To over-restore or not?

[Jeff B.]

I'm a new member and I'm well underway with the body off restortion of my 64 convertible. I was originally going to do my own thing (resto-mod) but the Nolan Adams restoration guide sucked me in to the history of the car and now I looking for every correct rivet and screw. The thing is, I cant bring myself to do some of the factory shoddy things like intentional overspray and partially covered blackout areas. If I over-restore with respect to paint, and powder coat the frame, how much will it hurt the car if I want to go for NCRS judging or Bloomington Gold Cert?

[Mike M.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

faulure to "overspray" the engine compartment components won't cost ya much out of 4500 total points. maybe 15 max would be my guess. if ya powdercoat the frame, and i've done so on some of my Duntov awarded c-1 and c-2's , i've not lost any points for the powder coating as long as its a semi-gloss black. after i've powder coated, i use SEM-trim paint, semi gloss balck, to topcoat the powder coating. good luck and thank God ya didn't resto-mod the old 64.my guess it'll be worth more resored than resto-mod'd based on the huge # of restomods on ebay and corvettes at carlisle that don't bring 3/4 of the cost of the restomods. mike(and i've restomod'd one or two c-1's for my personal use but they are the exception).

[Jeff B.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Thanks for the reply. My 64 is a recent purchase and has all the correct motor and drive train. In fact, it has have very little done to it. The speedo says 48k and I have titles back 30 years which suggest that this is correct. I agree with your thoughts about going original. To be honest, after spending time going through the car and researching all the numbers, it pretty much told me to restore it to stock.

[Timothy B.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Jeff, If the actuall miles are 48000 and the car is complete you may want to think twice before taking it apart. Have it looked at by NCRS and learn before you restore. Just repair things that are broke and drive and ENJOY without worring.

If you are married this keeps the wife happy also.

[Roy B.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Many restored Corvette are over restored to the ex-stream making it look 100 times better then when it was sold new. When I restored my Corvette I tried to stay true as to how it was built using tar base paint , leaving the body wavy in area's that were and so on. Most people that see it think it's un-restored but for the paint. Most all the parts are nice NOS original , not sent out to have them look 100 better, and many not NOS but used looking because I don't like repro's.
I think I could enter in un-restored class but for the paint and it may pass. And I've been driving it now for over 30 years.

[Mike M.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Being the purist, it sounds like you have more than enough originality to start with to perform a restoration (to your preferred dgree.)
Best advice above, do not touch it, only clean it, and have the car judged. You can build a resto-mod and even buy complete bodies to start with.
But, it's only original once.
HaND

[Alan D.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

As Mike just said!!! Get to some shows and let others see an original car before you start any project. A lot still needs be learned about 64's so please show it as original first. Know I'm more interested in untouched cars than Top Flights.

[Gene M.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Jeff, It sounds like you are going in the direction of restoration and not resto-mod or modified in any way. I just feel you want to know of the judging point deductions for deviations from the sloppy way the cars were produced by GM. It is difficult to make your pride and look like a five year old worked on it. So my suggestion is to make the "sloppy GM craftsmanship" as minimal, crisp and nice looking as you can while still satisfying the points judging. The other options is to make it just as GM did or not to do the sloppy stuff at all. As Mike pointed out the point deduction is not that much which ever way you go. It is YOUR car so do it the way you want it to look.

[Paul J.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

I'm a new member and I'm well underway with the body off restortion of my 64 convertible. I was originally going to do my own thing (resto-mod) but the Nolan Adams restoration guide sucked me in to the history of the car and now I looking for every correct rivet and screw. The thing is, I cant bring myself to do some of the factory shoddy things like intentional overspray and partially covered blackout areas. If I over-restore with respect to paint, and powder coat the frame, how much will it hurt the car if I want to go for NCRS judging or Bloomington Gold Cert?

Jeff:

I was exactly where you are until recently. Ernie Fry started a thread on October 25 about the "black goo" that generated a lot of great information. You need to check out that thread. I was going to duplicate everything the factory had done until Joe Ray put it in perspective for me. Now I've decided that I'm not going through the effort and cost to properly finish, plate, and mark my frame, drivetrain, and suspension just to cover it in "black goo". I'm feeling the same about overspray on the engine. I'll just take the points deduction.

Paul

[Ridge K.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Jeff:

I was exactly where you are until recently. Ernie Fry started a thread on October 25 about the "black goo" that generated a lot of great information. You need to check out that thread. I was going to duplicate everything the factory had done until Joe Ray put it in perspective for me. Now I've decided that I'm not going through the effort and cost to properly finish, plate, and mark my frame, drivetrain, and suspension just to cover it in "black goo". I'm feeling the same about overspray on the engine. I'll just take the points deduction.

Paul

My plan is to do the very best job I can. But,....Will I pay $500 for the one bolt with a certain head mark?..........no. Best of luck, Ridge.

[Alan S.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Hi Jeff,
As so many folks have said... I think you need to restore it in a way that makes you happy.
I had a one owner, completely original car that I restored. I restored it to a standard that I WISH it had been the day I took delivery. I tried to do things in the way they would have been done if everyone who built the car at St Louis was having a great day and doing their part to the best of their abilities.
So far, I continue to feel I made the right choice.... for me.
I think having a car that lots of people say is great, but that's not what you really wanted, is a sad situation.
Regards,
Alan

PS: Lacquer is good for some cars and people.

[Jim D.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Hi Jeff,
As so many folks have said... I think you need to restore it in a way that makes you happy.

I've built/restored many cars (some weren't Corvettes) and I did them all to the highest standard. I didn't care if they were "over restored". Why go to all that work to make a car equal to the sub-standard level as a mass produced car? I've had a few people comment that my 60 makes the one they bought new look like a POS. I look at it like building a house. Why build to code (the minimum standard that won't fall down under it's own weight) when you can build a superior product? Do what makes you happy. A half azzed job just doesn't do it for me.

Jim

[Jeff B.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Your reply is exactly what I'm thinking. Some of the other replys say to show it as original first. The thing is it's was not that good of car. Even though it is matching numbers and low miles, it has been painted and messed with quite a bit by someone that was not not paying attention to detail. Also the fuel line has rusted out from sitting and the brake lines were going in that direction and those repairs require the body to be raised. Anyway, the body is allready off and I'm going the entire way. Thanks for your thoughts. I'm going to go original with a little better than new on some finishes.

[Jeff B.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Yes, I have decided that above all I have to love it when it's finished. Thanks for your support.

[Jeff B.]

Re: To over-restore or not?

Perfectly said. I have never been able to do anything half way so I don't think I'm gonna change that now.