When restoring a $2M Maserati pisses people off.

JMinPDX

JMinPDX

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I understand the “it’s only original once“ crowd. This Fura designed Maserati was not quite original when it’s was discovered in France in 2015 and sold for $2M. I give the owner credit for getting it into driving condition and actually driving it for a few years. After he tried to sell it at auction in 2021, ending in RNM, he decided to restore to what it looked like when it was displayed at the 1954 Paris Auto Show. He has the means to do it AND it’s his car. Good for him. But some people don’t think that’s a good idea and are down right angry.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/barn-find-maserati-restoration-sparks-online-anger-from-collectors
 
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If Ralph Lauren had bought it & Pau Russel restored it with the exact same end result. My bet is people would react differently.
 
I'm sure that both sides have valid points and perspectives that are more finely laid out than the article had space for, but I'm gonna give the owner the benefit of the doubt on this one. "Go buy your own car," is a little tough to argue with. I will say that anyone who posts their doings on social media should be aware of the often negative consequences. This whole firestorm probably could have been avoided, or at least postponed, without the Insta posts. But then again, I don't have my own car in this fight...
 
Dirt, rust and worn mechanicals should not be mistaken for patina / history. Had it been structurally and mechanically sound, then you would absolutely leave it alone or sympathetically massage. In this case it was the absolutely right call to restore rather than repair.
 
I don't know the car or the owner but 'restore' vs 'repair' seems a very binary argument.
My car restoration ethos was repair or conserve as much of the serviceable parts as possible. That meant leave the original hood liner, marked belt trim, worn seats etc. These are the 'patina' and tell the story of decades of love (or abuse) from previous owners. We also simply rust converted some spots of surface rust on original paint inside the car (parcel shelf) as there were original pencil notes from when the car went down the production line in 1972 - once that's gone, it's gone.
When it came to having to replace or renew, we went OEM. E.g new factory correct paint (and process) mechanicals etc.
That said I went and bought my own car.. so each to his own..
 
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lovely,...

i think you need to drive and enjoy the ferrari as it is, with the pile of books and magazines glued to the body to keep the "aesthetics" of the barn find...
my 02...
 
I was on the California Mille around 2016, and Jonathon Segal was there with this car. It was wonderfully imperfect. I recall them fixing a radiator leak with some JB weld. BUt now we see with the body panels off, a lot of rust that would eventually need to be addressed. SO I can understand the desire to restore. He also had a 1950 Alfa with a Ghia (?) body that he had restored and won tons of awards. The car was widely shown. The man has great taste.

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Yes, and the armchair experts can't smell the mouse dung, nest materials, mildew and other "patina" so I see nothing wrong with restoring it, especially after seeing the rust.
 
Wes said:
I don't know the car or the owner but 'restore' vs 'repair' seems a very binary argument.
My car restoration ethos was repair or conserve as much of the serviceable parts as possible. That meant leave the original hood liner, marked belt trim, worn seats etc. These are the 'patina' and tell the story of decades of love (or abuse) from previous owners. We also simply rust converted some spots of surface rust on original paint inside the car (parcel shelf) as there were original pencil notes from when the car went down the production line in 1972 - once that's gone, it's gone.
When it came to having to replace or renew, we went OEM. E.g new factory correct paint (and process) mechanicals etc.
That said I went and bought my own car.. so each to his own..
Click to expand...
Actually Wes, I like the term "conservation" that you used, I think that better describes what I meant by the term "massage".
 
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