What constitutes a restoration?????

verde2002

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Throughout the years I have had the opportunity to see and purchase older BMW's and can't count how many times I have been told a car was fully restored when all they had done was repaint the exterior and reupholster the interior. Just curious what your idea of a restored car is? Maybe my expectations are too high when I hear the word restored???
 
This agreement depicts a partial restoration:

DSC05437.jpg


DSC05438.jpg
 
Verde2002:

You're right, the word "restoration" refers to all the things itemized on the list that jranmann posted (and all that for only $26K as recently as 2005??).

But the typical ebay / craigslist seller hasn't got a clue - most of them think that "restoration" means hanging a fresh pair of fuzzy dice from the rearview mirror.
 
Anytime you are spending more than you have, more than you can afford, more than your income, and much more than the car is worth, and so much that you start getting angry at how much you have spent...I would call it some kind of restoration.
abe,
 
This is a joke, right?
The vehicle restored is currently for sale in AZ for $24k and there's been 20,000 miles driven. In that advert it specifically states the vehicle had undergone a 'partial' restoration in 2005, which by the paperwork shows as costing $26,000. No joke!

A complete ground up restoration usually involves a divorce
That goes without saying...the problem with this car for me (and it's interest) is that they repainted over the original BMW 008 which is the color I seek. Remember the fully restored Ceylon that went for $42k after the owner passed on? Miss Ceylon!

Ceylon-1.jpg


My point being that restoration, partial or full often ruin a car's collectabilty and top value leaving it up us to restore the vehicle again to a more accurate standard.....on this one repainting in silver over the gold...but that's always an issue IMHO.

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No divorce involved here. But I'm curious...do you consider this a full or partial resto?

http://picasaweb.google.com/ben.cook/Resto_complete#

no engine work - already had a crate 3.0 with about 10K
bare metal resto/rust repair/repaint
repaint engine bay
new carpet/new upholstery including trunk
all new rubber seals, some new glass
chrome trim/bumpers polished
upgrade/lower suspension
 
cookbw.....

I would consider what you did a restoration and would not be disapointed if I drove to see the car and your car is what I saw. From the photos it is obvious a lot of time and care was taken to properly bring the car back to its beautiful condition. A full restoration to me means every nut and bold has either been replaced or refurbished. obviously only a finite quantity of cars will qualify as it would be extremely costly to achieve this. Most cars I think you would agree are partial restorations. Very nice car you have.
 
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thanks for the kind words! i was really on the fence with this car and considered selling it many times...then i found Regan Seegraves. the care and amount of work he put into the car for such a low price was staggering. needless to say, i was very happy with his work and highly recommend him...especially for the pragmatic e9'er (like me) who's not planning to try and win a concours d'elegance, but just wants a nice, clean, solid example to enjoy.
 
cookbw....

Why the change in color on your coupe? What was the original color from the factory?
 
the color was inspired by murray fowler and his blumax. i've always liked the darker colors and i considered black, but atlantik just did it for me. maybe it wasn't the best decision for value retention, but it's hard to imagine selling the car anyway :-D

it was fjord when i bought it and after seeing the body completely naked, i'm pretty sure it was originally fjord, but there's no trace of fjord on the car now.
 
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