Restored?

[Guest imported_RAH]

Here is something for all to ponder. I personally have been involved with antique automobiles for some time now and there is something going on that I find quite irritating. That is the prolific abuse and mis-use of the simple term 'Restored'.

Some time back a restoration shop was touting its latest project as a 'Professionally Restored' 1919 Dodge Brothers touring with an awesome metallic green paint job and luscious dark green leather upholstry. Restored? RESTORED!! I think NOT! Currently a 1924 Dodge Brothers touring is being referred to as a Sedan with bright red paint and a 318 v/8 engine and mag wheels with the statement that it was 'Restored' back in 19 eighty whatever. Again Restored?? If you are building a rat rod, so be it but call it what it is. And if you have repainted your car some unique color or changed the upholstry or scraped off the paint from your wheels, etc. At least have the guts to admit it and please, PLEASE stop referring to these extensive modifications as being 'Restored'! Might I suggest a quick look at Webster's definition of the word? Also please do not bring up that trite expression that "A customer could have ordered their car in any color". Sorry, I'm not buying that. I have yet to see a copy of a sales slip or an order sheet specifying that as a possibility. Think about it. If a customer had the financial wherewithall to order a car in prime and with a further streatch of the imagination sans upholstry, do you thing he would have ordered a plain jane Dodge Brothers, or a Ford, or Chevvy? I suspect rather that would have been the case with a Cadillac, or Packard, or Pierce Arrow or the like. What will it take for us to properly use the term 'Restored' as to 'Return to original condition'?

What think you fellow 'restorers'?

Rodger "Dodger" Hartley

[D Binger]

What about the over use of the word RARE ?

[gundog99]

Well said!

[nearchoclatetown]

Rodger, something that bothers me just as bad is the car that is obviously a frame off "redo" being called original. An HPOF is original, repaint and reupholstery is not.

[dbbob]

Roger,

Thanks for telling it as it is. Your clarification is on target and speaks for a lot of us who have put blood,sweat, and tears (not to mention serious dollars) into genuine restorations of these fine Dodge Brothers vehicles.

[yirgaman]

Here's another stick for the fire! The overuse and improper use of the word

"ORIGINAL" I have not seen an "original" car more than 2 years old for a long

time. People will do all the things you mentioned to a car - and more

but still call it original. It's only original once, and you can't go back.

Larry

[Jan Arnett]

Well I have been at it for 40 years and started out when you really could find original cars. I agree with everything that has been said and would like to add one more to the discussion. Antique license plates on hot rods. A rod is not a antique car and yet states allow people to put them on rods. I worked on the original antique license bill in Kentucky and the purpose was to licesne cars that were occasionally driven but were antiques. Seems we have gotten away from that in most states.

To go back to the original thread I belive that trucks or commercial cars were repainted to be used in a business capacity. I have a letter in my files in which a grocer ordered two 1921 Dodge screen sides in green and they were to put the grocers name on the door. I also have a picture of a fleet of Model T Ford trucks that have been repainted and have commercial lettering on the side. I am sure that these trucks arrived in the orignal color and were repainted so the term original gets a little blurred. I know that if you ordered a chassis from Ford to have a special boddy put on it the fenders were painted black when it was delivered. Just food for thought. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

[mrpushbutton]

how about the term "Classic", the CCCA has a definate attitude about that!

[dodge55]

Personally I think 'restored' should refer to the condition of the car when new, from the factory, sitting on the dealers lot / showroom. Nothing more, nothing less. OK, maybe some modern gaskets, seal material etc., but the car should look and run as it did the day it was manufactured. I knew one guy that was restoring a '63 Vette to 'factory' condition: matte black frame, chaulked 'x' marks on the frame showing how many shims were used at the body to frame mounts, slight orange peel under the rocker panels (area often missed when sprayed) etc. He had done his homework and when he was done with the car, it was as correct as it could be according to Chevy specs. Don't forget the cars we're talking about were made by people, long before computers and robots did the work. Perhaps some new words should be introduced, such as 'refurbished' or 'modernized' or 'upgraded'. Restored should be reserved to those special few that deserve the title.

Steve V (1937 D5)

[RickBrinker]

I always say restored to original condition meaning mine is bone stock,How about when they

Street Rod a car and say it is rare. (i always say not anymore)

[JB-ed]

"Original" is a problem because it has so many meanings.

"Original" is often used as "factory original," as the car emerged from the factory with chalk marks and so forth. In this case, "restored to original" means factory original. I think this is the traditional usage.

"Original" sometimes is used for the "original life" of the vehicle, when it was first purchased, put on the road, and driven among cars of its vintage. During this period oil-change stickers, parking decals, gas ration stickers, spot lights, seat covers may have been added. Paint gets worn down and scratched, fenders get dented. Most of us think of these cars as being in their second life-- as "all-original antiques." Vehicles in this condition are desired these days by some people. Obviously you can't "restore" to this condition.

"Original" lately is coming to mean "not extensively modified." Thanks to those in the street-rod gene pool, we now need to make this distinction. In this case, an "original car" could mean that it is not so horribly trashed that it can never be restored economically. "original" is used as the opposite of "rod." The only way these could come together is for a rod built in the 1950s that is "restored" to its 1950s condition today.

Back to "factory original." What about dealer-attached identification plates tacked to floorboards? Or dealer embroidered tire covers? If the factory shipped the cars with the bumpers wrapped in paper in the back seat for the dealer to assemble, do factory-original restorations come this way? I'd love to see the AACA judges deal with this.

In the historic house/building world they have three words that are clearly distinguishable: restore, rehabilitate, and rennovate. Perhaps we need to make these distinctions too, and somehow convery them to the to the hot-rod types.