. I view it as a great opportunity to learn more about how our cars were built. Probably this type of restoration would be more expensive for the first car(s) going through restoration, but once original processes and items are 'discovered' the subsequent restorations would probably be less time and cost. Just an assumtion, but certainly if I was going through this process it would give me great personal satisfaction to learn more during the process and, when completed, have a car that was done as the Factory did it.

[John Straub]

If you take a close look at the underside of my '65 front hood, it has flaws in the paint(original). I've seen restored early '64-'67 911s that look much nicer...however, they're overdone. I haven't had the car at a shown for 10+ years, the next time I show my car, it will be interesting to see if an over-restored car beats it. As long as over-restored cars win, people will keep doing them.

I guess I would rather see original cars with some warts, or cars done to how the factory did them. Not overdone.

Just my 2 cents...

John

[50/50]

Hmm Maybe this may help explain it:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsessi...ality_disorder

Many have borderline cases; But it seems odd to spend ones life obsessed about labels on tags, oversprayed paint, date stamps on massed produced minor components, etc.
I appreciate a professionally done piece, but we are not talking about Da Vinci, Tut's Toomb or in automotive terms maybe an SSK.
Spend 1000 hours to determine if there were standardized work methods 40 or 50 years ago? I'm too busy as I have a new wallet that I am trying like mad to organize. Oh and my sock drawer is out of control...

[LongRanger]

On the one hand, I have to admire the determination/energy/attention/resources that some people can + will commit to restoring something --- bringing a car back . . . like Alan.uk and that silver car. The extent + execution of that project, as well as the final results . . . beyond amazing . . .

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...ht=restoration

. . . and, to me --- totally warranted by the car + it’s condition

On the other hand, taking a worn-but-otherwise intact original, then scraping-off every inch of paint,, tossing every stitch of carpet + upholstery, redo-ing every fastener + finish + glue-blob --- to any standard . . . always feels a little like ‘Halloween.' Where does the original stop . . . and the costume begin?

Put it another way . . . is The Result still something Porsche built?

Most cars are something in between. Stuff wears out, owners personalize --- accidents happen. And to me? --- there’s nothing wrong with repairing/replacing/fixing stuff to suit yourself. Patina --- and personality . . . aren’t just things that were done in Stuttgart . . . or 30 years ago by some mystical PO. Use leaves its mark

So does passion

Reading Mr Conklin’s article, I was struck by why someone would take what was described as an otherwise-decent + no-stories car . . . then completely tear it apart/re-do everything, make it all ‘like new’ . . . then just drive it again?

Really? . . . go to all that effort just to make the car the way it was before the whole ‘restoration’ started?

Whaddiya call that?

Is that passion?