Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Thinking about a higher level of the car hobby, Part Two.

"Somebody Save Me!"

Preservation and not restoration. This relates to the topic of stewardship.

I'm going to reuse images from my previous post, because this discussion concerns cars like that '31 Cadillac discussed in the previous post. An intact, complete, original car, or older restoration that has fallen upon hard times. Due to the lack of proper storage the car has suffered a fair amount of deterioration. It appears that at one time it was a nicely restored vehicle.

This is the biggest red flag. You know that moisture
 penetrated the interior of the vehicle.

This Cadillac appeared on the AACA "not for sale by me" forum for discussion. Asking price was 20,000 dollars. I want to establish that up front. This was not a 500 dollar car, one that could be bought on a whim. Purchasing this would require a substantial investment. Though I believe the likely selling price would be half, or even less of the current asking price. 

The seller thinks that this car is extremely valuable.

Commentors on the forum were distressed by the deterioration of a once nice car, and after a series of snarky comments, someone finally pronounced it as a "parts car!"

That's the kiss of death to this car community.

As a group they don't believe that any car is worthy of a complete restoration. That's partly because restoration work at a shop is now prohibitively expensive. A DIY amateur resto is also not on their radar, for several reasons. 

For one, they may have already performed a couple of restos in the past, and aren't interested in doing all the work anymore. They are also older now, and it's not easy to restore a car once you have physical limitations. They might have experienced the fact that a full resto will usually not return the money that was invested. It's a better deal to buy a car that somebody else put THEIR money into. 

Or maybe they just don't have any interest in buying a project. They would prefer a car that is already in good shape. That makes sense, because many of the guys on the forum are older guys. They have been down the route of projects and restorations, and at their current stage of life they don't want to bother with all the hassles. They would prefer to just buy what they want. And, being older, they are probably going to have the resources to do just that.

What they don't want at this stage of life is a raggedy ass project car.

Been there done that!

I can see their point, as an older guy myself, I don't have the energy to put the needed elbow grease into a sorry vehicle prospect. I also don't have an extra ten to twenty years available to deal with a piecemeal restoration. I also know that the economics of restoration don't make any sense. The costs of a complete restoration won't be recouped in a sale. That's a simple fact of the car hobby life.

These same guys often ridicule guys that have their cars offered for sale at high prices, trying to do just that.

I suppose that if someone really wants a '31 Cadillac sedan he could find an example in good shape for around 50 thousand dollars, or so. 

I don't know about you, but 50k is a fair amount of money in my bank book.  Actually, mine doesn't have that many pages!

This reminds me of the guy that I met at Barnes and Noble a couple of years ago. He lightly rattled off the sentence that "I could probably find a nice Lincoln Mark II for fifty grand or so!" 

I'm glad that my appearance and demeanor disguise the fact that I am of modest means, but that doesn't change my reality. 

Kind of funky, but it looks intact.

My comment about the Cadillac was that this was the type of car that I once dreamed about owning. That if I were to buy this car, I wouldn't even consider a complete restoration. I would really clean the exterior; buff and polish the paint and brightwork, and carefully clean and disinfect the interior. I would only repair areas that needed it, and preserve it as best as I could. Whatever mechanical work it needed would be performed to get it back into service. The big unknown area would be the amount of deterioration of the body's wooden structure, hopefully it might need only a bit of repair. This is actually a major consideration. 

Repairs to the engine might be one of the easier jobs.

I think that the car would look pretty good after that, it would have a real air of patina. 

It sure would look better after some thorough cleaning.

Of course the car wouldn't be perfect, and it wouldn't be suitable for car shows or Concours type events. But the car would be saved, and I'm sure it would garner a lot of interest at the typical Car and a Coffee event. 

I suppose that a lot of the guys on the forum would be embarrassed to own the car in that state. 

That's their choice. 

I wouldn't. I'm saving a worthwhile car.

Once during a discussion about the rebuilding of the engine in a vintage 30's car I asked the question, "Why does the car even have to run?"

When you think about it, how often would that old car ever be driven anyway? Many times early cars are trailered to events. Then they are unloaded and only driven a short distance. For a complete restoration there is a need to restore a car to complete roadability, but truthfully, most vintage cars are part of a static display. Nobody has a problem looking at cars in a museum. Many of those cars on display also aren't in running condition.

What's kind of funny is that I know people that have very nice restored and rebuilt, or customized cars that almost never drive them. It wouldn't be easy to frequently drive their stable as they have four, five, or even more cars. They call them "garage queens" for a reason. 

What would be wrong with just towing the car  to events? Many car enthusiasts already own big trucks and also often own car trailers. I don't know how safe a tow bar is, but that might be an answer for taking a vehicle to a local event. Buying a trailer might also be cheaper than a complete mechanical rebuild.

There is a contingent in the old car hobby that strongly believes that the cars should be driven frequently: to events, on tour, and even for daily use, running errands. I share that belief, but in some situations, a complete mechanical restoration isn't possible. It's beyond the skill level of the owner, it's above the financial comfort level of the owner, and it's just a losing proposition financially, even if all the needed parts and expertise could be arranged. Maybe this particular old car could just be cleaned up and preserved, the owner might have another vintage vehicle that they actually drive. It's quite true that you can only drive one car at a time.

This idea might strike many of you as being quite silly; to trailer a non running car to local events, but I submit that it isn't as outlandish as it sounds.

First of all, the car would be preserved. Second, half assed bodges to get it running could be avoided. Fixing up the car with non authentic materials might also be avoided. 

If there is no interest in this Cadillac by preservationists or restorers, then it might as well be sold to a hot rodder. They have no problem with rebuilding a car in whatever manner they choose. Many also hold very high standards of quality for their work. Current standards in the hobby have resulted in more tasteful results. I can easily imagine the car with transplanted running gear, a completely redone interior with modern amenities like air conditioning and a powerful stereo. With new paint and redone chrome work, the car could be quite a showcase. 

It could be another lease on life for this vehicle, one that deserves better fate than being dismantled as a parts car!

Unfortunately, I am not in the position to make that happen.